Artificial intelligence has gained serious traction within the technology community as a solution for complex problems, though in January 2015, Bill Gates observed robotics and artificial intelligence are entering a period of rapid advances. For example, Google, Apple, and Microsoft are competing to transform vehicle transport with self-driving vehicles. In manufacturing, autonomous production enables companies to adapt products to diverse consumer markets and many more. Unmanned drones provide sustained surveillance and swift attacks on targets, and small robots are used to disarm improvised explosive devices. The military is currently funding research to produce more autonomous and self-aware robots to diminish the need for human soldiers to risk their lives.

Diagnosing cancer is about to get more accurate, with the help of artificial intelligence. Pathologists have diagnosed diseases in more or less the same way for the past 100 years, by laboring over a microscope reviewing biopsy samples on little glass slides. Working almost robotically, they sift through millions of normal cells to identify just a few diseased ones. The task is tedious and prone to human error. But now, scientists and engineers have created a technique that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and can differentiate cancer cells from normal cells almost as well as a top-notch pathologist.

MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) - Europe's growing army of robot workers could be classed as "electronic persons" and their owners liable to paying social security for them if the European Union adopts a draft plan to address the realities of a new industrial revolution. Robots are being deployed in ever-greater numbers in factories and also taking on tasks such as personal care or surgery, raising fears over unemployment, wealth inequality and alienation. Their growing intelligence, pervasiveness and autonomy requires rethinking everything from taxation to legal liability, a draft European Parliament motion, dated May 31, suggests. Some robots are even taking on a human form. Visitors to the world's biggest travel show in March were greeted by a lifelike robot developed by Japan's Toshiba and were helped by another made by France's Aldebaran Robotics.

Japanese Internet company Softbank Corp. is selling its stake in Finnish game developer Supercell to Chinese technology firm Tencent in a deal announced Tuesday that values the company at about 10.2 billion. Separately, Nikesh Arora, Softbank's president and chief operating officer, announced his resignation, although he will remain an adviser. He had joined the company from Google in 2014 and was instrumental in the Supercell sale, as well as other Softbank investments, mainly in India and other parts of Asia. Softbank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son said Arora had been picked to succeed him, but Son decided he wanted to do "a few more crazy ideas" and stay at his job for another decade, and that would be too long of a wait for Arora. "Helping Masa begin the transformation of Softbank and sowing the early seeds has been a great experience. I have enjoyed working with Masa and the Softbank team and I look forward to my next challenge," Arora said in a statement.

When Tencent Holdings finalized its 8.6 billion acquisition of "Clash of Clans" developer Supercell from Japan's Softbank on Tuesday, it was just the latest strategic move from what is rapidly becoming one of the biggest power players in the global video game industry. In fact, most of your favorite games are connected in some way to the Chinese internet giant -- whether you know it or not. When people think of smartphone games, in addition to "Clash of Clans," titles such as "Candy Crush," or maybe "Kim Kardashian Hollywood," come to mind. Supercell has also developed "Clash Royale," "Boom Beach" and "Hay Day." It turns out Tencent has invested in all of those companies, developing games that are being played every day.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is about the convergence of automation, artificial intelligence and rising connectivity. In the next five to 10 years, the adoption of these emerging technologies has the potential to raise efficiency, productivity and income levels to improve quality of life in Southeast Asia. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is characterised by the fusion and amplification of emerging technology breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, automation and robotics. This will be multiplied by the extreme connectivity between billions of people with mobile devices with unprecedented access to data and knowledge. Southeast Asian countries have the potential to leapfrog ahead of other developing nations by embracing new technologies to transform how people work, live and play, according to a new report by real estate consultancy JLL.

Human babies seem to have a natural knack for languages. Fluency in any of the world's 6,500 languages comes within the first few years of life, without much apparent effort. A recent study of how songbirds learn their melodies seeks to shine light on the cognitive processes through which young birds learn and imitate vocal communication – insights which could lead to a better understanding of the development of human speech, as well. "A bird's baby song is really immature. There's no clear structure - it's more like a baby babbling, but then it becomes structured, like the tutor song [as the bird gets older]," Yoko Yazaki-Sugiyama, co-author of the study published in Nature Communications Tuesday, tells The Christian Science Monitor in a phone interview. The male zebra finch learns a complex song from his father, or tutor, in order to attract a female finch.

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display

In the early 1990s, a Hungarian girl who attended Alexey Turchin's school suddenly died. Turchin, a Muscovite teenager who had a crush on the girl, resolved to bring her back to life. To do this, he decided to interview the girl's classmates and friends in order to collect every bit of information about her. This data, fed into a supercomputer (to be designed, built, and operated by Turchin himself) would then be used to conjure up a digital reproduction of the late girl's self. The plan didn't pan out, partly because there wasn't a supercomputer able to emulate the human brain, and partly because--as Turchin puts it--"that was before social networks and there wasn't much information around about her."

Amazon acquired Kiva for 775 million in 2012 but only started using the orange robots in its warehouses in late 2014. The deal was expected to make inventory management more efficient. It's now beginning to become clear by how much. The "click to ship" cycle used to be around 60-75 minutes when employees had manually to sift through the stacks, pick the product, pack it, and ship it. Now, robots handle the same job in 15 minutes, according to a Deutsche Bank note published Tuesday (June 14) based on Amazon's metrics.