The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is quietly building what will likely become the largest database of biometric and biographic data on citizens and foreigners in the United States. The agency's new Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology (HART) database will include multiple forms of biometrics--from face recognition to DNA, data from questionable sources, and highly personal data on innocent people. It will be shared with federal agencies outside of DHS as well as state and local law enforcement and foreign governments. And yet, we still know very little about it. The records DHS plans to include in HART will chill and deter people from exercising their First Amendment protected rights to speak, assemble, and associate. Data like face recognition makes it possible to identify and track people in real time, including at lawful political protests and other gatherings.

Artificial intelligence is gaining momentum, but as the technology develops, it is also being more racist, sexist, and unfriendly to women. The question that arises is: Are AI algorithms amplifying the biases of human society? With the novel development of artificial intelligence, machines are expected to become as smart as people; however, it seems that it is becoming alarmingly more sexist than prejudices which infiltrate applications, algorithms and drawings. In 2013, Google researchers created a neural network on a body of 3 million words extracted from Google News. The goal was to look for patterns in the way that some words appear next to others.

A self-balancing exoskeleton is being tested in France that enables people with complete lower body paralysis to walk. Many exoskeletons require the wearer to use crutches at the same time, but this one maintains its own balance to help mimic a person's natural gait. The exoskeleton, called Atalante, is made by Paris-based company Wandercraft. It has two movable legs and a back rest, all of which have straps that wrap around the user. To walk, they simply move their hips.

A factory in China that manufactures Amazon Kindle e-readers and Echo Dot smart speakers is under investigation over alleged mistreatment of workers, following a nine-month investigation into working conditions. US-based advocacy group China Labour Watch published a string of allegations regarding working conditions at the Hengyang factory of Foxconn, one of the online retail giant's suppliers. Its report claimed workers were required to work more than 100 hours of monthly overtime during periods of peak production, and found one instance of people working 14 straight days without a day off. "All workers are subject to long hours and low wages," the report claimed. "As wages are low, workers must rely on overtime hours to earn enough to maintain a decent standard of living."

Drones have become the ultimate option for monitoring, surveying and inspection. Enel, the multinational energy company has implemented this strategy and selected Percepto's Sparrow system to monitor the Torrevaldaliga Nord power plant in Italy. The Sparrow's AI and computer vision technology will allow it to operate as independently as possible, and the collected aerial footage, photography is transmitted to Enel in real-time. "While drones are touted as the technology of the future, the ability to act autonomously unlocks their true potential, enabling them to act as a responsible, independent and smart team member that provides not only a bird's eye view of facilities, but real, actionable insights," said Percepto CEO, Dor Abuhasira. The goal is to introduce cost-effective and practical drone support to a business model attempting to continuously refine itself.

Regulators are beginning to teach robots who's the boss. After spending billions of dollars on cutting-edge artificial intelligence technologies, Europe's banks and insurers face tougher scrutiny of the tools they use to help root out fraud, check borrowers' creditworthiness and automate claims decisions. European Union rules starting this week will stress human oversight and consumer protection, which may hamper companies trying to build the tools of the future. "Companies developing AI technologies will have to consider and embed the data protection issues into the design process," David Martin, senior legal officer at Brussels-based consumer advocate BEUC, said in an interview. "It's not something where they can just tick a box at the end."

CogX is a two-day AI extravaganza that brings together the biggest, best and brightest minds in Europe to really talk about the future of AI, blockchain and the future. Hold this conference in China or the US and you'd have a completely different conversation thanks to investment levels, protectionism and talent strategies - a key theme of several of the early panels and people I spoke to. The panel on the main stage who opened up CogX in London were tasked with setting the scene for the future of AI and where we are right now. The tone set felt distinctly like we're losing to the US/China, mixed with'we're on a knife-edge of bad things happening' sprinkled with distinctly hopeful tones that potential issues are not inevitable. Made up of some of the best minds currently thinking about such things, the focus seems to have moved from potential to'winning races' and protectionism.

Memrise, a UK startup whose eponymous language-learning app employs machine learning and localised content to adapt to users' needs as they progress through their lessons, has raised another $15.5 million in funding to expand its product. The funding comes after a period of strong growth: Memrise has now passed 35 million users globally across its 20 language courses, and it tipped into profitability in Q1 of this year. Ed Cooke, who co-founded the app with Ben Whately and Greg Detre, told TechCrunch that this places it as the second-most popular language app globally in terms of both users and revenues. This round, a Series B, was led by Octopus Ventures and Korelya Capital, along with participation from existing investors Avalon Ventures and Balderton Capital. Memrise is not disclosing its valuation -- it has raised a relatively modest $22 million to date -- but Cooke (who is also the CEO) said the plan will be to use the funding to expand its AI platform and add in more features for users.

"I think what's key about AI is that it's a horizontal technology wave--AI is a profound enabling technology which is cutting across all sectors, which explains why it's ranked quite so highly," LocalGlobe's cofounder and Forbes Midas List alumnus Saul Klein told Forbes about the results of the survey.

Banks That Have Implemented Social Media Payments Through Facebook and Twitter, Let's Talk Payments