Humanity has had its first ever peek at a black hole. The blazing image of a red and yellow circle is the first anyone has seen of the phenomenon. As well as giving an unprecedented view of one of the most powerful and mysterious things in the universe, it also helps develop our understanding of the fundamental forces that shape space. Scientists will be examining what exactly all the findings from this photo mean for years to come. And they expect to go on to discover even more, as they use the same techniques on other sources inside other galaxies.

When Ivan Medvedev joined Google as a privacy engineering manager in 2013, the company had rogue data anxiety. Its user base and set of services had become so massive that it seemed inevitable that sensitive data could accidentally crop up in unexpected places, like customers filing support tickets with more personal information than necessary. So Medvedev worked with colleagues on Google's privacy team to develop an internal tool that could scan large amounts of data and automatically home in on identifying information or other sensitive data. Whether it was an old tax form accidentally captured in a photo or patient data embedded in the pixels of an ultrasound, the team designed the tool to find the unexpected. "It should not be misunderstood as a comprehensive, privacy-proofed solution in itself."

AI can reveal how many cigarettes a person has smoked based on the DNA contained in a single drop of their blood, or scrutinize Islamic State propaganda to discover whether violent videos are radicalizing potential recruits. Because AI is such a powerful tool, Microsoft president Brad Smith told the crowd at Columbia University's recent Data Science Day that tech companies and universities performing AI research must also help ensure the ethical use of such technologies. AI is now an invisible but inextricable part of life for hundreds of millions of people. The rise of machine learning algorithms combined with cloud computing services has put massive computer power at the fingertips of companies and customers worldwide. These trends have also enabled the rise of data science that applies AI methods to constantly analyze information from online services and Internet-connected devices. In his talk, Smith emphasized the need for policies and laws that hold these systems and machines accountable to humans.

Instead, they found a trapped robotic vacuum cleaner. Three seasoned deputies -- one with at least 20 years on the force -- a detective who happened to be in the area, and two canine officers all responded to the call of a burglary in progress at a Cedar Hills home near Portland, Ore. Instead, they found a trapped robotic vacuum cleaner. The Washington County sheriff in Oregon says there was nothing unusual about the call. Sure, it was broad daylight -- 1:48 p.m. local time exactly -- but "crime can happen anytime."

The new world of marketing is personalized, contextualized, and dynamic. Increasingly, this world is orchestrated not by outside parties but by chief marketing officers partnering with their technology organizations to bring control of the human experience back in-house. Together, CMOs and CIOs are building an arsenal of experience-focused marketing tools that are powered by emerging technology. Their goal is to transform marketing from a customer acquisition-focused activity to one that enables a superb human experience, grounded in data. In experiential marketing, companies treat each customer as an individual by understanding their preferences and behaviors. Analytics and cognitive capabilities illuminate the context of customers' needs and desires, and determine the optimal way to engage with them. Experience-management tools tailor content and identify the best method of delivery across physical and digital touchpoints, bringing us closer to truly unique engagement with each and every human. Imagine a world in which a brand knows who you are and what you want, and can deliver the product, service, or experience that best suits your needs seamlessly and in real time, across physical or digital channels. Marketing technology is undergoing a renaissance. Channel-focused solutions such as websites, social and mobile platforms, content management tools, and search engine optimization are fast becoming yesterday's news. As part of the growing beyond marketing trend, organizations are adopting a new generation of martech systems that deliver unprecedented levels of customer intimacy, targeted engagement, and precision impact.

When it comes to artificial intelligence and machine learning, how journalists view the technology, and how willing they are to delve into the many layers it can empower, is the secret sauce in creating a better workplace. Five journalists from The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, WIRED, Dogtown Media and Graphika visited with more than 1,000 students across the Missouri School of Journalism, the Trulaske College of Business, the College of Engineering and the College of Arts and Science, March 18-19, as part of the Reynolds Journalism Institute's Innovation Series. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are already transforming news operations in ways unimaginable even several months ago, much of it transformative and positive. Among the changes AI is helping implement: Customized content, improved reader/viewer/listener/user relationships, moderating and policing comment sections, and creating more efficient workflows. For journalists, the key is in embracing change and using a generalist's approach to understanding a rapidly and vastly changing ecosystem that has already begun transforming newsrooms across the globe.

London (CNN Business)Social media faces a crisis of trust. Europe wants to make sure artificial intelligence doesn't go the same way. The European Commission on Monday unveiled ethics guidelines that are designed to influence the development of AI systems before they become deeply embedded in society. The intervention could help break the pattern of regulators being forced to play catch up with emerging technologies that lead to unanticipated negative consequences. The importance of doing so was underscored Monday when Britain proposed new rules that would make internet companies legally responsible for ridding their platforms of harmful content.

In MIT Technology Review, Jeff Ding shares five takeaways from his experience writing about and translating Chinese-language writing about artificial intelligence (AI) research in China. Ding is a researcher at the University of Oxford who has now published 48 issues of his insightful ChinAI newsletter. Four out of Ding's five points are likely to remain true through at least 2019. The odd one out is number four: AI research, in the near future, may no longer be an area of active China-U.S. collaboration. For more discussion of U.S.-China technology connections, listen to this recent Sinica Podcast with Samm Sacks.

Walmart's "customer hosts" will still greet customers but have additional and physically demanding responsibilities, which means eliminating greeters. Walmart is planning to use thousands of robots for a wide variety of tasks within its stores following a "well-received" round of tests in 2018. "Smart assistants have huge potential to make busy stores run more smoothly," the nation's largest private employer said in a news release. Walmart, which employs 1.5 million associates in the U.S. alone, said in the release Tuesday that the plans will give employees "more of an opportunity to do what they're uniquely qualified for" which is serve customers face-to-face on the sales floor. Walmart isn't the only retailer that has robots roaming around.

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. Though the future often feels unknowable, there's at least one certainty that awaits us: death. But while death is inevitable (despite what hawkish hypercapitalists like Dave Asprey claim as they try to sell you things), that doesn't mean the gory details won't change in the future. Today, there are a few ways you can officially state how you want to be treated in an emergency medical situation or if you die. Advance directives offer a more general picture of your end-of-life wishes.