The government of Japan is planning to introduce English-speaking Artificial Intelligence (AI) robots in classrooms to help children improve their English speaking skills, considered one of the worst in the world. The Japanese education ministry would be launching a pilot programme to test the effectiveness of the initiative in April 2019, reports Efe news. The initiative will be initially rolled out in 500 schools throughout the country with the aim of fully implementing it in two years, public broadcaster NHK reported Saturday. The programme also includes study apps and online conversation sessions with native English speakers. Japan has proposed improving English skills ahead of the surge in tourists expected during the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Can robots and workers co-exist?iStock, Workers, policymakers, and the media are concerned with the idea that automation, or technological change, will displace millions of American workers--and they are partially right. Andrew Yang, an early 2020 Presidential hopeful is already running on the idea that "the robots are coming" – though the story is not so simple. There have been, and will continue to be, technological breakthroughs that replace workers and reshape our economy. The next big worker-displacing technology is supposedly artificial intelligence (AI), which is thought to have the potential to replace millions of workers performing routine and menial tasks.

As "great power competition" ramps up, signs of arms races in America's strategic relationships with both Russia and China are everywhere apparent. In this respect, Russian President Vladimir Putin's March 1 speech made a big splash in the press, but readers may not be aware of the late tests in May when the Russian Navy simultaneously test launched four new Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs). These missiles were designed no doubt for nuclear strikes on the American heartland. Likewise, China recently announced the tenth test of its new road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), called the DF-41. Furthermore, this test was to be of a missile-defense evading hypersonic warhead with the same general purpose in mind.

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.

Manuel's career has been focused on supporting large collaborations through technological innovation. He has led critical data-management, big data and machine-learning initiatives for the largest and most complex scientific instrument ever built (CERN LHC). In addition, he has collaborated with NASA-JPL, Fermilab (U.S. Dept. of Energy) and GSI, among others. He has contributed, as a guest lecturer, to the Executive Program at ESADE Business School, and has advised international companies such as Oracle, BMW, Caixa, Gassco, Eni, UPS.

Artificial intelligence, blockchain and robotics are all powerful new technologies that are not only making changes in agriculture, but are also plowing up new legal issues for attorneys, state governments and producers, presenters said during a national ag tech and law conference. The first-of-its-kind conference, Ag Technology and the Law: Advancing American Agriculture, was held this week at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock. The conference, which drew representatives from 35 states, was sponsored by Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, the National Agricultural Law Center and the National Association of Attorneys General. Rutledge welcomed participants on Wednesday by reinforcing the importance of agriculture. "Meeting with Arkansans face-to-face each year, including more than 400 farmers, I have heard first-hand about issues with feral hogs, dicamba drift, black-headed buzzards, Waters of the U.S. and many other issues," said Rutledge.

One of the problems military veterans have long faced is matching their skills learned in the armed forces to the needs of civilian employers, an issue Congress continues to grapple with in the fiscal 2019 spending bills. Many military jobs translate perfectly into the civilian sector -- repairing an Abrams tank is much like repairing any heavy piece of machinery, for example -- but many combat and leadership skills do not, on the surface, directly transfer. The Department of Veterans Affairs' Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Program is at the forefront of helping veterans find the right job after military service. The program's counselors help assess capabilities of veterans and help men and women veterans find the right job. But the VR&E program, as it is known, is often short of counselors and funding.

Only a handful of countries and companies have any real hope of winning the race for artificial intelligence supremacy. China, Germany, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the US are among the national contenders and primarily Chinese and American companies lead the pack of commercial contenders, including Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent, Amazon, Facebook, and Google. What distinguishes all of them is the resources they have already devoted and the achievements they have already made in the AI arena. They are poised to leap further and further ahead of those who are lagging behind or have not yet even entered the race. While Germany, Japan, and South Korea are focused primarily on commercial applications, Russia excels in military applications, and the US maintains its general lead (for the time being) in the space, but only China and these leading Chinese companies have positioned themselves to sprint ahead of all the others in the coming decade.

In May, SenseTime Group, a Chinese technology company specialising in artificial intelligence (AI) and facial recognition, raised $620 million in a funding round led by Fidelity International, Hopu Capital, Tiger Global Management and Silver Lake Partners. The three-year-old startup, arguably the world's most valuable startup in AI, was valued at $4.5 billion. The funding came at a time when the Chinese government is pulling all the stops to make the country a global leader in AI over the next seven years. By 2025, the Chinese government intends to grow AI industry's value over $60 billion. In India, the picture is different.

So many businesses and governments are scurrying to get into the artificial intelligence race that many appear to be losing sight of some important things that should matter along the way – such as legality, good governance, and ethics. In the AI arena the stakes are extremely high and it is quickly becoming a free-for-all from data acquisition to the stealing of corporate and state secrets. The "rules of the road" are either being addressed along the way or not at all, since the legal regime governing who can do what to whom, and how, is either wholly inadequate or simply does not exist. As is the case in the cyber world, the law is well behind the curve. Ethical questions abound with AI systems, raising questions about how machines recognize and process values and ethical paradigms.