Russian president Vladimir Putin has joined the war of words concerning the international race to develop artificial intelligence. Speaking to students last Friday, Putin predicted that whichever country leads the way in AI research will come to dominate global affairs. "Artificial intelligence is the future, not only for Russia, but for all humankind," said Putin, reports RT. "It comes with colossal opportunities, but also threats that are difficult to predict. Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world."

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Friday (Sept. AI development "raises colossal opportunities and threats that are difficult to predict now," Putin said in a lecture to students, warning that "it would be strongly undesirable if someone wins a monopolist position." Future wars will be fought by autonomous drones, Putin suggested, and "when one party's drones are destroyed by drones of another, it will have no other choice but to surrender." U.N. urged to address lethal autonomous weapons AI experts worldwide are also concerned. On August 20, 116 founders of robotics and artificial intelligence companies from 26 countries, including Elon Musk and Google DeepMind's Mustafa Suleyman, signed an open letter asking the United Nations to "urgently address the challenge of lethal autonomous weapons (often called'killer robots') and ban their use internationally."

Russian President Vladimir Putin sounded off about artificial intelligence in front of students during an open lesson Friday. He claimed that a nation who dominated the AI race could rule the world. Tech icon Elon Musk responded to Putin's claim Monday morning via suggesting that AI could start World War III. Putin posited that the country that harnessed the power of artificial intelligence could lead the way in global affairs. He said that AI offered limitless potential which could pose potential threats.

British science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke famously wrote in 1962 that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." In 2017, Artificial Intelligence (AI) seems to be that form of "advanced technology" that is seemingly putting magic into shade. But what is this magical form of technology? Simply put, AI is based on an algorithm that takes data input in the form of text, speech, video and/or image; processes it through an artificial neural network inspired by the human brain; and generates a decision or an action as the output, which it takes as a learning for future and continues to self-improve, much like an infant. But AI as a technology had been languishing in research labs until a decade ago for want of insane amount of data and computing power it needed to be of any consequence.

LG Electronics is planning to go all-out in acquiring AI technologies in an attempt to boost its smart home business. At IFA 2017, the South Korean electronics company disclosed what it intends to do by 2020. Over the weekend, LG's home appliance and air solutions division head Song Dae-hyun spoke at a press conference at a hotel in Berlin about the tech company's move to expand its smart home business. According to Song, LG wants to boost this aspect of its company by doubling its investment in mergers and acquisitions of artificial intelligence and Internet of Things technologies, Korea Herald has learned. "As for the AI business, inorganic growth would be more effective. LG officially seeks to acquire some AI companies. But so far, many acquisition projects fell apart due to market conditions," Song said before noting that Samsung's neighboring rival "is aggressively looking for a good AI company."

Japan Post Co. said Monday it is considering using drones to move packages between post offices, possibly from next year, due to an increasing shortage of delivery workers. The envisioned project by the mail and package delivery unit of state-owned Japan Post Holdings Co. comes in the wake of e-commerce operator Rakuten Inc. and major parcel delivery provider Yamato Holdings Co. testing drone deliveries, but safety concerns remain about the new delivery method. Japan Post is considering using drones in step with the government's pro-growth plan under which drone use is eyed for parcel delivery in mountainous regions in 2018 and in urban areas in the 2020s. "We are aiming to fly drones between post offices in mountainous areas and remote islands," Japan Post Executive Vice President Seiki Fukuda said at a news conference Monday. In order for drone delivery to be put to practical use, Fukuda said, "how far regulations will be loosened" will be important.

It is one of the toughest places to live on Earth. Now, a six-strong team of astronauts is preparing to head to the Dhofar desert in Oman next year in an attempt to simulate what life will be like on Mars. The astronauts are using the trial as a'dress rehearsal' for future missions to the red planet, and will carry out 19 experiments designed to search for traces of life. In February 2018, They will spend four weeks living in almost complete isolation. Among the scientific equipment they will take with them for the Amadee-18 experiment will be a a drone, robotic rovers and a hydroponic greenhouse.

In response to Vladimir Putin's claims last week that whoever cracks artificial intelligence with'rule the world', Elon Musk has said that he thinks the technology will be the most likely cause of World War 3. Musk took to Twitter this morning to make the chilling warning, claiming that'competition for AI superiority at national level' could spark a war. The Tesla and SpaceX founder suggests that a war is likely to be started by one of the AIs itself, rather than a country leader. In response to Vladimir Putin's claims last week that whoever cracks artificial intelligence with'rule the world', Elon Musk has said that he thinks the technology will be the most likely cause of World War 3 During a question-and-answer session at the summer conference of the National Governors Association in Rhode Island., Tesla CEO Elon Musk warned that regulation of artificial intelligence is needed because it's a'fundamental risk to the existence of human civilisation.' The billionaire said regulations will stop humanity from being outsmarted by computers, or'deep intelligence in the network', that can start wars by manipulating information. Governments must have a better understanding of artificial intelligence technology's rapid evolution in order to fully comprehend the risks, he said.

AI is already a huge part of the technology landscape and leading to many opportunities in mobile. Samsung is putting it to use in its Bixby voice assistant and upcoming smart speaker, Google has used it to help turn a person's scribbles into clip art, while Huawei's Richard Yu sees it as an avenue through which the company can overtake Apple, These are somewhat crude examples of the real implications of AI technology, but it's already clear that it's going to play a big role in the future of tech at large. According to a recent report from Russian news site RT, Russian president Vladimir Putin says it could even lead to global domination. In a recent talk with Russian students via a satellite link, Putin said: "Artificial intelligence is the future, not only for Russia, but for all humankind. It comes with colossal opportunities, but also threats that are difficult to predict. Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world."

Strong interim results posted by Chinese smartphone camera makers may have proven yet again the future of camera manufacturing lies with lenses that are minuscule and A.I.-savvy. The landscape of the camera making industry has fundamentally changed as consumers are shelving their professional cameras and using smartphones to take pictures in recent years. Now as computer vision technology, which uses deep learning scheme to enable machines to understand digital images and videos, matures, smartphone camera makers, many of which are leading the pack in computer vision software development, could displace traditional camera makers' dominance in their own backyard. Companies such as Q Technology, Sunny Optical exemplified the rapid growth of smartphone camera makers in China. Both companies have posted strong first-half results this year, as traditional camera makers such as Canon see a decline in unit sales in digital compact cameras.