Joachim Buhmann, Professor for Computer Science and Head of the Institute for Machine Learning at ETH Zurich, offers a more sober assessment of the situation: "The Go player's algorithm has, of course, set a milestone in machine learning, but it's a milestone in a very limited, artificial field," he says. Since the early days of computer science as a scientific discipline, one of the challenges against which it has been relatively easy to measure progress has been strategy games. It started with simple games such as Nine Men's Morris and Draughts. In 1997, IBM's computer Deep Blue beat the reigning chess world champion Garry Kasparov. Soon thereafter, programmers set their sights on the considerably more complex game Go as the next potential milestone.

Despite the promise of artificial intelligence, Europe's managers aren't yet ready to embrace it.

There are some things even Stephen Hawking can't figure out. On "Larry King Now," the world-famous astrophysicist told Larry King that he wonders why anything -- and everything -- even exists in the first place. "Why do the universe and all the laws of nature exist? "In one sense, they are, because otherwise we wouldn't be here to ask the question. But is there a deeper reason?" That's a little different from the answer Hawking gave in 2012 when New Scientist asked him what he thought about most during the day. Hawking said he's learned a lot about women since, and even asked King about his eight marriages to seven women. "Is that the triumph of hope over experience?" "You make a good point, Stephen," King said, noting his most recent marriage had lasted 19 years. "I think the answer is yes." Hawking was interviewed from the Canary Islands, where he was being honored at the Starmus Festival. During the interview, Hawking also warned that mankind could eventually be threatened by artificial intelligence. "I don't think that advances in artificial intelligence will necessarily be benign," he said. "Once machines reach the critical stage of being able to evolve themselves, we cannot predict whether their goals will be the same as ours." During an interview with King in 2010, Hawking said that two of mankind's biggest dangers were greed and stupidity. Not much has changed in the intervening years. "We certainly have not become less greedy or less stupid," Hawking said. "Six years ago, I was warning about pollution and overcrowding.

In the military world, fighter pilots have long been described as the best of the best. As Tom Wolfe famously wrote, only those with the "right stuff" can handle the job. Now, it seems, the right stuff may no longer be the sole purview of human pilots. A pilot A.I. developed by a doctoral graduate from the University of Cincinnati has shown that it can not only beat other A.I.s, but also a professional fighter pilot with decades of experience. In a series of flight combat simulations, the A.I. successfully evaded retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Gene "Geno" Lee, and shot him down every time.

Hisashi Taniguchi used a sabbatical from developing software for driverless taxis and drones to take a pilgrimage to a Buddhist temple in western Japan. He shaved his head, donned black robes and studied to become its leader. He passed the test, yet within a week was back at the Tokyo offices of ZMP Inc., overseeing his robotics company in the more typical garb of jeans and red Converse sneakers. As ZMP's founder and chief executive officer, he tries to sync millenniums-old teachings with efforts to make artificial intelligence part of everyday life. "The temple teaches you that if you shine, you'll shed light on those around you," Taniguchi, 52, said.

An Osaka-based startup founded by health care product group Fujimoto Holding Co. and toymaker Wiz Co. has released an upgraded version of a stuffed robot doll designed to be a conversation partner for elderly people. The new Unazuki Kabochan, released June 17, has been programmed with a greater variety of words and phrases, totaling around 450, allowing a greater scope of response to the user's words and actions, according to PIP & WiZ Co. The previous model could handle some 400 words and phrases, but sometimes failed to reply appropriately according to context. Selling for a suggested retail price of 27,000 at department stores and shops handling nursing care devices, the new Unazuki Kabochan can also sing 13 songs, eight more than the older unit, and the need to reset after it is switched off has been eliminated, the company said. The 28-cm, 680-gram doll is made to resemble a 3-year-old boy.

Google uses a machine-learning artificial intelligence system called "RankBrain" to help sort through its search results. Wondering how that works and fits in with Google's overall ranking system? Here's what we know about RankBrain. The information covered below comes from three original sources and has been updated over time, with notes where updates have happened. First is the Bloomberg story that broke the news about RankBrain (See also our write-up of it).

By early fall, a billboard in Tokyo will automatically identify the make and model of vehicles driving by it to display a targeted advertisement. "The ad could come up with'Hey you in the Mercedes, you could be driving this [instead],'" said Paul Turner, chief marketing officer with Cloudian, which is working with the Japanese company Dentsu on the project. A camera on the billboard will look hundreds of meters down the expressway to identify vehicles and present a corresponding ad for about five seconds. By targeting ads to specific types of vehicles, the companies should be able to charge a higher rate to advertisers. Highly-targeted ads are the norm while we browse the web and use apps, but such approaches have not largely entered the broader world yet.

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?

In February this year, hackers managed to steal 81 million from the central bank of Bangladesh after exploiting vulnerabilities with a sophisticated malware. In January this year, press reports highlighted how highly destructive malware infected three regional power utility service providers in Ukraine, which led to a power failure. In June last year, CNN reported how hackers successfully managed to ground 1400 passengers, as Poland's national carrier was forced to cancel 20 flights due to an attack on its IT systems. In an age of connected machines, these incidents show how hackers can cause irreparable damage. Despite putting in place the best IT infrastructure, some of the biggest firms have got hacked, as vulnerabilities exist in every enterprise and hackers only need one loophole to sneak in an enterprise and steal data.