People are still the lubricant that oils the wheels of finance, toiling at innumerable tasks--executing and settling trades, writing analysis, monitoring risk. Squeezed by low interest rates, shrinking trading revenue, and nimbler technology-based competitors, banks are racing to remake themselves as digital companies to cut costs and better serve clients. In other words, they're preparing for the day that machines made by men and women take over more of what used to be the sole province of humans: knowledge work. Consider venerable State Street, a 224-year-old custody bank that predates the steam locomotive and caters to institutional investors such as pensions and mutual funds. In February, State Street executives told analysts that after spending five years upgrading technology systems, they realized how much more could be done.

The history of artificial intelligence (AI) began in antiquity, with myths, stories and rumors of artificial beings endowed with intelligence or consciousness by master craftsmen; as Pamela McCorduck writes, AI began with "an ancient wish to forge the gods."[1] The seeds of modern AI were planted by classical philosophers who attempted to describe the process of human thinking as the mechanical manipulation of symbols. This work culminated in the invention of the programmable digital computer in the 1940s, a machine based on the abstract essence of mathematical reasoning. This device and the ideas behind it inspired a handful of scientists to begin seriously discussing the possibility of building an electronic brain. The Turing test was proposed by British mathematician Alan Turing in his 1950 paper Computing Machinery and Intelligence, which opens with the words: "I propose to consider the question, 'Can machines think?'" The term'Artificial Intelligence' was created at a conference held at Dartmouth College in 1956.[2] Allen Newell, J. C. Shaw, and Herbert A. Simon pioneered the newly created artificial intelligence field with the Logic Theory Machine (1956), and the General Problem Solver in 1957.[3] In 1958, John McCarthy and Marvin Minsky started the MIT Artificial Intelligence lab with 50,000.[4] John McCarthy also created LISP in the summer of 1958, a programming language still important in artificial intelligence research.[5] In 1973, in response to the criticism of James Lighthill and ongoing pressure from congress, the U.S. and British Governments stopped funding undirected research into artificial intelligence. Seven years later, a visionary initiative by the Japanese Government inspired governments and industry to provide AI with billions of dollars, but by the late 80s the investors became disillusioned and withdrew funding again. McCorduck (2004) writes "artificial intelligence in one form or another is an idea that has pervaded Western intellectual history, a dream in urgent need of being realized," expressed in humanity's myths, legends, stories, speculation and clockwork automatons.[6] Mechanical men and artificial beings appear in Greek myths, such as the golden robots of Hephaestus and Pygmalion's Galatea.[7] In the Middle Ages, there were rumors of secret mystical or alchemical means of placing mind into matter, such as J?bir ibn Hayy?n's Takwin, Paracelsus' homunculus and Rabbi Judah Loew's Golem.[8] By the 19th century, ideas about artificial men and thinking machines were developed in fiction, as in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or Karel?apek's

Artificial intelligence might soon become a standard part of criminal justice proceedings. If used carefully, the technology might make fairer decisions about the length of prison sentences, determine which police officers to deploy and could also churn through body-worn camera footage, a senior White House adviser said Tuesday. Lynn Overmann, senior adviser within the Office of Science and Technology and co-leader of the White House Police Data Initiative, described the potential role of, and challenges associated with, artificial intelligence in the criminal justice system. She spoke at the second of four workshops co-hosted by the White House about the technology's ability to help the public and the government. The 2.2 million people incarcerated today overrepresent minorities, those with mental health issues and those with substance abuse problems, Overmann said. Data analytics and artificial intelligence could help reduce biases in the criminal justice system, but only if they account for biases in the data they incorporate.

DIY website building service Wix.com has launched a new "artificial design intelligence" (ADI) service to automate the process of building websites. Founded out of Tel Aviv in 2006, Wix has so far served as an easy-to-use web development platform aimed at helping novices build HTML5 sites using drag-and-drop tools rather than code, while offering complementary services such as web hosting. Now with Wix ADI, the Tel Aviv-based company is looking to make creating websites even easier by using data garnered from its existing user base to feed into its new AI offering. So, websites created by algorithms is the general gist here. Wix ADI is touted as the "first-ever AI solution for website design and creation," and is being gradually introduced to users over the next few months.

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display

You submitted your questions about artificial intelligence and robotics, and we put them – and some of our own – to The Conversation's experts. It is 100% plausible that we'll have human-like artificial intelligence. I say this even though the human brain is the most complex system in the universe that we know of. But there are also no physical laws we know of that would prevent us reproducing or exceeding its capabilities. Popular AI from Issac Asimov to Steven Spielberg is plausible. What the question doesn't address is: when will it be plausible? Most AI researchers (including me) see little or no evidence of it coming anytime soon. Progress on the major AI challenges is slow, if real.

Scientists from Google's artificial intelligence division, DeepMind, and Oxford University are developing a "kill switch" for AI. In an academic paper, they outlined how future intelligent machines could be coded to prevent them from learning to over-ride human input. It is something that has worried experts, with Tesla founder Elon Musk particularly vocal in his concerns. Increasingly, AI is being integrated into many aspects of daily life. Scientists Laurent Orseau, from Google DeepMind, and Stuart Armstrong, from the Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford, set out a framework that would allow humans to always remain in charge.

Cortana app for Android recently got updated in Play Store with few new improvements. Microsoft is bringing back'Hey Cortana' and you now have easier access to the voice button. Microsoft has released an update for Outlook Groups on Windows Phone. Unlike the last update, which was a major one, this one only adds bug fixes and performance improvements. Microsoft has just made it slightly easier for users to buy a new Surface device.

Two decades on from artificial intelligence beating chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov, AI is proving it can do some conventionally human jobs. One UK-based health app now hopes its AI can take over some tasks that would usually only be trusted to a doctor or nurse. In a swish new office in London's Chelsea on Tuesday, health technology firm Babylon pitted its app against a junior doctor and a nurse with 20 years of accident and emergency experience. The machine and the medical professionals were tasked with deciding the priority of treatment for an ailment, a process known in the medical profession as triage. Irwin Nazareth, professor of primary care and population sciences at UCL and a committee chairman at Health Education England, moderated the challenge and ruled the artificial intelligence was as accurate as the nurse and doctor in its assessments.

Everyone's obsessed with "conversation as a platform," or the idea that you should be able to interact with a service with natural language, spoken or written, instead of in the traditional click-an-icon way you'd interact with a computer. Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, and a slew of startups all rushing to find new ways to make it easier for users to connect to all the services they need through a single interface. Just this week, The Information reported that Apple plans to open up its virtual assistant, Siri, to third-party developers who want to integrate their services. We've entered the age of bots. Evernote founder and partner at VC firm General Catalyst, Phil Libin, believes that bots are the most exciting tech he's seen since the iPhone and that they'll rewrite the tech space like apps did in 2008.