Artificial intelligence is hitting its stride, already giving us machines that can drive themselves, talk to us, fight in our wars, perform our surgeries and beat humanity's best in a game of Go or Jeopardy. Recently five companies at the forefront of AI research met to discuss these advancements – all of which have been rapid, few of these solutions existed even five years ago – and figure out how to regulate even more powerful systems in the future – the near future. Researchers from Facebook, Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and IBM are looking at the practical consequences of AI, such as how it will impact transportation, jobs and welfare and while the group doesn't have a name or an official credo its general goal is to ensure AI research focuses on benefiting people, not harming them. In 2015, Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, the founders of Google DeepMind and dozens of other researchers signed an open letter calling for robust investigations into the impact of AI and ways to ensure it remains a benign tool at humanity's disposal. But the industry partnership is notable because it represents a renewed, active effort among disparate tech companies – although interestingly, not the regulators – to address some of the ethical and moral issues posed by AI. The companies are expected to announce the group officially later this month even though the consortium could grow in the meantime since Google DeepMind has asked to participate separately from Alphabet, its parent company.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) today, is a practical reality. It captivated the minds of geniuses and materialised through science fiction as I grew up. During the past 70 years (post WWII) AI has evolved from a philosophical theory to a game changing emerging technology, transforming the way digital enhances value in every aspect of our daily lives. Great minds have been challenged with the opportunities and possibilities that AI offers. Here are some things said on the AI subject to date.

For International Girls in ICT Day, and a few weeks ahead of the AI for Good Global Summit, ITU News caught up with Sarah Porter, CEO and Founder of InspiredMinds, World Summit AI, Intelligent Health, and Ada-AI, a non-profit dedicated to ensuring AI benefits all. Sarah is a humanitarian first-response trauma medic, ambassador for the Royal Marsden hospital in London and speaker for the United Nations on Lethal Autonomous Weapons. When I saw the story that a team of young girls from Afghanistan had against all odds made a robot but were then refused their visa [to attend an international robotics contest], it made me realise just how fortunate the Global North is with their right to free education in many disciplines including Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), unlimited access to wifi, and opportunities to learn how to code. The rapid progression of Artificial Intelligence (AI) by the wealthy corporations risks excluding the sectors of society that need it the most. Not only are women a minority in STEM education and in the tech teams building AI, the Global South is under-represented.

As if the human race hasn't already diminished to the point of near-total soullessness, thanks to the rise of smartphones and social media, new research suggests that things could soon get a whole lot worse with the introduction of "sex robots." According to one self-professing expert on the subject, the idea of having sex with robots is likely a turn-off to many normal people who still desire actual human connection. But the development of sex robot machinery is on the rise, and it won't be long before these creepy devices are everywhere, he says. "We're just doing all this stuff with machines because we can, and not really thinking how this could change humanity completely," says Noel Sharkey of the Foundation of Responsible Robotics, and the creator of a new documentary called Sex Robots and Us that takes a closer look at the psychology behind sex robots and their potential mass adoption. "Some people have suggested that sex robots create an attitude of'too-easy' sex which is always available … This could take meaning out of our lives and turn us into zombies."

Although Einstein himself made many advances in physics, from special and general relativity to the photoelectric effect and statistical mechanics, there were many problems he couldn't solve during his life. How much better could AI have done? At the dawn of the 20th century, there were a number of crises in physics. Radiating objects like stars emitted a finite, well-defined amount of energy at every wavelength, defying the best predictions of the day. Newton's laws of motion broke down and failed when objects approached the speed of light.

Michael Chiang reviews images of the eyes of premature babies who were sent to him via the telemedicine program at OHSU for ROP monitoring and diagnosis. An artificial intelligence system is better than most experts at diagnosing a childhood blindness disease, according to a new study from Oregon Health and Science University. Retinopathy of prematurity, or ROP, is a disease that can cause blindness in premature babies. It's how the musician Stevie Wonder lost his sight. To diagnose ROP, doctors have to examine the back of the eye and see whether the blood vessels are overly dilated or wiggly.

In part 2 of China in AI, we look at how the biggest companies in China are positioning themselves to become global leaders in smart city solutions, autonomous driving, conversational AI, and predictive healthcare. China's internet may be sandboxed from the rest of the world, but China's big tech companies are bringing their AI capabilities to the global market. Tencent, Baidu, and Alibaba (collectively called BAT) are positioning themselves to become the AI platforms of the future. Join us for a live briefing as we dive into the Chinese government's AI strategy, what tech giants like Alibaba and Tencent are doing, startup activity, and much more. Tencent, which runs WeChat, has access to over 1B users on its platform, while Baidu is the country's largest search provider, and Alibaba is its biggest e-commerce platform. In addition, all 3 offer services well beyond their core products, and like the biggest tech giants in the US have far-reaching global ambitions. BAT is expanding into other countries in Asia, recruiting US talent and investing in US AI startups, and forming global partnerships to advance smart city solutions, autonomous driving, conversational AI, and predictive healthcare, among other initiatives.

With the new system in place, the Russian air-defense forces will be able to respond to all situational changes in real time, bypassing the stage of analysis at command posts. Currently, each anti-aircraft missile and radar installation has its own control which is absolutely vital given the high speed of modern aircraft and high density of air attacks. A combination of all existing air defense systems and the use of each one's fortes will create multiple lines of defense. For example the S-400 Triumf air-defense system, effective against high-altitude targets, could be used in sync with the Pantsir-S missile-gun system, which is ideal in close combat situations. This would ensure the effective destruction of aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles, small drones and effective protection against fire by multiple rocket launchers.

Although Einstein himself made many advances in physics, from special and general relativity to the photoelectric effect and statistical mechanics, there were many problems he couldn't solve during his life. How much better could AI have done? At the dawn of the 20th century, there were a number of crises in physics. Radiating objects like stars emitted a finite, well-defined amount of energy at every wavelength, defying the best predictions of the day. Newton's laws of motion broke down and failed when objects approached the speed of light.

For instance, consumer protection agencies and/or consumer organisations may be involved to a different degree, there may or may not be fines for using unfair contractual terms, etc. (Schulte-Nölke et al 2008). One thing that all member states have in common is that if a business uses unfair terms in their contracts, in principle there is always a competent party with the authority to challenge such contracts. Unfortunately, the legal mechanism for enforcing the prohibition of unfair contract terms have failed to effectively counter this practice so far. As reported by some literature (Loos and Luzak 2016), and as our own research indicates (Micklitz et al 2017), unfair contractual terms are, as of today, widely used in ToS of online platforms. In our previous research (Micklitz et al 2017), we developed a theoretical model of tasks that human lawyers currently need to carry out, before starting the legal proceedings concerning the abstract control of fairness of clauses.