A new report claims that China managed to spy on large swathes of the world by smuggling tiny computer chips into electronic hardware used to power iPhones and many other products. If true, the allegations from Bloomberg News represent the probably the biggest and most destructive hacks ever to have happened. They would allow the Chinese government to have access to devices not by exploiting loopholes but from the very beginning, letting them listen in on people's communications over the internet with ease. But the companies involved have already strenuously denied the reports, and claimed no such attack has actually happened. The report claimed that Chinese operatives from the People's Liberation Army had infiltrated a manufacturer of motherboards for servers, Supermicro, and placed tiny chips onto them.

Although both local and federal governments have been relying onnatural language processing and chatbots for seamless communication, full-fledged adoption of artificial intelligence is still a far-fetched idea. The governments would require significant time and cost investments before AI is extended to the many facets of governance. What's new for the government, however, is the thorough utilization of machine learning for training particular chatbots. Doing so, governments are able to deliver reliable and visible outcomes. Further, with natural language processing, theycan decrypt unstructured texts and this capability can be of help in fraud detection and other related areas.

When you are two years old, your mother knows more about you than you know yourself. As you get older, you begin to understand things about your mind that even she doesn't know. But then, says Yuval Noah Harari, another competitor joins the race: "You have this corporation or government running after you, and they are way past your mother, and they are at your back." Amazon will soon know when you need lightbulbs right before they burn out. YouTube knows how to keep you starting at the screen long past when it's in your interest to stop. An advertiser in the future might know your sexual preferences before they are clear to you. Recently, I spoke with Harari, the author of three best-selling books, and Tristan Harris, who runs the Center for Humane Technology and who has played a substantial role in making "Time Well Spent" perhaps the most-debated phrase in Silicon Valley in 2018. They are two of the smartest people in the world of tech, and each spoke eloquently about self-knowledge and how humans can make themselves harder to hack. As Harari said, "We are now facing not just a technological crisis but a philosophical crisis." Please read or watch the entire thing. This transcript has been edited for clarity. Nicholas Thompson: Tristan, tell me a little bit about what you do and then Yuval, you tell me too. Tristan Harris: I am a director of the Center for Humane Technology where we focus on re-aligning technology with a clear-eyed model of human nature. And I was before that a design ethicist at Google where I studied the ethics of human persuasion. Yuval Noah Harari: I'm a historian and I try to understand where humanity is coming from and where we are heading. NT: Let's start by hearing about how you guys met because I know that goes back a while. When did the two of you first meet? YNH: Funnily enough, on an expedition to Antarctica, we were invited by the Chilean government to the Congress of the Future to talk about the future of humankind and one part of the Congress was an expedition to the Chilean base in Antarctica to see global warming with our own eyes. And I think we particularly connected with Michael Sandel, who is a really amazing philosopher of moral philosophy. I would have loved to see the whole thing. You write about different things, you talk about different things but there are a lot of similarities. And one of the key themes is the notion that our minds don't work the way that we sometimes think they do. We don't have as much agency over our minds as perhaps we believed until now.

In the early 1970s, a computer program called World1 predicted that civilization would likely collapse by 2040. Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) had programmed it to consider a model of sustainability for the world. The prediction has resurfaced because Australian broadcaster ABC recirculated a 1973 newscast about the computer program. The program's findings, however, never really went away, as its results have been re-evaluated over the nearly 50 years since they first appeared. The bad news for us is that the model seems to be spot-on so far.

Spectacular recent developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) are feeding many fantasies in the world of cybersecurity. Almost everything can be heard on the topic, from the looming obsolescence of even the best defence solutions to an open war between AIs developed by various tech powers – including states. It often feels very complicated for executives to prepare themselves for what's ahead. Experts agree that AI should eventually benefit both attackers and their victims – progresses made by a malicious AI necessarily pushing defensive AI to better themselves, and vice-versa. The future equilibrium of this cat-and-mouse game is however hardly consensual, and it seems unclear which camp will lead the race in the end.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a key tool in just about every industry, from marketing to recruitment and beyond. But one particularly powerful application for AI is in health care, where we're already seeing early signs of its potential. Iowa-based Idx is one startup using AI to detect early signs of specific medical conditions. Its first system, IDx-DR, is an AI diagnostic system that analyzes images of the retina for signs of diabetic retinopathy, a complication of diabetes caused by high sugar levels. This means that health care providers, including doctors who are not eye care specialists, can use the IDx-DR system to detect diabetic retinopathy without needing to bring in a specialist clinician to interpret the image scan or results.

LONDON – Ireland's data regulator has launched an investigation of Facebook over a recent data breach that allowed hackers access to 50 million accounts. The probe could potentially cost Facebook more than $1.6 billion in fines. The Irish Data Protection Commission said Wednesday that it will look into whether the U.S. social media company complied with European regulations that went into effect earlier this year covering data protection. It's the latest headache for Facebook in Europe, where authorities are turning up the heat on dominant tech firms over data protection. Last month, European Union consumer protection chief Vera Jourova said that she was growing impatient with Facebook for being too slow in clarifying the fine print in its terms of service covering what happens to user data and warned that the company could face sanctions.

One of the most noteworthy technological accomplishments of the 21st century has been artificial intelligence, popularly known as AI. AI has permeated into almost every sphere today. Many enterprises today are putting their best foot forward in amplifying their own capabilities as well as empowering clients by the adoption of this cutting-edge technology. AI has permeated into almost every sphere today. For instance, AI plays a vital role in virtual shopping today and makes suggests choices to shoppers based on their preferences and by tracking the history of their online behavior.

According to a 2017 report from PwC, 2018 marks the year artificial intelligence (AI) can finally be applied widely. The report warned that 30 per cent of the country's jobs might be under threat from the technology, but predicted the UK could see productivity boosted by up to 30 per cent and savings generated of up to 25 per cent. Steering the right path forward is going to be hugely complicated, although Greg Clark, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and the minister in charge of the UK government's AI strategy, is resolutely upbeat. "We are at the cusp of one of the most exciting times in our lives and, if we get our strategy for AI right, then the UK will be able to reap the rewards for our economy for decades to come," he argues. "To secure the huge potential of AI, we need to be strategic and focused, recognising the increasing convergence of technologies and focusing on the areas where we can compete globally."

Ireland's data regulator has launched an investigation of Facebook over a recent data breach that allowed hackers access to 50 million accounts. The probe could potentially cost Facebook more than $1.6 billion in fines. The Irish Data Protection Commission said Wednesday that it will look into whether the U.S. social media company complied with European regulations that went into effect earlier this year covering data protection. It's the latest headache for Facebook in Europe, where authorities are turning up the heat on dominant tech firms over data protection. Last month, European Union consumer protection chief Vera Jourova said that she was growing impatient with Facebook for being too slow in clarifying the fine print in its terms of service covering what happens to user data and warned that the company could face sanctions.