Artificial intelligence is the future. If "Westworld" or "Black Mirror" are to be believed, there will soon come a day when the computers rule us all. The USPTO has denied a pair of patents filed on behalf of DABUS, an artificial intelligence system, and published a ruling that says US patents can only be granted to "natural persons." The two patents were for a food container and a flashlight, and were filed by Stephen Thaler, an AI researcher and DABUS' creator. According to the filing from the USPTO, Thaler calls DABUS a "creativity machine" and wanted the AI to get full credit for the inventions. The filing says Thaler argued that "allowing a machine to be listed as an inventor would incentivize innovation using AI systems."

Often time, we have faced equal excitement and dilemma over introducing Artificial Intelligence in the military. Even the Department of Defense (DoD) of the USA is caught up in the same predicament. However, the recent findings by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) may finally have a solution to this problem. Apart from it, this study also proves who shall be a better judge, human, or AI in case of analyzing an enemy activity. Throughout history, humans are perceived to be an expert in comprehending and deducing a situation, even in comparison to AI.

Humans may sometimes regard robots with apprehension or resentment over the increasing automation of labor, but the coronavirus pandemic is showing how the two can work together in new ways that might save lives during a crisis. Around the globe, robots and other technologies, like drones and telehealth devices, are being used in a variety of settings and capacities to assist in the COVID-19 response since there is a level of elevated risk for human workers. Automated devices have delivered meals to quarantined travelers in a Chinese hotel; enforced curfews in Tunisia; scanned visitors for fevers entering a South Korean hospital; monitored patients in a hard-hit Italian city; and tracked social distancing compliance from the skies in a number of cities around the world, including Elizabeth, New Jersey. Many of the technologies were available commercially prior to the coronavirus outbreak, said Texas A&M University professor Robin Murphy, who studies how robots can be deployed during disasters. But now, "they are being used 24/7 and adapted to fit the needs of those using them," Murphy added.

Arcade expert and hot sauce mogul Billy Mitchell made a name for himself by earning record-breaking scores in games like Pac-Man and BurgerTime. Two years ago, de facto scorekeeper Twin Galaxies stripped Mitchell of his Donkey Kong records after concluding that his most recent score was not achieved on authentic arcade hardware. Mitchell refuted this, and in September of 2019, the gamer and his lawyer announced they'd be taking Twin Galaxies to court, after claiming that the company had defamed his name. According to Ars Technica, Mitchell had, in fact, already filed suit in April of 2019, as to avoid California's statute of limitations running its course. The case was served to Twin Galaxies this February, and a hearing will be held in July.

Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, Republican member of the House Judiciary Committee, is pressuring the Justice Department to halt the use of Chinese-made drones. Get all the latest news on coronavirus and more delivered daily to your inbox. House Judiciary Committee member Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., is pressuring the Justice Department to halt the use of Chinese-made drones by state and local governments, telling "Tucker Carlson Tonight" Monday they may be giving hostile forces important law enforcement information. "China is massively expanding a Trojan horse spying operation in our country and your local police department may be unknowingly helping them," Gaetz. "The United States Army, the Department of Interior, they've banned their use of these DJI drones, citing vulnerability and potential value for other countries. "The Department of Homeland Security wrote a scathing report that said that China specifically goes after local law enforcement," Gaetz continued. "They did so even before the coronavirus so that they can get key information transmitted to the Chinese government.

The federal government has received plenty of well-deserved flack for slow-rolling the national launch of diagnostic tests for Covid-19. First came the flawed swab-based tests from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, followed by a chaotic, lost month of regulatory tango that prevented independent tests from getting scaled and out the door. So when interest arose in a different kind of testing--antibody blood tests, which are used to find evidence of past infection, not a current diagnosis--the US Food and Drug Administration was under pressure to hurry things along. In mid-March, the agency loosened its rules, declaring via an update to its emergency use guidance that antibody tests could be sold without seeking the agency's approval, provided that manufacturers did their own validation. Now FDA officials are walking back that decision.

Renowned Visual Effects industry veteran Helena Packer, currently marking her 30th anniversary year working within the VFX arena, is currently working to enhance the next era of the visual effects field by developing new tools which will utilize the powerful advancements in digital technologies offered by Artificial Intelligence (AI). Packer explains how her new AI path came into play: In 2018, Raja Koduri, Chief Architect at Intel, approached her, asking if she would like to consult with Intel on the company's research and development of AI. For Packer, it felt like a natural fit, as she has been working to bridge technology with art throughout her entire career. During the past two years, Packer has had the opportunity to collaborate with some of the best minds currently working in AI, including Jason Yang, Co-Founder & CTO at Dgene. Packer, who sits on the Executive Committee of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), and also serves as Chair of the Diversity Committee for AMPAS' VFX Branch, is presently seeking new ways to make content creation easier and more gratifying through the incorporation of AI. "On the professional level, there is, at the moment, a huge surge in content production," Packer says.

Companies should be adjusting their data and analytics strategies to better align with market realities as they unfold. Up until a few weeks ago, it was relatively clear that companies needed to become increasingly digital to thrive in an era of rampant industry disruption. Regardless of whether businesses have been shut down or they're operating above or below their normal capacity, every company's data and analytics strategy has been impacted because the underlying data has changed. Customer behavior has changed, supply chain behavior has changed, company operations have changed. If your data and analytics strategy isn't keeping up with what's happening, then you have important work to do, quickly.

The sudden suspension of a controversial multi-million dollar surveillance system used by several government agencies in Utah has opened up a debate about the lack of oversight for artificial intelligence systems in law enforcement. Last week, the Utah Attorney General's office suspended a $20.7 million contract with Banjo -- a technology firm using government surveillance data to develop crime detection software -- following revelations of the founder's past membership of a white supremacist group. Damien Patton, who serves as CEO of the SoftBank-backed company, was reportedly an active member of the Ku Klux Klan as a teenager, and participated in a 1990 drive-by shooting of a synagogue in suburban Nashville, according to the tech blog OneZero. In a statement, a spokesperson for Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes said the office would be moving forward an already planned third-party audit of the software to "address issues like data privacy and possible bias." Reyes recommended that other state agencies do the same.

But how much has AI really helped in tackling the current outbreak? That's a hard question to answer. Companies like BlueDot are typically tight-lipped about exactly who they provide information to and how it is used. And human teams say they spotted the outbreak the same day as the AIs. Other projects in which AI is being explored as a diagnostic tool or used to help find a vaccine are still in their very early stages.