We are facing one of the worst pandemics the world has suffered in recent decades. Evoking the famous words of Winston Churchill, weeks of strain, sweat, and tears await us. However, are preparing to stop such an illness, not only because we have the best doctors or brilliant scientists on our side. But because, for the first time, technology is going to become a fundamental ally. There is something called Artificial Intelligence that has already been shown to work is one of our best weapons.

"Gone are the days of data engineers manually copying data around again and again, delivering datasets weeks after a data scientist requests it"-these are Steven Mih's words about the revolution that artificial intelligence is bringing about, in the scary world of big data. By the time the term "big data" was coined, data had already accumulated massively with no means of handling it properly. In 1880, the US Census Bureau estimated that it would take eight years to process the data it received in that year's census. The government body also predicted that it would take more than 10 years to process the data it would receive in the following decade. Fortunately, in 1881, Herman Hollerith created the Hollerith Tabulating Machine, inspired by a train conductor's punch card.

I chose artificial intelligence as my next topic, as it can be considered as one of the most known technologies, and people imagine it when they talk about the future. But the right question would be: What is artificial intelligence? Artificial intelligence is not something that just happened in 2015 and 2016. It's been around for a hundred years as an idea, but as a science, we started seeing developments from the 1950s. So, this is quite an old tech topic already, but because of the kinds of technology that we have access to today -- specifically, processing performance and storage -- we're starting to see significant leaps in AI development. When I started the course entitled, "Foundations of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0)," I got deeper into the topic of artificial intelligence. One of the differences between the third industrial revolution -- defined by the microchip and digitization -- and the fourth industrial revolution is the scope, velocity and breakthroughs in medicine and biology, as well as widespread use of artificial intelligence across our society. Thus, AI is not only a product of Industry 4.0 but also an impetus as to why the fourth industrial revolution is currently happening and will continue to do so. I think there are two ways to understand AI: the first way is to try giving a quick definition of what it is, but the second is to also think about what it is not.

The number of ethical guidelines, frameworks and principles on AI just keeps growing and growing. International organisations, national regulators, parliamentary committees, even the corporate sector, are overflowing with documents proclaiming the need for AI to be ethical. Of course, AI technologies (AITs) cannot themselves be ethical. AITs are, whatever their sophistication, speed and processing power, still just technologies. So, AI ethics, at least for public policy, really refers to the ethics of AI development and use by humans, in specific social, institutional and political situations.

MADRID, SPAIN - MARCH 28: Health personnel are seen outside the emergency entrance of the Severo ... [ ] Ochoa Hospital on March 28, 2020 in Madrid, Spain. Spain plans to continue its quarantine measures at least through April 11. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has spread to many countries across the world, claiming over 20,000 lives and infecting hundreds of thousands more. AI (Artificial Intelligence) has a long history, going back to the 1950s when the computer industry started. It's interesting to note that much of the innovation came from government programs, not private industry. This was all about how to leverage technologies to fight the Cold War and put a man on the moon.

There's still no completely safe and surefire method for locating unexploded ordinance after a war is over, but researchers at Ohio State University have found a way to harness image processing algorithms, powered by machine learning, to study satellite imagery and locate hot spots where UXO are likely to be located. The researchers focused their efforts on a 100-square-kilometre area near Kampong Trabaek, Cambodia, which was the target of carpet-bombing missions carried out by the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War. The team was given access to declassified military data that revealed that 3,205 bombs had been dropped in the area between 1970 and 1973. Determining exactly how many of those bombs didn't explode has gotten harder and harder as, six decades later, nature has slowly reclaimed the country's heaviest hit areas, hiding and obscuring the craters that are counted and used to make accurate estimates. The OSU study used a two-step process to come up with a more accurate estimate of how many bombs were still left in the area.

During the past decade, deep learning has seen groundbreaking developments in the field of AI (Artificial Intelligence). But what is this technology? And why is it so important? Well, let's first get a definition of deep learning. Here's how Kalyan Kumar, who is the Corporate Vice President & Chief Technology Officer of IT Services at HCL Technologies, describes it: "Have you ever wondered how our brain can recognize the face of a friend whom you had met years ago or can recognize the voice of your mother among so many other voices in a crowded marketplace or how our brain can learn, plan and execute complex day-to-day activities? The human brain has around 100 billion cells called neurons. These build massively parallel and distributed networks, through which we learn and carry out complex activities. Inspired from these biological neural networks, scientists started building artificial neural networks so that computers could eventually learn and exhibit intelligence like humans."

Video games are being prescribed as a recommended treatment for our ongoing homebound existence, brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. Game makers on Saturday began kicking off a new World Health Organization (WHO) initiative entitled #PlayApartTogether to encourage people on how to entertain themselves and also practice physical distancing. The initiative is particularly noteworthy because WHO previously designated video game addiction as an official mental health disorder. But the group hopes that the industry can "reach millions with important messages to help prevent the spread of COVID-19," said Ray Chambers, the U.S. ambassador to WHO in a statement. Game companies will encourage players to stay distanced and observe other safety measures including hand hygiene, he said.

Apple's new COVID-19 app and website provides the latest information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Apple's new COVID-19 app and website provides the latest information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Apple's new COVID-19 website and app allow users to screen themselves for coronavirus symptoms and receive recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on what to do next. The tool was developed in partnership with the CDC, the White House's coronavirus task force and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Both the website and the app were made publicly available on Friday.

AI (Artificial Intelligence) has a long history, going back to the 1950s when the computer industry started. It's interesting to note that much of the innovation came from government programs, not private industry. This was all about how to leverage technologies to fight the Cold War and put a man on the moon. The impact of these program would certainly be far-reaching. They would lead to the creation of the Internet and the PC revolution.