Is Artificial Intelligence taking over our jobs or can AI assist us to be better at our jobs? Whichever way you look at it, you can't deny how far we've come. These days we hear things like Reinforcement Learning and Machine Learning. We speak to Dr Marko Kesti, CEO of Playgain and Research Director at the University of Lapland in Finland to talk about the quality of life in the present and the future with artificial intelligence.

Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Toyota AI Ventures today announced Fund II, a new $100 million fund dedicated to investing in early-stage startups developing disruptive technologies and business models in the autonomous mobility and robotics markets. Led by founding Managing Director Jim Adler, who also serves as executive advisor at the Toyota Research Institute (TRI), Toyota AI Ventures (TAIV) was founded in July 2017 as a subsidiary of TRI. In less than two years, Toyota AI Ventures has invested in a diverse portfolio of 19 startups. Fund II brings the firm's total assets under management to more than $200 million to support startups around the world. "Auto manufacturers must participate in the startup ecosystem to stay ahead of the rapid shift in the auto industry," stated Adler.

In October, Amazon had to discontinue an artificial intelligence–powered recruiting tool after it discovered the system was biased against female applicants. In 2016, a ProPublica investigation revealed a recidivism assessment tool that used machine learning was biased against black defendants. More recently, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development sued Facebook because its ad-serving algorithms enabled advertisers to discriminate based on characteristics like gender and race. And Google refrained from renewing its AI contract with the Department of Defense after employees raised ethical concerns. Those are just a few of the many ethical controversies surrounding artificial intelligence algorithms in the past few years.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is used more widely in Belgium than in neighbouring countries, and the feedback on the experience is more positive than elsewhere, according to a new study. Around 54% of the representative sample of over 1,000 Belgians who responded online to questions by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Ipsos said they had already dealt with AI at work or expected to do so within the next two years. This is a far higher proportion than in neighbouring countries: France (44%), Germany (45%), and Britain (47%). About 24% of Belgian workers have used AI-based applications at work. Of these, 62% see it as having a positive impact on their productivity, while for 55% it is also a way to organise their work better.

Long an obsession of science fiction writers, "artificial intelligence" in the modern era of fast-paced technological innovation is a term that is as ubiquitous as it is nebulous. For the payments technology industry, however, the term describes advanced analytical technology that has an outsized potential to improve the payments ecosystem for banks, payments processors, merchants and consumers. In fact, financial services companies will spend US$11 billion on AI in 2020, according to an analysis by IDC -- more than any other industry cited. They'll stand to make a nice return on their investment as well, according to PwC estimates. In North America alone, AI is projected to increase the GDP of the financial and professional services industry as much as 10 percent by 2030, driven by increases in both productivity and consumption.

By the third century B.C., engineers in Hellenistic Alexandria, in Egypt, were building real mechanical robots and machines. And such science fictions and historical technologies were not unique to Greco-Roman culture. In my recent book "Gods and Robots," I explain that many ancient societies imagined and constructed automatons. Chinese chronicles tell of emperors fooled by realistic androids and describe artificial servants crafted in the second century by the female inventor Huang Yueying. Techno-marvels, such as flying war chariots and animated beings, also appear in Hindu epics. One of the most intriguing stories from India tells how robots once guarded Buddha's relics.

Unfortunately for singletons in the United States, Facebook will not expand this feature to the U.S. until the end of 2019. So, even though the platform originated in the States and was born out of a desire to connect with others ― both romantically and otherwise -- we will have to suffer through a few more months sans Facebook's intervention in our love lives.

Last November Chinese scientist He Jiankui announced the birth of twin babies whose germline he claimed to have altered to reduce their susceptibility to contracting HIV. The news of embryo editing and gene-edited babies prompted immediate condemnation both within and beyond the scientific community. An ABC News headline asked: "Genetically edited babies--scientific advancement or playing God?" The answer may be "both." He's application of gene-editing technology to human embryos flouted norms of scientific transparency and oversight, but even less controversial scientific developments sometimes provoke the reaction that humans are overstepping their appropriate sphere of influence.

Australian bioethicist Julian Savulescu has a knack for provocation. He says most of us would readily accept it if it benefited us. As for eugenics--creating smarter, stronger, more beautiful babies--he believes we have an ethical obligation to use advanced technology to select the best possible children. A protégé of the philosopher Peter Singer, Savulescu is a prominent moral philosopher at the University of Oxford, where he directs the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics. He sees nothing wrong with doping to help cyclists climb those steep mountains in the Tour de France. Some elite athletes will always cheat to boost their performance, so instead of trying to enforce rules that will be broken, he claims we'd be better off with a system that allows low-dose doping. So does Savulescu just get off being outrageous? "I actually think of myself as the voice of common sense," he says, though he admits to receiving his share of hate mail.

SpaceX is the undisputed rock star of the Space Coast's commercial launch boom. Their social media plays a role. Video posted Feb. 19, 2017 Rachael L Thomas, FLORIDA TODAY Space exploration is serious business. Missions cost tens of millions of dollars and frequently put human lives on the line. That's probably why rockets and spacecraft tend to have serious-sounding names.