Today sees the UK launch of Amazon's latest Echo home device, a glorified alarm clock, which could see the firm put a camera and microphone in your bedroom. Echo Spot, which also doubles up as a small viewing screen, will probably be facing directly your bed most of the time. The device, which has been available in the US since December 2017 for $130, is also being released in Austria and Germany for €129.99 (£114 / $160) It has such sophisticated microphones it can hear people talking from across the room, even if music is playing. However, there remain privacy concerns over using such a device in the home, as Amazon devices have previously been activated when they're not wanted - meaning this small device could turn into a potential spy. Amazon wants to put a camera and microphone in your bedroom with the UK launch of its latest Echo home device that doubles up as a'smart alarm' (pictured) Amazon devices have previously been activated when they're not wanted - meaning this small device could turn into a potential spy.

Medical research charity LifeArc, and the Milner Therapeutics Institute at the University of Cambridge, have partnered on a project to identify and validate new drug targets in immuno-oncology and respiratory diseases. This will involve combining the drug discovery expertise of LifeArc with the machine-learning and bioinformatics expertise of the Milner Therapeutics Institute to facilitate the identification and selection of novel targets for drug discovery. Data generated will enhance the design of key experiments to validate and prioritise targets. Scientists involved in this project will be co-located at the premises' of both partners to take full advantage of both environments. Prof Tony Kouzarides, Director of the Milner Therapeutics Institute said: "We are delighted to be working closely with LifeArc in applying artificial intelligence and machine learning approaches to drug discovery. There is a lot of interest in these methods for the potential benefit patients. The drug discovery insight and investment from LifeArc will be important in realising this."

The company, which launches officially today, is founded by Affi Parvizi-Wayne who started the company after seeing refugees stuck at European border crossings on the news and wondering how they managed their periods. As a result, a portion of every subscription of £6.99 a month to Freda goes towards worldwide initiatives tackling period poverty both in the UK and internationally. This includes, A Bloody Good Cause, a UK initiative to provide pads to refugees and the homeless, Bloody Good Period, which provides asylum seekers with better access to period care, and Killi Pads, a microenterprise in Tanzania which produces reusable cloth pads with locally sourced materials for local school girls, many of whom live in poverty, with little access to running water, hygienic facilities or basic period care. The new start-up is also eco-conscious and introduces its own range of "100% certified organic cotton" tampons and pads that are eco-friendly and biodegradable. It joins a range of subscription-based start-ups in the UK including Friction Free Shaving, Birchbox, and Hello Fresh.

A new industrial revolution, largely based on automation, is around the corner and sooner or later will drastically change the way we live and organize ourselves. In future, artificial intelligence will increasingly contribute to this automation. Mr Verhofstadt warns us that we are already embarked on a biased one-way path where, either AI will make us superfluous or we find the means to collaboratively control its deployment and its social impact. The European Union took the initiative on this by adopting via its Parliament a resolution apparently following the South Korean model, and calling for rules governing AI and robotics. The paper could be an interesting read, especially those paragraphs about the dissolution of social ties (4.1.7) Nevertheless, they do not tackle the fundamental problem that concerns technological change, its impact on social classes and the concentration of capital it generates.

Passively mobile communicating machines that use restricted space.

John Zysman (Zysman.john@gmail.com) is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, cofounder of the Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy, and convener of the Berkeley Project Work in an Era of Intelligent Tools and Systems. Martin Kenney (mfkenney@ucdavis.edu) is Distinguished Professor of Human and Community Development at the University of California, Davis, and Senior Project Director at the Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy; he is also an Affiliated Faculty at Instituto di Management at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy.

Data has been called the "new oil," and one reason for this is that personal data greases the wheels of our connected world. Data makes online advertising super-targeted (and super-profitable) for Internet giants like Google, and data about online habits is highly lucrative for any brand selling online (which is most of them). If data is the new oil, we're discovering gushers each and every day. Consultancy IDC predicts the total amount of data generated globally will hit 44 zettabytes by 2020, a tenfold jump from 2013's 4.4 zettabytes. The value of this new oil has been enhanced by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning systems that are able to make sense of it all.

There has always been a disconnect between the current law and the rapid pace of technological innovation. Laws used to regulate the Internet, for example, were based on laws used to regulate the earlier era of analog telecommunication. And now it looks like European lawmakers are repeating these same kinds of mistakes when it comes to how data protection laws will impact artificial intelligence (AI), which is unlike anything that lawmakers have ever seen before. In fact, it's probably not being hyperbolic to say that most lawmakers have very limited knowledge – if any – about machine learning, neural networks and all the finer points of how an AI system works. What they do understand, though, is data – and so it's no surprise that they have been working very hard to protect consumer data using data protection laws.

With this in mind I have decided to do another of what is becoming a biannual roundup of new businesses to keep an eye out for. If you want a reminder of some of the previous firms we have spotlighted, last year I featured six at the start of the year and 12 others split over two parts in the summer. So here are ten start-ups that, while young at heart, seem to have bold plans to wake up insurance in their own ways. Pitch: Protect your business from cyber risk through artificial intelligence-based cyber assessment and tailored recommendations. Bewica is the brainchild of the former head of claims at Hiscox UK & Ireland Eva Berg-Winters.

While further thinking is needed around job changes, the business benefits of AI are already clear for many. Artificial intelligence is the tech-in-shining-armour dreamed of by CTOs across the world – yet serious questions of ROI, workforce and ethics persist. This week, AI is taking centre stage at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, as the public-private financial conference aims "to rededicate leaders from all walks of life to developing a shared narrative to improve the state of the world". On Tuesday, new research from Infosys confirmed 90% of senior executives enjoyed measurable benefits from deploying AI technologies within their organisation. A survey of C-level executives has found 86% of large companies around the world have middle- or late-stage AI deployments and view AI as a major facilitator of future business operations.