It seems as if the conversation around the nature of healthcare's AI future is one that's been conducted without the voices of patients themselves Whether it's in the promise of safer self-driving cars; the threat of job automation; or the vision of the virtual assistant that knows your shopping list before you even know it yourself, artificial intelligence is tipped to transform every aspect of our lives. And this is particularly true in healthcare, where over the last five years AI startups have raised over 300 equity investment deals – more than in any other sector. Investment, however, isn't enough on its own to determine future direction or velocity, and there are several likely limiting factors on the impact that AI may have on healthcare over the short to medium term. For a start, the technology itself, as highlighted by a recent STAT News report on IBM's Watson, still remains in its infancy – despite media and marketing claims to the opposite. Silicon Valley's disruptive mantra of'move fast and break things' is all very well if all that's at risk of being broken is the integrity of a shopping list and a delivery slot, but when it's human wellbeing at stake you probably need to move more slowly – and to take care.

Whether you're excited about it or not, robots and artificial intelligence are an inevitable part of a future that we're fast approaching. Thanks to books and films littered with rogue A.I.s and malevolent robots, some people are understandably a bit frightened by the prospect of a world overrun by such technologies. They're not alone, as many experts across fields as diverse as technology and economics are also expressing their fears over the rise of the robots. While these fears are certainly valid, it's important to note that these concerns are being voiced in the hopes that technology can be improved, not prohibited. Here are just some of the pressing concerns regarding robots and A.I.s that experts want to see addressed before the new era of technology commences.

The British government is keen to recognise the importance of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation in ensuring the long-term future success of UK industry. In line with this, it has acknowledged that one of its'grand challenges' is putting the UK at the forefront of the AI and data revolution. In fact, comments from Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond have suggested that large swathes of government activity will soon be performed by AI and automation to free up time for (human) civil servants. Automating some aspects of government jobs will result in savings and efficiencies. However, there are concerns that public sector workers will be at risk of losing their jobs to AI and automation in the next decade.

Uber has wildly ambitious plans to send flying taxis soaring over cities, but building them will be orders of magnitude harder than anything it has ever done. As such, the company announced that it will open a Paris lab dedicated to its Elevate program called the Advanced Technologies Center in Paris (ATCP). Uber will spend €20 million ($23.4 million) over five years to develop the AI algorithms, air traffic control and other tech necessary for the service. Uber will recruit engineers, AI specialists and computer vision researchers when the center opens this fall. "Initial projects will include: machine learning-based transport demand modeling, high-density low-altitude air traffic management simulations, integration of innovative airspace transport solutions with European aviation regulators such as EASA, and the development of smart grids to support future fleets of electric transport on the ground and in the air," Uber said in a press release.

In short, there is a global demand for clean, cheap, reliable energy – and artificial intelligenceArtificial Intelligence knows many different definitions, but in general it can be defined as a machine completing complex tasks intelligently, meaning that it mirrors human intelligence and evolves with time. Enabling the growth of low-carbon, green electricity is an AI application with a potentially huge long-term impact. Enabling the growth of low-carbon, green electricity is an AI application with a potentially huge long-term impact Renewable forms of electricity are emerging as the successors to traditional coal and gas-fired power plants. A key problem with renewable electricit y, however, is its inconsistency. A cloudy day or a string of calm, windless afternoons will cut generation and can create power shortfalls. Conversely, too much energy can be generated; in March this year, for example, a sunny, windy Portugal produced more renewable electricity than it consumed.

MajorMajor CyberCyber--AttackAttack UK Internet Service ProviderUK Internet Service Provider EstimatedEstimated $$$$$$ Loss Loss $55$55 MillionMillion 12. 1717thth Nov 2015Nov 2015: "Islamic State is Plotting: "Islamic State is Plotting Deadly CyberDeadly Cyber--Attacks":Attacks": George OsborneGeorge Osborne 12CyberVision: 2015CyberVision: 2015 -- 20252025 *** 21stC Cybersecurity Trends *** London, UK:: 15th December 2015 Dr David E. Probert: www.VAZA.com

The hack, featuring software engineers from Microsoft who had travelled from across Europe and Africa to work with OS's machine learning team, used the city of Hull as a testbed. The trained machine model finished the week by correctly identifying 87% of the roof types it was shown. In its training the model was shown 500 flat roofs and 500 hipped/gabled roofs, set a confidence limit of 90%, which means it must be 90% confident or more for its assessment to count. Isabel Sargent, Senior Research and Development Scientist at OS, says: "Thanks to the excellence of the Microsoft team we have been able to work out together how to stream this machine captured data into our database for if and when we're ready to put machine learning into production. It's already very accurate, going from zero to 87% accuracy in just one week, but we need to increase its success rate. Although much slower, humans typically have an error rate of around 5%."

From booking systems to customer and feedback services, chatbots are ubiquitous in business. But in areas, such as health or the home, people seem less willing to engage with what is effectively a computer running smart software or a machine that "learns" thorough artificial intelligence (AI). However, businesses are increasingly taking advantage of advances in emotionally intelligent AI to open up new opportunities to gain people's trust when it comes to more sensitive subjects. Nowhere is the use for emotionally intelligent AI more apparent than in healthcare. When pharmaceutical company HRA Pharma Deutschland was looking at using a chatbot to give women in Germany advice on the morning-after pill, it needed it to do more than parrot its website.

We often talk about robots working for us--even replacing our jobs, but what about robots as co-workers? At the KUKA development lab in Augsburg, Germany, scientists are building robots that can help professionals with tedious and dangerous tasks, leaving the humans to work on more complex problems in a safer environment. Grant Imahara traveled to Germany to learn more about the lab's collaborative robot. KUKA has developed the first robot approved for human-robot collaboration (HRC): the KUKA LBR iiwa. LBR stands for "Leichtbauroboter," German for lightweight robot, and iiwa is for "intelligent industrial work assistant."

Training the algorithm requires a lot of photos of beaches and a lot of human eyes to tag the plastic in those photos. The Plastic Tide has uploaded all the photos they've collected to Zooniverse, a citizen science portal, so anyone can go online and tag plastic. This past March, during British Science Week, the effort got a boost when students across the United Kingdom identified more than 1.5 million plastic fragments in photos. The photos were taken by 72-year-old Morris Enyeart, who has contributed more than 7,000 images to The Plastic Tide. Enyeart could have retired a couple years ago, when he sold his web design company.