BMW is accelerating plans to acquire technology expertise in a race with the likes of Apple Inc. and Google to make cars smart enough to react like human drivers. The German automaker is pushing to acquire startups, partner with tech companies and hire talent to build an electronic brain for next-generation vehicles, Klaus Froehlich, BMW AG's head of development, said in an interview in Munich. At stake is billions of euros in potential profit as value in the auto industry gradually shifts to autonomous taxis. "There's a power play going on with other companies buying up software competencies at a fast clip," Froehlich said. "We definitely need partners in this area, and we massively need to build out in-house resources too."

In a converted biscuit factory in Bermondsey, South London, 100 would-be entrepreneurs are searching for their perfect match. It's afternoon on the second day of Entrepreneur First (EF), the six-month accelerator programme that takes technically talented strangers and moulds them into co-founders. Yet although the people in the room have left jobs at Google, Credit Suisse and the University of Cambridge to be here, all the skill and will in the world are no substitute for chemistry, and between workshops on creativity and customer acquisition, the would-be entrepreneurs talk intensely and sketch out plans on MacBooks, working out if they are right for each other. "It's X Factor without the tears," says Alice Bentinck, co-founder of EF. EF is the tech accelerator that's also a training school for entrepreneurs.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued the first operational rules to govern the commercial use of drones on Tuesday. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said this was a "huge step for innovation." The 600-plus pages of new regulations require drone operators to pass a written exam every two years, keep the unmanned aircraft within sight and avoid flying it over people and at night. The rules also require drones to stay at least 5 miles from airports. The regulations, however, can be waived if operators show they can mitigate the risks associated with operating at night, flying over people, or operating beyond line of sight, among other things.

Routine commercial use of small drones was cleared for takeoff by the Obama administration Tuesday, after years of struggling to write rules that would both protect public safety and free the benefits of a new technology. The Federal Aviation Administration has created a new category of rules for drones weighing less than 55 pounds. The long-anticipated rules would mean drone operators would be able to fly without special permission. Currently, commercial operators have to apply for a waiver from rules that govern manned aircraft, a process that can be time-consuming and expensive. Since 2014 the FAA has granted more than 6,100 waivers and another 7,600 are waiting for approval.

We began by considering the broad discoveries of Accenture's Technology Vision report. It reveals that '70% of executives are making significantly more investments in artificial intelligence technologies than they did in 2013'. So are there any particular industries that are taking to AI more than others? "At Accenture we see AI being adopted across all industries", Marc says. "Some disciplines are using AI more than others, but we really are seeing it across the board, and I would not say there is one industry specifically that is using AI more than another".

The band Sigur Rós has produced a 24-hour televised journey around the entire Icelandic coast, set to an evolving version of a single song generated using artificial intelligence developed at Goldsmiths. In 2011 Dr Mick Grierson from the Department of Computing created the commercial music format, BRONZE, which manipulates and transforms every aspect of a track to create a unique version on each listen, while the song remains recognisable to the listener. Music is no longer static, but producers and composers can create subtly different mixes with each play, while still retaining the quality and balance of the original mix. From 20-21 June, the experimental Icelandic post-rock act unveiled their film Route One live on Iceland's National Television – and streamed globally via YouTube – with a constantly evolving soundtrack based around elements of their new song Óveður. The individual musical elements of the unreleased song, and current Sigur Rós festival set opener, were seeded through evolving music program BRONZE to create a unique ephemeral sonic experience.

"Ex Machina" stars Oscar Isaac (left) and Domhnall Gleeson (right). The UK's AI scene is once again the talk of the town following the sale of Magic Pony Technology to Twitter for a reported 150 million ( 102 million). Evi was acquired by Amazon for a reported 18 million in 2013, DeepMind was bought by Google for around 400 million in 2014, VocalIQ was acquired by Apple for an unknown amount in 2015, and SwiftKey was bought by Microsoft for 175 million in 2016. The Oxbridge-London triangle is playing an important role in the creation of the UK's best AI companies, according to LocalGlobe investor Saul Klein. Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, and UCL all have deep expertise in applied mathematics, computer science, and machine learning.

Today on In Case You Missed It: Local Motors is testing a self-driving, electric mini-bus that lets passengers communicate with the bus about the weather and where they're located as they are shuttled from one part of town to another. The bus was conceived just a few months ago but is already running in Maryland. The company plans to bring more buses to other cities, like Copenhagen and Las Vegas, soon. Meanwhile bone conduction headphones are being reimagined to be more wearable, with both a sunglasses option and helmet version up for grabs online. We also wanted to show you video of the robot badminton player because it's pretty amazing.

Ole Winther received a Ph.D. degree from The Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen (KU) in 1998. From 1998 to 2001 Ole Winther was post doc at Lund University, Sweden and at Center for Biological Sequence Analysis, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), from 2001 associate professor at DTU and from 2006 group leader in gene regulation at Bioinformatics, KU, part time. Currently, Ole Winther is a professor in Data Science and Complexity at Cognitive Systems, DTU. His main research area is machine learning. Machine learning combines statistical modelling and artificial intelligence.

Editor's Note: While Andrew Ng, chief scientist at Baidu was delivering his ISC keynote this morning on how HPC is supercharging AI, his colleague Greg Diamos, research scientist at Baidu's Silicon Valley AI Lab, was preparing to present a paper on GPU-based deep learning at the 33rd International Conference on Machine Learning in New York. Greg Diamos, senior researcher, Silicon Valley AI Lab, Baidu, is on the front lines of the reinvigorated frontier of machine learning. Before joining Baidu, Diamos was in the employ of NVIDIA, first as a research scientist and then an architect (for the GPU streaming multiprocessor and the CUDA software). Given this background, it's natural that Diamos' research is focused on advancing breakthroughs in GPU-based deep learning. Ahead of the paper he is presenting, Diamos answered questions about his research and his vision for the future of machine learning.