If you're going to try to keep up with the best video gaming has to offer, you'll want to start thinking about getting these titles when they launch. Gamers, get your thumbs ready. If 2019's E3 is any indication, you need to rest them up for the onslaught of upcoming titles, for all gaming platforms. Attracting roughly 60,000 attendees – all of whom play a role in the multibillion-dollar interactive entertainment industry – the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles once again shone a light on the near future of video games, hardware and services. Especially if you're into action-heavy games, the following are eight highlights from this year's E3 that will be available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Windows PC and upcoming streaming platform Google Stadia.

Much as robots have transformed entire swaths of the manufacturing economy, artificial intelligence and automation are now changing information work, letting humans offload cognitive labor to computers. In journalism, for instance, data mining systems alert reporters to potential news stories, while newsbots offer new ways for audiences to explore information. Automated writing systems generate financial, sports and elections coverage. A common question as these intelligent technologies infiltrate various industries is how work and labor will be affected. In this case, who – or what – will do journalism in this AI-enhanced and automated world, and how will they do it?

"Daddy, did you check the weather forecast?" This is the question my daughter asks me almost every morning. I'll be honest, I don't usually check the forecast. I choose instead to rely on my own judgment. I look at the sky, think about what the weather has been like for the last few days, or stick my head out the door to see how the air feels.

Cops would love to have a system that uses DNA from a crime scene to generate a picture of a suspect's face, but that tech is still restricted to science fiction. That technology may never exist, but a team of Belgian and American engineers just developed something similar. Using what they know about how DNA shapes the human face, the researchers built an algorithm that scans through a database of images and selects the faces that could be linked to the DNA found at a crime scene, according to research published Wednesday in the journal Nature Communications -- a powerful crime-fighting tool, but also a terrifying new way to subvert privacy. Because people's faces are also shaped by things like diet, age, environment, and socioeconomic background, it's impossible to predict what someone will look like based on DNA alone. "This method mostly helps rule people out," Catholic University of Leuven engineer Peter Claes said in a press release.

As humans, it is our responsibility to take care of the planet. It is our home, and the way we treat the environment has everlasting impacts on future generations. Over the centuries as we have moulded and manipulated natural resources, we have created some life-changing technologies, but have also created environments that have negative ramifications to our planet. We have the opportunity to act now for a positive change and transform the land, seas and air by acting responsibly with social and environmental growth at the core. This World Environment Day, we're taking a look at how some global AI experts are leveraging technology for positive social impact to benefit the environment and the world.

Oracle Corp. is updating its powerful Exadata database server appliance that's used by companies to run its Autonomous Database and cloud applications. The Oracle Exadata Database Machine X8, made generally available today, brings with it some "unique machine learning capabilities" that help to improve performance and monitoring. It's the latest update of a computer that was introduced more than a decade ago. "Today, we are improving the performance and capacity of the platform, and adding a broad range of capabilities based on artificial intelligence and machine learning to further increase Exadata's advantages," said Juan Loaiza, executive vice president of Mission-Critical Database Technologies at Oracle. Analyst Holger Mueller of Constellation Research Inc. said the real value of Exadata X8 is that Oracle offers it not just for customers running its database on-premises, but also those who opt for the cloud version of its Autonomous Database deployed on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

In a world of taps, swipes, likes and shares, the ability to empathise with others remains a vital part of our daily lives. From comforting a friend, to sharing the pain of an unwell child, empathy is a vital skill that we develop through childhood. Now, thanks to advancements in technology, we're at a stage where we can think about the importance of empathy in machines. Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming an ever-increasing presence in our daily lives, whether it's the voice assistant on your phone, or the complex algorithms used to fight diseases. The way we design interactions with AI systems and the results they provide should be thoughtfully considered, and in the future, the responsibility for designing artificial empathy could fall under the remit of an empathologist – a job that has yet to exist. We spent some time discussing the impact and importance of empathy in AI systems and the possible roles that an empathologist might one day play, with Michael Banissy, Professor and Head of Department in Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London, and Chris Edgar, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Banissy Lab.

According to foreign-policy experts and the defense establishment, the United States is caught in an artificial intelligence arms race with China--one with serious implications for national security. The conventional version of this story suggests that the United States is at a disadvantage because of self-imposed restraints on the collection of data and the privacy of its citizens, while China, an unrestrained surveillance state, is at an advantage. In this vision, the data that China collects will be fed into its systems, leading to more powerful AI with capabilities we can only imagine today. Since Western countries can't or won't reap such a comprehensive harvest of data from their citizens, China will win the AI arms race and dominate the next century. This idea makes for a compelling narrative, especially for those trying to justify surveillance--whether government- or corporate-run.

New York: Continuing its mission to build trusted partnerships with advertisers and publishers, Verizon Media today announced an innovative new omnichannel insights tool for its industry-leading demand-side platform (DSP). Powered by machine learning, the new tool is designed to give advertisers clarity on their omnichannel programmatic ecosystem, with robust performance insights and optimization recommendations for each channel, ad format and exchange. According to a recent survey by Advertiser Perceptions, among advertisers, "transparency" is the most important word of 2019, with brands rightfully seeking more insights into campaign performance and media quality than ever before. Similarly, 60% of US advertising executives cite a lack of transparency as the biggest challenge for digital spend optimization. "At Verizon Media, trust and transparency are more than just buzzwords," said Iván Markman, Chief Business Officer at Verizon Media.

According to the National Academy of Sciences, a sixth mass extinction is underway. Animal species are disappearing at 1,000 to 10,000 times the natural rate. We recently reported on scientists using artificial intelligence to analyze photos to help track at-risk species such as giraffes and whale sharks. Now AI is being used to analyze sound to help protect forest elephants in central Africa. Mainly due to poachers and habitat destruction, the number of forest elephants went from an estimated 100,000 in 2011 to fewer than 40,000 today.