It's day one at the Singularity University: the opening address has just been delivered by a hologram. Craig Venter, who was one of the first scientists to sequence the human genome and created the first synthetic life form, is up next. And later, we will see two people, paralysed from the waist down, use robotic exoskeletons to rise up and walk. But first, the co-founder of the Singularity University, Peter Diamandis, gives us our instructions for the day. Your task, he says, is to pick one of the "grand challenges of humanity" – the lack of clean drinking water, say. And then come up with an idea that "can positively impact the lives of a billion people". Some of us haven't even had coffee yet. There's about 50 of us present and the room has been divided up into tables, one for education, another for poverty, another for water, and I'm not sure where I should sit. Diane Murphy, the university's PR executive, hesitates for a moment and then directs me over to the table marked "food". "Tell you what," she says.

The threat from such machines is real enough for 100 states to come together and debate the matter of their ban for three consecutive years now. The use of autonomous machines could potentially change the vocabulary of warfare, just like gun powder and nuclear arsenal upon their entry into the battlefield. In April 2013, NGOs associated with successful efforts to ban landmines and cluster munitions got together in London and issued a call to governments urging the negotiation of a treaty preventing the development, deployment and use of what are known as'Killer Robots' in popular parlance. In July 2015, some of the world's leading Artificial Intelligence (AI) scientists including Apple co-founder Steven Wozniak, Skype co-founder Jaan Tallin and Professor Stephen Hawking signed a letter with nearly 21,000 signatures asking for an outright ban on these autonomous weapons systems (AWS). "Autonomous weapons will become the Kalashnikovs of tomorrow," states the letter.

Welcome to California Inc., the weekly newsletter of the L.A. Times Business Section. Expect financial markets to face headwinds today after the Federal Reserve reported Friday that U.S. industrial production fell more than expected in March. This is the latest sign that economic growth slowed significantly in the first quarter. On the plus side, though, many economists still forecast a rebound in growth as the year plods ahead. Tax deadline: Monday is the deadline for most Americans to submit their tax returns.

The days when a Facebook post would reach 90 percent of a page's audience have come and gone. In 2011, I was managing operations for Coca-Cola's global Facebook page, which had just surpassed Starbucks to become the largest CPG brand page on Facebook. The page was shared among dozens of markets because Facebook did not yet support regional pages. And each post was geotargeted to reach the right audience. One fine August day, Facebook dropped the targeting from a post specific to our Brazilian audience.

Chinese workers have seen the future, and it involves artificial intelligence, robots, and other forms of automation replacing them, at least for repetitive tasks. That's how workers responded to interviews about the future of work (pdf) conducted in 13 countries by the ADP Research Institute, part of the payroll systems company ADP. In contrast to China, a minority of workers in Germany think machines will take over repetitive tasks in the future. Workers in Chile, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and France among other countries agree. But American workers and those in India are inclined to see things the Chinese way; nearly two-thirds of those polled said they thought the machines were coming for repetitive work.

The "Artificial Intelligence Market" report provides analysis of the global artificial intelligence market for the period 2014–2024, wherein the years from 2016 to 2024 is the forecast period and 2015 is considered as the base year. The report precisely covers all the major trends and technologies playing a major role in the artificial intelligence market's growth over the forecast period. It also highlights the drivers, restraints, and opportunities expected to influence the market growth during this period. The study provides a holistic perspective on the market's growth in terms of revenue (in US Bn), across different geographies, which includes Asia Pacific (APAC), Latin America (LATAM), North America, Europe, and Middle East & Africa (MEA). Moreover, the report provides the overview of various strategies and the winning imperatives of the key players in the artificial intelligence market and analyzes their behavior in the prevailing market dynamics.

The MSLGROUP goes to SXSW every year with digital specialists from all over the world – Germany, France, India, Singapore, Brazil, the US, etc. – to network, witness new trends, collaborate and share ideas. MSL Germany's Adrian Rosenthal, Head of Digital & Social Media, and Heiko Geibig, Head of Consumer Practice, joined the world's biggest conference on digital technologies this year. They had a closer look at the communication trends and give an overview about the meta trends of the SXSW 2016: 1. Virtual Reality 2. Social Messaging 3. Robotics & Artificial Intelligence Get in touch with us for any further inquiries: Adrian Rosenthal – Head of Digital & Social Media 030 820 82-522 adrian.rosenthal@mslgroup.com Heiko Geibig – Head of Consumer Practice 030 820 82-579 heiko.geibig@mslgroup.com

Robot cage fights are pretty sweet--who doesn't like seeing machines armed with spinning sawblades flamethrowers fight to the death--but medieval robot wars are so much more fun. Think about it: Hand-built robots catapulting rocks at castles, trying to breach their defenses. George R. R. Martin couldn't come up with something that crazy. But some 1,500 high school kids in Southern California did, coming together for an epic battle last month during the Los Angeles regional championship of the "Super Bowl of Smarts." Now, the thought of a robot war set in the Middle Ages probably brings to mind all the worst stereotypes of geeks and nerds and dweebs.

The rise of on-demand startups and other fast-growing businesses like online marketplaces has created a need for reliable ways to verify new hires and customers to make sure they are cut out for the task. Onfido, one of the group of startups building software-based solutions to do just that, has raised 25 million to meet that need. The Series B round was led by Idinvest Partners, with participation also from existing backers Wellington Partners and CrunchFund (founded by TC founder Michael Arrington), and brings the total raised by the startup to just over 30 million. It's not disclosing its valuation in this round, but as a marker, its competitor Checkr, which has raised just under 50 million, is valued between 250 million and 300 million. Onfido plans to use the capital in a couple of different ways.

Scientists have compiled the biggest known library of bat sounds in an effort to identify and conserve rare species. Mexico is home to many of the world's bats, but it also has one of the highest rates of extinction. International researchers recorded more than 4,500 calls from about half of Mexico's 130 bat species. The audio library allows bat calls to be identified automatically, helping to monitor any changes in biodiversity. Co-researcher, Prof Kate Jones, of UCL and Zoological Society London, said the ability to map bats was crucial for implementing effective conservation measures.