As you read this, countless cards, letters and packages are en route to delivery destinations across the globe. We rarely think about the logistics involved in international mail crossing land and sea, country borders and continents, because we don't have to. We simply take our item to the nearest postal service branch, pay an acceptable conveyance fee, and within a week or sooner, that item can end up on the other side of the world. But some two hundred years ago, eccentric minds were devising ways of cutting international delivery times to hours or even minutes. Aside from the romantic notion of rolling notes around arrows for airborne exchanges at distance, German author and poet Heinrich von Kleist is widely credited as being the first champion of using projectiles to carry mail. Telegraphy systems were in their infancy in the early 1800s, and the technology was best suited for short notes, not long reports or letters -- and certainly not packages. In his position as editor of the Berliner Abendblätter (the Berlin Evening News), von Kleist wrote an article in October 1810 that suggested artillery shells could be filled with letters and trained at areas of soft ground many miles away.

This coming June, British author George Orwell's dystopian novel, "Nineteen Eighty-Four," marks the 70th anniversary of its publication. In the United States, Penguin has announced plans for a special 75,000-copy reprint. According to The New York Times, the publisher noted that, sales of the novel have increased by 9,500 percent since the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump. Demonstrating remarkable foresight, Orwell envisaged a terrifying future in which a "Big Brother" government would harness tools to watch each and every one of us. When Winston Smith, the book's protagonist, wanted to meet his illicit lover, he was forced to take extreme measures to avoid a two-way device called a "telescreen," described as follows: "The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard."

Healthcare technology company Sensyne Health has signed Strategic Research Agreements (SRA) with Wye Valley and George Eliot Hospital NHS Trusts. The agreements will allow Sensyne Health to analyse anonymised patient data using clinical artificial intelligence (Clinical AI) technology. The purpose of the research is to derive new insights that will improve the care of NHS Trusts' patients and help to find new treatments. Both Trusts will receive a £2.5 million equity stake in Sensyne Health (at a price of £1.75 per share) and will also benefit from royalties that arise from any discoveries. The royalties the Trust receives will be reinvested back into the NHS which can fund further research and can help deliver higher quality patient care at lower cost.

Last April, Google cofounder Sergey Brin wrote to shareholders with a warning about the potential downsides of artificial intelligence. In June, Google CEO Sundar Pichai released a set of guiding principles for its AI projects after employee protests forced him to abandon a Pentagon contract creating algorithms to interpret drone footage. Now Google has released a white paper that asks governments to suggest some rules for AI--but please, not too many! As you might expect, the 30-page document Google released last week extols the power of artificial intelligence. "AI can deliver great benefits for economies and society, and support decision making which is fairer, safer and more inclusive and informed," it says.

Munich Re is pouring an undisclosed sum into the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). Described as one of the leading AI research institutes in Europe, the DFKI is a not-for-profit public-private partnership that receives project funding from the likes of the European Union and the German government. Support also comes from member companies – the roster of which now includes Munich Re – such as Google and Microsoft. Representatives from the DFKI and the major reinsurer have signed the stakeholder agreement. "Artificial intelligence is one of the most important technologies of our time," commented Torsten Jeworrek, member of Munich Re's management board.

On Wednesday, a polar vortex brought bitter cold to the Midwest. Overnight, Chicago reached a low of 21 degrees Fahrenheit below zero, making it slightly colder than Antarctica, Alaska, and the North Pole. Wind chills were 64 degrees below zero in Park Rapids, Minnesota, and 45 degrees below zero in Buffalo, North Dakota, according to the National Weather Service. Schools, restaurants, and businesses closed, and more than 1,000 flights have been canceled. Even the United States Postal Service stalled mail delivery, temporarily.

As the volume of digital information in corporate networks continues to grow, so grows the number of cyberattacks, and their cost. One cybersecurity vendor, Juniper Networks, estimates that the cost of data breaches worldwide will reach $2.1 trillion in 2019, roughly four times the cost of breaches in 2015. Now, two Boston University computer scientists, working with researchers at Draper, a not-for-profit engineering solutions company located in Cambridge, have developed a tool that could make it harder for hackers to find their way into networks where they don't belong. Peter Chin, a research professor of computer science and an affiliate of the Rafik B. Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering, and Jacob Harer, a fourth-year Ph.D. student in computer science, worked with Draper researchers to develop technology that can scan software systems for the kinds of vulnerabilities that are often used by cybercriminals to gain entry. The tool, which used deep learning to train neural networks to identify patterns that indicate software flaws, can scan millions of lines of code in seconds, and will someday have the ability to fix the coding errors that it spots.

India's efforts to set up a national centre on artificial intelligence (AI) reflect the country's ambition to accelerate its tech prowess akin to how China shaped the AI dialogue on the global stage. Finance minister Piyush Goyal's push for embracing AI fits into the government's vision to democratise newer technologies, which could be game-changers for creating societal impact. "India has become the second largest hub of startups. A national programme on AI has been envisaged by the government. This should be catalysed by the national centre for artificial intelligence as a hub, along with other centres of excellence," Goyal said on Friday.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) may look like something out of the pages of a sci-fi book, yet you'd be surprised how often you use it daily. As the technology continues to improve, AI will become even more common with more widespread utilization among diverse industries. To start with, let's begin with the basic definition of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and what it includes. Seeking Alpha gives a very apt description of the same in their article- At a basic level, artificial intelligence is the concept of machines accomplishing tasks which have historically required human intelligence. Applied AI: Machines designed to complete very specifics tasks like navigating a vehicle, trading stocks, or playing chess – as IBM's Deep Blue demonstrated in 1996 when it defeated chess grand master Gerry Kasparov. General AI: Machines designed to complete any task which would normally require human intervention. The broad nature of General AI requires machines to "learn" as they encounter new tasks or ...

The 21st century has seen a massive resurgence in highly advanced AI usage techniques. We can now process large amounts of data in a short amount of time. We can use machine learning to help machines improve on their mistakes. In fact, we have seen AI dip into every industry, from the demonstrated surgery performed by a robot in the Children's National Medical Center to the rise in self driving cars. However, we have also studied the dark side of algorithms, and artificial intelligence in general.