Artificial intelligence in cybersecurity has recently made several headlines: "The Future of Cybersecurity: Artificial Intelligence" (Cybersecurity.CIOReview), "How AI is the Future of Cybersecurity" (Infosecurity Magazine) and "AI in Cyber Security Market to Grow at an Exorbitant Pace" (P&S Market Research). These headlines make seasoned cybersecurity professionals wary. We've seen other emerging technologies receive similar attention, and we've seen many of them fail to live up to their expectations. In this article, we will build a real-world perspective on AI in cybersecurity. We will explore where scepticism regarding AI in cybersecurity is justified, how the technology can provide tangible value, and what to look for in an AI-driven cybersecurity provider.

Sarah Jeong, a technology journalist hired by the New York Times and vilified online for tweets comparing "dumbass f****** white people" to dogs and saying they would "all go extinct soon", has been targeted for harassment by dishonest trolls, her former employer has claimed. Editors at The Verge, an online tech magazine, denounced what they called "disingenuous" criticism of Ms Jeong by "people acting in bad faith". The senior writer had been the victim of a Gamergate-style campaign designed to "divide and conquer by forcing newsrooms to disavow their colleagues", they suggested. Ms Jeong, 30, posted a string of offensive and apparently racist messages including "#CancelWhitePeople" and "white men are bulls***" up to five years ago. After being uncovered they quickly spread and were picked up by conservative media including the Daily Caller and Gateway Pundit websites.

Japan's graying society will require more investment in technologies such as artificial intelligence and robots to make up for a decline in the labor force and its effect on economic growth, according to a government report released Friday. The world's third-largest economy is on a firm footing, the white paper said, having enjoyed a moderate recovery for the past five and a half years under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's policies, including aggressive monetary easing by the Bank of Japan. "Corporate profits are at record highs, labor and income conditions are improving, and increased income is leading to an expansion in consumption and investment, showing that a'virtuous economic cycle' is beginning to take hold," said the annual white paper on economy and fiscal policy. But the report warned that the country is also experiencing its worst labor shortage in a quarter century, and some industries such as transportation services and construction may already be seeing earnings suffer as a result. "Amid an aging population, (Japan) needs to drastically strengthen the supply side of the economy in order to deal with the labor shortage and realize sustainable growth," it said.

We read with interest this week that Vodafone has just announced that they have developed the world's first Radio Positioning System (RPS) for drones. This new control system uses a 4G modem and SIM embedded within each drone to enable real-time tracking of the drone with up to 50 metre accuracy. The system is intended for use by drone operators helping them to identify and stay clear of unauthorized airspace zones. Authorized bodies such as air traffic control will be able to use the technology to repel unauthorized intrusions into controlled airspace. In addition to position monitoring the system can help drone pilots with beyond line of sight control.

Most of the focus has been on economic growth (like China's ambition for a $150bn industry). But there has also been a flurry of interest in AI for good; a proliferation of events, organisations being set up (like AINow, OpenAI and AI4ALL in the US and the Ada Lovelace Institute or ElementAI's new London office focusing on AI for good, here in the UK). Some are real and some may turn out to be little more than hot air, or algorithmic greenwash. So what can we hope for? Through the half century history of AI, the direction of research and funding has been dominated by the military and intelligence.

Many federal and state governments around the world have taken measures to encourage EV adoption, but only a few have crafted comprehensive policies that envision a complete transition to electromobility. One of those is of course California, which subsidizes several flavors of charging infrastructure and has funded pilot projects to electrify everything from buses to trucks to off-road commercial vehicles. Another is the UK, which has announced its intention to phase out fossil fuel vehicles by 2040, and recently unveiled a detailed 46-point plan to manage the transition. Part of that effort is the Automated and Electric Vehicles Act, which recently passed through Parliament to become law. The AEV Act gives the government new powers to ensure that motorway service locations are upgraded with plenty of charging points, and allows mayors to request that fuel retailers in their areas install charging infrastructure.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said those are the things she has obsessed over the most as a new parent, and that the experience of focusing on such basic needs for her baby girl has helped her appreciate why people with young families may not find time for politics. "So it's our job to make sure that we are serving the needs of people, regardless of whether they have time to engage with what we're doing or not," she said. "That's something that's been really amplified for me." Ardern spoke on Thursday at her bungalow in Auckland as she prepared to return to the capital, Wellington, after six weeks of leave following the birth of her daughter, Neve. Ardern, 38, is just the second elected world leader in recent history to give birth while holding office, and her story has provided inspiration for working mothers around the world.

Despite the advancements made in artificial intelligence so far, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) believes there is still more work to be done. DARPA is launching the Artificial Intelligence Exploration (AIE) program as part of its broader AI investment strategy. "DARPA has established a streamlined process to push the state of the art in AI through regular and relatively short-term technology development projects," said Peter Highnam, DARPA's deputy director. "The intent is to get researchers on contract quickly to test the value and feasibility of innovative concepts. Where we're successful, individual projects could lead to larger research and development programs spurring major AI breakthroughs."

Japan's aging population will require more investment in technology such as artificial intelligence and robots to make up for a decline in the labor force for economic growth, according to a government report released Friday. The world's third-largest economy is on firm footing, having enjoyed a moderate recovery for the past five and a half years under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's policies including aggressive monetary easing by the Bank of Japan. "Corporate profits are at record highs, labor and income conditions are improving, and increased income is leading to an expansion in consumption and investment, showing that a'virtuous economic cycle' is beginning to take hold," said the annual white paper on the economy and fiscal policy. But the report warned that the country is also experiencing the worst labor shortage in a quarter century, and some industries such as transportation services and construction may already be seeing earnings suffer as a result. "Amid an aging population, (Japan) needs to drastically strengthen the supply side of the economy in order to deal with the labor shortage and realize sustainable growth," it said.

Mining heavyweights BHP, Roy Hill and Alcoa have joined forces with universities and the CSIRO to develop a new data science training centre to upskill workers in the local resources sector. The $3.9 million Training Centre for Transforming Maintenance being funded by the Australian Research Council will be based at Curtin University and will be supported by Adelaide and Western Australia universities. Federal Education and Training Minister Senator Simon Birmingham says the new centre will equip engineers and graduates with data analytics skills to better manage the vast and expensive array of assets owned by mining and energy operators around the country. The centre's director, professor Andrew Rohl, said the effective maintenance of those assets is essential for the $205 billion annual output of the Australian resources sector. "However, maintenance management practices have changed little in the last 20 years and are ripe for a digital overhaul that will bring developments in computational methods, statistics, applied mathematics and artificial intelligence to determine how, when and why maintenance is conducted," said Rohl. "The new centre, which will bring together the relevant research and industry expertise, will enable the development and adoption of new practices to improve productivity and asset reliability for industry and to foster a new maintenance technology service sector for national and international markets."