The number of sophisticated cognitive technologies that might be capable of cutting into the need for human labor is expanding rapidly. But linking these offerings to an organization's business needs requires a deep understanding of their capabilities. If popular culture is an accurate gauge of what's on the public's mind, it seems everyone has suddenly awakened to the threat of smart machines. Several recent films have featured robots with scary abilities to outthink and manipulate humans. In the economics literature, too, there has been a surge of concern about the potential for soaring unemployment as software becomes increasingly capable of decision making. Yet managers we talk to don't expect to see machines displacing knowledge workers anytime soon -- they expect computing technology to augment rather than replace the work of humans.

"The behavior of the computer at any moment is determined by the symbols which he is observing and his'state of mind' at that moment." Back in early 2015, Google's mysterious DeepMind unveiled an algorithm that could teach itself to play Atari games. Based on deep neural nets, the AI impressively mastered nostalgic favorites such as Space Invaders and Pong without needing any explicit programming -- it simply learned through millions of examples. But the algorithm had a weakness: memory. Without a memory module, it couldn't store away any information it had already mastered.

This brings the three-year-old company's total funding to over $8 million. Photo taken by Alex Villafania The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is planning to incorporate research into artificial intelligence (AI) in its 2017-2022 development agenda in an effort to ramp up the country's science and technology research programs. DOST Secretary Fortunato de la Peña said during the recent National Research and Development Conference that they intend to incorporate AI into the Philippine Development Plan called "Ambisyon Natin 2040." Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Medical Image Computing (MEVIS) in Bremen, Germany have developed software that uses deep learning to facilitate the detection of tumours in progressive cancer treatment images. The package will be demonstrated in Chicago at the world's largest radiology meeting, RSNA, on 27 November to 2 December.

Our research shows that Python is one of the most popular languages for data science analyses, in use by more than one-third (36%) of organizations.

Machines enrich and enhance our lives, whether it's the smartphones that allow us to stay connected or the supercomputers that solve our toughest computational problems. Imagine how much more productive and innovative our world will be when computers become infinitely more powerful. Indeed, the growing field of quantum computing may make our current technological capacities look feeble and primitive in comparison. It could even transform the workings of the human brain and revolutionize how we think in ways we can't begin to imagine. Today, computers operate at the most basic level by manipulating two states: a zero or a one.

A coffee shop that is set open in Switzerland where customers can receive oral sex while they drink is considering using robots rather than real-life prostitutes. The outlet, which is due to be up and running in Geneva by the end of the year, was due to see men order a coffee before choosing their prostitute on an iPad. Patrons would pay more than £40 for the hot drink and sex act, according to the firm Facegirl, which is modelling the idea on similar establishments in Thailand. However, as the cafe has yet to receive the seal of approval from authorities in Geneva, the company behind the plans say they could use sex robots instead of women to carry out the services on offer. Bradley Charvet from Facegirl told the Local that he had already been in contact with an American firm that manufactures the lifelike robot-women that cost up to £2,400.

While pain can be an unpleasant experience, it is a fundamental mechanism in organisms to help them identify threats. But should robots be programmed to experience pain? A new documentary from Cambridge University tackles this divisive issue, looking at the philosophical, ethical and social questions involved with artificially programming pain responses. Science fiction author Isaac Asimov first came up with the three'laws' of robotics in a story called'Runaround', published in 1942. The first of these laws says a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

There's a place where the internet, Wi-Fi, and GPS do not exist. Communication is haphazard: Sometimes messages arrive different times at the same place, the same time at different places, or not at all. For scientists talking to submarines, robots, and other instruments, data travels at dial-up speeds of single bytes per minute--far slower than the megabits per second we use in the office or at home. Oceanographic researchers have gotten around the problem by connecting devices to tethers of fiber optic cable or copper wires, which provide enough bandwidth to stream images of the Titanic or weird creatures that live around underwater volcanic hot springs. But the heavy cables can also get tangled, dragging down the vehicles they connect.

No-fly zones are to be imposed over jails in a drive to prevent drones being used to smuggle drugs and mobile phones into prisons. Figures have revealed increasing numbers of incidents involving the use of remotely-controlled devices for smuggling contraband into jails. Ministers have vowed to crackdown on the problem because prisoners are understood to be ordering illicit cargo using phone smuggled into cells and then a'pilot' controlling the drone from outside the walls lands the device or makes it hover outside a cell window. Ministers have vowed to crackdown on the problem because prisoners are understood to be ordering illicit cargo using phone smuggled into cells and then a'pilot' controlling the drone from outside the walls lands the device or makes it hover outside a cell window In one instance, a drone carrying super-strength skunk cannabis, mobile phones and chargers came down in an exercise yard at Category B HMP Bullingdon in Bicester, Oxon. Shocking footage captured at Wansdworth Prison in London in April, showed a black bag floating through the air via a drone into a window, where two pieces of wood tied together could be seen reaching out from a cell and hooking it in.

Sophos has announced the acquisition of Irish security firm Barricade, adding behavior-based analytics to its endpoint offering. Barricade offer a technology platform that it claims can enhance the ability to identify malicious or suspicious behaviour by using machine learning and artificial intelligence. It said that this works by extending the capabilities of rule-based detection technologies, that will be increasingly challenged to keep up with the growth of sophisticated and complex attack patterns. Sophos will maintain the offices in the Republic of Ireland with Barricade CEO David Coallier and the team of developers, data scientists and engineers joining the Sophos Cloud group. Coallier said: "We are proud of the technology we have built and are pleased to join the team at Sophos focused on artificial intelligence and machine learning based security analytics. Driving the development of our technology into a comprehensive security solution that every IT professional can use presents us with the next phase in our exciting journey."