Alibaba Group chairman Jack Ma and Tesla CEO Elon Musk went head-to-head in a debate in Shanghai. The organizers of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai got more than they bargained for when they arranged a debate between Alibaba's billionaire chairman Jack Ma and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. With a combined net worth of over $56 billion, the pair delved deep into the potential benefits and consequences of this burgeoning technology. Tesla's Musk argued that "people think of AI as a smart human; it's going to be much more than that." Tesla's CEO likened the plight of ordinary humans trying to understand AI to that of chimpanzees trying to understand humans.

There is a joke spies like to tell. They say prostitution is the world's oldest profession, and espionage is the second. Now, that self-proclaimed second-oldest profession is facing a seismic shift: Artificial intelligence is pervading to the intelligence community. American intelligence isn't what it used to be. Some of the types of secrets are changing, morphing from hidden gems cemented behind walls of government hush-hush to emerging signals washed out by open-source noise.

The hype around AI is a media frenzy. If we aren't careful, we will ruin the name, due to a lack of knowledge, before it has a chance to prove itself. AI is a beautiful concept of futuristic computing that the tech industry and academic research is leading in a way that will one day see dramatic changes to the way we live. It will pivot the human race into a new digital era. Computers are not thinking for themselves nor are they able to live on their own.

In February, an artificial intelligence lab cofounded by Elon Musk informed the world that its latest breakthrough was too risky to release to the public. OpenAI claimed it had made language software so fluent at generating text that it might be adapted to crank out fake news or spam. On Thursday, two recent master's graduates in computer science released what they say is a re-creation of OpenAI's withheld software onto the internet for anyone to download and use. Aaron Gokaslan, 23, and Vanya Cohen, 24, say they aren't out to cause havoc and don't believe such software poses much risk to society yet. The pair say their release was intended to show that you don't have to be an elite lab rich in dollars and PhDs to create this kind of software: They used an estimated $50,000 worth of free cloud computing from Google, which hands out credits to academic institutions.

Stuttgart, Germany, and Yokohama, Japan – Automated driving technology is gradually providing more and more assistance to the driver – with the future aim of the car being able to take complete control. But there is more to it than that: "We want to make cars better drivers than people, and in this way to increase road safety. In other words, technology has to work more reliably than people," says the Bosch management board member Harald Kroeger. That presents a major challenge, particularly in terms of surround sensing. Only if it knows exactly, and at all times, what is going on around it can an automated vehicle choose the right, and above all safe, driving strategy.

The 2019 World Artificial Intelligence (AI) Conference (WAIC) took place in Shanghai (China) on 27 August. The Conference was devoted to AI applications in relation to Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). The Conference was sponsored by the Government of the Jinshan District, which hosts the "UAS Base", and organised by the Aircraft owner and Pilot Association (AOPA) of China. In was attended by about 200 international experts from several countries of the world. In addition to Chinese experts, presentations were delivered by speakers coming from Germany, Malaysia, Korea, Thailand, USA and Italy.

Machine Learning Digest is a curated weekly news overview for those who are concerned about the Machine Learning development across a spectrum of industries. It provides brief summaries and links to articles and news, describing the most remarkable events in the ML sphere. Banana is the world's most popular fruit and its global population is going to amount to 10 billion in 2050. Banana is a crucial source of nutrition and is an essential fruit for many people. Still, a number of pests and diseases are to damage the plants.

Welcome back to EURACTIV's Digital Brief, your weekly update on all things digital in the EU. You can subscribe to the newsletter here. Jumping straight back into the EU's digital agenda for the coming mandate, we recently heard Greek MEP Eva Kaili's thoughts on the big issues for the next five years. She highlighted concerns that the EU's data protection framework, the GDPR, could obstruct AI development on the bloc, saying that "if Article 22 of the GDPR is applied to AI tools, automated decision-making systems would be faced with regulatory backstops aimed at safeguarding the rights of data subjects." Staying with Artificial Intelligence, EU defence ministers are convening in Helsinki this week to discuss, amongst other things, the intersections between Artificial Intelligence and Defence.

Microsoft researchers have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system that has taught itself the intricacies of Mahjong and can now match the skills of some of the world's top players. The complex board game of chance, bluff, and strategy was invented in China thousands of years ago and remains a passionate pastime for millions of Asians today, with many dedicated competitors playing online. Computers have learned to play Chess and another ancient Chinese game, Go, amid much fanfare in the past. But scientists at Microsoft Research (MSR) Asia see their achievement as far more than just a case of technology mastering yet another game. The researchers – who named their system Super Phoenix, or Suphx for short – developed a series of AI algorithmic breakthroughs to navigate the uncertain nature of Mahjong.

Anthony Tassone is the Founder and CEO of GreenKey Technologies (GK), which develops natural language processing technology that structures voice and chat data for banks and trading firms. GK is based in Chicago with offices in New York and London. What are you most looking forward to at the AI & Data Science in Trading conference? I'm curious to hear how others are applying NLP, where it is making the most impact and where it can improve. We've found a growing appetite within OTC sales and trading for using NLP to automate tedious tasks and unlock client insights to generate more revenue.