This week the Chair of the European Parliament's committee on AI expressed concerns about the enforcement of the European Commission's proposed AI rules, which he said could create national fragmentation similar to that seen with the GDPR. So what are the issues involved, what is the proposed new EU law and how does GDPR already regulate AI? At the start of 2020, 42% of companies in the EU said they use technologies that depend on AI, and another 18% of companies said they are planning to use AI in the future (European Enterprise Survey – FRA, 2020). So, this is clearly an area that is justifiably generating considerable activity and interest from both industry and the regulators. It is important to note however that currently the available technologies involve varying levels of complexity, automation and human review and, despite some companies' optimism about their AI capabilities, many applications currently used remain in the development stage.

The Army is paying for investigations on the physics of elephant trunks -- and researchers say these versatile appendages may hold clues for designing better soft-bodied robots.

The Three Laws of Robotics are iconic in the science fiction world, and have become a symbol within the AI and robotics community of how difficult it is to properly design a system that is foolproof. To fully comprehend the importance of these three laws, we must first learn about the brilliant mind who conceived of these laws the late science fiction author Isaac Asimov. We must then understand how to adapt these laws and have them evolve to protect humanity. Isaac Asimov was born in Russia on January 2, 1920, and immigrated to the United States at age three. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from Columbia University in 1939.

The biggest U.S. defense contractors -- such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics and Raytheon -- provide many of the technologically advanced weapons and systems used by U.S. service members. But there are thousands of other technology companies in the U.S., some large and many quite small, with big ideas and capabilities that have never had the opportunity to contribute to the nation's defense, even though the idea may appeal to them. In March, the Quick Reaction Special Projects program, which is part of the Rapid Reaction Technology Office within the office of the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, published the "2021 Global Needs Statement." The Global Needs Statement -- which is just one of several proposal calls per year that RRTO engages with small and non-traditional companies to incubate innovation by showcasing new ideas and concepts to a Defense Department audience -- asks interested companies to provide their most compelling and innovative technologies and ideas in areas involving artificial intelligence and machine learning; autonomy; biotechnology; cyber; directed energy; fully networked command, communication and control; hypersonics; microelectronics; quantum technology; space and 5G communications. Those technology areas are of great interest to the Defense Department and were spelled out in the 2018 National Defense Strategy; respondents to the Global Needs Statement aren't expected to be the big players who usually get the government contracts. "For this particular initiative ... the vast majority of the companies that submit applications are companies that DOD doesn't do business with on a regular basis or at all," said John Lazar, RRTO's Director.

In April, the European Union took its first steps toward building a new comprehensive framework for regulating artificial intelligence (AI). Drafted by the European Commission, the Artificial Intelligence Act bans certain AI practices outright and mandates that AI applications deemed as "high risk" meet strict data governance and risk management requirements. The bill may be an inflection point in Europe's digital future. In the United States, policymakers are rightly focused on boosting America's competitiveness by supporting development and use of AI. In proposing the AI Act, European leaders seem to believe that their capacity and willingness to regulate is a competitive advantage over more innovative economies.

So lately I've been commenting on a terrific book written by Professor John Lennox. It's called 2084; It's all about the development of Artificial Intelligence. Today, I wanted to discuss some of these incredible advances but more specifically how they will benefit the medical industry. I didn't realize just how far we had come in the past few years with Artificial Intelligence. In his book 2084, Lennox reports that at the University of Toronto, engineers have harnessed the powers of machine learning in generating X-rays which augment training sets.

In a recent event arranged by Nasscom, Infosys Chairman Nandan Nilekani has stated that India is on the cusp of major artificial intelligence innovations. He is confident that both the business side and the government side are well placed to apply AI uniquely. To further understand the statement, one must take a look at the latest AI-based innovative operations taking place in the education, economy, and health sector of India. With the emergence of the'Made in India' drive, 1 billion dollars of funding has been allocated to semiconductor companies using AI. The scheme is also encouraging the local chip makers of India with the assurance that the government will buy their locally made chips.

The Royal Navy, the British navy, has used artificial intelligence at sea for the first time. It was during the "Formidable Shield" exercise, currently taking place off the coast of Scotland, that AI was exploited by the maritime component of the UK army. Two applications were tested to combat supersonic missile threats. "Formidable Shield is an exercise designed to test the weapons systems of ten NATO navies and their interoperability against the latest and most advanced threats. Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, the United States and the United Kingdom participate in the initiative, which takes place every two years for three weeks. As part of the exercise, a British operational experiment was conducted on HMS Dragon, a Type 45 destroyer, and HMS Lancaster, a Type 23 frigate. Two AI applications called Startle and Sycoiea were tested to combat a potential supersonic missile threat. "It is vital that our brave and skilled armed forces stay in the game for the security of the UK and our allies.

Christopher Nolan's cinematic success won an Oscar for best visual effects and grossed over $677 million worldwide. The film is centered around astronauts' journey to the far reaches of our galaxy to find a suitable planet for life as Earth is slowly dying. The lead character played by Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey, an astronaut and spaceship pilot, along with mission commander Brand and science specialists are heading towards a newly discovered wormhole. The mission takes the astronauts towards a spectacular interstellar journey through time and space, but at the same time they miss out on their own life back at home light years away. On board spaceship Endurance is a pair of quadrilateral robots called TARS and CASE.

The Russian military is more technologically advanced than the U.S. realized and is quickly developing artificial intelligence capabilities to gain battlefield information advantage, an expansive new report commissioned by the Pentagon warned. The federally funded Center for Naval Analyses examined the Kremlin's whole-of-government approach for artificial intelligence development and found it is largely driven by the perceived threat from the United States, combined with lessons learned from its continuing conflicts in Syria and Ukraine about what the future battlefield will look like, the report released Monday said. However, the Russian government faces limitations because its AI efforts are primarily government funded, and it lacks a strong defense industrial base, noted the report, written on behalf of the Pentagon's Joint Artificial Intelligence Center. Still, analysts cautioned Pentagon leadership not to underestimate the Russia's technological advances as the U.S. pivots its strategic focus to the Indo-Pacific. The Russian military has been undergoing modernization since 2009.