Ms. Kinstler is a doctoral candidate in rhetoric and has previously written about technology and culture. "Alexa, are we humans special among other living things?" One sunny day last June, I sat before my computer screen and posed this question to an Amazon device 800 miles away, in the Seattle home of an artificial intelligence researcher named Shanen Boettcher. But after some cajoling from Mr. Boettcher (Alexa was having trouble accessing a script that he had provided), she revised her response. "I believe that animals have souls, as do plants and even inanimate objects," she said. "But the divine essence of the human soul is what sets the human being above and apart. Mr. Boettcher, a former Microsoft general manager who is now pursuing a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence and spirituality at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, asked me to rate Alexa's response on a scale from 1 to 7. I gave it a 3 -- I wasn't sure that we humans should be set "above and apart" from other ...

We live in an age in which intersecting crises are being lifted to a global scale, with unseen levels of inequality, environmental degradation, and climate destabilization, as well as new surges in populism, conflict, economic uncertainty, and mounting public health threats. All are crises that are slowly tipping the balance, questioning our business-as-usual economic model of the past decades, and requiring us to rethink our next steps. In the next few months, we will once again witness a gathering of verbal diarrhea in Scotland all promising to go green. There is no doubting in the last few decades that we humans have achieved advances away beyond what our ancestors would have believed possible. The irony is that to survive we have to become something very different from what we are.

Energy communities will play a key role in building the more decentralized, less carbon-intensive, and fairer energy systems of the future. Such communities enable local prosumers (consumers with own generation and storage) to generate, store and trade energy with each other--using locally owned assets, such as wind turbines, rooftop solar panels and batteries. In turn, this enables the community to use more locally generated renewable generation and shifts the market power from large utility companies to individual prosumers. Energy community projects often involve jointly-owned assets such as community-owned wind turbines or shared battery storage. Yet, this raises the question of how these assets should be controlled--often in real-time, and how the energy outputs jointly-owned assets should be shared fairly among community members, given not all members have the same size, energy needs or demand profiles.

The Royal Navy has made its first at-sea use of artificial intelligence (AI) to track supersonic missile attacks, as part of a NATO exercise taking place off the west coast of Scotland. HMS Dragon, a destroyer, and frigate HMS Lancaster are testing how two AI software packages can support personnel in reacting to missile threats. Startle monitors airspace and generates alerts and recommendations, while Sycoiea builds on this to identify incoming missiles and recommend weapons to deal with them. The AI software is designed to help personnel react faster, rather than replacing humans. "I was able identify missile threats more quickly than usual and even outwit the operations room," said above water tactician leading seaman Sean Brooks on HMS Lancaster.

The Royal Navy, the British navy, has used artificial intelligence at sea for the first time. It was during the "Formidable Shield" exercise, currently taking place off the coast of Scotland, that AI was exploited by the maritime component of the UK army. Two applications were tested to combat supersonic missile threats. "Formidable Shield is an exercise designed to test the weapons systems of ten NATO navies and their interoperability against the latest and most advanced threats. Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, the United States and the United Kingdom participate in the initiative, which takes place every two years for three weeks. As part of the exercise, a British operational experiment was conducted on HMS Dragon, a Type 45 destroyer, and HMS Lancaster, a Type 23 frigate. Two AI applications called Startle and Sycoiea were tested to combat a potential supersonic missile threat. "It is vital that our brave and skilled armed forces stay in the game for the security of the UK and our allies.

The Royal Navy is using artificial intelligence (AI) at sea for the first time to test against supersonic missile threats. The trial is part of Exercise Formidable Shield, which is currently taking place off the coast of Scotland until June 3 and is led by Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO on behalf of the US Sixth Fleet. Research, led by Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) scientists, finds that AI accelerates engagement timelines, improves early detection of lethal threat, and provides Royal Navy Commanders with a rapid hazard assessment to select the optimum weapon or measure to counter and destroy the target. The Type 45 Destroyer (HMS Dragon) and Type 23 Frigate (HMS Lancaster) are testing two AI applications, Startle and Sycoiea. It is noted that the Startle system is designed to provide live recommendations, ease the load on sailors monitoring the'Air Picture' in the Operations Room, while Sycoiea system helps in identifying the nearest threat and how best to deal with it. These AI-based applications are being trailed to ensure that they work along with the existing radar and combat management systems.

The Royal Navy is using artificial intelligence for the first time at sea in a bid to defeat missile attacks. Leading-edge software is being tested at sea against live missiles during the largest exercise of its type off the coasts of Scotland and Norway. Involving more than 3,000 military personnel, exercise Formidable Shield tests the ability of NATO warships to detect, track and defeat incoming missiles, from sea-skimming weapons traveling at twice the speed of sound to ballistic missiles. Three Royal Navy warships are taking part in the exercise, which runs until early June: destroyer HMS Dragon and two frigates, Lancaster and Argyll. HMS Lancaster and Dragon are trialing artificial intelligence and machine learning applications which offer a glimpse of the future of air defence at sea.

The Royal Navy is using artificial intelligence for the first time at sea in a bid to defeat missile attacks. Leading-edge software is being tested at sea against live missiles during the largest exercise of its type off the coasts of Scotland and Norway. Involving more than 3,000 military personnel, Formidable Shield tests the ability of NATO warships to detect, track and defeat incoming missiles, from sea-skimming weapons travelling at twice the speed of sound just above the waterline, to ballistic missiles. Three Royal Navy warships are taking part in the exercise, which runs until early June: destroyer HMS Dragon and two frigates, Lancaster and Argyll. HMS Lancaster and Dragon are trialing artificial intelligence and machine learning applications which offer a glimpse of the future of air defence at sea.

Trust and ethics are at the heart of the new artificial intelligence (AI) strategy for Scotland, published by the Scottish Government this week. The strategy sets out the basic principles that will guide the development of AI and the actions that need to be taken over the next five years. The overall vision set out is for Scotland to become "a leader in the development and use of trustworthy, ethical and inclusive AI". The aim is to look beyond the technology to the role of AI in society. It says: "Much of what we take for granted today happens because AI is working behind the scenes, driving change and technological innovation on an unprecedented scale. "However, the use and adoption of AI should be on our terms if we are to build trust between the people of Scotland and AI." AI is technology that allows computers to perform actions that would normally require human intelligence, such as speech recognition or decision-making. It can be used from everything from diagnosing diseases to predicting what products you might be interested in based on your previous choices to self-driving cars. However, the strategy points out there are "real risks and concerns" that need addressed. AI decision-making can only be as good as the data and the algorithms that have been fed into it, so there can be concerns of bias arising from data or design and a lack of transparency in decision-making. Among the principles set out in the strategy is that AI should benefit people and planet, that "AI systems should be designed in a way that respects the rule of law, human rights, democratic values and diversity, and they should include appropriate safeguards" and that it should be transparent. One key outcome of the strategy will be the creation of an'AI Playbook', which will be a practical guide to how AI is done in Scotland. Another outcome is the setting up of the Scottish AI Alliance to provide leadership in this area. Other actions set out in the strategy include community engagement to encourage non-tech businesses to adopt AI, establishing an'AI for good' programme to help solve some of the challenges facing the country, upskilling and reskilling of the workforce, and the development of new data platforms and registers of trusted algorithms. There will be annual reviews of progress at the end of each year. Finance secretary Kate Forbes said: "Artificial intelligence offers huge economic and social potential and with Scotland's long history of academic excellence in its development we are building on strong foundations.

He said: "Mesothelioma is almost like the peel of an orange, it forms like a rind around the lung and if you take a scan of that tumour, it is a very complex shape. To measure changes in that shape is very difficult."