Europe

AI is a hotly debated topic in every conversation, so much so that we have moved from saying'there is an app for that' to'there is an AI for that'. Oliver Schabenberger, chief operating officer and chief technology officer at SAS, observes how AI has permeated everyday discourse in recent years. Yet, AI has not always been talked about this way. An overhype of the technology led to'AI winter' in the 1980s, he says in his keynote at the Analytics Experience conference this week in Milan. During cocktail gatherings, saying one worked in AI could kill a conversation.

The Christmas countdown clock is ticking, and you might be wondering what games to ask for in your stocking. With so many launching every month, it can be tricky to pick out the must-plays. The Game Awards recognises the best games released every year, and has announced the full list of nominees. Perhaps unsurprisingly Red Dead Redemption II and God of War lead the pack, with eight nominations each. Both were nominated for the highest prize, Game of the Year, alongside Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Celeste, Marvel's Spider-Man and Monster Hunter: World.

It is a known fact that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has opened diverse opportunities in the world of technology, but it is no secret that the economic impact of AI has also been momentous for its adopters. Come 2030, AI based initiatives will pump 12.8 trillion Euros into the global economy!* Caught up in the global frenzy to prove dominance in the realm of AI, the European Union which was till very recently nascent in its AI advancements, has now set up extensive AI strategies to further boost its economy. With a united stance, the European Union took the big leap in the direction of AI when in 2014 they announced the launch of Horizon 2020. The biggest EU Research and Innovation program till date, Horizon 2020 was initiated in order to develop a conducive environment for producing world-class innovations within the continent.

The UK government is actively funding the development of flying "killer robots" despite publicly stating it has no plans to develop them, a study claims. Research into fully autonomous drone weapons by the campaign group Drone Wars UK revealed the UK's Defence and Security Accelerator (Dasa) is funding research for developing weapons able to kill without direct human input. The report, titled Off the Leash: The Development of Autonomous Military Drones in the UK, highlighted the Taranis drone, which is capable of autonomously flying, plotting routes and locating targets. Uber has halted testing of driverless vehicles after a woman was killed by one of their cars in Tempe, Arizona. The I.F.O. is fuelled by eight electric engines, which is able to push the flying object to an estimated top speed of about 120mph The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session A man looks at an exhibit entitled'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London The Jaguar I-PACE Concept car is the start of a new era for Jaguar.

Britain will not develop Terminator-style machines which can kill without human command because they are unethical, the chief scientist at the Ministry of Defence said. Countries worldwide are in a new arms race to develop lethal autonomous weapons (LAWS) which can kill in a war zone without a person having to push a button. But this has sparked major fears that some countries could develop a fleet of killer robots which are not reined in by humans. Simon Cholerton, the MoD's chief scientific adviser, has revealed that Britain is'doing no work and has no plans to develop fully automated weapons'. He said that Britain will snub the new technological field even if the UK's Armed Forces are put at a disadvantage on the battlefield, because it is immoral.

Mobile network EE plans to switch on 5G services in 16 cities across the UK cities in 2019. EE said the first six cities to get 5G coverage will be London, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast, Birmingham and Manchester. Coverage won't be total: 5G will be offered in the busiest parts of the six launch cites -- including Hyde Park in London, Manchester Arena, Belfast City Airport, the Welsh Assembly, Edinburgh Waverley train station and Birmingham's Bullring. EE said it will also be offering some 5G services in the busiest parts of ten other UK cities -- Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool, Leeds, Hull, Sheffield, Nottingham, Leicester, Coventry and Bristol. It could also pave the way for new services such as real-time virtual or augmented reality, autonomous driving, or a significant expansion of Internet of Things (IoT) usage.

Self-driving vehicles will lead to a rise in car sex, according to a new study. People will be more likely to eat, sleep and engage in on-the-road hanky-panky when robot cars become the new normal, according to research published in the most recent issue of the journal Annals of Tourism Research. "People will be sleeping in their vehicles, which has implications for roadside hotels. And people may be eating in vehicles that function as restaurant pods," Scott Cohen, who led the study, told Fast Company magazine. "That led us to think, besides sleeping, what other things will people do in cars when free from the task of driving? And you can see that in the long association of automobiles and sex that's represented in just about every coming-of-age movie. It's not a big leap," said Cohen, a director of research for the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at the University of Surrey in England.

Samsung is developing a TV system that might one day allow users to flick channels and adjust the volume using their brains. The so-called Project Ponthius is part of a cooperation between the South Korean electronics giant and the Center of Neuroprosthetics of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland. The aim of the project is to give people with severe physical disabilities, like quadriplegia, a chance to enjoy their favorite shows without the help of others. Samsung is developing a TV set that might one day allow users to flick channels and adjust the volume using their brains. The system uses a Brain Computer Interface (BCI) to connect the viewer with the TV set.

In May, a video appeared on the internet of Donald Trump offering advice to the people of Belgium on the issue of climate change. "As you know, I had the balls to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement," he said, looking directly into the camera, "and so should you." The video was created by a Belgian political party, Socialistische Partij Anders, or sp.a, and posted on sp.a's Twitter and Facebook. It provoked hundreds of comments, many expressing outrage that the American president would dare weigh in on Belgium's climate policy. One woman wrote: "Humpy Trump needs to look at his own country with his deranged child killers who just end up with the heaviest weapons in schools."

While Mongolia may be most sparsely populated independent country in the world, in the European Union that claim goes to Finland. With just 5.5 million people (that's about the same population as Houston and Chicago put together, just without that whole deadly crime thing) Finland has many claims to fame. She is a country of great natural beauty that has influenced generations of minimalist industrial designers. More importantly though, the country follows the Nordic model of capitalism and has thus became one of the few working examples of a progressive, socially sensitive state with superb welfare, education, and healthcare services. It's no surprise then that the country's liberal administration is keen to explore the possibilities offered by artificial intelligence.