For most, the term Artificial Intelligence evokes thoughts of futuristic technologies, of C-3PO and Asimov's "I,Robot." We think of walking, sentient robots that look like us – or at least we imagine they appear like us. What we don't generally think of is a glorified speakerbox, or a supercomputer tasked to create recipes. But that's where AI starts – with small steps and incremental advances in technology. These small steps gradually lead to giant leaps forward; think of a narrow canyon off in the distance: you're pretty sure you can jump the canyon, but first you need to get there.

Hisashi Taniguchi took a sabbatical from developing software for driverless taxis and drones to pilgrimage to a Buddhist temple in western Japan. He shaved his head, donned black robes and studied to become the shrine's leader. He passed the test, yet within a week was back at the Tokyo offices of ZMP Inc., overseeing his robotics company in a more-typical wardrobe of jeans and red Converse sneakers. As ZMP's founder and chief executive officer, he tries to sync millennia-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.

MUNICH – Europe's growing army of robot workers could be classed as "electronic persons" and their owners liable to paying social security for them if the European Union adopts a draft plan to address the realities of a new industrial revolution. Robots are being deployed in ever-greater numbers in factories and also taking on tasks such as personal care or surgery, raising fears over unemployment, wealth inequality and alienation. Their growing intelligence, pervasiveness and autonomy requires rethinking everything from taxation to legal liability, a draft European Parliament motion, dated May 31, suggests. Some robots are even taking on a human form. Visitors to the world's biggest travel show in March were greeted by a lifelike robot developed by Japan's Toshiba and were helped by another made by France's Aldebaran Robotics.

Now your videos of surfing, skiing, snowboarding, motocross…and all those other zany activities will be easier than ever to edit, thanks to machine learning and a new attachment known as Pik'd. Pik'd is meant to help you ensure that fun and adrenaline are the protagonists of your footage, and not much time or concern needs to be devoted to post-production. The communication between the technologies works automatically, so the user doesn't have to manipulate the device. All you have to do is attach the tech to your GoPro and record. Once the images have been captured, connect the camera to the computer and open the Pik'd software, which will be supplied free of charge.

As someone so flummoxed by traffic I wrote a book about it, I have a near-clinical aversion to vehicular congestion. My global default strategy is to simply drive as little as possible, but there are times when I simply must put foot to gas pedal. Like many, I have become increasingly dependent on the Waze app, which, via each drivers' smartphone, turns an inchoate, undifferentiated mass of drivers into something resembling a collective form of networked intelligence. Waze, it occurred to me the other day while stuck in a bit of unexpected congestion (which had been duly flagged by at least 13 "Wazers"), is helping us turn into ants. Every time drivers travel down a path, Waze tracks their speed--information that can then be broadcast to every following driver.

From ISC 2016 in Frankfurt, Germany, this week, Intel Corp. launched the second-generation Xeon Phi product family, formerly code-named Knights Landing, aimed at HPC and machine learning workloads. The company had been shipping "Knights Landing" silicon to early customers for the last six months and was waiting to ramp up production before making the product generally available. The window also gave OEMs time to complete their readiness, said Intel's Charlie Wuischpard, vice president of the Data Center Group and general manager of High Performance Computing Platform Group, in a media pre-briefing. Those OEMs include the usual names: Cray, HPE, Lenovo, Dell and others. The most distinguishing feature of the chip is that it's a bootable host CPU -- unlike its predecessor "Knights Corner," which is a coprocessor that connects over PCIe.

We are all familiar with the doomsday scenario depicted by many modern films, when artificial intelligence goes bad and takes over the world. But this is not going to happen, according to Google chairman, Eric Schmidt, who claims that super-intelligent robots will someday help use solve problems such as population growth and climate change. During a talk in Cannes, he said AI will be developed for the benefit of humanity and there will be systems in place in case anything goes awry. Artificial intelligence will let scientists solve some of the world's'hard problems.' During a talk in Cannes, Eric Schmidt said AI will be developed for the benefit of humanity and there will be systems in place in case anything goes awry. 'We've all seen those movies,' he said.

The number of sophisticated cognitive technologies that might be capable of cutting into the need for human labor is expanding rapidly. But linking these offerings to an organization's business needs requires a deep understanding of their capabilities. If popular culture is an accurate gauge of what's on the public's mind, it seems everyone has suddenly awakened to the threat of smart machines. Several recent films have featured robots with scary abilities to outthink and manipulate humans. In the economics literature, too, there has been a surge of concern about the potential for soaring unemployment as software becomes increasingly capable of decision making. Yet managers we talk to don't expect to see machines displacing knowledge workers anytime soon -- they expect computing technology to augment rather than replace the work of humans.

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives. Will it have a happy ending? Do blockbuster movies really bust people's blocks anymore? Is there an insatiable craving for more noise and killing, one that is synonymous with the American summer? Hollywood is becoming concerned that people might be tiring of all these episode twos, threes and lost-count-of-how-manys.

A university professor is heading the Japanese version of a U.S.-led movement to exonerate people who have been wrongfully charged and imprisoned using DNA testing. Mitsuyuki Inaba, 51, who is neither a lawyer nor an expert in criminal law, is a professor at Ritsumeikan University's College of Policy Science. He believes Japan's criminal justice system is rife with fundamental failures that lead to wrongful imprisonment due to the "unscientific" way in which investigations are carried out. Inaba, who specializes in cognitive science, took up the post of director at the Innocence Project Japan, which was launched in April in cooperation with lawyers and other legal experts. Similar movements have sprouted in Britain, South Africa and Taiwan.