U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry announced the establishment of the DOE Artificial Intelligence and Technology Office (AITO). The Secretary has established the office to serve as the coordinating hub for the work being done across the DOE enterprise in Artificial Intelligence. This action has been taken as part of the President's call for a national AI strategy to ensure AI technologies are developed to positively impact the lives of Americans. DOE-fueled AI is already being used to strengthen our national security and cybersecurity, improve grid resilience, increase environmental sustainability, enable smarter cities, improve water resource management, as well as speed the discovery of new materials and compounds, and further the understanding, prediction, and treatment of disease. DOE's National Labs are home to four of the top ten fastest supercomputers in the world, and we're currently building three next-generation, exascale machines, which will be even faster and more AI-capable computers.

The phrase "artificial intelligence" in pop culture often conjures up dystopian images such as the sentient computer Hal 9000 from the 1968 film "2001: A Space Odyssey" that killed people for its self preservation; or the cyborg assassin with a metal endoskeleton in director James Cameron's "The Terminator." In recent years, our fascination with the potential of AI has taken a more starry-eyed turn, as shown in the 2013 sci-fi drama "Her," where the main character falls in love with a virtual assistant. In reality, artificial intelligence (AI) technology is quickly permeating every aspect of our lives. From Amazon's voice-activated Alexa to writing technology that helps managers craft job postings, AI is in our hearts, homes and workplaces. And it's only going to become a bigger part of our lives: Experts call the rise of AI the driving force behind the fourth industrial revolution. On a recent afternoon at the NVIDIA robotics research lab in Seattle's University District, researchers use a simulated kitchen to test robots' ability to perform simple tasks such as grabbing objects.

An employer in Spain may not be able to fire a worker caught on a surveillance camera doing something prohibited if the company hasn't informed workers about the video system and its purpose, according to a recent trial court decision. In a case involving an employee fired after a security camera captured him in a parking-lot fight after work hours, a Pamplona labor court ruled that the video evidence was inadmissible under the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and case law from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). "The judgment is of great interest since it is the first ruling by a Spanish court on the validity that can be given to the evidence of video recordings after the publication of the new Spanish Data Protection Law and also an interpretation of the new European Data Protection Regulation," according to a blog post from Manuel Vargas of Barcelona's Marti & Associats law firm. Under Spain's own data-protection law, employers who record a worker doing something illegal are considered to have fulfilled their duty to inform so long as they have posted a sign identifying a video surveillance zone, Vargas wrote. He also noted that recent case law from the Spanish Supreme Court endorses the idea that employers aren't obligated to notify workers that they plan to use video cameras to monitor their activity for possible disciplinary purposes.

The rise of killer robots is now unstoppable and a new digital Geneva Convention is essential to protect the world from the growing threat they pose, according to the President of the world's biggest technology company. In an interview with The Telegraph, Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, said the use of'lethal autonomous weapon systems' poses a host of new ethical questions which need to be considered by governments as a matter of urgency. He said the rapidly advancing technology, in which flying, swimming or walking drones can be equipped with lethal weapons systems – missiles, bombs or guns – which could be programmed to operate entirely or partially autonomously, "ultimately will spread… to many countries". The US, China, Israel, South Korea, Russia and the UK are all developing weapon systems with a significant degree of autonomy in the critical functions of selecting and attacking targets. The technology is a growing focus for many militaries because replacing troops with machines can make the decision to go to war easier.

As J.P. Morgan put it, "A man always has two reasons for doing anything: a good reason and the real reason." Such is the case with the potential rolling out of new gov backed high tech. There is the benevolent PR selling point behind which are concerns about to what real use such will be put, in the near or distant future. The PR front is "a way to identify early signs of changes in people with mental illness that could lead to violent behavior" premised upon "gun control following recent mass shootings…volunteer data to identify'neurobehavioral signs' of'someone headed toward a violent explosive act'…it would not collect sensitive health data about individuals without their permission"--about this last part, I will say "yeah, right": can you say "Snowden"? We are told that "there are plenty of researchers and mental health experts who believe that mental health and gun violence aren't necessarily linked. Mental illness can sometimes be a factor in such violent acts…no more than a quarter of mass shooters have a diagnosed mental illness."

According to a new report from the European Space Agency (ESA), artificial intelligence and machine learning may be the key to accurately extracting and processing satellite data. For humans, it can be very challenging to locate the most relevant information in these massive datasets, which are transmitted from over 700 Earth observation satellites.

We are crossing over into an era where we have to be skeptical of what we see on video,

In an attempt to match capabilities of adversaries like China, the Indian Army is set to release a blueprint on the setting up of an artificial intelligence system that will reduce human errors and over-dependence on manpower. The AI will be integrated so as to advance surveillance and help mobilise troops quicker, since the army is currently dependent only upon foot patrols in difficult terrains, such as the Chinese frontier. To this end, a seminar is being conducted by the Jaipur-based South Western Command of the Indian Army at Hisar to explore AI based defence applications with experts and industry representatives. It is also intended to be an opportunity to discuss research and development for futuristic weapon platforms.

HOW can a patent office seriously assert that it is serious about innovation when everyone who meets the officials comes from law firms and rarely has any scientific background? If this system's inception truly dates back to need to advance science, shouldn't these officials focus on actual scientists? This may sound like a shallow observation, but it perfectly describes the pattern we've been seeing at the European Patent Office (EPO) under António Campinos and his predecessor Battistelli (neither of whom has any background in the sciences). Seeing how the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) wants to work around 35 U.S.C. § 101, we're nowadays witnessing a similar trend in America too. A resurgence of software patents in Europe poses risk to US (case)law as well. We hope that American readers understand that. The EPO openly brags about objectives like spreading software patents to the whole world.

Some people think that "sustainable eating" means shopping exclusively at over-priced chains like Whole Foods but we're here to shut that myth down with two words – Almazan Kitchen. Who knew that a couple of Serbian guys cooking organic food in a forest with their pet owl could generate nearly 20 million views for a single video? Serbia is just one of many countries found in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), a region that consists of relatively small countries that gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union around 1989. As these countries transformed into democratic states with capitalistic economies only 30 years ago, they had to overcome unique handicaps compared to more developed nations in Western Europe – like no organic grocery stores. Still, most of the region has registered rapid GDP growth over time that was only slowed by the global financial crisis of 2008.