VC-backed artificial intelligence startups, which have seen a sevenfold increase in funding since 2010, have also seen corporations take a greater interest. While acquisitions of VC-backed AI startups by major corporations -- including Vocal IQ by Apple, Wit.ai by Facebook, and DeepMind by Google -- have been in the spotlight recently, corporate involvement in investing in these startups has also grown. Deals to AI startups involving corporates saw a 15x increase between 2010 and 2015. Just in the last quarter, companies including H2O.ai (Transamerica Ventures and Capital One Ventures), Gridspace (Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator) and Mobvoi (Google) saw backing from prominent corporates. Our artificial intelligence category covers startups primarily focused on developing AI, across areas including image processing, natural language processing, machine learning, deep learning, and predictive APIs, among other core applications.

Facebook is one of several businesses preparing for a future of chatbot communication. The social media company plans to make some key announcements around chatbots and live chat during next week's F8 conference in San Francisco. Chatbots are chat robots designed to simplify digital interaction. Through the power of artificial intelligence and human communication, chatbots are able to hold conversations and perform tasks for users. This presents a tremendous opportunity to businesses, which could use chatbots to replace 1-800 numbers as part of their customer service strategies.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has four seasons: hype, disappointment, funding drought, and renewed interest. I've been involved in AI research for quite some time -- I became a fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) in 1993 -- and I've weathered several seasonal cycles. What I'm seeing now, however, is the most puzzling cycle yet; either I'm getting old and addled, or the current cycle is unique in its magnitude. In these Big Data days, the big talk about AI's potential reminds me of what happened at the peak of earlier cycles (see, for example, the recent Wall Street Journal article. Once again, the focus is on a single technical component -- deep learning -- and hopes seem to be building that it can solve many very hard problems easily and more or less magically.

The robots are 3D-printed in one single step using functional hydraulics. "All you have to do is stick in a battery and motor, and you have a robot that can practically walk right out of the printer," said Daniela Rus, director at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). In a new paper, CSAIL researchers presented a process they call "printable hydraulics." The technique involves using a 3D inkjet printer to stack up material half the width of a human hair one layer at a time. The material is then dried using high-intensity ultraviolet light, which solidifies certain parts.

Microsoft has trained its artificial intelligence software to replicate and produce original paintings based upon the works of Rembrandt van Rijn in the hope to refine its deep learning and facial recognition programmes. In actual fact, the above image is an entirely original tribute to the master's works, created by a machine. The battle between humans and AI has been reignited after Google reaped the benefits of the excessive man hours applied to its AlphaGo software in March, which saw the computer program defeat Go champion Lee Se-dol 4-1 repeatedly in the Chinese board game, embarrassing one of humanity's finest players. Now Microsoft is now flouting its AI abilities, having tasked it with studying classic paintings to produce a brand new Rembrandt painting. ING, Microsoft, Delft University of Technology, The Mauritshuis and Museum Het Rembrandthuis all pitched in to birth the aptly named'The Next Rembrandt' project.

The thousands of bright orange automatons that haul shelves full of merchandise at Amazon's fulfillment center here could be seen as a sign of the impending doom of the human workforce. But the 500 or so full-time workers employed at this site have something robots won't have for many years, according to experts. Humans have an intuitive understanding of the movement of objects, and fine motor skills that give them a firm hold on key warehouse operations like packaging and stowing goods. That helps explain why Amazon.com, The company has 30,000 robots -- but more than 230,000 employees, not counting the temporary staff it hires during the peak holiday period.

SpaceX has finally managed to safely land its re-usable rocket onto a barge, after previous repeated attempts saw the Falcon 9 kit explode. Successfully landing the booster onto the large "drone ship" is a huge step forward for SpaceX and its found Elon Musk, and for private space travel more generally. The company hopes that the re-usable rockets will make space travel much cheaper in future, since they can be re-filled and then sent back into space rather than re-building from scratch. Mr Musk celebrated the successful landing by referencing the T-Pain song "I'm On A Boat". He later deleted the tweet.

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

Absurdly Driven looks at the world of business with a skeptical eye and a firmly rooted tongue in cheek. One of humanity's greatest talents is its ability to self-destruct. In Silicon Valley, it's compulsory to call it disruption. You surely know that soon the world will be presided over by robots. They will think for us.

William Hertling is the author of Avogadro Corp, A.I. Apocalypse, The Last Firewall, The Turing Exception, and the upcoming Kill Process. These near-term science-fiction novels explore the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI), the coexistence of humans and smart machines, and the impact of social reputation, technological unemployment, and other near-future issues. His novels have been called "frighteningly plausible," "tremendous," and "must-read." Hertling's Singularity Series novels have been endorsed by and received wide attention from tech luminaries including Harper Reed (CTO for the Obama Campaign), Ben Huh (CEO Cheezburger), and Chris Anderson (CEO 3DRobotics, former Editor-in-Chief Wired). His first novel for children, The Case of the Wilted Broccoli, was published in 2014. Hertling grew up a digital native in the early days of bulletin board systems. His first experiences with net culture occurred when he wired seven phone lines into the back of his Apple IIe and hosted an online chat system. A frequent speaker on the future of technology, science fiction, and indie publishing, Hertling has spoken at SXSW Interactive, Defrag, OryCon, University of Colorado, Willamette Writers Conference, and many other conferences. Did you start off wanting to become a writer, or did you stumble into it? WH: I very much stumbled into it, although, in retrospect, there were a few hints ahead of time.