Turkey will be the first customer for a new military drone with a machine gun mount that can fire single shots or 15-round bursts and carry a total of 200 rounds. Developed by the Asisguard, a technology firm in Ankara that specializes in military technology, the drone will use a laser sighting system to deliver a high degree of accuracy. The drone will also use a set of robotic braces to offset weapon recoil and ensure the drone's flight path isn't thrown off by firing. According to a report in the New Scientist, the drone will be able to hit targets as small as six inches from a distance of up to 650 feet. The 55-pound drone, called Songar, will be able to travel up to six miles at heights of up to 1.7 miles above ground.

In the engine room of the economy, artificial intelligence (AI) is being heralded as a driver of productivity and commercial growth. With an ability to process huge quantities of data quickly, the technology can increase efficiency, improve the decision-making process by introducing new insights and speed up delivery. AI changes the definition of "production" and promises to transform how we measure economic growth for countries across the world. Research by Accenture shows that, by 2035, AI could double annual global economic growth rates by creating a new virtual workforce to boost productivity, enhancing the skills and ability of existing staff and driving innovations in the economy. Over time, companies using AI will not only do things differently, they will also do different things.

Artificial intelligence appears to be "widening inequality," and its deployment should be subject to tough regulations and limits, especially for sensitive technologies such as facial recognition, a research report said Thursday. The AI Now Institute, a New York University center studying the social implications of artificial intelligence, said that as these technologies become widely deployed, the negative impacts are starting to emerge. The 93-page report examined concerns being raised "from AI-enabled management of workers, to algorithmic determinations of benefits and social services, to surveillance and tracking of immigrants and underrepresented communities," the researchers wrote. "What becomes clear is that across diverse domains and contexts, AI is widening inequality, placing information and control in the hands of those who already have power and further disempowering those who don't." The researchers said AI systems are being deployed in areas such as healthcare, education, employment, criminal justice "without appropriate safeguards or accountability structures in place."

With 3,813 data breaches occurring in the first six months alone, (exposing over 4.1 billion records,) and 12174 new vulnerabilities discovered in commercial and open source software, this year has certainly been one for the memory books. With all signs pointing to 2020 being equally active, we sat down with three of our resident experts to better understand what we can expect to see next year in terms of emerging threats, new defense mechanisms, and more. These predictions were all derived through observed trends, professional insight, and intimate knowledge of our industry. In 2020, we'll see an increasing number of cybercriminals use artificial intelligence (AI) to scale their attacks. Not long ago, it took days or weeks for an adversary to carry out a single, basic phishing attack.

OSIRIS-REx is NASA's first mission to an asteroid to retrieve a sample and return it to Earth. 'X' marks the spot as NASA prepares for a historic asteroid mission. NASA has selected the site on asteroid Bennu where its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will retrieve a sample of space rock. Scientists identified four potential sites before picking a spot dubbed "Nightingale" that is located in Bennu's northern hemisphere. ASTEROID BENNU IS SHOOTING OUT ROCKS – AND NASA ISN'T SURE WHY "After thoroughly evaluating all four candidate sites, we made our final decision based on which site has the greatest amount of fine-grained material and how easily the spacecraft can access that material while keeping the spacecraft safe," said Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona in Tucson, in a statement.

We all consider ourselves experts on separating fact from fiction. Sharing disinformation on social media is something that happens to other people. Let's be honest, when we're cruising through our feeds, sharing or liking baby pictures and cat videos, we don't always have our critical thinking caps on, especially when confronted by emotional appeals. But how do we stop falling for and spreading bogus information? Disinformation is the deliberate spread of verifiably false or misleading content to gain financially or to deceive the public.

After a successful early career in R&D in Silicon Valley, I spent 12 years working as a carpenter. This may sound like a big U-turn. But, while I loved the intellectual piece of science, I really loved the people aspect of construction. I got to build something and turn raw materials into gratifying, highly visible results: houses that enabled life and buildings that enabled commerce. I get the same kind of rush daily as lead data-ops engineer for Life Sciences at Tamr.*

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / December 12, 2019 / Dimension Five Technologies Inc. (CSE:DFT) (the "Company"), is pleased to announce that it has entered into a share exchange agreement dated December 11, 2019 (the "SEA") with Digital Cavalier Technology Services Inc. doing business as Youneeq ("Youneeq") to acquire all of the issued and outstanding securities of Youneeq (the "Transaction"). The Company and Youneeq have signed the SEA and signatures are being gathered from Youneeq shareholders in order to obtain a fully executed version. The proposed transaction is dependent on all Youneeq shareholders signing the SEA. Youneeq is an award-winning personalization and recommendation engine powered by artificial intelligence (AI). The company is poised to become a leading multi-channel AI personalization engine focused on the anonymous audience, the single biggest segment for marketers.

China is planning to upgrade its naval power with unmanned AI submarines that aim to provide an edge over the fleets of their global counterparts. A report by the South China Post on Sunday revealed Beijing's plans to build the automated subs by the early 2020s in response to unmanned weapons being developed in the US. The subs will be able to patrol areas in the South China Sea and Pacific Ocean that are home to disputed military bases. While the expected cost of the submarines has not been disclosed, they're likely to be cheaper than conventional submarines as they do not require life-supporting apparatus for humans. However, without a human crew, they'll also need to be resilient enough to be at sea without onboard repairs possible. The XLUUVs (Extra-Large Unmanned Underwater Vehicles) are much bigger than current underwater vehicles, will be able to dock as any other conventional submarine, and will carry a large amount of weaponry and equipment.

Thousands of scientists have signed a pledge not to have any role in building AIs which have the ability to kill without human oversight. When many think of AI, they at least give some passing thought of rogue AIs seen in sci-fi movies such as the infamous Skynet in Terminator. In an ideal world, AI would never be used in any military capacity. However, it was almost certainly be developed one way or another because of the advantage it would provide to an adversary without similar capabilities. Russian President Vladimir Putin, when asked his thoughts on AI, recently said: "Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world."