In this week's column Kehlan looks at the growing influence of artificial intelligence and robotics in the workplace and how nearly half of all human jobs could be obsolete within the next few decades. During the American presidential election we saw Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton both work hard on getting votes within the'rust belt' area of America. Steel mill towns and coal districts with jobs that went somewhere else or just went altogether. What wasn't a significant talking point, and was missed by many commentators, was those jobs that are gone forever. Humans are being replaced by robotics and that will only increase in the next number of decades.

While many fans may have had sexual fantasies about their favourite celebrity, most would never have had the opportunity to act on them. But robotics could change this, according to one sex robot expert. London-based Dr David Levy, author of'Love and Sex with Robots', has said in the future it will be common to find sex robots modelled on celebrities. Earlier this year a graphic designer created a life-like replica of actress Scarlett Johansson (pictured) which is not a sex robot but winks and giggles when people tell her she's cute. Speaking to the Daily Star Online, Dr Levy said there is a demand for celebrity sex robots.

Apple FINALLY reveals the cause of its iPhone 6s'unexpected shutdown' bug - but only on its Chinese website The issue has seen some iPhone 6s devices powering down unexpectedly It affects a relatively small batch of the devices manufactured last year Apple is blaming the flaw on a battery component that was exposed to'ambient air' during the manufacturing process for longer than intended Apple is blaming the flaw on a battery component that was exposed to'ambient air' during the manufacturing process for longer than intended Apple has finally revealed the details behind a technical glitch that saw some iPhone 6s handsets shutting down unexpectedly. Creepy life-like sex robots modelled on Hollywood... Now Apple invests in driverless cars: Firm finally admits... Watch the world's biggest cities evolve: Google's timelapse... Is this Amazon's top-secret delivery drone? Creepy life-like sex robots modelled on Hollywood... Now Apple invests in driverless cars: Firm finally admits... Watch the world's biggest cities evolve: Google's timelapse... Is this Amazon's top-secret delivery drone? An Apple information website based in Japan said the company might have plans to bring out a'pure white' or'jet white' version of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. The website cited the source as a'supplier'.

Apple appears to have confirmed that it is working on a self-driving car. The company has recognised the long-rumoured vehicle product for the first time, writing to US transport regulators to say that it was "excited about the potential of automated systems in many areas, including transportation". The letter was written as a way for Apple to flag up to regulators that it was interested in getting involved with how they are developed. But far more importantly it signalled publicly that Apple is already working on such vehicles. In its facilities, JAXA develop satellites and analyse their observation data, train astronauts for utilization in the Japanese Experiment Module'Kibo' of the International Space Station (ISS) and develop launch vehicles 32/39 The robot developed by Seed Solutions sings and dances to the music during the Japan Robot Week 2016 at Tokyo Big Sight.

Nissan is using driverless cars to tow other vehicles around its production facility in Japan. Now Apple invests in driverless cars: Firm finally admits... Is Tesla working on augmented reality for drivers? Fresh... Singapore tests self-driving scooters to stop phone-obsessed... Self flying taxis prepare for takeoff: Airbus signs deal to... Now Apple invests in driverless cars: Firm finally admits... Is Tesla working on augmented reality for drivers? Fresh... Singapore tests self-driving scooters to stop phone-obsessed... Self flying taxis prepare for takeoff: Airbus signs deal to... Man punches kangaroo in the face to save dog being strangled Mob storm police station and lynch suspected paedophile Boy shows amazing talent impersonating Winifred from Hocus Pocus Moment judge gets slapped in the face at 2016 IFBB Diamond Cup The hunt for Hillary Clinton on Saturday Night Live Watch the original 1972 trailer for'Last Tango in Paris' 100 special police agents protect suspected paedophile from mob 73-year-old ex-Marine punches bear in the face to save his dogs Amazon staff work tirelessly to get parcels out to customers Police protect Douglas Carswell from angry London protesters Aerial view of the Oakland warehouse destroyed by a fire Desperate families and friends of party-goers missing after... 'Roo want a piece of me? Kangaroo grabs a dog in a headlock... Pictured: Twelve victims identified as firefighters recover... Is Europe's Brexit revolution over?

WhatsApp has reversed its plan to switch off support for older phones. The company has said that BlackBerry devices will be spared from the switch-off. But that will only last until July this year, when it will actually happen and WhatsApp will stop working on any phone running BlackBerry OS. WhatsApp announced earlier this year that it would be turning off support for older phones – including the iPhone 3GS, phones running Android 2.1 and 2.2 and many Nokias. It said that would happen at the end of the year, meaning that millions of phones would instantly lose access to one of the most popular apps in the world.

Artificial intelligence developed by the likes of Google's DeepMind and Elon Musk's OpenAI is taught within the confines of game worlds – including navigating around mazes, dodging deadly cliffs, playing laser tag and flying through space. In a mission to build a general AI capable of solving any problem put in front of it, DeepMind is open-sourcing its game code to everyone. The software and 14 levels from DeepMind Labs will be put on GitHub later this week. And, not to be outdone, Elon Musk's own OpenAI is also releasing its own'computer training ground' called Universe. Universe is open-source software that supports Gym; OpenAI's toolkit for testing its algorithms which help software play games, for example, using a reward scheme.

Websays is the result of 15 years of scientific investigations in Web Crawling, Automatic Learning and Text Analytics. Dr. Hugo Zaragoza, Websays' founder, is a worldwide expert in those technologies. He has worked more than 10 years as a lead researcher in Microsoft and Yahoo! in the United States, England and Spain. In 2010 Dr. Zaragoza founded Websays with the objective of applying the most cutting edge technology in information retrieval and data analytics, including various new patent pending technologies developed by Websays. Websays services focus on online reputation monitoring and social media marketing.

Machines may soon be trying to master just about anything you can do on a computer. Open AI, a nonprofit dedicated to pursuing big advances in AI and making that progress freely available to anyone, has released Universe, a platform that will let AI programs learn, through experimentation and positive reward, how to do all sorts of things on a computer. Universe will include more than a thousand games, but also desktop programs such as Web browsers. It will make it possible for AI researchers to train programs to do all sorts of new tricks, including potentially useful tasks like filling out online forms, responding to e-mails, and updating spreadsheets. But Ilya Sutskevar, cofounder and research director at OpenAI, says the motivation for developing and releasing Universe is a lot bigger.

The automaker thinks the technology will, in the long run, save costs and boost efficiency. The tests also can add to knowledge needed to take such autonomous driving onto public roads. Nissan executive Haruhiko Yoshimura said the automaker hoped to use the technology throughout the Oppama plant by 2019, and in overseas plants in the future. During a demonstration Monday, a Leaf car with no one inside scooted along the road, pulling a trailer with three other Leafs on it, stopped properly for other vehicles, and then veered into a parking lot. But one vehicle ran into trouble, refused to move and was not able to take part in the demonstration.