The crisis of opioid use, abuse, addiction, and subsequent overdose deaths has reached epidemic proportions in America with no clear end in sight. As of March 2018, the National Institutes of Health reported that more than 115 Americans per day are dying as a direct result of opioid overdoses. In late 2017, it was reported that the US life expectancy had dropped for a second consecutive year, due in part to a surge in fatal opioid overdoses. For perspective, US life expectancy had not dropped for a single year since 1993, which at the time was a direct result of the AIDS epidemic, and had not dropped for consecutive years since the 1960s. Further, the CDC has estimated that as a result of only prescription opioid abuse, the total yearly economic burden to the United States totaled upwards of $78.5 billion--including the costs of health care, lost productivity, addiction treatment, and involvement of the criminal justice system--and clearly this shocking figure excludes the abuse of illicit opioids, such as heroin.

Seoul Special Judicial Police Bureau for Public Safety arrested the CEOs and key players of a cryptocurrency pyramid scheme using the help of AI (Artificial Intelligence) last Thursday. The two main suspects known as Lee and Bae stole a total of 21.2 billion won ($18.3 million in US-Dollars) in a span of 6 months - 12 people were arrested in total. The South Korean police reported the CEOs of this company set up a "members only" shopping website and cryptocurrency exchange in May 2018. The site recruited members for an annual fee of 330,000 won ($288), or a "premium" membership fee of 990,000 won ($864). It also offered 10-year memberships with discounts on hotels, leisures, and on events like weddings and funerals.

In the new book Fintech, Small Business, & the American Dream, Karen Mills describes how technology is opening up new capital for entrepreneurs. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data will transform financial services and small-business lending long before they impact driverless cars, predicts Harvard Business School Senior Fellow Karen G. Mills. "As we speak, large banks and fintech providers are working on solutions that will dramatically change the options for small businesses." Her new book, Fintech, Small Business, & the American Dream: How Technology is Transforming Lending and Shaping a New Era of Small Business Opportunity, explains why small business is key to the United States economy, and how innovation in financial services will reduce the friction and barriers in small-business lending, helping more of them thrive. In our Q&A, Mills, who served as a member of the Obama Cabinet and headed the US Small Business Administration from 2009 to 2013, outlines the challenges and opportunities facing small businesses, the rise of fintech innovation, and the policy implications for regulation.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) has launched a project to use artificial intelligence and machine learning to predict passengers' consumption patterns in a bid to reduce in-flight food and beverage (F&B) waste. The initiative results from a finalist's idea from last year's SIA AppChallenge, with one of the categories seeking solutions to better track the amount of F&B waste and collect data about passengers' consumption habits to improve efficiency. SIA says that it currently plans meal services based on flight duration and flight timing, but there is still waste on certain flights. The airline relies on customer surveys, data analytics and staff feedback to optimize F&B on board. The airline currently allocates manpower to physically count and record the number of unconsumed meals for certain flights, which is a tedious process.

A 29-year-old computer scientist has earned plaudits worldwide for helping develop the algorithm that created the first-ever image of a black hole. Katie Bouman led development of a computer program that made the breakthrough image possible. The remarkable photo, showing a halo of dust and gas 500 million trillion km from Earth, was released on Wednesday. For Dr Bouman, its creation was the realisation of an endeavour previously thought impossible. Excitedly bracing herself for the groundbreaking moment, Dr Bouman was pictured loading the image on her laptop.

Reprinted with permission from Quanta Magazine's Abstractions blog. In the 1950s, four mathematically minded U.S. Army soldiers used primitive electronic calculators to work out the optimal strategy for playing blackjack. Their results, later published in the Journal of the American Statistical Association, detailed the best decision a player could make for every situation encountered in the game. Yet that strategy--which would evolve into what gamblers call "the book"--did not guarantee a player would win. Blackjack, along with solitaire, checkers, or any number of other games, has a ceiling on the percentage of games in which players can expect to triumph, even if they play the absolute best that the game can be played.

There is a health and safety warning on one of the apps you must download to get the full augmented reality experience of Hito Steyerl's Serpentine Gallery project. "In the future, 100% of all humans will die," Steyerl warns us. "Access this zone at your own risk and don't complain later." She forewarns us of trouble, and that adults are advised to treat the experience as a fiction. "Anyone under the age of 19 is safe to understand it as they please, as they can probably deal with it."

This article is part of Forms From the Future, a series in which Rose Eveleth imagines the bureaucratic paperwork of tomorrow and what it says about our impending realities. At many large companies, before you can get a new computer or server or device, you have to fill out a form that tells the company not just why you need the item but who will pay for it and who is responsible for it. But as the sorts of work that humans and machines do collapse down even further, that might change. Let's say you're a manager at a big box store or a fast-food franchise or even a hospital. You might also need to fill out paperwork justifying your request for an actual person to pull boxes from a shelf, check people out at a store, deliver medication, or make a hamburger.

T-Mobile hasn't been quick to fulfill its promises of launching TV service, but it finally has something to show following all the early hype: it's launching TVision Home, a rebranded and retuned version of Layer3's broadband-based IPTV service. It's not the fully independent streaming service you might have hoped for (that's coming later in 2019). However, the telecom is hoping to bring a dash of its straightforward "Uncarrier" strategy to the TV world -- provided you're willing to pay. To start, T-Mobile is bringing its no-shock billing to TV. You'll pay $100 per month ($90 if you're also a phone customer) for 150-plus channels and $10 per connected TV, but there are no hidden fees used to jack up the real price.

It's well established that algorithms can exhibit bias, however inadvertently, and a trio of US politicians believe they can do something about it. Senators Cory Booker, Yvette Clarke and Ron Wyden have introduced an Algorithmic Accountability Act that would require larger companies to test their algorithms and fix anything "inaccurate, unfair, biased or discriminatory." The move would also ask them to study how their systems protect personal data,and would let the FTC create regulations mandating impact studies for "highly sensitive" automated systems. The bill would only apply to companies that either make more than $50 million per year or have data for at least one million people or devices. Small businesses would theoretically be safe.