The Rio Olympics 2016 is something everyone is looking forward to. But the Olympics have been a frontier for individuals flexing their physical muscles and achieving greatness. Well, it's time for it to move over to the Cyber Grand Challenge (CGC) is here. Individuals wanting to showcase their brain muscles in a competition could change how we defend against cyber attacks. The challenge organized by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the United States where the seven finalists will battle it out with the Artificial Intelligence system to detect flaws and scan networks for exploits.

When Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk proclaims that artificial intelligence is "our biggest existential threat," it makes headlines worldwide. But what goes unreported is that the very search engines people used to find Musk's comments are themselves an example of how AI has subtly but forcefully become a part of everyday, real-world life. When it comes to a discussion of AI, it helps to have a sense of history--as well as a sense of humor. Thanks to premonitory proclamations by Musk, Microsoft's Bill Gates, Cambridge's Stephen Hawking and other prominent technologists, AI has become a popular topic again, after a 20-year cooling-off period. It's tempting to assume that the "dire warnings" about AI being a threat to mankind were mostly tongue-in-cheek, but the end result is that just as it happened in the 1980s and '90s, the hype over AI is again outpacing the reality (virtual and otherwise). The first question that needs to be answered though is: Whatever happened to AI and why did it go underground for so many years?

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany plans new legislation to require manufacturers of cars equipped with an autopilot function to install a black box to help determine responsibility in the event of an accident, transport ministry sources told Reuters on Monday. The fatal crash of a Tesla Motors Inc Model S car in its Autopilot mode has increased the pressure on industry executives and regulators to ensure that automated driving technology can be deployed safely. Under the proposal from Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt, drivers will not have to pay attention to traffic or concentrate on steering, but must remain seated at the wheel so they can intervene in the event of an emergency. Manufacturers will also be required to install a black box that records when the autopilot system was active, when the driver drove and when the system requested that the driver take over, according to the proposals. The draft is due to be sent to other ministries for approval this summer, a transport ministry spokesman said.

Every time you Instagram a picture of the foam art on your coffee or leave a comment on a YouTube video, it contributes to the more than a billion gigabytes of new data we produce every day. As this number continues to increase, we are starting to run out of space to store the data; even the tiniest data storage element uses thousands of atoms to store one piece of information. Now for the first time, scientists have created a way to store information atom by atom to produce the smallest hard disk ever made, which could lead the way to much more efficient data storage. In traditional computers, data is expressed in one of two states – known as binary bits – which are either a 1 or a 0. In this new design, each bit consists of two positions on a surface of copper atoms, and one chlorine atom that can be slid back and forth between these two positions In traditional computers, data is expressed in one of two states – known as binary bits – which are either a 1 or a 0. In this new design, each bit consists of two positions on a surface of copper atoms, and one chlorine atom that can be slid back and forth between these two positions. If the chlorine atom is in the top position, there is a hole beneath it - this is a 1.

It stole the show in the most recent Star Wars film and left audiences wondering how it worked. Now the engineers behind the iconic BB8 robot from The Force Awakens have revealed for the first time how they were able to create a working version of the spherical droid. Josh Lee, BB8 design engineer and Matt Denton, electronics software engineer on movie have given the public the first glimpse at the inner workings of the tiny robot. The inner mechanics of Star Wars BB8 have been revealed for the first time, revealing a pendulum structure at sits inside the ball that forms the droid's body. The engineers behind BB8 said when they were first presented with the challenge of creating a spherical robot by the Force Awakens director JJ Abrahms, they found several ways of creating the robot.

SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral and landed it about eight minutes later. CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla. -- The rocket that SpaceX landed early Monday after launching a Dragon spacecraft packed with supplies for the International Space Station is ready to fly again, the company's chief executive said. CEO Elon Musk said after preliminary inspections were completed overnight at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket touched down at SpaceX's landing pad at the cape minutes after a 12:45 a.m. With an engine firing brightly to slow its speed, the booster dropped through the darkness to a soft landing on four legs, an event punctuated by sonic booms that rattled buildings miles away and prompted some 9-1-1 calls from startled residents.

On 21 June, the Law Society hosted a conference on the topic of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in law. Artificial intelligence and machine learning technology have made significant progress in recent years. Arguably, legal and ethical thinking about the societal implications could now be lagging behind this technical progress. We explored how machine learning is currently being used, how it may be used in the future and what the legal implications could be. The discussion will also examine the potential liability and regulatory considerations in relation to machine learning, and the role of the law and lawyers in this rapidly evolving area.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and a world in which machines threaten humanity's status quo has been the preserve of science fiction for decades. In the Eighties, Terminator was set in a post-apocalyptic world in which cyborgs rule, RoboCop's protagonist was part-man, part-machine and Short Circuit toyed with the idea of robots developing human-like minds, with rather more endearing results. The reality is the bot has bolted. AI is walking and talking among us. In 2016, we use voice-recognition systems, driverless cars are being trialled and robotic hotel receptionists work in Japan.

There's no doubt Stephen Hawking is a smart guy. But the world-famous theoretical physicist recently declared that women leave him stumped. "Women should remain a mystery," Hawking wrote in response to a Reddit user's question about the realm of the unknown that intrigued him most. While Hawking's remark was meant to be light-hearted, he sounded quite serious discussing the potential dangers of artificial intelligence during Reddit's online Q&A session: A superintelligent AI will be extremely good at accomplishing its goals, and if those goals aren't aligned with ours, we're in trouble. Hawking's comments might seem unrelated.

San Francisco: Google announced a deal to buy Moodstocks, a French startup behind technology that helps smartphones recognise whatever they are aimed at. Moodstocks caught the US technology giant's eye for its work in computer vision and machine learning, as well for accomplishments in enabling smartphones or other mobile devices to recognise images and objects. Google is among Silicon Valley titans investing in ways to get computers to see and understand the world around them the way people do. Machine learning has been woven into an array of Google offerings, such as its free language translation and photo services. "There's a lot more to be done to improve machine vision," Google France tech site lead Vincent Simonet said in a blog post.