Can you actually have a state "minister of artificial intelligence"? Yes: The United Arab Emirates has actually appointed one. He is State Minister of AI Omar bin Sultan Al Olama. And, during an interview, he told me he is confident about the future of artificial intelligence in his desert nation and the civic benefits that will emerge from these advancements. Certainly, it's common knowledge that the UAE is leading developments in artificial intelligence; and other governments are taking notice.

The 21st century will forever be remembered as the century that ushered in two of the most disruptive technologies in the history of mankind; the internet and the blockchain. However, Robotics - one of the branches of disruptive technologies is still on their way to intervene within the overall process of innovation. From "robo" assistants to house keepers, drones and even human-like robots (Sophia, the first robot to be awarded citizenship, Saudi Arabia, 2017) are increasingly becoming integral to our daily lives. And so is their functions. Robotics is set to become the next revolution, but the market remains largely unobtrusive though.

Sony Corporation said today that it will build an AI-based ride-hailing system in Japan in partnership with five taxi companies. The service will use artificial intelligence to manage taxi dispatches and forecast demand based on factors like weather, traffic and local events. Sony's announcement came just before Uber chief executive officer Dara Khosrowshahi, who is currently visiting Asia, said the company wants to form more partnerships with Japanese taxi companies. According to Bloomberg, Khosrowshahi, who joined Uber last August, said he believes Japan is an "incredible opportunity," but that the company's previous approach "frankly didn't work." Sony's ride-hailing system will launch this spring in partnership with taxi companies Daiwa Motor Transportation, Hinomaru Kotsu, Kokusai Motorcars, Green Cab and Checker Cab Group.

Iran has located the wreckage of a passenger plane that went down in a mountainous part of the country earlier this week, killing all 65 people on board. A military drone was used to locate the crash site, and two helicopters were then dispatched to the snow-covered scene, Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesman Ramezan Sharif told Iran's state television on Tuesday. "The plane had hit the top of the mountain before crashing 30 metres further down," Sharif said. The Aseman Airlines plane went down in the Zagros Mountains range in central Iran on Sunday during a domestic flight from the Iranian capital, Tehran, to the southwestern city of Yasuj. It had been carrying 59 passengers and six crew members, all of whom died in the crash, according to Iran's state-run Press TV.

Venezuela has developed a brand new cryptocurrency, called petro. The government of the crisis-hit country says it was created in order to help overcome financial sanctions imposed by the US and the EU. However, petro is considered to be illegal by opposition leaders in Venezuela, and there are also concerns that anyone who buys into it could quickly lose their investment. The I.F.O. is fuelled by eight electric engines, which is able to push the flying object to an estimated top speed of about 120mph. The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session A man looks at an exhibit entitled'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Electrification Guru Dr. Wolfgang Ziebart talks about the electric Jaguar I-PACE concept SUV before it was unveiled before the Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, California, U.S The Jaguar I-PACE Concept car is the start of a new era for Jaguar.

Your Uber journeys could be about to get a lot more exciting. The firm's chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, says the firm will roll out self-flying taxis in the next five to 10 years. Uber is currently developing an airborne version of its ride-hailing app, called UberAIR, which is expected to launch in 2020. The morning commute may soon get a little more exciting, if predictions about flying taxis made by Uber's chief come to pass. Khosrowshahi made the claims while speaking at an investor forum in Tokyo today.

Mayank Vatsa has created a software tool to help people spot a sculpted selfie, a tampered profile picture on Facebook, or a manipulated photograph on a matrimonial website - a tool superior to human eyes. Vatsa, associate professor of computer science at the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, New Delhi, is using artificial intelligence technology, called deep learning, to detect retouching or digital alteration of facial images. Computer science researchers view deep learning as an advance of machine learning that uses software to model high-level abstract information hidden in large volumes of data. Deep learning algorithms, which use data to look for patterns, have already been shown to outperform humans in tasks such as image, text, and voice recognition. "Deep learning has the ability to take in huge amounts of data - in fact, it needs the huge amounts of data to function at all - and make sense of it," said a computer vision expert who has been involved in deep learning techniques for automatic predictions of human facial expressions.

An economic boom just dropped on the world -- and most, no doubt, aren't even aware. China's retail and technology conglomerate, Alibaba, developed an artificial intelligence model that beat the humans it competed against in a Stanford University reading and comprehension test. "This is the first time that a machine has outperformed humans on such a test," Alibaba said in a statement. Microsoft Research Asia, shortly after Alibaba's breakthrough, announced its own AI had beaten the humans on the same reading and comp test, as well. The news generated a small media earthquake through the fields of technology and AI.

A robot sweeps the floor at the main press center at the Pyeonchang Winter Olympics. A robot sweeps the floor at the main press center at the Pyeonchang Winter Olympics. Directions, weather reports, water bottles – those are some of the things we've seen robots offering at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, helping to host thousands of visitors and media. Most of the robots we've seen in Pyeongchang and Gangneung – the two areas where the Winter Games are being held – weren't made to look human. Instead, they present a wide range of looks -- and autonomy.

Apple has finally fixed a bug that meant iPhones could crash if they saw just one character. Last week it emerged that when iPhones were sent a character in Telugu, a popular Indian language, the phone could stop working entirely and crash. It would have to restart itself before it started working again. Now the company has rolled out an update – iOS 11.2.6 – that will fix that issue. It doesn't bring any major new features apart from that change, but big alterations are coming soon.