The last day of January 2019 was sunny, yet bitterly cold in Romford, east London. Shoppers scurrying from retailer to retailer wrapped themselves in winter coats, scarves and hats. The temperature never rose above three degrees Celsius. For police officers positioned next to an inconspicuous blue van, just metres from Romford's Overground station, one man stood out among the thin winter crowds. The man, wearing a beige jacket and blue cap, had pulled his jacket over his face as he moved in the direction of the police officers.

Artificial intelligence (AI), it's often categorized as'bleeding edge' technology, believed to be the catalyst for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a roadmap for the future. Though in its infancy, AI's already showing signs of its potential; giving machines the ability to mimic and surpass human capabilities. China is among the world's leaders in artificial intelligence development and research. The government is giving incentives to research institutions to lead key projects in the development of next generation artificial intelligence technologies as part of its goal to close the AI gap with the US by 2030. China's AI Revolution takes a look at how artificial intelligence is being used to streamline shopping, secure sprawling cities, manage traffic, and even assist in diagnosing cancer.

If you thought taking a few machine learning courses on Udemy might be enough to inure you against future unemployment then yesterday's report on machine learning in financial services from the Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will come as a bit of a shock. The report is based on a survey of 106 banks and finance firms in London. It turns out that, yes, machine learning is being used in banks. But, no, it's not hard to find anyone to fill the roles and that this is the least of the worries as machine learning is rolled out across the finance sector. The charts below, from the report, show where machine learning (ML) is already most in use in the banking sector (defined as building societies, international banks, retail banks, UK deposit takers, and wholesale banks) and in the investments and capital markets sector (defined as alternatives, corporate finance firms, fund managers, principal trading firms, wealth managers and stockbrokers, and wholesale brokers.)

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By 2030 the total gross domestic product of the world will be 14% higher because of one thing: more use of artificial intelligence or AI. That's the conclusion of PwC, a professional services firm based in London. If such forecasts are right these sophisticated computer programs will be doing tasks such as driving vehicles, planning and waging wars, and advising humans on how to handle both their health and wealth. One observer writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association has declared that the "hype and fear" surrounding AI "may be greater than that which accompanied the discovery of the structure of DNA or the whole genome." Yet despite the possibility of colossal impacts from AI, the U.S. government has been doing little to study its ethical implications.

The Trump administration, as part of its strategy on artificial intelligence, has spent a considerable amount of time identifying jobs that become obsolete with the rise of automation. As part of that effort, agencies have also looked at predicting what new career paths automation might create in the years ahead. But now some officials say fear over automation-related job security might have gone too far. Federal Chief Information Officer Suzette Kent, who has overseen some of the administration's reskilling pilots, like the Federal Cyber Reskilling Academy, said some of these anxieties about automation aren't new. "This is not a story that we haven't heard before in our nation: Something comes along that radically changes the way that we work, the way that we live, and creating fear about that is not the best path forward," Kent said during a panel hosted by the Bipartisan Policy Center on Wednesday.

Artificial intelligence salaries benefit from the perfect recipe for a sweet paycheck: a hot field and high demand for scarce talent. It's the ever-reliable law of supply and demand, and right now, anything artificial intelligence-related is in very high demand. According to Indeed.com, the average IT salary -- the keyword is "artificial intelligence engineer" -- in the San Francisco area ranges from approximately $134,135 per year for "software engineer" to $169,930 per year for "machine learning engineer." However, it can go much higher if you have the credentials firms need. One tenured professor was offered triple his $180,000 salary to join Google, which he declined for a different teaching position.

The Paris Agreement is a milestone, and all parties should take concrete actions to fulfill their commitments. Institutions and processes must be adapted for tomorrow's changes and equipped to take up all the challenges of climate change. There is a shared responsibility to prepare for climate impacts on security and migration. By 2030, more than 60% of the world's poor will live in fragile and crisis contexts. Assessing and anticipating climate risks in the most fragile situations should be a priority.

BOISE, Idaho: Soaring silently in the sky, the Heron 1 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) spots three moving vehicles below suspected to be enemy targets. The UAV feeds real-time video back to a big screen in the command post. Commanders there immediately see red rectangles appear around the vehicles. This is the Automatic Target Detection (ATD) system confirming they are threats. Three F-16 fighter jets are scrambled.

WASHINGTON – U.S. astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir on Friday became the first female pairing to carry out a spacewalk -- a historic milestone as NASA prepares to send the first woman to the moon. "It symbolizes exploration by all that dare to dream and work hard to achieve that dream," Meir said after the seven-hour and 17-minute spacewalk to replace a power controller on the International Space Station. The mission was originally planned for earlier this year but had to be aborted due to a lack of properly fitting spacesuits, leading to allegations of sexism. Koch and Meir began the walk with standard safety checks on their suits and tethers, before making their way to the repair site on the station's port side as the sunlit Earth came into view. In a call to reporters just a few minutes before, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine emphasized the symbolic significance of the day.