From its founding in 1790 until the 1880’s, the US Patent Office required inventors to submit a working model of their inventions (no larger than 12” x 12”) with their patent applications. The models provided clarity for evaluators about the nature and purpose of the intended invention - a problem because of many applicants’ poor writing skills.

Times have changed. The USPTO recently solicited comments on patent-related issues regarding AI inventions. The agency is evaluating whether further examination guidance is needed to promote the reliability and predictability of patenting artificial intelligence inventions.

Got budget? As machine-learning systems have become more resource intensive, it’s become harder for others to reproduce results without the money required to duplicate the hardware, software, datasets and computing power deployed by the original researchers.

A researcher at the University of Massachusetts has proposed a reproducibility checklist. Among the items are descriptions of the models and algorithms used and their complexity, links to a downloadable version of the dataset or simulation environment, and a description of the computing infrastructure used.

Security professionals have long relied on Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) for its Top 10 list of critical security issues. OWASP’s new list of API weaknesses is a welcome addition in light of their increasingly widespread use in healthcare.

A biomedical engineer and CIO questions whether CIO’s can go it alone when it comes to healthcare security. Giuliano Pozza identifies 3 paradoxes in the clinical operating environment. He also outlines his model for bringing together strategy, technology, processes and organization to improve healthcare security.

Pozza is President of AISIS (Italian Association of Healthcare Information Systems) and serves as Director of Information Systems at the IRCCS Ospedale S. Raffaele in Milan.

Two years after releasing their 1st study, Cambridge researchers have updated their work, focusing on the state of network deployment and investigation of the different development stages of ongoing enterprise blockchain-based projects.

Among their key findings, “(B)lockchain adoption by incumbents is indeed a slow and challenging process that requires deep cross-organizational coordination and careful legal and organizational design choices”.

How do receive bad news as a leader? How do you build consensus? Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, recently retired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, offers his insights in this punchy 5-minute clip. (Thanks to Innes Conner of NHS National Services Scotland for the recommendation).