The U.S. government may start scrutinizing informal partnerships between American and Chinese companies in the field of artificial intelligence, threatening practices that have long been considered garden variety development work for technology companies, sources familiar with the discussions said. So far, U.S. government reviews for national security and other concerns have been limited to investment deals and corporate takeovers. This possible new expansion of the mandate -- which would serve as a stop-gap measure until Congress imposes tighter restrictions on Chinese investments -- is being pushed by members of Congress, and those in U.S. President Donald Trump's administration who worry about theft of intellectual property and technology transfer to China, according to four people familiar with the matter. Artificial intelligence, in which machines imitate intelligent human behavior, is a particular area of interest because of the technology's potential for military usage, they said. Other areas of interest for such new oversight include semiconductors and autonomous vehicles, they added.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is moving to encourage the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in health care, the agency's chief said Thursday. "AI holds enormous promise for the future of medicine," FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in prepared remarks to the Health Datapalooza conference in Washington, D.C. He said the FDA is working on an updated "new regulatory framework" that will allow regulators to keep up with new technology and "promote innovation in this space." "We expect to see an increasing number of AI-based submissions in the coming years, starting with medical imaging devices, and we're working with experts in the field," he said. As an example of the new health technology he is seeking to promote, Gottlieb pointed to a new medical device approved by the FDA earlier this month that uses artificial intelligence and a special camera to help diagnose a condition in people with diabetes known as retinopathy that can lead to vision loss.

The deal comprises a total of 300 million pounds of private financing, 300 million pounds of new government spending in addition to 400 million pounds the state has already announced. "Artificial intelligence provides limitless opportunities to develop new, efficient and accessible products and services," business secretary Greg Clark said in an emailed statement Thursday. In prioritising AI, Britain joins several other nations that see the emerging technology as central to their future place in the world, such as China, which last year set a goal of becoming the world leader in AI by 2030. Antony Phillipson, the UK Trade Commissioner for North America and Consul General in New York, said in an interview ahead of the announcement that the UK could not compete with China in terms of total funding or scale of some government-run AI projects. Instead though, he said, Britain could be at the forefront of discussions around ethics, safety and regulation.

NASA and the European Space Agency, aka ESA, have signed a statement of intent in order to explore ways to undertake an ambitious joint project -- one under which Martian rocks can be gathered and brought back to Earth. Astronomers have witnessed signs of water on Mars and believe sometime in the distant past the planet may have hosted necessary conditions to support life. But, in order to prove this possibility and better understand our neighboring planet, comprehensive studies of Martian rocks are needed. Current Mars missions like the Curiosity Rover are doing a pretty good job at analyzing surface samples, but they can neither conduct lab-grade chemical and organic analysis nor scientists can verify the outcomes of those basic experiments. Prompted by these limitations, NASA and ESA agreed to work in conjunction with each other and signed the statement outlining the potential roles each of them could play in retrieving Martian rock samples. "There is no question that for a planetary scientist, the chance to bring pristine, carefully chosen samples of the Red Planet back to Earth for examination using the best facilities is a mouth-watering prospect," David Parker, ESA's director of human and robotic exploration, said in a statement.

The UK government launched a £1bn artificial intelligence fund with industry at Imperial College London today. The deal, announced by Business Secretary Greg Clark and Digital Secretary Matt Hancock, will fund 1,000 new government AI PhDs to keep the UK at the forefront of innovation and build the UK's status as an AI research hotspot. More than 50 leading technology companies and organisations have contributed to the development of an AI Sector Deal – which includes more than £300 million of newly allocated government funding for AI research to make the UK a global leader in this technology. Imperial is a world-leading centre in AI and machine learning with more than 600 people working with and developing artificial intelligence. These include Professor Maja Pantic, who is developing a robot which can improve learning and emotional understanding in children with autism, and Professor Aldo Faisal, who is developing software which can understand a person's intentions and direct a wheelchair by detecting their eye movement.

Marietje Schaake has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament for the Dutch Democratic Party (D66) with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) political group since 2009. She serves on the International Trade committee and is the spokesperson for the ALDE Group on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Schaake also serves on the committee on Foreign Affairs and the subcommittee on Human Rights. She is the founder of the European Parliament Intergroup on the Digital Agenda for Europe. Furthermore, Marietje Schaake is the Vice-President of the US Delegation and serves on the Iran Delegation and the Delegation for the Arab peninsula.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is moving to encourage the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in health care, the agency's chief said Thursday. "AI holds enormous promise for the future of medicine," FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in prepared remarks to the Health Datapalooza conference in Washington, D.C. He said the FDA is working on an updated "new regulatory framework" that will allow regulators to keep up with new technology and "promote innovation in this space." "We expect to see an increasing number of AI-based submissions in the coming years, starting with medical imaging devices, and we're working with experts in the field," he said. He said the FDA is working with experts to update the way it evaluates these new technologies in the approval process.

As a resource-poor nation, Japan's prosperity relies on free trade. Under worldwide protectionism, it can't survive. That's the message Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko wants to send as the emergence of protectionism across the globe becomes a worsening headache for export-reliant Japan. "If free trade collapsed, Japan would lose its base to stand on," he said in an exclusive interview with The Japan Times earlier this month. "We have to keep in mind the basic fact that what underpins resource-poor Japan's current wealth is free trade."

A recent study report says that majority of the Americans view technology as a potential factor of devastating their job opportunities while there are still a considerable number of people across the developed countries who consider immigration as well as off-shoring the gravest danger faced by their jobs. Nevertheless, job security is one of the most pestering thoughts to be had by the people of the present world. Something so yearned by everyone and yet so hard to get. The fact is that the jobs are constantly under threat from a range of sources. As time advances, and technology turns increasingly fine-tuned as well as widespread, the hidden arm of the market is all set to have more of those drastic deck reshuffles in the post-globalization economy leaving many a youngster wondering if he will still have a job the year ahead.

Thousands of NHS staff are to be trained to use robotics and artificial intelligence as the health service sets out to embrace cutting-edge innovation and technology. New developments in genomics, digital medicine, artificial intelligence and robotics have already revolutionised some NHS treatments such as eye surgery and knee replacements. Health and Social Care Secretary Jeremy Hunt has called on US academic Eric Topol to carry out a review into how the NHS can pioneer new treatments and technologies to transform healthcare. Dr Topol, an expert in cardiology, genetics and digital medicine, has previously examined the use of wireless and smartphone technology in healthcare, and led a multi-million dollar US research programme focusing on harnessing technology and data to provide more precise, tailored patient treatment. Supported by international experts, his independent review will examine artificial intelligence – including robotics – genomics and digital medicine.