In an attempt to make medical diagnoses easier and help both patients and doctors, Chinese search engine company Baidu has announced the launch of Melody, a medical assistant chatbot powered by artificial intelligence (AI). Reported on by VentureBeat, Melody can be found in Baidu's existing Baidu Doctor app for Android and iOS where she will collect medical information from patients before passing it on to doctors. The chatbot has been developed to ask questions on important health factors such as age and symptoms, before passing the answers on to doctors in an easy-to-use form. Doctors can then proceed with their diagnosis and respond to patients, reducing the amount of time that patients and medical professionals spend exchanging basic information. To make sure information is accurate, Melody only sends responses on behalf of doctors after the doctors have verified it, with Baidu chief scientist Andrew Ng commenting in an interview with VentureBeat that, "It's not our role to diagnose -- it's the doctors' role to diagnose. We try to assist the doctors."

WIRE)--Zymergen, a technology company unlocking the power of biology, announced today that it has raised 130 million USD in Series B funding led by SoftBank Group (TOKYO: 9984). The round also includes prior lead investor Data Collective (DCVC), as well as return investors True Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures, DFJ, Innovation Endeavors, Obvious Ventures, and Two Sigma Ventures. New investors include Iconiq Capital, Prelude Ventures, and Tao Capital Partners. Zymergen also announced two additions to its Board of Directors: former U.S. Secretary of Energy and Nobel laureate Dr. Steven Chu, and SoftBank Group International Managing Director Deep Nishar, previously a longtime senior executive at Google and LinkedIn. Zymergen has developed a proprietary platform, which uses robots and machine learning to engineer microbes faster, more predictably, and to a level of performance previously unattainable.

Are you ready for this secret about the efficient education with AI? Different education changes influence on schools: most students bring their own devices into the lessons, coding has been added to the curriculum. A virtual teaching assistant will help to deliver knowledge in the classroom. Artificial intelligence can make a significant difference in education with robots and apps that may simplify and upgrade the process. New digital tools allow learners to use resources anywhere and anytime. AI and bots will not eliminate human teachers but they will support their work.

To address the burgeoning "loneliness epidemic" and the demands of an aging population, some think that we should deploy robotic caregivers. A new ad titled "B.E.N. (Biologically Engineered Nursing)," however, suggests that this is a dreadful idea. This five-minute ad was produced by the Society of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul (SSVP), an international Catholic voluntary organization that provides assistance to those in need. When the short story opens, we see a woman, Claudine, dancing with her robotic caregiver, BEN. From there, we travel back to the previous day, and we come to see how the pair came to their gloomy embrace.

Google just debuted a digital assistant, which it hopes to place inside smartphones, watches, cars and every other imaginable internet-connected device. It's already hit a snag. The Alphabet division launched new smartphones last week with the artificially intelligent assistant deeply embedded. It also rolled out a speaker with the feature at its core and announced plans to let other companies tie their apps and services to the assistant. A day later, Samsung, which just announced it was ending production of its problematic Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, said it was acquiring Viv Labs, a startup building its own AI voice-based assistant.

The World Economic Forum has made an important discovery: San Francisco is a major center for discussing innovation, policy, and the future of civil society. On Monday, the venerable international organization announced the opening of its third office outside its Geneva headquarters, after New York and Beijing. Dubbed the Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in San Francisco, the new office takes its name from the current big-think thesis of WEF's founder, German business theorist Klaus Schwab. As Alan Murray explained earlier this year, Schwab's first three revolutions featured steam power, electricity, and computers; the new one involves sensors and artificial intelligence. WEF is famous for its snowy annual thinkfest in Davos, Switzerland, where global leaders and other opinionated folks come together to discuss the state of the world.

Charlie Rose has had a storied career in journalism. After interviewing the who's-who of international celebrities, Rose pivoted last night from world leaders and entertainment stars to'Sophia' a smart AI in a humanoid robot shell. The interview detailed just how far we've come, and how far we've yet to come in the field of robotics. Created by David Hansen, of Hanson Robotics in Hong Kong, Sophia is a robot modeled after its creator's wife, with a few shades of Audrey Hepburn. The lifelike creation features realistic skin and facial movement and at times, even showed subtle hints at humanity.

"As president, what would be your approach to workforce automation?" That's an important question that has yet to be raised during the 2016 presidential election race, but the answer could have a profound impact on how trends in automation impact the wider economy. Predictions may vary as to how many jobs the American economy could lose over the next one or two decades. An Oxford study predicts 47% of jobs could be automated by 2033; consulting firm Gartner predicts 33% by 2025. A recent OECD study suggests previous figures to be very much overblown, that the total jobs lost to automation in the next two decades is closer to 9% across 21 countries.

Today on In Case You Missed It: The European Space Agency and Russia are joining up to launch their ExoMars project next week, which will look for traces of extraterrestrial life on the red planet. Meanwhile, a newer kind of wind energy harvester is being installed in Paris, where leaves on a fake tree can capture energy in breezy conditions. The Red Bull video showing skydivers swinging in between two hot air balloons should get heart rates going, and the Disney robot is today's dose of squee, because even machines can look adorable to us. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.

In Singapore, the Fullerton Health Group has increased its quality of care and reduced costs with the help of machine learning and a partnership with Microsoft. Real-time medical data helps Fullerton's health care providers give the best course of action for patients. And operational analytics and machine learning power a program that helps patients and providers manage chronic diseases. Watch the video to learn more and go to the Microsoft Enterprise blog.