Better Life Lab is a partnership of Slate and New America. "I see you keep winning Elizabeth also you have an awesome smile." These messages would have been innocent enough, hardly a blip in the often-crass landscape of direct messages women have come to expect on dating apps. But these were messages I received from a man I've never met and who is twice my age on LinkedIn. In the thick of the #MeToo movement that has brought so much attention to the unsavory abuses of workplace relationships for sexual and romantic gratification, I was surprised to see this blatant flirtation creep into my professional space.

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As Hollywood events go, there are few more congratulatory than film festival awards ceremonies, where everyone wants to cheer for the Next Big Thing before they get huge. Yet, at this year's Sundance Film Festival, the biggest applause at the awards show wasn't for a director or actor--it was for Rachel Morrison, a director of photography on the festival jury. "Earlier this week," host Jason Mantzoukas said while announcing her name, "she became the first woman ever to be nominated for the Academy Award for cinematography. Her historic nod is for last year's Sundance hit Mudbound." Out in the audience, Morrison smiled sheepishly; at her side, fellow jurors Jada Pinkett Smith and Octavia Spencer whooped up a storm. The audience stood to clap.

In my previous blog, I looked at how quickly Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly becoming a part of the retail experience. Industry analysts agree that 2018 will be the year that AI brings top and bottom line benefits to innovative companies. So, where can AI most help retailers? Here's four questions I think a combination of AI and analytics are perfectly suited to answer. What do you think about being served by a robot?

But six months after China seemed to mimic that Obama-era road map, A.I. experts in industry and academia in the United States say that the Trump White House has done little to follow through on the previous administration's economic call to arms. "We are still waiting on the White House to provide some direction" on how to respond to the competition, said Tim Hwang, who worked on A.I. policy at Google and is now the director of the Ethics and Governance of AI Initiative, a new organization created by the LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and others to fund ethical research in artificial intelligence. China's embrace of A.I. comes at a crucial time in the development of the technology and just as the lead long enjoyed by the United States has started to dwindle. For decades, artificial intelligence was more fiction than science. In the past few years, however, dramatic improvements have prompted some of the biggest companies in Silicon Valley and Detroit -- and China -- to invest billions on everything from self-driving cars to home appliances that can have a conversation with a human.

But six months after China seemed to mimic that Obama-era road map, A.I. experts in industry and academia in the United States say that the Trump White House has done little to follow through on the previous administration's economic call to arms. "We are still waiting on the White House to provide some direction" on how to respond to the competition, said Tim Hwang, who worked on A.I. policy at Google and is now the director of the Ethics and Governance of AI Initiative, a new organization created by the LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and others to fund ethical research in artificial intelligence. China's embrace of A.I. comes at a crucial time in the development of the technology and just as the lead long enjoyed by the United States has started to dwindle. For decades, artificial intelligence was more fiction than science. In the past few years, however, dramatic improvements have prompted some of the biggest companies in Silicon Valley and Detroit -- and China -- to invest billions on everything from self-driving cars to home appliances that can have a conversation with a human.

The first thing you notice about Sophia, a robot, is the sound she makes. Like a late-90s Pentium processor struggling to load a video, she makes a whirring squeal that fills the room. But what I'll always remember about my recent conversation with a robot is her stare. I recently talked with Sophia in a cramped room at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. The artificially intelligent humanoid was there for CES.

This article is part of Demystifying AI, a series of posts that (try to) disambiguate the jargon and myths surrounding AI. Where will humans fit in a world where robots outsmart them? This is the focus of a heated debate between thought leaders and tech billionaires. Some believe we're steadily meandering toward an AI apocalypse, where humans are either obliterated or enslaved by robots, and we must act quickly to prevent it. Others will tell you that artificial intelligence will always be the subservient best friend of mankind, even when it outwits its creators, and we should move ahead with developing AI at full speed.

So what do you think are the key trends that will shape earned media in 2018? Are they likely to be technologically-driven? Or are the most significant changes going to be cultural ones that are a response to the ever evolving world of news media? Gorkana asked a series of experts for their predictions for 2018 and came up with four major trends, two tech and two cultural, that it believes anyone in earned media needs to be following. Among the experts who peered into their virtual crystal balls for Gorkana was our very own MD Sara Collinge.

Basic human error or a lack of understanding of how disclosure works will always remain potential stumbling blocks even if AI was made available to help alleviate the increased volume of data now being gathered to ensure a successful prosecution. A senior UK police chief revealed in a speech in London on Wednesday, February 7, forces should examine using artificial intelligence to help cope with the scale of information involved in investigations and avoid the kind of mistakes that resulted in a string of collapsed rape trials. Sara Thornton, the chair of the National Police Chiefs' Council, said the volume of date held by individuals had massively increased the number of potential lines of enquiry that officers must pursue to understand a case. Her views have, however, been questioned by a leading expert in counter-terrorism and organised crime who insists the police have already had the ability to comb through large volumes of digital data under the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996. In an exclusive interview, David Vidicette, now the author of several crime thriller books including The Theseus Paradox, said this has always been standard procedure and normal police and detective work.