This piece was originally published on Medium in Imaginary Papers, an online publication of Arizona State University's Center for Science and the Imagination. Matt Scherer runs the Law and AI blog. Artificial intelligence (A.I.) systems are becoming increasingly ubiquitous in our economy and society, and are being designed with an ever-increasing ability to operate free of direct human supervision. Algorithmic trading systems account for a huge and still-growing share of stock market transactions, and autonomous vehicles with A.I. "drivers" are already being tested on the roads. Because they operate with less human supervision and control than earlier technologies, the rising prevalence of autonomous A.I. raises the question of how legal systems can ensure that victims receive compensation if (read: when) an A.I. system causes physical or economic harm during the course of its operations.

For eBay (EBAY), artificial intelligence could prove to be its salvation. The San Jose, Calif.-based e-commerce giant, which has been working to transform itself after spinning off PayPal Holdings (PYPL) last year, could reap some huge benefits if it can find out a way to effectively use AI, according to analysts. At the Code Conference earlier this month, eBay CEO Devin Wenig revealed that the company started getting very serious about using artificial intelligence last year, noting that e-commerce is essentially a data business and that AI may be more important for eBay than its peers due to the "breadth of [its] inventory." Wenig further explained that eBay plans to formulate a strategy focused on using data to predict what consumers might want and offering a wide selection of products. In fact, eBay aims to use algorithms over the next three to four years to better understand consumer intent and create an ecosystem involving social networks and messaging applications to allow for better targeting, R.W. Baird analyst Colin Sebastian wrote in a note earlier this month.

It's well known that we in the tech sector love our acronyms. We also like re-badging stuff.What was once ASP (application service provision) morphed into SaaS (software as a service) and then became part of the cloud computing eco-system. And so it is at the moment with AI (artificial intelligence). There have been a number of pronouncements recently, particularly from private practice firms, about their adoption of AI. But is the truth more weighted towards the "artificial" than the "intelligence"? That well-known convenient one-stop-shop of truth, Wikipedia, defines AI as "a machine acting as a rational agent that perceives its environment and takes actions which maximise its chance for success at an arbitrary goal".

The edtech trend on the tip of everyone's tongue at this year's EdtechXEurope event is artificial intelligence. By harnessing the power of AI and deep learning, educators can glean insights from the vast quantities of data hoovered up from their students. AI could also help lecturers make better decisions and could improve student retention rates, according to experts. "AI is a tool to make better sense of data," says Satya Nitta, director of education and cognitive sciences at IBM. The world's top online learning platforms are working with business schools such as Yale SOM and Duke Fuqua, and are offering advanced analytical tools to help them refine and enhance student learning.

Lydia Ainouz draws a small crowd to watch her playing the Yakuza video game during the opening day of the Electronic Entertainment Expo. The Electronic Entertainment Expo wrapped Thursday, giving retailers, distributors and video game fans a taste of what interactive fun is arriving this year and beyond. Women are playing more key roles in video games beyond just serving as damsels in distress, or worse, as discarded victims. And game makers are including a few more lead characters who aren't white. More women took the biggest stages at E3, including Electronic Arts' Jade Raymond, whose EA Motive Studio is working on a series of Star Wars games, and Microsoft's Shannon Loftis, the head of Microsoft Studios Publishing.

Robots have already invaded the operating room in some hospitals, but in Belgium they will soon be taking on the potentially more difficult task -- for robots, at least -- of greeting patients and giving them directions. The Citadelle regional hospital in Liège and the Damiaan general hospital in Ostend will be working with Zora Robotics to test patients' reactions to robot receptionists in the coming months. Zora already has experience programming the diminutive humanoid robot Nao to act as a chatty companion for the elderly, offering it as a form of therapy for those with dementia. Now the Belgian company is working with Nao's newer, bigger sibling, Pepper. Both were developed by French robotics company Aldebaran, now owned by Japanese Internet conglomerate SoftBank.

IBM today announced that Watson, its AI platform, will be powering a range of services in a new self-driving bus concept named Olli. Designed by Local Motors, Olli is electric-powered, caries up to 12 people and will start operating in Washington DC soon, followed by other cities like Las Vegas and Miami-Dade County by Fall this year. However, Olli's pilot program to carry passengers will be conducted in Miami before commercial variants are rolled out. Unlike Google, IBM will not assist with self-driving technologies in Olli but will power other services aimed at improving commuter experience. "IBM technology, including IBM Watson or IBM Watson IoT technology, does not control, navigate or drive Olli. Rather, the IBM Watson capabilities of Olli will help to improve the passenger experience and allow natural interaction with the vehicle," IBM said in a statement.

IBM today took the wraps off its first big foray into the world of self-driving cars, not as the driver of them, but as the brain behind making your self-driving journey a little more interesting. IBM Watson, the company's AI platform, is powering services in Olli -- an electric-powered vehicle that can carry up to 12 people designed by Local Motors, a car maker based out of Arizona that uses newer technologies like 3D printing to bring down the cost of making cars on a low-volume basis. The cars will start operations first in Washington, DC, before expanding to deployments in Miami-Dade County and Las Vegas later this year. IBM says Miami-Dade County will run a pilot to transport people around Miami using these autonomous vehicles. Local Motors and IBM, along with Intel, have worked together before, specifically on its Rally Fighter concept car.

It seems today that Machine Learning has become synonymous with Artificial Intelligence. While this is the result of good marketing, it isn't rooted in reality. The reality is that Machine Learning is just one approach to AI (in fact it's called the statistic approach). In the field of AI, there are two main schools of thought when it comes to programming how to make a machine mimic a human business process: statistic (sometimes called probabilistic) and deterministic. Neither of these approaches are "superior" to the other, they are just suited better to different use cases.

Here is a situation that I found myself in, and I'm sure other smart-home users can relate to it. A couple of weeks ago, while on a business trip in China, my smart doorbell (such as ring) rang. I picked up my smartphone to see who was at the door. To my surprise, it was my daughter standing outside our house. Although it was daytime in my location, she was standing in the dark, back at home.