Are bots and other technologies taking over the world and relegating us humans to third-rate status? Before you get your knickers in a knot, remember this is typically the result of automation. Automation does eliminate some jobs but maybe that's not a bad thing. As we contemplate what to do with the greater freedom the digital disruption will provide, let's also consider lessons from earlier automation eras. If you believe Elon Musk and his ilk, then it's just a matter of time before a bot or other automation replaces you.

With the advent of photography, a tiny fraction of 19th-century scientists believed they could develop methods of accurately identifying criminals by their facial features. While their hypotheses were eventually discredited, new artificial intelligence technology suggests their claims might've been valid after all. Xiaolin Wu and Xi Zhang from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China have resurrected this facial recognition tradition and built a neural network that can supposedly pick out criminals by simply looking at their faces. TNW Conference is back for it's 12th year. To accomplish this, the researchers used an array of machine-vision algorithms to examine a series of facial juxtapositions between photos of criminals and non-criminals with the goal of finding out whether a neural network can reliably tell them apart.

AWS has announced three new features for its artificial intelligence portfolio at re:Invent 2016 in Las Vegas this week. Artificial intelligence is a development which could have wide ranging impacts on businesses throughout the world, and while many have been sceptical about its effectiveness the technology is starting to make waves. Google recently announced a few changes to the way its translation tool works with AI, IBM's Watson seems to be making progress constantly and Salesforce's Einstein is paying off with the company growing year-on-year. Considering the normalization of artificial intelligence and growing acceptance in the technology world, it wasn't going to be long before the public cloud leader started making itself known. And sure enough just in time for Christmas, the AWS team has put forward three new features for developers to play with.

The first sponge diver to resurface was panicked by what he'd seen. There were too many men and horses for him to count, presumably they'd been doomed in a shipwreck. The bodies were statues, part of an astounding collection of ancient works, a blockbuster archaeological find. Over the course of the next 10 months, divers recovered scores of marble and bronze artifacts from the Antikythera shipwreck, which today remains the largest ancient ship ever found. Nearly all of the ship's equipment was massively oversized--including tremendous hull planks more than 4 inches thick. The shipwreck made headlines around the world--in part because it yielded several rare bronze statues, which scholars believed might be the work of Lysippos or Praxiteles, two of the most important Classical Greek sculptors of the fourth century B.C.E., according to newspaper reports at the time.

Thanks to the relentless work of dedicated engineers, artificial intelligence, or AI, becomes smarter by the day. But while computers become better at replicating human tasks, reading comprehension, an area where machines have yet to catch up, is declining among young people, suggesting a chilling future in which AI may put people out of work. That is why Noriko Arai, a mathematician at the National Institute of Informatics, decided in November to change the direction of her project from teaching an AI to pass the entrance exam for Japan's most prestigious school -- the University of Tokyo, better known as Todai -- to focusing on improving the reading comprehension of future generations using AI technology. "AI engineers have always said that humans don't have to worry because only menial jobs will be taken over by machines. But what about the people who do such jobs?"

We're getting used to sensors finding out what we're doing. Apparently they are now sufficiently sophisticated that they can even tell if I'm sitting up straight (yes Mom – BTW using a camera is almost cheating, you should be able to do this with just an accelerometer and a gyro). But what if I told you that those same IoT sensors can tell how you feel? And now they're even being programmed to change the way you feel! Hang on to your hat because it's about to get worse or better depending on your point of view.

The federal government's highway safety agency agrees with Google: Computers that will control the cars of the future can be considered their driver. The redefinition of "driver" is an important break for Google. Companies like Visteon (NYSE: VC), which makes infotainment systems and connected car solutions, is already working with leading automakers like Ford, Mazda, Renault/Nissan, GM, Jaguar Land Rover, Honda, BMW, Daimler, PSA and Volkswagen. The company is working on making it easier for automakers to update apps in cars but also add a layer of cyber security to the infotainment system. More apps in cars mean more cybersecurity threats.

Infrastructure investment is on the forefront of political agendas around the world. From the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) spearheaded by China to the pro-infrastructure themes that united an otherwise divisive presidential campaign in the United States, the policy focus is on transportation, telecommunications, utilities and so on around us. The expected surge in such infrastructure projects is estimated to fill a gap of $8 trillion across Asia alone, and around $1 trillion in the U.S. But this policy spotlight must also now be lifted above us to outer space, where newspace industries are building, extending and connecting a space-based infrastructure to the planet as never before. Newspace is taking it another step forward, transforming the prospects for the economics, societal and national security domains.

As autonomous driving (AD) technology brings new advances and features to mobility, important questions inevitably arise. For example, how will drivers come to trust their autonomous vehicles? How will vehicles communicate with drivers and alert them to the presence of other vehicles on the road? And, what actions will vehicles take after identifying objects, signs and other road infrastructure such as painted lanes? As Nissan's Tetsuya Iijima said in our most recent Medium article on autonomous driving, social acceptance is key to its future. Takashi Sunda, Deputy General Manager of the Autonomous Drive Technology Development Department at Nissan, and his team of engineers have developed answers to these and other questions through their work on technology that enables communication between drivers and cars.

The theme as "RoboCar Big data processing" and "Sensor Solutions", will be held the 4th Georgette R4i forum The theme of "car robotics", will be held "3rd ZMP Forum".