A science journalist has identified eight ways the world could end, with lethal biotechnology, Terminator-style robots and nuclear war being the biggest threats to life on Earth. Bryan Walsh, 41, a former foreign correspondent and author from Brooklyn, also addressed climate change, supervolcanoes, asteroids, disease and even aliens in his new book. End Times: A Brief Guide To The End Of The World came after Mr Walsh spent two years looking into the horrific ways the world could face Armageddon. He has assessed both the severity of each disaster, as well as the likelihood of it actually happening. Mr Walsh says: 'I don't want people to feel we're doomed and the world's going to end tomorrow and stuff. 'I want them to see that in each one of these risks, there are things being done, or that we could be doing.

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.

Nearly two years since the Pentagon started bringing artificial intelligence to the battlefield, the algorithms still need human help, a top U.S. Air Force general said Tuesday. But Gen. Mike Holmes said the technology is getting better at identifying people, cars, and other objects in drone video. He also sees promise in other AI applications, like predicting when parts on planes will break. "[W]e're still in the process of teaching the algorithms to be able to predict what's there from the data and be as reliable as we would like it to be or as reliable as our teams of people [who] are doing that," the Air Combat Command leader said Tuesday at a Defense Writers Group breakfast. We're starting to use them and experiment with them," he said. "I don't think, in general, they're at the point yet where we're confident in them operating without having a person following through on it, but I absolutely think that's where we're going." Be the first to receive updates. While Air Combat Command is best known for its high-performance fighter jets, Holmes also oversees the Air Force's drone program and the stateside intelligence centers that process the video and other data collected from high above the battlefield. Two years ago, the Pentagon stood up Project Maven, a small cell tasked with putting algorithms inside the computers that receive video captured by drones above the battlefield. Maven deployed its first AI-powered tools in 2017, and Pentagon officials soon declared the initial experiments a success. But the deployment also sparked an ethical debate about using decision-making machines on the battlefield. A batch of Google employees objected to the company working on Project Maven. In June 2018, Holmes called artificial intelligence "a big part of our future and you'll continue to see that expanded." Holmes compared Project Maven to "teaching your three-year-old with the iPad" to pick out objects that are a certain color. "I would watch my previous aide de camp's three-year-old and he'd pick out all the green things," Holmes said. "You have to teach it and it learns and it's learning, but it hasn't learned yet to the point where you still don't have to go back and have mom or dad looking over the shoulder of the three-year-old to say, 'Yeah, those really are cars.'

When it comes to collecting visual data activity on Earth, there is no better vantage point than space. As a result, both government and corporate organizations are investing heavily in space-based sensor technology, which promises to provide an unprecedented quantity of actionable data to be stored, analyzed and leveraged for insight. Overhead space systems–the term used to describe the various satellite systems operating in Earth's orbit–serve as an important component for today's public and private sector's digital infrastructure. Sensor technology, and the satellites that carry them through orbit, have evolved substantially over the past few years. With artificial intelligence and machine learning applications improving at a rapid pace, overhead space systems can capture and deliver visual data far more effectively than ever before.

Artificial intelligence is rapidly moving out of the laboratory and into our daily lives. It has already made possible many things we now take for granted, including speech recognition, web searches, and in-car navigation systems. Soon, the incredible advances in software and the hardware needed to process all of the data that's being generated will turn many other things that used to seem like science fiction into reality. The impact on society is--and will be--immense, so it's important that public policy keeps pace with these developments. There is no commonly accepted definition for artificial intelligence, but at Intel, we see it as a computerized system that performs tasks which traditionally have been associated with people.

Several high profile cyber attacks over recent years have exposed the vulnerability of popular software and technology platforms. It highlights the need for stringent cybersecurity laws. Leading global organizations have strengthened the security of their systems to minimize attacks. AI mechanisms are emerging as the means to strengthen cybersecurity and thwart attacks. Apart from monetary losses, cyber attacks damage a company's reputation too.

Ed. note: This is the first article in a two-part series about AI, its potential impact on how organizations approach security, and the accompanying considerations around implementation, efficacy, and compliance. Is Artificial Intelligence (AI) on track to help the world streamline and solve against tasks that are better left to a machine? One might think so, given everything we've seen and heard about the impact of AI on our society -- from our phones telling us the best way to drive home, to chatbots on e-commerce sites answering product questions, to devices as small as a thermostat or as large as an electric vehicle removing friction from everyday life. Now AI is entering the space of cybersecurity, promising to bring greater speed and accuracy in detecting and responding to breaches, user behavior analysis, or predicting new strains of malware. AI and machine learning technologies can help protect organizations from a continuously evolving threat landscape -- but AI is not just for sophisticated attacks, AI can also help protect against classic attack scenarios.

Abraham Lincoln once said, "Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." Building out actionable Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a task that requires the right tools in order to be executed in an efficient manner. Visionaries across the government are looking for ways to apply AI to enable efficiencies, reinvent the way we defend the network, drive the mission–and change the world. Hostile actors are taking advantages of advances in technology and now every organization across the DoD is asking, What do I do next? Join NVIDIA, NetApp, and Cisco to learn about how to sharpen your IT infrastructure axe, so your organization can tackle your AI/ML tasks in the most efficient manners possible.

During The AI Summit London 2019, TechXLR8's own Tech TV team sat down with Rema Algunaibet, AI Developer for Saudi Aramco, to discuss the business AI landscape today, the challenges facing enterprises, and the steps ahead for industry. With flagship shows in San Francisco, London, New York, Munich, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Cape Town, 2019 will see over 30,000 delegates from businesses globally joining the AI revolution through The AI Summit events. The AI Summit series uniquely has the support of tech's elite, with our 2019 Industry Partners featuring Agorai, AWS, IBM Watson, Microsoft, Oracle, Google, HCL, Publicis Sapient, Genpact, Intel alongside 300 sponsors and partners. Exclusive, inspirational insights from acclaimed speakers are frequently reported by the world's foremost press including official media partners CBS, Reuters, BBC, The Times, Quartz, Tech Radar.

On 12 February 2019, the European Parliament adopted a Resolution on a comprehensive European industrial policy on artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics1. After describing AI as "one of the strategic technologies of the 21st century"2, the European Parliament presented several recommendations to the Member States. This Resolution underlines the need to close the European gap with North America and Asia-Pacific, and promotes a coordinated approach at the European level "to be able to compete with the massive investments made by third countries, especially the US and China"3. Europe is well behind in private investments in AI, with €2.4 to €3.2 billion in 2016, as opposed to €6.5 to €9.7 billion in Asia-Pacific and €12.1 to €18.6 billion in North America. To address this challenge, the European Parliament develops a general approach based on a strategic regulatory environment for AI and encourages strong user protections.