China is working to update the rugged old computer systems on nuclear submarines with artificial intelligence to enhance the potential thinking skills of commanding officers, a senior scientist involved with the programme told the South China Morning Post. A submarine with AI-augmented brainpower not only would give China's large navy an upper hand in battle under the world's oceans but would push applications of AI technology to a new level, according to the researcher, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the project's sensitivity. "Though a submarine has enormous power of destruction, its brain is actually quite small," the researcher said. While a nuclear submarine depends on the skill, experience and efficiency of its crew to operate effectively, the demands of modern warfare could introduce variables that would cause even the smoothest-run operation to come unglued. For instance, if the 100 to 300 people in the sub's crew were forced to remain together in their canister in deep, dark water for months, the rising stress level could affect the commanding officers' decision-making powers, even leading to bad judgment.

It is easy to confuse the current geopolitical situation with that of the 1980s. The United States and Russia each accuse the other of interfering in domestic affairs. Russia has annexed territory over U.S. objections, raising concerns about military conflict. As during the Cold War after World War II, nations are developing and building weapons based on advanced technology. During the Cold War, the weapon of choice was nuclear missiles; today it's software, whether its used for attacking computer systems or targets in the real world. Russian rhetoric about the importance of artificial intelligence is picking up – and with good reason: As artificial intelligence software develops, it will be able to make decisions based on more data, and more quickly, than humans can handle.

Looking back, 2017 was a significant year for technology. Consider that at the beginning of 2017, Bitcoin was virtually unknown to most people, and Artificial Intelligence was something that they had perhaps heard of once or twice, but was still a concept confined to science fiction. Cloud computing was still untested to many people, and hardly anyone would realise how prevalent Bots would become a mere 12 months later. As you can see, if we have a similarly fruitful "rollercoaster" in 2018, we shall certainly be living in a more interesting world at the end of it! Previously on my blog, I used to make a few predictions at the beginning of every year, trying to figure out what the tech world would do over the next 12 months. It was more light hearted than anything else, and it's always funny to go back and see how wrong you were. On occasion though, I did manage to get a few right……So lets try and do the same for 2018.

What will AI's role be during this busiest of all seasons? The holiday season means many things to many people; to retailers and e-tailers, it means things are about to get crazy busy. This is true no matter when the shopping season begins. In the US for example, it traditionally stretches from Thanksgiving to just after the New Year; in India, it runs from mid-August to January. Retailers of all sorts are already adapting their approach by timing sales and tying them into holidays or other festive events.

Future self-driving cars don't have to be pure electric vehicles, and Hyundai is determined to prove it. The automaker just had a five-strong fleet of Level 4 autonomous hydrogen fuel cars drive themselves 118 miles from Seoul to the Winter Olympics' home venue of Pyeongchang. That's the longest any self-driving vehicle has traveled at highway speeds (around 62-68MPH), the company claimed. Previously, they had to putt around at slower speeds, and frequently on limited road sections. Three of the cars were shiny new Nexo SUVs (such as the one above), while the other two were more familiar Genesis G80 sedans.

"The mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardise it," said Hal the computer to the astronauts in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The artificial intelligence (AI) race has taken on the portentous public relations spectre of the Soviet-USA race to the moon, or to build the first atomic bomb. Periodic announcements of milestone achievements confuse many because few understand what it means for an algorithm to pass a test reading literature. The dominance of big American tech companies- Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Uber and Google versus the rise of China's biggest tech outfits: Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, has created intense competition for resources and specialists. Yet, what are all of them racing towards?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a disruptive force that is defining the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and promises to change nearly every aspect of business and society. Most agree its impact will be profound--nearly 3 in 4 (72%) of business leaders (reports the PwC Consumer Intelligence Series survey on AI) believe AI will be the business advantage of the future. But AI technologies (including machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing and generation, autonomous systems, robotics, virtual assistants) are so complex and advancing so quickly it's impossible to pin down what will happen over the next 5 to 10 years. But you can--and should--anticipate what's coming in the near-term so you can prepare your business and workforce for a world in which AI is the engine that drives exponential amounts innovation. In fact, a recent PwC study forecasted that AI will contribute $15.7 trillion to global GDP by 2030.

Imformatics PHD student Sebastian Bitzer performs push up exercises with a programmed Kondo humanoid robot at the newly opened Imformatics Forum building of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland September 3, 2008. It is easy to confuse the current geopolitical situation with that of the 1980s. The United States and Russia each accuse the other of interfering in domestic affairs. Russia has annexed territory over U.S. objections, raising concerns about military conflict. As during the Cold War after World War II, nations are developing and building weapons based on advanced technology. During the Cold War, the weapon of choice was nuclear missiles; today it's software, whether its used for attacking computer systems or targets in the real world.

This is embarrassing to admit, but whenever I go to a Thai restaurant, I just order tofu phad thai. Yes, that is totally generic, but I don't get to eat out that often, so I don't want to take a chance on something that I might really dislike. I know what I'm getting with the phad thai, so I settle. It's that settling for the same-ole that Dishq is looking to improve by using artificial intelligence. Based in Bangalore, India, Dishq provides APIs for food service companies like restaurants, corporate cafeterias or food delivery services, so those companies can implement AI-powered, customized food suggestions for their customers.

Marketers have been talking about artificial intelligence (AI) marketing for some time now. But many are still wondering, what exactly can AI marketing do for us right now? To find out, Econsultancy recently held a gathering of over 400 marketers for Digital Outlook 2018 in Singapore and invited subject matter experts to speak on AI marketing and other topics trending in digital. In his talk, Chandra Kumar, CEO WiselyWise, stated that, despite many setbacks over its long history, AI marketing may now be ready for mass adoption. He proceeded to describe four concrete things that marketers can use AI for right now.