Amazon’s re:MARS Event Features Visions of AI & Machine Learning Solutions for Future

From Robert Downey Jr.’s bid to save the planet through environmental clean-up tech to Amazon’s drone delivery service demo, the inaugural re:MARS Conference in Las Vegas this week included something for everyone interested in AI and machine learning technologies. Attendees paid as much as $1,900 per ticket to have the chance to network and schmooze with other movers and shakers in the industry.

With an acronym that references Machine learning, Automation, Robotics and Space, the public version of the invitation-only conference offered speeches from high-profile tech gurus, product launches and robotic demos that show some of the most cutting-edge tech that’s coming this year.

Downey provided some star power in talking about his plans to spend the coming year developing tech concepts with the Footprint Alliance, which seeks to reduce environmental impacts and clean up chemical and plastic pollution around the world.

“I swear to God, and I’ll say this right here in front of everybody, I’m willing to spend the next 11 years making good on that statement, and I’ll repeat it: Between robotics and nanotechnology, we could probably clean up the planet significantly, if not entirely, within a decade,” Downey told attendees.

Naveen Rao, corporate vice president and general manager of AI at Intel, spoke about advances in machine learning and the impact it will have on human health, agriculture, and space colonization. Rao mentioned a blindness prevention program in China that’s extending expert ophthalmology care to people in smaller cities.

“As we find more ways to securely share clinical and research data, AI will aggregate and analyze it to generate new insights and treatments,” Rao said.

Some of the other highlights included:

  • Morgan Pope and Toni Dohi of Walt Disney Imagineers
    Demo of how figures are capable of untethered, dynamic movements.
  • TED Translate demo
  • Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos talked about space travel and was interrupted by an animal rights protester upset about the company’s Whole Foods brand and its purchase of chicken from inhumane farms.