"Game developers don't like me," said Sabina Hemmi. "Before I came around, there was no insight into how balanced a game was." As the co-founder of DotaBuff, a site that provides statistics about Dota 2 gameplay, she can show with hard data if certain characters are stronger or weaker, and in what areas. As access to such data is becoming more commonplace, she says, players are starting to expect it, and are reacting to it. "If I'm focusing hours of my time into the game, I want to focus on playing the characters that are actually competitive," she said. Just as it did with traditional sports, the collection, analysis and use of all kinds of data is beginning to change the way that competitive games are played and understood. But while many scenes such as Dota 2, League of Legends and Overwatch are coming around to the value of statistics, the breadth and sophistication of statistical coverage in general is still in its beginning stages. The numbers that Sabina Hemmi's team have pulled down from Dota 2 over the years are, in a word, expansive. You can view stats from your own match history stretching back years.

Sonos might not be primarily known for TV sound: it is famous for its internet-connected speakers, which can stream music from just about anywhere in lush audio. But that works just as well when stuck under your television, bringing great sound and all the same smarts to your films and shows. It came first with the Playbar, a long rectangle of speakers that was the first Sonos speaker to plug into your TV; that was followed by the Playbase, which sat under the television rather than in front of it. Now Sonos has brought the Beam, which takes the best of everything it has done so far and shrinks it down. Until now, bringing Sonos into your living room meant some big – literally – compromises. The Playbar and Playbase are both very large, meaning that small TVs or living rooms can make them look out of place.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is going to save the UAE billions of dirhams - and could help save lives - when it becomes fully integrated by the government. That was the message from Omar Sultan Al Olama, minister of state for Artificial Intelligence, who was speaking at the launch of the UAE's first-ever AI summer camp, which is taking place in Dubai over the next two months. For some people artificial intelligence is the domain of clichéd science-fiction novels and movies with computers becoming self-aware and overthrowing humanity, but that could not be further from the case, said Mr Olama who said that AI will become a force for good that eventually improves lives across the whole world. More than 2,200 students have registered for the summer camp, which Mr Al Olama believes will help educate the next generation to transform all sectors of life here in the UAE. One area in which Mr Al Olama believes it will show immediate benefits for the government is in efficiency.

The world's first Artificial Intelligence enabled cardboard robot that you build yourself. Smartibot works with your smartphone, meaning you can use your mobile as a remote control, or by attaching it to your robot, as it's brain. The Smartibot app contains a powerful A.I. called YOLO which can recognise objects Smartibot sees such as people, cars, dogs and bicycles. Without any programming you can tell your robot to follow you around with a cup of tea, chase your dog or your cat out of your bedroom or even follow your toy car. As well as the A.I. robot, Smartibot comes with cardboard parts to make two additional robots!

New deep learning techniques have enabled us to analyze video footage more quickly and cheaply than ever before, and a larger number of companies in Japan, America, and China are developing products with resembling capabilities. Similar features are making their way into home security cameras, with companies like Amazon and Nest offering rudimentary AI analysis. This sort of automated surveillance is only going to become more common in the future, with researchers working on advanced analysis like spotting violent behavior in crowds, and tech companies selling tools like facial recognition to law enforcement. A new AI security cam is designed to help shop owners in Japan spot potential shoplifters. It uses open source technology developed by Carnegie Mellon University to scan live video streams and estimate the poses of any bodies it can see. The security camera, called the "AI Guardman", was built by Japanese telecom giant NTT East and startup Earth Eyes Corp.

If you own a Roomba, you can thank Rodney Brooks, because he's the co-founder of iRobot. He launched the company almost three decades ago when he was a professor at MIT. He's trying to disrupt the world of industrial robotics with his new startup, Rethink Robotics. While I was in Boston a few weeks ago, I visited Rod at his home in Cambridge and captured some great stories. His extensive experiences over his career inspired the new company.

People often ask me whether human-level artificial intelligence will eventually become conscious. My response is: Do you want it to be conscious? I think it is largely up to us whether our machines will wake up. The mechanisms of consciousness--the reasons we have a vivid and direct experience of the world and of the self--are an unsolved mystery in neuroscience, and some people think they always will be; it seems impossible to explain subjective experience using the objective methods of science. But in the 25 or so years that we've taken consciousness seriously as a target of scientific scrutiny, we have made significant progress.

Given how artificial intelligence is a buzzing topic, it has sparked a slew of beginner-friendly introductory resources that clear the general concepts from this very broad topic. And for most newcomers, the most interesting topic in AI is Deep Learning. In fact, Google's Python-based Deep Learning framework Tensorflow has helped many a developer get up to speed with the technical concepts. Besides videos and free online courses, you must also have a reading list that helps you cover the math and statistics behind the algorithms. While YouTube videos remain the main learning source and a key starting point for beginners, there is a slew of resources, especially books that can help cement fundamental concepts.

UPDATED with expert analysis WASHINGTON: The Pentagon has created a new Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) that will have oversight over almost all service and defense agency AI efforts. This coordination function is crucial to the emerging AI arms race with Russia and China, experts told us. The JAIC will report to Chief Information Officer Dana Deasy, the establishing memo by Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan says. Its ambit is not quite untrammeled; any projects under $15 million remain the authority of the service or agency. The JAIC will establish a common set of AI "standards…. Undersecretary for Research & Engineering Mike Griffin, a far more prominent proponent of AI and other cutting-edge technologies who has warned China and Russia are catching up to the US, "will continue to promote development of new AI technologies, systems, and concepts" but without any clearly specified role in the new center. CIO Deasy has 30 days to consult the rest of the department ...

StartAD, the innovation and entrepreneurship platform anchored at NYU Abu Dhabi, has opened applications for its inaugural Artificial Intelligence (AI) Venture Launchpad. Open to seed stage AI and Internet of Things (IoT) startups from the UAE and around the globe, the AI Venture Launchpad is a 10-day sprint accelerator that helps participants develop a scalable, repeatable and capital efficient venture. Teams disrupting industries in financial technology, insurance technology, regulatory technology, airport operations, predictive maintenance, fuel efficiency and enterprise solutions through AI with natural language processing, machine learning, predictive analytics, search and data analytics are encouraged to apply. This accelerator is an opportunity for global startups to enter the UAE market and attract potential investments from key players in the region. Applications close on August 30.