Google just paid for part of its acquisition of DeepMind in a surprising way. The internet giant is using technology from the DeepMind artificial intelligence subsidiary for big savings on the power consumed by its data centers, according to DeepMind Co-Founder Demis Hassabis. In recent months, the Alphabet unit put a DeepMind AI system in control of parts of its data centers to reduce power consumption by manipulating computer servers and related equipment like cooling systems. It uses a similar technique to DeepMind software that taught itself to play Atari video games, Hassabis said in an interview at a recent AI conference in New York. The system cut power usage in the data centers by several percentage points, "which is a huge saving in terms of cost but, also, great for the environment," he said.

Apple fixed this error shortly after its virtual assistant was first released in 2011. But a new contest shows that computers still lack the common sense required to avoid such embarrassing mix-ups. The results of the contest were presented at an academic conference in New York this week, and they provide some measure of how much work needs to be done to make computers truly intelligent. The Winograd Schema Challenge asks computers to make sense of sentences that are ambiguous but usually simple for humans to parse. Disambiguating Winograd Schema sentences requires some common-sense understanding.

A California start-up working on artificial intelligence-powered mapping software for self-driving cars today received 6.6 million from a group of investors that includes the Ford Motor Company. Like other automakers, Ford is testing its autonomous car technology in Michigan and on public roads in California, where its engineers are evaluating the sensors that detect and track objects in the vehicle's view. But the company's investment in the AI mapping start-up, called Civil Maps, reflects the important role that AI and machine learning play in interpreting information from those sensors. Civil Maps has developed software that can process raw 3D data from LiDAR (high-resolution laser imaging), cameras, and other sensors on autonomous vehicles into a machine-readable format. "Autonomous vehicles require a totally new kind of map," the company's CEO Sravan Puttagunta said in a statement.

Macy's is testing a mobile tool using artificial intelligence that lets shoppers get answers customized to the store they're in -- like where a particular brand is located or what's in stock -- that they would normally ask a sales associate face-to-face. The tool, which the nation's largest department store chain calls a "mobile companion," can be accessed for now through a browser and will accept questions in 10 U.S. locations about products, services and facilities. It uses natural language and offers feedback in seconds. It's developed by IBM Watson -- the Jeopardy-winning "cognitive computing" service and is designed to keep learning more about the store's customers. That's a key element as Macy's seeks to spur sluggish sales, make being at the store more enjoyable and distinguish itself from online portals and specialty retailers.

Google says it has cut its vast data centres' energy use by 15% by applying artificial intelligence to manage them more efficiently than humans. The servers that power billions of web searches, streamed films and social media accounts are estimated to account for around 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Google is believed to have one of the biggest fleets of them in the world. On Wednesday, Google said it had proved it could cut total energy use at its data centres by 15% by deploying machine learning from Deepmind, the British AI company it bought in 2014 for around 400m. Such centres require significant energy for cooling, as well as constant adjustments to air temperature, pressure and humidity, to run as efficiently as possible.

Macy's is testing a mobile tool using artificial intelligence that lets shoppers get answers customized to the store they're in – like where a particular brand is located or what's in stock – that they would normally ask a sales associate face-to-face. The tool, which the nation's largest department store chain calls a "mobile companion," can be accessed for now through a browser and will accept questions in 10 U.S. locations about products, services and facilities. It uses natural language and offers feedback in seconds. It's developed by IBM Watson – the Jeopardy-winning "cognitive computing" service and is designed to keep learning more about the store's customers. That's a key element as Macy's seeks to spur sluggish sales, make being at the store more enjoyable and distinguish itself from online portals and specialty retailers.

In the past few days, I've taught a machine learning algorithm how to write in the style of Harry Potter, Hamilton (the musical), and HBO's Silicon Valley. The mostly non-sensical, occasionally human-like, topically-flavored writing seems to be amusing not only to me, but to many others. Thus, I've made this quick tutorial to teach you how to create your own instances of "Deep Writing". This is not going to be an in-depth description of the underlying technology -- but instead, a step-by-step guide that anybody can follow (even if you have no coding or machine learning experience). Here is a very crude approximation of what is involved in the Deep Writing process. More than anything, this is meant to give you enough intuition and appreciation to follow along with the rest of the tutorial.

We have been hearing predictions for decades of a takeover of the world by artificial intelligence. In 1957, Herbert A. Simon predicted that within 10 years a digital computer would be the world's chess champion. That didn't happen until 1996. And despite Marvin Minsky's 1970 prediction that "in from three to eight years we will have a machine with the general intelligence of an average human being," we still consider that a feat of science fiction. The pioneers of artificial intelligence were surely off on the timing, but they weren't wrong; AI is coming.

Early in your career, you may be preoccupied with tactical managerial issues and have fewer opportunities to select your own team. One straightforward implication of career progression, however, is that you tend to move into more senior roles. This would naturally require you to be more focused on selecting, developing, and empowering the people whom you are leading. Mark Hurd, the co-CEO of Oracle, listed strategic talent development as "the number one issue for CEOs today." The Conference Board CEO Challenge report listed the focus on talent growth, training, development, engagement, and retention as the number one challenge for senior leaders.

Today on In Case You Missed It: Mercedes made a new class of vehicle to take on mass transit systems by autonomously navigating city streets with GPS, radar, dozens of cameras and data links to local networks. It was tested outside Amsterdam; no word yet on when they will roll out for real. Some Michigan engineering students are creating a huge and playable Rubik's Cube, that video is here. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.