New Delhi: India is considering the military usage of Artificial Intelligence for national security and military strategic purposes and the government is studying a report recommending the duel use of technology in aviation, naval, land systems, cyber, nuclear and biological warfare. Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre told the Lok Sabha that the ministry has initiated the process of preparing Indian defence forces in their use of Artificial Intelligence and leveraging India's capabilities in machine learning sectors. This, he said, has a potential to fuel technology driven economic growth and provide military superiority. To study the strategic implications of Artificial Intelligence on national security, a multi-stakeholder task force comprising the government, services, academia, industry, professionals and start-ups was constituted in February this year. The group led by Natarajan Chandrasekharan, Chairman Tata Sons, was tasked to prepare a road map for Artificial Intelligence for national security purposes.

This is small of me, but I can't help myself. Someone says they're obsessed with the TV version of Game of Thrones--or The Expanse, Altered Carbon, The Shannara Chronicles, The 100, The Magicians, whatever. I tilt my head forward, peer over my non-existent glasses, and inquire, with what I like to imagine is a sparkle of menace: Yes, but have you read the books? The hiccup of guilt is so pure. Of course they have not.

China's relationship with Google is fractious at best, but it's no secret that the search giant wants to make inroads in what is a largely untapped market. However, its latest alleged plan could send tech's political sphere into a tailspin. According to The Intercept, Google is working on a censored version of its search engine for the country -- one which will blacklist websites and search terms about human rights, democracy, religion and protest. The project, codenamed Dragonfly, has been in the works since spring 2017 and could be ready to launch within the next six to nine months, according to unnamed sources familiar with the plan. Apparently the project was given the go-ahead during a meeting between Google's CEO Sundar Pichai and a top Chinese government official, although it still needs final approval from China.

Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, the UAE's minister of state for Artificial Intelligence, and Deepak Bagla, the managing director and CEO of Invest India, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to create a bilateral Artificial Intelligence Bridge that envisages the generation of $20 billion in economic benefits during the next decade. WAM said that the AI Bridge aims to spur discussion and explore options for the UAE and India to grow their Artificial Intelligence economies, according to an announcement after the signing ceremony by Invest India, the national investment promotion ad facilitation agency of the Indian government. The UAE Minister said that in the coming years, "how a country chooses to embrace Artificial Intelligence will have a tremendous impact on its ability to innovate and prosper. Data and processing will be a catalyst for innovation and business growth and serve as the backbone of more effective and efficient service delivery system." The designated Indian signatory said his country, which is "the world's fastest expanding market opportunity with its talent pool of human capital, well-acknowledged for innovation – and the UAE, a hub of cutting edge technologies – are natural partners in the field of Artificial Intelligence."

There was so much compelling news in the world of VR and AR this July I couldn't possibly cover it all with the usual depth and relish to which readers have become accustomed. This is one of those cases where by the time I returned from vacation most of the July recap below wasn't really news anymore but this news, taken as a group, is a testament to the continued entrepreneurial energy being lavished on immersive tech and illustrates how things come over the transom to me in no particular order. From upper left, "Jurassic World" at Dave & Busters, the new AR Looking Glass, "The Art of Burning Man", and the Lenovo Smart Display.Universal, Looking Glass, Lenovo, Smithsonian This story contains news and commentary about new tricks from old dogs, like Dave & Busters, and new companies we've never heard of, like Looking Glass, with extraordinary innovations in 3D object creation and review.developments in virtual assistants, AR, VR, Motion Capture, AI, LBVR. Let's talk about what they really mean. Dave & Busters launched Jurassic World VR motion platform experience at all 111 Dave & Buster's domestic locations. I spent an hour in Dave & Buster's in Times Square last Wednesday and went through the simulation twice.

"Space is big," wrote Douglas Adams in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. "You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space." Adams's assertion comes repeatedly to mind when reading David Sumpter's Outnumbered, which attempts to reckon with the sheer scale of the systems that manage much of our digital lives. It's easy, when faced with the numbers at hand, to succumb to a kind of vertigo: Facebook has two billion users, who make tens of millions of posts every hour.

I've been to dozens of retail-related conferences in the past year, most of which were attended by retailers, brands and early-growth companies seeking to gain traction in the retail ecosystem. Over the year, I've seen a continuous increase in the number of AI-driven technologies and companies showcasing solutions for retailers. I've also observed growing interest in these innovations among retailers. Because as multichannel retailers continue to fight age-old problems such as inaccurate inventory, stockouts and overstocks, overstretched and undertrained store associates, and suboptimal pricing, advances in AI targeting these problems are proving their ROI. AI, or machine intelligence, is human-like or intelligent behavior exhibited by computers and machines that are "trained" by data to make autonomous decisions.

Territory Manager, Autodesk Africa, Mr. Simon Bromfield, who was in Nigeria for the Autodesk Future Forum, spoke with Emma Okonji on the need for different sectors of the economy to adopt emerging technologies for business growth. What is your view about Nigeria's manufacturing industry? One of the challenges about Nigeria's manufacturing industry is the issue of doing things in silos instead of through collaboration and integration. Everyone wants to control his or her business and they do not want to share ideas with others. Nigerians need to work together to build better projects and that is the secret of global industries because they share ideas and build on existing ideas that are workable.

The company, which was named a World Eocnomic Forum Technology Pioneer in 2018, is working with customers in the health chemicals, material science and financial services industries. It raised $45 million in funding in November of last year and counts Fujitsu, Accenture and Allianz among its strategic investors. Quantum computing promises to allow computers to run thousands of times faster, enabling new applications that deliver things like more sophisticated molecular simulations for drug development, models of trafic patterns for optimizing transportation or richer artificial intelligence. However, major limitations must still be overcome. Computer scientists are still struggling to build a quantum computer with more than a handful of qubits.

Chinese online search giant Baidu today said net profit for the second quarter jumped 45 percent, fuelled by growth in its personalised news app and artificial intelligence (AI) projects. The firm logged a net income for April-June of 6.4 billion yuan (USD 967 million). "We had another strong quarter in Q2 with search exhibiting robust revenue growth driven by AI-powered monetisation capabilities, and Baidu feed continuing strong traffic and monetisation momentum," said Robin Li, chairman and chief executive. The Beijing-based company said its total revenues swelled 32 per cent and about three-quarters of its profit came from mobile revenue. Baidu App, which offers personalised news feeds and search, saw daily active users rise 17 per cent year on year to 148 million in June.