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).

On March 12 2016, children in Malawi look on amazed in the community demonstration of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs or drones) flying in Lilongwe. The Ministry of Health and UNICEF launched the first six-mile auto programmed flight in a trial to speed up the testing and diagnosis of HIV in infants. It can take hours to travel even short distances along the ramshackle dirt roads of Malawi, an impoverished African country with high rates of HIV, a virus that has taken a particularly acute toll on children. With limited trips from remote towns and villages – where large swaths of the populace live – to one of country's sparsely scattered hospitals in the capital city of Lilongwe, where they get essential medical services, testing for the virus can be an arduous task. But a new experiment conducted this year by United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) shows the potential for drones to help change that scenario amid debates over ethical issues and at a time when developing countries around the world are increasingly turning to the aerial devices to assist with humanitarian efforts.

Natural disasters are out of the reach and influence of human beings. However, a lot can be done to minimize loss of lives. Artificial intelligence is one viable option that can potentially prevent massive loss of lives while at the same time make rescue efforts easy and efficient. To learn more, checkout the infographic below created by Eastern Kentucky University's Online Masters in Safety degree program. In the period between 2005 and 2015, a total of 242 natural disasters occurred in the United States of America.

David Kenny took the helm of IBM's Watson Group ibm in February, after Big Blue acquired The Weather Company, where Kenny had served as CEO. In the months since then, the Watson business has grown dramatically, with well over 100,000 developers worldwide now working with more than three dozen Watson application program interfaces (APIs). Fortune Deputy Editor Clifton Leaf caught up with Kenny in mid-October, when IBM Watson's General Manager was in San Francisco, getting ready to open Watson West--the AI system's newest business outpost--and to launch the company's second World of Watson conference, a gathering of its burgeoning ecosystem of partners and users, in Las Vegas on Oct. 24. FORTUNE: We hear a lot of terms on the AI front these days--"artificial intelligence," "machine learning," "deep learning," "unsupervised learning," and the one IBM uses to describe Watson: "cognitive computing." KENNY: Deep learning is a subset of machine learning, which essentially is a set of algorithms. Deep-learning uses more advanced things like convolutional neural networks, which basically means you can look at things more deeply into more layers. Machine learning could work, for example, when it came to reading text. Deep learning was needed when we wanted to read an X-ray. And all of that has led to this concept of artificial intelligence--though at IBM, we tend to say, in many cases, that it's not artificial as much as it's augmented.

Does it seem like your virtual personal assistant (VPA) knows everything about your life? Microsoft's Cortana can give you reminders, track packages, send emails or texts, keep track of your flights and even remind you to say happy birthday to your cousin next time she calls. According to Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, developers made deliberate design decisions with customers in mind as the company moves into the world of artificial intelligence (AI). "When it comes to AI, the fundamental vision I have is that AI will be infused into everything," Mr. Nadella said in the Mastermind Interview at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2016 in Orlando. "The currency going forward is going to be how to build trust in technology so that people and organizations are comfortable using more technology, and I think that's one of the pressing issues of our time," he said.

WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are the most secure chat platforms, according to Amnesty International. But that decision has already met with scepticism from people in the technology community, some of whom have warned that it might not be safe to use the apps at all. Amnesty gave Facebook and WhatsApp a score of 73 out of 100 – its highest – to the two apps, which it didn't distinguish between. But it particularly picked out WhatsApp, which it said was "the only app where users are explicitly warned when end-to-end encryption is not applied to a particular chat". It did have some criticism for Facebook, which doesn't apply strong encryption by default and doesn't warn users that they're not using the most secure technology.

RTB House, a technology company specializing in retargeting scenarios, has come up with a brand new model that relies on deep learning (currently the most promising subfield of AI-oriented research) to craft digital features that recognize the attitude, intention and intent of internet users. It allows for accurate estimation of the conversion probability, which in turn makes personalized retargeting more efficient than before. The model can even be applied to users who haven't clicked ads, a long-sought after feature of digital marketers. Users take hundreds of small steps when visiting advertiser's website. The model developed by RTB House uses deep learning to identify every one of these footprints, in order to find patterns in decision-making.

Donald Trump refused to guarantee that he would accept the result of the US election if he loses, in a fiery third and final presidential debate in which Hillary Clinton accused her Republican rival of being a "puppet" of Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to a YouGov poll, 49 per cent of respondents said Mrs Clinton won the debate, while 39 per cent thought Mr Trump the victor. Here is what FT readers thought. Airbnb faces fight for survival in NYC Governor Andrew Cuomo is preparing to sign a bill that would in effect end the home-sharing company's business in New York City. The San Francisco-based company has waged a last-minute campaign to thwart the law, which would impose fines of up to 7,500 on any host who advertised short-term accommodation through Airbnb.