Microsoft chief Brad Smith issued a warning over the weekend that killer robots are'unstoppable' and a new digital Geneva Convention is required. Most sci-fi fans will think of Terminator when they hear of killer robots. In the classic film series, a rogue military AI called Skynet gained self-awareness after spreading to millions of servers around the world. Concluding that humans would attempt to shut it down, Skynet sought to exterminate all of mankind in the interest of self-preservation. While it was once just a popcorn flick, Terminator now offers a dire warning of what could be if precautions are not taken.

Isaac Asimov's Laws of Robotics were first introduced in the short science fiction story Runaround, (PDF) published in the March, 1942 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. Fast-forward almost 80 years into the present, today, Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics represent more problems and conflict to roboticists than they solve. Roboticists, philosophers, and engineers are seeing an ongoing debate on machine ethics. Machine ethics is a practical proposal on how to simultaneously engineer and provide ethical sanctions for robots. Who or what is going to be held responsible when or if an autonomous system malfunctions or harms humans?

At least, it used to be. Visual information has been the cornerstone of how we discern fact from fiction, especially within our image driven culture. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. After all, the world is rife with altered images, whether we're speaking about photoshopped models in advertisements or an animated dragon in the latest blockbuster. However, in most such scenarios we are generally not only capable of spotting what is false, but we expect it.

Google has completed a controversial take-over of the health division of its UK AI acquisition, DeepMind. The personnel move had been delayed as National Health Service (NHS) trusts considered whether to shift their existing DeepMind contracts -- some for a clinical task management app, others involving predictive health AI research -- to Google. In a blog post yesterday Dr Dominic King, formerly of DeepMind (and the NHS), now UK site lead at Google Health, confirmed the transfer, writing: "It's clear that a transition like this takes time. Health data is sensitive, and we gave proper time and care to make sure that we had the full consent and cooperation of our partners. This included giving them the time to ask questions and fully understand our plans and to choose whether to continue our partnerships. As has always been the case, our partners are in full control of all patient data and we will only use patient data to help improve care, under their oversight and instructions."

According to a report published at Fortune.com, Google has achieved "quantum supremacy" with a 53-qubit quantum computer. From reading the report, it is obvious that Fortune.com Here's what this means for cryptocurrency, military secrets and all secrets which are protected by cryptography. Notably, NASA published the scientific paper at this link, then promptly removed it as soon as the implications of this technology started to become apparent to a few observers. The cover-up begins…) However, the Financial Times reported on the paper before it was removed.

Language and conversation is part of what it is to be human. A large part of human brain function is devoted to processing, creating and understanding communication in both verbal and nonverbal forms. It's no surprise then that we find it easier to communicate through natural language rather than typing, swing, and clicking. However, the natural language of humans is not the language of computers. Artificial intelligence is helping bridge the gap between humans and machines by empowering machines to have natural language capabilities.

As we enter new frontiers with the latest technology trends and enjoy the many positive impacts and benefits it can have on the way we work, play and live, we must always be mindful and prepare for possible negative impacts and potential misuse of the technology. The British, Chinese, and United States armed forces are testing how interconnected, cooperative drones could be used in military operations. Inspired by a swarm of insects working together, drone swarms could revolutionize future conflicts, whether it be by overwhelming enemy sensors with their numbers or to effectively cover a large area for search-and-rescue missions. The difference between swarms and how drones are used by the military today is that the swarm could organize itself based on the situation and through interactions with each other to accomplish a goal. While this technology is still in the experimentation stage, the reality of a swarm that is smart enough to coordinate its own behavior is moving closer to reality.

As we enter new frontiers with the latest technology trends and enjoy the many positive impacts and benefits it can have on the way we work, play and live, we must always be mindful and prepare for possible negative impacts and potential misuse of the technology. The British, Chinese, and United States armed forces are testing how interconnected, cooperative drones could be used in military operations. Inspired by a swarm of insects working together, drone swarms could revolutionize future conflicts, whether it be by overwhelming enemy sensors with their numbers or to effectively cover a large area for search-and-rescue missions. The difference between swarms and how drones are used by the military today is that the swarm could organize itself based on the situation and through interactions with each other to accomplish a goal. While this technology is still in the experimentation stage, the reality of a swarm that is smart enough to coordinate its own behavior is moving closer to reality.

There will be many people who will say it does exist and has working technologies, hardware and software. It is an interesting error in thinking to focus on closed system devices/products as to what Ubiquity (IoT3) is. Devices are used to get across the point of various types of connections and networks being accessed. But more importantly in a full implementation of the concept of Ubiquity (often described as the IoT) devices may not even be owned anymore. The ownership of devices ceases to be important if you can own your digital identity, can verify it and establish your own ecosystem of assets in Blockchain.

To be fully transparent, I started writing this post in late 2018 in an attempt to detail my own "Things you should be focused on as an investor/consumer in 2019," but the year got ahead of me as interesting projects materialized and so too did my resolution to write more! Some of these projects have already progressed further than I had imagined - I have been fortunate enough to have spent the last two years working, researching & exploring areas that I find most pivotal to improving our quality of life, and we seem to be at an interesting inflection point among all. There are countless applications of Artificial Intelligence either already deployed or in development, with many more envisioned every day. I am most excited for AI that will automate and assist the best interests of the individual: personalized recommendations. I believe said recommendations, those pesky things that currently inundate our platforms with little explanation, should be more transparent and easier to understand.