After all the hype, 2020 will be the year that automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology starts moving out of experimentation mode and into more serious levels of adoption, believes Forrester Research. But the picture the market research firm paints is decidedly mixed for tech leaders and buyers. Here are four of the top forecasts from Laura Koetzle, the company's vice president, group director and head of research for Europe: The robotics process automation (RPA) services market has grown over the last few years, mainly because organisations have focused on tackling simple challenges and undertaken projects focused on'low-hanging fruit'. But to move to the next stage, it will be necessary to build "automation strike teams" and centres of excellence in order to put more structure around such initiatives, believes Koetzle. She also warns that in 2020, it would be "incumbent on all tech leaders" to "develop and promote a positive vision of the future of work". In other words, it will be up to them to clarify how technology, which includes RPA and AI, can be used not so much to automate jobs out, but rather to help employees undertake their jobs more effectively.

Estonia is now one of the advanced digital societies in Europe. Initially, it was in 2007 when Estonia became the first country to let citizens cast their vote online during the general elections. This is a milestone in the country's process to become fully digitised. Following this move, the country let applicants to register themselves under the e-residency program. Besides these, it is also possible to register a startup easily in Estonia and grow the business globally. This process can be done in a matter of a few minutes resulting in many startups specialising across industries.

The White House has issued principles for regulating the use of artificial intelligence that call for as little government interference as possible and offer only broad guidance to federal agencies. In fact, the principles might deter regulation of AI at a time when many think it is increasingly needed. Michael Kratsios, chief technology officer of the United States, is set to announce the principles on Wednesday at CES in Las Vegas. They arrive at a critical moment for the development of AI and for America's position as the global standard bearer. The guidelines have the potential to shape the development of a broad swath of valuable and critical technologies, from autonomous vehicles to new medical imaging tools.

The White House has released 10 principles for government agencies to adhere to when proposing new AI regulations for the private sector. The move is the latest development of the American AI Initiative, launched via executive order by President Trump early last year to create a national strategy for AI. It is also part of an ongoing effort to maintain US leadership in the field.

We love pets here at YellRobot. But one café in Tokyo may be taking things to a whole new level. Every Sunday, The Penguin Café opens an hour earlier and holds play dates for customers and their dogs. They happen to be robots. Customers seem to be really into the robot play date. They dress their pets in fancy outfits and carry them in dog carriers.

The US government wants to regulate the creation and use of artificial intelligence (AI), but it's treading carefully, not to hinder the development of this promising technology. In a Reuters report, it is being said that the White House proposed regulatory principles which should "limit the overreach of authorities". It also called upon the European Union (EU) to do the same. Detailing the plan, the White House said state agencies should "conduct risk assessment and cost-benefit analyses prior to any regulatory action on AI, with a focus on establishing flexible frameworks rather than one-size-fits-all regulation." Federal institutions should also "promote trustworthy AI" and "must consider fairness, non-discrimination, openness, transparency, safety, and security."

WASHINGTON--U.S. technology companies that build artificial intelligence software for analyzing satellite imagery will face new restrictions on exporting their products to China and elsewhere. The Commerce Department said new export rules take effect on Jan. 6 that target emerging technology that could give the U.S. a significant military or intelligence advantage. A special license would be required to sell software outside the United States that can automatically scan aerial images to identify objects of interest, such as vehicles or houses. The rules could affect a growing sector of the tech industry using algorithms to analyze satellite images of crops, trade patterns and other changes affecting the economy or environment. The new export rules are the result of Congress passing a law in 2018 that updated national security-related export controls to protect "emerging and foundational" technology that could end up in the hands of foreign governments.

It must be admitted that the reputation of artificial intelligence as a "panacea" is far ahead of it. Research, demonstrations, and publications in this field only reinforce this assumption. The topic has an almost magical attraction for many people. With all the great possibilities, however, we should don't get carried away and look at the issue more soberly and practically. When the government and some other institutions promised billions some time ago, the euphoria was great at first. Not much has remained of this euphoria (at least in Germany) and where / whether the billions will flow in their entirety, nobody knows exactly.

This Winter 2020 issue of Foresight--number 56 since the journal began in 2005--formally introduces a new section: Integrated Business Planning (IBP), the meaning of which is evolving from a term virtually synonymous with Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) to something far more encompassing, especially for large enterprises. For more than a generation, S&OP has provided the infrastructure through which forecasts are shared across functional areas of the company, then debated and hopefully reconciled. The emphasis has been short term, generally a planning horizon of several months, and tactical. Now, Foresight's new Editor for IBP Dean Sorensen is proposing an expansive consideration of strategic as well as tactical elements. Dean's article in the Forecasting and Planning Perspectives section of this issue sets the stage for a dialog on how fully integrated the planning function should be if the organization is to optimize its resources.

Parking meters, cash registers and a professional wrestling video game have fallen foul of a computer glitch related to the Y2K bug. The Y2020 bug, which has taken many payment and computer systems offline, is a long-lingering side effect of attempts to fix the Y2K, or millennium bug. Both stem from the way computers store dates. Many older systems express years using two numbers – 98, for instance, for 1998 – in an effort to save memory. The Y2K bug was a fear that computers would treat 00 as 1900, rather than 2000.