The topic of machine learning–enabled artificial intelligence (AI) is gaining increasing visibility in the world of investment management. Of particular interest is the application of AI to the development of smarter robo-advisers that some hope, while others fear, will yield "intelligent" and cost-effective investment management advice. This topic was raised by investment professionals during recent CFA Institute traveling conference that went to Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East. AI has also been the subject of a recent European Commission (EC) consultation document, to which CFA Institute submitted a response. For the uninitiated reader, some quick defining of terms could be helpful.

I've worked in the technology industry now for almost half my life. Frequently, I get asked why I chose to pursue a career in this space (especially when there were so few women doing so when I first jumped on board the high-tech train during the dot-com boom in San Francisco in the late 1990s). Often, I answer this question with a lovely story about attending a two-room schoolhouse in remote Prince Edward Island, the "birthplace" of Anne of Green Gables. I wax poetic about my idyllic childhood and share the eye-opening moment when I fell in love with my first gadget, a hefty portable cellular phone that my dad owned in the 1980s, the spitting image of the device Gordon Gekko flaunted in the 1987 hit flick Wall Street. However, the real answer to this question about why I chose to report on the future is far more complex than a shiny Motorola DynaTAC 8000X.

A new type of malware that threatens to send your private pictures, messages and internet browsing history to your friends has been discovered. LeakerLocker can be accidentally downloaded through apps on Google Play. It locks your phone's home screen and claims to have made a backup of any "sensitive information" you have stored on it. It then threatens to leak it to everyone you know, unless you pay off the criminals behind it. 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.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a futuristic concept found in science fiction films – it is today's technology. The power and capabilities it offers are growing, creating a future filled with possibility. The potential of AI was showcased at a Microsoft event in London recently. Journalists, scientists and researchers heard from Microsoft spokespeople such as Harry Shum, Executive Vice-President of Microsoft AI and Research Group, and Chris Bishop, Laboratory Director at Microsoft Research Cambridge. Among the announcements, including Microsoft's AI for Earth initiative, a number of companies spoke about how they are using the power of AI to drive innovation.

Who is doing groundbreaking research into artificial intelligence right now? Google and its London-based DeepMind division springs to mind. Facebook has hired some of the biggest thinkers in AI. Then there's IBM with its Watson project - and of course China is pouring vast sums into research, as it tries to replace factory workers with robots. But today another contender is shouting out: what about us? Microsoft, the company that dominated the era of desktop computing, is holding an event at which it is showing off its expertise in artificial intelligence, and in effect demanding a bit more respect from the world.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is on the tip of everyone's tongues at the moment. From how AI can help us save money to the rise of sex robots and how they can comfort the elderly and lonely, it's a trend that continues to spark interest across the board. AI is set to significantly change the way we work, live and play. A Deloitte report suggests that although technology has potentially contributed to the loss of circa 800,000 lower-skilled jobs, it has also helped to create nearly 3.5 million new higher-skilled ones in their place. Technology is benefiting businesses and contributing to the UK economy.

Nothing brings a smile to the face of Sabine Toulson – co-founder in 1995 of Intelligent Financial Systems – faster than the notion that AI and its associated technologies are "something new". Both Sabine and husband Darren were graduates of UCL's Artificial Intelligence Lab – alongside other veteran entrepreneurs such as Jason Kingdon, who founded UCL spinout Searchspace, which was famous at the time for the quality of its anti-money laundering software. Searchspace has been using machine learning techniques for years to combat money laundering, employing tools that compared millions of transactions and distinguished between legitimate and fraudulent transactions between buyers and sellers. Like Searchspace, Intelligent Financial Systems (IFS) succeeded early in cracking the difficult US financial software market. Back in 2000, the company won a contract to study and analyse the enormous volumes of data emerging daily from the Chicago Board of Trade.

While artificial intelligence is becomes a major new tool for marketers, nearly one in two retailers are missing out on leveraging AI marketing to better understand customer behaviours, according to new research. The study, conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Emarsys, looked at the growing role of AI in the retail and e-commerce industries. In an industry that's thought to be going through a'creativity crisis', there's some good news for retail marketers amongst the findings: The study, entitled'Building Trust and Confidence: AI Marketing Readiness in Retail and e-Commerce1', sought to understand if there is still a gap between the readiness of AI marketing solutions to execute on real-time B2C marketing campaigns, and the readiness of marketing tech users and business decision makers to adopt AI marketing technology. Businesses polled across US, UK, Germany, France and Australia had revenues from at least $50m to more than $5bn. The study highlighted that marketers and business decision makers polled believe AI-powered marketing will shift the role of marketing toward more strategic work (79%) and make marketing teams more efficient (86%) and effective (86%), as well as enabling them to focus on value-generating tasks as AI automates workflows (82%) and reinventing the way that marketers work (82%).

WASHINGTON – U.S. officials will allow a group of Afghan girls into the country to participate in an international robotics competition after President Donald Trump intervened, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed Wednesday, ending a saga that had sparked international backlash. Homeland Security Department spokesman David Lapan said the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services approved a State Department request for six girls from the war-torn country to be allowed in, along with their chaperone, so they can participate in the competition. The girls' applications for U.S. visas had been denied twice. The non-profit organizing the competition celebrated the reversal in a jubilant statement Wednesday. "I truly believe our greatest power is the power to convene nations, to bring people together in the pursuit of a common goal and prove that our similarities greatly outweigh our differences," said Joe Sestak, the president of First Global.

For someone who doesn't watch the Tour de France, the nuances of this multi-stage bicycle race can be quite difficult to grasp. While an outside observer might note that one team is winning and that another is lagging, the why of the matter will be obscured. Dimension Data, the official technology partner for the Tour de France, has some ideas on how to make this data more friendly and accessible to a larger audience. Dimension Data has been working with teams and the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), the event organizer, to integrate sensors into the bikes. The data generated from these sensors is used to create what is effectively a real-time map of the circuit, and a lot more besides.