U .S. military officers watched grainy video feeds at a small operations center in Baghdad on Tuesday as Predator drones tracked and killed three reputed Islamic State leaders -- one after another -- in the offensive on Mosul. The targeted air strikes were due in large part to intelligence extracted from cellphones, computer hard drives, memory cards and hand-written ledgers recovered from battlefields and towns taken from Islamic State fighters. Recently captured intelligence also has proved useful in providing clues to detecting potential terrorist plots, tracking foreign fighters and identifying Islamic State supporters around the globe, U.S. officials said. The largest data trove was recovered when U.S.-backed Syrian rebel forces recaptured Manbij, an Islamic State stronghold in northern Syria, in mid-August. Intelligence agencies recovered more than 120,000 documents, nearly 1,200 devices and more than 20 terabytes of digital information, officials said. Islamic State militants came early in the morning, riding atop trucks that lumbered into this northern Iraqi oil town.

There is a palpable, ominous feeling in the air that something huuuge and unstoppable is about to happen to our world -- a tectonic shift in our understanding of who we are, and how we define our reality, that we excitedly anticipate, but are deathly afraid of at the same time. Whatever this "next level" in humanity's evolution is, this much is clear, it will be powered by Artificial Intelligence in unimaginable ways that will potentially propel us to utopian heights, or destroy us in a great ball of fire, depending on who you ask [insert Elon Musk "AI robots will kill us" quote here!]. In short, AI has arrived. Either get on the train, or get run over by it. Most people, however, don't know what to do -- they're sort of stuck standing in the tracks, like dear in headlights, with the train barreling towards them full speed ahead.

Uber-owned Otto partners with Anheuser-Busch to successfully test self-driving truck technology in Colorado. NASHVILLE -- This metropolis among five global cities chosen for a self-driving cars initiative launched by Bloomberg Philanthropies in New York and the Washington, D.C.-based Aspen Institute. The program, called the Bloomberg Aspen Initiative on Cities and Autonomous Vehicles, includes Nashville, Austin, Los Angeles, Paris and Buenos Aires, along with five other cities to be added this year. The cities will have access to data and coaching from urban planners and technologists meant to help them prepare for self-driving cars and use them to address city challenges. "The advent of autonomous cars is one of the most exciting developments ever to happen to cities --- and if mayors collaborate with one another, and with partners in the private sector, they can improve people's lives in ways we can only imagine today," former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at the CityLab conference for mayors in Miami.

This metropolis among five global cities chosen for a self-driving cars initiative launched by Bloomberg Philanthropies in New York and the Washington, D.C.-based Aspen Institute. The program, called the Bloomberg Aspen Initiative on Cities and Autonomous Vehicles, includes Nashville, Austin, Los Angeles, Paris and Buenos Aires, along with five other cities to be added this year. The cities will have access to data and coaching from urban planners and technologists meant to help them prepare for self-driving cars and use them to address city challenges. "The advent of autonomous cars is one of the most exciting developments ever to happen to cities --- and if mayors collaborate with one another, and with partners in the private sector, they can improve people's lives in ways we can only imagine today," former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at the CityLab conference for mayors in Miami. Nashville Mayor Megan Barry said earlier this year that Tennessee's Davidson County could become a testing ground for self-driving cars as part of a regional push for improved transportation.

While transportation, hospitality, and financial services are all industries being disrupted by technology, the next big area poised for massive, tech-driven change may be the human workforce. "We are going to move from people to things," explained Jane Fraser, CEO of Citigroup's Latin America business, speaking Monday at Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit in Laguna Niguel, Calif. "We are expecting 500 billion objects to become connected to the internet and this automation is going to hollow out middle and working class jobs," explained Fraser. "Technology is replacing these jobs." The technology Fraser is referring to is artificial intelligence--the machine learning that powers driverless cars and other intelligent machines that are slowly taking over human tasks.

Uber is giving out free flu shots in 17 U.S. cities Time SAN FRANCISCO -- Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg is helping other civic stewards prepare for the coming self-driving car revolution. The billionaire announced Monday at the CityLab 2016 summit of 400 global leaders in Miami that his Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Aspen Institute have selected five cities that will receive expert advice and data analytics to prepare their streets for autonomous vehicles. The cities are Austin, Los Angeles, Nashville, Buenos Aires and Paris. Five more cities will be announced later this year. "If mayors collaborate with one another, and with partners in the private sector, they can improve people's lives in ways we can only imagine today," said Bloomberg, who served as New York City's top pol from 2002 to 2013.

AUSTIN, Texas -- The race is on in Formula One. Not just to the checkered flag, but to see which team can marshall the best technology. In its 70th year, the preeminent auto-racing circuit has become a tech arms race. At the U.S. Grand Prix here this past weekend, the Internet of Things, big data, virtual reality, machine learning, 3-D printing, flash storage, predictive analytics and design play integral roles in the success (or failure) of the 22 drivers that compete in 21 races globally each year. The slightest advancement, or tweak, can mean the difference between first place and 10th place -- often the difference of one second.

Whether it's Tesla's Model 3 or Uber's automated ride-hailing service, many cities will probably start seeing these vehicles on the road in just a few years. But some may not be ready for the change. How cities maintain their roads, train their workers, design their institutions and even plan their use of land might need to change dramatically as vehicle automation becomes more widespread. So to help give them a jump-start, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to develop a set of policy recommendations for cities that are just waking up to the driverless revolution. Five cities will serve as testing grounds and early participants in the conversation: Austin, Los Angeles and Nashville in the United States, as well as Buenos Aires and Paris.

With the proliferating "smart" products such as smartphones, smart home devices, machines are currently being made "smarter" than humans. While this is the next "it" subject for the future generations, as with all aspects, there are risks that come with it. There are over 8,000 leading researchers and scientists including Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, and Bill Gates, who signed an open letter insinuating the AI's possible detrimental effects to humanity. Tech Crunch writes, "Their main concern is that an existential risk faces humanity: an AI in control of autonomous weapons." In addition to that, Stephen Hawking says, "Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history," but he adds, "Unfortunately, it might also be the last, unless we learn how to avoid the risks." In an Observer Opinion report, there are U.S. scientists who are already using algorithms on computers, which can predict military strategies of terrorists.

Artifical intelligence is set to transform the marketing and communications world even more than social media has, according to 55 percent of CMOs surveyed by Weber Shandwick across five markets. The agency's latest study examines current consumer knowledge and attitudes toward AI in the US, UK, Brazil, China and Canada. Of the 150 senior executives surveyed, 68 percent said their brand is currently selling, using or planning for business in the AI era. Moreover, nearly six in 10 believe that within the next five years, companies will need to compete in the AI space to succeed. Weber Shandwick also polled 2,100 consumers across the five markets, and found that Chinese consumers (31 percent) report having the strongest knowledge of AI, while UK consumers report the weakest (10 percent).