Its fascinating - and somewhat irritating - that a computer software can "think" and accumulate knowledge with an accelerating speed. No wonder that more and science fiction authors write about AIs. Recently I enjoyed the superb movie "Ex Machina" about a somewhat female AI, which is much better than the film "Her" (2003) about the same topic. "Ex Machina" refreshed my memory of the AI focused science fictions stories I head read in the recent years (the following text has some spoilers as an exemption t the usually spoiler-free blog). The story "Auto" by Angela Cavanaugh explains why so many are afraid of AIs: A software, which is able to learn and to draw conclusions almost with the speed of light, gets access to the Internet and therefore to the cloud, the global network of computers.

Chinese researchers claim to have taken facial recognition to the next level – by predicting the personality traits of women from their photos alone. Or rather, given the labels on the training data, predicting the personality traits young guys expect women to have from their looks alone. Undeterred by all the flak they received for their earlier machine-learning system that tried to predict a person's propensity for criminal behavior from their appearance, the eggheads have come up with a sequel. Their latest study, titled Automated Inference on Sociopsychological Impressions of Attractive Female Faces, was published by arXiv, the online open-sourced pre-print journal – the paper has not been accepted by an official journal yet. The basis for their research lies on shaky grounds.

Artificial intelligence is the big, oft-misconstrued catchphrase of the day, making headlines recently with the launch of the new OpenAI organization, backed by Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and other tech luminaries. AI is neither a synonym for killer robots nor a technology of the future, but one that is already finding new signals in the vast noise of collected data, ranging from weather reports to social media chatter to temperature sensor readings. Today IBM has opened up new access to its AI system, called Watson, with a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) that allow other companies and organizations to feed their data into IBM's big brain for analysis. Real AI isn't about building a know-it-all computer, but rather one that's a good learner, able to sort overwhelming amounts of data, and diligently catalog recurring patterns. For example, while working with sensor readings and other flight data from airliners, AI might spot the conditions that caused a plane to burn up too much fuel, a project that IBM is already undertaking with plane manufacturer Airbus.

Toyota Research Institute (TRI), with an office in Palo Alto, is bringing the Prius Challenge to Sonoma Raceway for a competitive event designed to engage the startup and tech community. The event will be held March 3, 2017, and will include a team competition where participants strive to optimize their driving using strategies via an app created specifically for the event. The Prius Challenge originated at Toyota's headquarters in Japan, where participants battle it out to see who can achieve the best fuel economy and efficiency rating on a Prius within a target time range. While Toyota employees and dealers have been able to participate in the challenge, this is the first time that members of the public will have the chance to compete. "TRI is excited to host the Prius Challenge and introduce a competition that will allow participants to use machine learning and sophisticated data analysis tools to test out their theories in the real world," said Gill Pratt, CEO at Toyota Research Institute, Inc. "Silicon Valley and the Bay Area are a hotbed for automotive talent and innovation, and this event is the perfect opportunity for TRI to engage with the tech community and have some fun in the process."

China agreed Saturday to return an American sea drone it had captured after the Pentagon demanded it back, defusing tensions at the end of a week of confrontations over Beijing's territorial ambitions in the South China Sea. China's Defense Ministry said it would return "in an appropriate manner" the U.S. sea vessel seized this week by the Chinese navy. But the ministry also accused the U.S. of "public hyping" that was "not conducive to solving the problem smoothly." Chinese officials did not specify what happened or when Beijing would hand back the device. The ministry, in a statement, said that the device was unidentified when found and that officials later concluded it was an American drone.

As part of Bandai Namco's ongoing'Asobi Motto' project, you might be lucky enough to ride in a Pac-Man rickshaw in Tokyo this Christmas. This will be a limited event running from December 23rd to the 25th and it will take place in Asakusa, a region of Tokyo that is renowned for its rickshaw tours. The fact that you will be able to ride in a giant Pac-Man is definitely a bonus though and it also seems that if you do time delayed photos of the rickshaw in action, you will be able to pick up a secret message. Personally, I think Bandai Namco is doing some interesting things as of late. The Asobi Motto setup is definitely a different way to inject some fun into the company's branding, as well as make it more visible in an everyday setting.

China agreed Saturday to return an American sea drone it had captured after the Pentagon demanded it back, defusing tensions at the end a week of confrontations over Beijing's territorial ambitions in the South China Sea. China's Defense Ministry said it would return "in an appropriate manner" the U.S. sea vessel seized this week by the Chinese navy. But the ministry also accused the U.S. of "public hyping" that was "not conducive to solving the problem smoothly." Chinese officials did not specify what happened or when Beijing would hand back the device. The ministry, in a statement, said the device was unidentified when found and that officials later concluded it was an American drone.

Within the last week, the CIA, Obama administration and FBI have all agreed that Russian intervened in the presidential election on behalf of Donald Trump. The White House went so far as to say that the cyberattacks were directed by president Vladimir Putin himself. The New York Times offers a detailed look at the Russian hack of the DNC which led to emails and other documents making it into the hands of WikiLeaks and other websites. Google wants to use AI to fight abusive behavior online. It may not work for bigger sites and services, but there's still potential to do some good.

Young adults are increasingly shunning romantic relationships, resulting in plunging birth rates and a declining population. It has reached the point that Japanese media has even come up with a name for it: sekkusu shinai shokogun--celibacy syndrome. To fill this intimacy void, a Japanese firm has come up with a holographic companion that allows its owner to "enjoy a life with someone while still retaining your freedom." Azuma Hikari, developed by Gatebox, offers similar services to virtual assistants developed by Amazon, Apple and Microsoft, but comes in a much more anthropomorphic form. Hikari's holographic projection resides in a 50cm glass tube and is described by Gatebox as a "comforting character that is great for those living alone."

We don't enter that word. Trump swiftly deleted the tweet and replaced it with one using the correct spelling. But the Twitter account for the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the standard-bearer for English-language words, had already poked fun at Trump's grammar mistake. We don't enter that word. Trump, a Republican and prolific tweeter with 17.4 million followers, has had spelling mistakes in previous tweets. China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters - rips it out of water and takes it to China in unprecedented act.