Robot aircraft are to be tested in UK airspace to help refine systems that control autonomous planes. BAE said it would be carrying out 17 flights, using a converted Jetstream 31 capable of flying itself. Human pilots will handle take-off and landing, but the craft will be autonomous as it navigates 300 miles (482km) from Lancashire to Inverness. The trial will assess piloting software as well as sensor systems that monitor clouds and other aircraft. To pilot itself, the Jetstream aircraft will use data from satellites as well as on-board identification systems that log radio signals broadcast by transponders on other planes.

For the first time ever, a team of eye surgeons were able to inject a thrombolytic drug directly into a patient's retinal vein to dissolve a blood clot. It was a success despite the fact that the vein is as thin as human hair thanks to a surgical robot developed by researchers from KU Leuven, a university in Belgium. The condition they treated is called retinal vein occlusion, and it leads to reduced eyesight and blindness. At the moment, doctors can only suppress its effects with monthly eye injections, because the retinal vein itself is only around 0.1 millimeter wide. It's just much too thin for manual injections when the drug has to be administered for 10 minutes straight.

Two summers ago, Magna International Inc. and Royal Bank of Canada brought together some of Canada's brightest entrepreneurs and innovators to brainstorm what Canada needs to foster the development of emerging technologies and tech companies. Fast forward to today and we are on the cusp of the next great technological revolution, driven by artificial intelligence (AI). The term may conjure up visions of science-fiction movies with apocalyptic outcomes, but the reality is we are already living in a world infused with AI, from music and movie recommendation services, to driver assistance systems in cars, to virtual personal assistants in our phone or in our home. Over the past few years, the pace of technological innovation and exploration of AI has increased exponentially, with futuristic ideas such as self-driving cars becoming tangible products of today. At the recently concluded World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, one of the major themes centred on AI as the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Artificial intelligence startups raised $5.02 billion worldwide in 2016 to hit a five-year high, as application of the technology expands from online services and finance to such far-ranging fields as agriculture. This trend is likely to continue through 2017, as investors scout out promising technologies and talent. AI-related startup funding rounds totaled 658 last year, up from 493 rounds in 2015, when funding reached $3.12 billion, according to U.S.-based research firm CB Insights. So-called mega-rounds are also increasing. For example, Texas-based StackPath, a startup offering AI-based cybersecurity services, took in $180 million.

As the Global Legal Post reported today that the Law Society urges firms to harness the power of automation, the following article was the cover story published in the Leeds & Yorkshire Lawyer (the official journal of Leeds Law Society) titled AI and the rise of the robot on 20th December 2016 and is reproduced with kind permission. I was delighted to be interviewed and share some of my thoughts about AI in the legal eco-system and the benefits for lawyers, entrepreneurs, business people and consumers... Artificial intelligence (AI) is slowly changing how law firms work. Should lawyers be worried about their futures? Technology has been forcing subtle changes to the practice of law for decades now. Whether lawyers have welcomed all of the alterations to the way in which they work has almost been immaterial.

Cheers! Raise a glass to the revolutionary new "Holiday Spirit" rum that puts the A and I into a Mai Tai. Virgin Holidays has unveiled the world's first "data-distilled" drink created by Artificial Intelligence – a bespoke booze they say is "infused with real emotions from holidaymakers around the world''. Sir Richard Branson's firm enlisted IBM's Watson, the world's most intelligent super-computer, to analyse the thoughts and feelings of more than 15 MILLION holidaymakers from their posts on various social media platforms. The predominant getaway emotions were then matched to more than 5,000 rum flavour descriptions and reviews to create a one-off rum recipe that was distilled at the Foursquare plant in Barbados . For example, Watson concluded happy equals vanilla, excited means sugar cane, curious can be matched with cinnamon and relaxed equals coconut. The project was overseen by UK rum guru Ian Burrell to ensure that a recipe derived from Artificial Intelligence was accurately distilled. Using his master blender skills, Ian carefully replicated the digital emotions expressed to create what Virgin Holidays hopes is a smooth, sweet and lightly spiced drink that captures the home of rum, the Caribbean. A Virgin Holidays spokesman said: ''We've long been known for creating the'perfect blend' when it comes to holidays, so we set ourselves the task of translating this into something tangible. Bottling the holiday spirit and creating a blend informed by joy, excitement, curiosity and confidence perfectly encapsulates the Virgin Holidays experience.'' Ian added: "The Virgin Holiday Spirit has a subtle vanilla flavour, medium sweetness, hints of coconut and is naturally caressed with cinnamon and allspice.

Disruptive technologies are dictating a new future for humankind. Almost every day we hear of new advances that blur the lines between the realms of the physical, the digital and the biological. Robots are now in our operating rooms and fast-food restaurants. It's possible, using 3D imaging and stem cell extraction, to grow human bone from a patient's own cells. This tsunami of technological change is clearly challenging the ways in which we operate as a society.

The less constrained model indeed performs better (judging by AIC, which drops from to 3696 to 3278). Autocorrelation of errors also is reduced overall. Now, with the improved models, let's finally get forecasting!

IBM has started to use its artificial intelligence programme, Watson, to plan and buy media in the UK. It's something the tech giant has been doing in the US for over 18 months and has thus far delivered massive gains in the performance of its online ad campaigns, according to the business. Sitting within The Trade Desk – its media planning platform – Watson over time learns how effectively a campaign is performing for different audiences at different times, locations, devices and browser. Based on this information, it will then only bid on inventory that aligns to any given audience, and even then will consider the size of an ad and how effective it will be in relation to those other factors. In the US, IBM claims this has reduced its cost per click by as much as 71%, although the average hovers around the 31% mark.

The big data paradigm has changed how we make decisions. Armed with sophisticated machine learning and deep learning algorithms that can identify correlations hidden within huge data sets, big data has given us a powerful new tool to predict the future with uncanny accuracy and disrupt entire industries. What if some decisions can't be based just on data? That may sound like a heresy to people who have devoted themselves to the religion of data, to the business leaders who have declared their allegiance to making data-driven decisions. Sure, there may be obstacles to overcome, such as data cleanliness, governance, and security concerns.