Penn will now build robots for the army. The United States Army Laboratory has awarded a five-year, $27 million grant to the School of Engineering and Applied Science to create autonomous, intelligent robots designed to learn from and adapt to challenging environments. The robots will be charged with assisting humans in tasks like hostage rescue, gathering information in the wake of terrorist attacks or natural disasters, and humanitarian missions. Penn will lead the Army Research Laboratory's Distributed and Collaborative Intelligent Systems and Technology (DCIST) Collaborative Research Alliance, working alongside MIT, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and faculty members from the University of California–San Diego, the University of California–Berkeley, and the University of Southern California. The researchers will focus on advancing the field of distributed intelligence and learning, building a cohesive team of robots, sensors, and humans.

Google is not usually shy about touting its accomplishments in the artificial intelligence space, but one win that company does not seem particularly keen on broadcasting is a recent pilot project with the U.S. Department of Defense. In a widely quoted report this week Gizmodosaid it had learned about Google quietly partnering with the DoD on a project to help the Pentagon develop technology for analyzing footage gathered by aerial drones. Google is working with a Defense Department group called Project Maven that was established last year to accelerate the military's adoption of artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities for analyzing big data sets. One of the primary missions for the group--as described in this memo--is to find technology the speed up the evaluation process for the massive number of photos and videos that U.S. military drones are gathering daily in support of the Defeat-ISIS campaign. The Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Functional Team (AWCFT)--as Project Maven is also known--has been tasked with providing the military with computer vision algorithms for better detecting and classifying objects in drone footage.

Artificial intelligence (AI) deployments in the Federal government are already making government smarter, based on examples shared during the second of a three-part series on AI launched last month by the House Subcommittee on Information Technology. Federal agency leaders from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the General Services Administration (GSA), National Science Foundation (NSF), and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) discussed how AI is being implemented to improve the mission of their agencies and what is required to ensure the technology continues to be viewed as a problem solver. Cautioning against overstating its capabilities and suggesting that AI research should begin with a problem that must be solved, John Everett, deputy director, Information Innovation Office at DARPA said, "I think there's a temptation to think of AI as magic, and capable of solving all our problems." "When it comes to implementing something that would be effective for the Federal government, I think it's important to take the perspective of first understanding what the actual problems are and then working our way back on how AI can actually address those problems." James Kurose, assistant director of NSF for Computer and Information Science and Engineering noted that AI research required experts to impact mission.

Data remains in silos in a digital environment and there is no real incentive to share it. Presently, artificial intelligence (AI) platforms give power to those few organizations that process a bulk of data. With sensors embedded in connected cars and devices across the Internet of Things, there is the exponential rise in consumer data generated by these devices and stored in databases. A race has begun to get this data, which invites questions on privacy. A blockchain is a decentralized, public digital ledger that keeps track of cryptocurrency transactions in a chronological order.

I usually cringe whenever Stephen Hawking's name comes up in a conversation about AI. If the world was divided into critics and believers, Hawking would certainly fall into the AI critic column, but slotting him there ignores a great deal of nuance to his position on artificial intelligence. With his death earlier this week, I fear people will only remember which side he was on and miss his thoughtful perspectives on what specific dangers could lie ahead. To be clear, Hawking was no great fan of general artificial intelligence. He repeatedly said that a superintelligent AI could spell the end of humanity.

"We will always do what is necessary to defend ourselves, our allies and our values against an attack of this sort, which is an attack not only on the United Kingdom, but upon the international rules-based system on which all countries, including Russia, depend for their safety and security," Bristow told reporters.

Many people, he said, would be surprised to learn of the training, insurance and regulation required for commercial drone operation with the FAA, including the need to receive clearance to work within certain airspace. For example, Ellsworth Air Force Base and Rapid City Regional Airport create a lot of controlled airspace in the area, he said.

There is little doubt that the Defense Department needs help from Silicon Valley's biggest companies as it pursues work on artificial intelligence. The question is whether the people who work at those companies are willing to cooperate. On Thursday, Robert O. Work, a former deputy secretary of defense, announced that he is teaming up with the Center for a New American Security, an influential Washington think tank that specializes in national security, to create a task force of former government officials, academics and representatives from private industry. Their goal is to explore how the federal government should embrace A.I. technology and work better with big tech companies and other organizations. There is a growing sense of urgency to the question of what the United States is doing in artificial intelligence.

There is little doubt that the Defense Department needs help from Silicon Valley's biggest companies as it pursues work on artificial intelligence. The question is whether the people who work at those companies are willing to cooperate. Robert Work, a former deputy secretary of defense, announced last week that he is teaming up with the Center for a New American Security, an influential Washington think tank that specializes in national security, to create a task force of former government officials, academics and representatives from private industry. Their goal is to explore how the federal government should embrace AI technology and work better with big tech companies and other organizations. There is a growing sense of urgency to the question of what the United States is doing in artificial intelligence.

Autonomous technology is touted to be the future of driving. Experts in the field claim it could be safer and more efficient than having humans behind the wheel – but, it might prove no match for the forces of nature. This week's solar storm has served as a reminder that driverless cars have their limitations, too. Scientists say driverless cars, if designed in a way that's too reliant on GPS, may suffer complications during powerful space weather events, making it difficult to carry out their functions as intended. Experts this week warned that a minor storm generated by holes (white arrows in this August 2017 Nasa image) in the sun's outermost magnetic layer could cause'weak power grid fluctuations' and have a small'impact on satellite operations'.