Boston Dynamics' latest SpotMini update allows the four-legged robot to open doors. The latest robot update by Boston Dynamics -- a company known for its unnerving SpotMini robots -- can now open doors, as shown in the company's latest YouTube video. The video, titled "Hey Buddy, Can You Give Me a Hand?" shows a signature yellow dog-like creation from Boston Dynamics walking toward a door and examining it, before another robot approaches the door. The second SpotMini robot trots over and releases its black arm, which grabs onto the door handle and proceeds to open the door. The arm then maneuvers around the door, which opens entirely, and the polite SpotMini allows his first robot to enter the room first, before following suit.

The UK government has unveiled a tool it says can accurately detect jihadist content and block it from being viewed. Home Secretary Amber Rudd told the BBC she would not rule out forcing technology companies to use it by law. Ms Rudd is visiting the US to meet tech companies to discuss the idea, as well as other efforts to tackle extremism. Thousands of hours of content posted by the Islamic State group was run past the tool, in order to "train" it to automatically spot extremist material. The government provided £600,000 of public funds towards the creation of the tool by an artificial intelligence company based in London.

One of Bill Gates' Arizona-based investment firms, Belmont Partners, just purchased close to 25 thousand acres of land in Tonoph, Arizona for $80 million dollars to develop a "smart city!" Veuer's Chandra Lanier has the story. Bill Gates visiting an agricultural facility in Adama, Ethiopia, that processes, cleans, bags and ships white pea beans, red kidney beans, and chickpeas grown in Ethiopia to European markets. Tech pioneer Bill Gates thinks the U.S. can keep its historically influential role as a global leader. But for a second year in a row, he cautioned that the nation risks losing its geopolitical clout if the Trump administration succeeds in slashing foreign aid, as proposed Monday in a new federal budget that prioritizes a jump in military spending. Last year, the White House tried to reduce foreign aid by one-third, but Congress did not approve the cuts.

Groups and organizations lauding artificially intelligent solutions are popping up everywhere with promises to create the next battlefield advantage using next generation weapons, gear, or satellites. The term artificial intelligence (AI) splashes the headlines with promises that we're moments away from revolutionizing the battlefield. As a former intelligence analyst, I can't help but breathe a huge sigh of frustration. The special AI "task forces" and their massive budgets are great, but it's time to get honest about the rest of the military. Ask any every day soldier, sailor, airman or Marine their opinion of how things run on a daily basis and you will hear complaints about pay, lost orders or awards, broken gear, outdated software or perhaps the blue screen of death that happens when Outlook is open alongside too many websites.

But six months after China seemed to mimic that Obama-era road map, A.I. experts in industry and academia in the United States say that the Trump White House has done little to follow through on the previous administration's economic call to arms. "We are still waiting on the White House to provide some direction" on how to respond to the competition, said Tim Hwang, who worked on A.I. policy at Google and is now the director of the Ethics and Governance of AI Initiative, a new organization created by the LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and others to fund ethical research in artificial intelligence. China's embrace of A.I. comes at a crucial time in the development of the technology and just as the lead long enjoyed by the United States has started to dwindle. For decades, artificial intelligence was more fiction than science. In the past few years, however, dramatic improvements have prompted some of the biggest companies in Silicon Valley and Detroit -- and China -- to invest billions on everything from self-driving cars to home appliances that can have a conversation with a human.

NEW DELHI: The ministry of electronics and IT has formed four committees to prepare a roadmap for artificial intelligence for the country, said Ravi Shankar Prasad, union minister of electronics and IT on Friday. The committees will be headed by IIT director and industry experts from bodies such as Nasscom he added. The four committees will be for Citizen Centric Services; Data platforms; Skilling, reskilling and R&D; Legal regulatory and cybersecurity. Prasad said that the ministry will conduct high level research in these areas. "We must learn new dimensions of AI," he said.

You could argue that the door handle has had a disproportionate influence on modern robotics. It was the humanoids of the Darpa Robotics Challenge, after all, that were tasked with opening doors, and it was those machines that helped drive robots to where they are now. Today Boston Dynamics posted a video of its SpotMini quadruped robot extending an arm out of its head to turn a handle. With the dexterity of a tray-carrying butler, it uses its foot to prop the door ajar, then elbows it all the way open for its (armless) SpotMini friend to walk through. But it's also an interesting twist in the quest to make robots that get along with a world built by and for humans. Maybe the Darpa Robotics Challenge had it wrong with humanoids after all, and the best robots for rescue operations will look nothing like humans--or any other animal, for that matter.

Artificial intelligence technology that can detect Isis videos and prevent them from being uploaded is being released to stop the spread of the "poisonous" material. Developers funded by the Home Office are sharing their software for free with any website or app in the world in the hope it will make the terrorist group's propaganda harder to access and share. Tests suggest it can detect 94 per cent of Isis videos and makes so few mistakes that a single person could moderate borderline cases for the whole of YouTube. Dr Marc Warner, chief executive of ASI Data Science, told The Independent the technology's success depends on how many companies build it into their systems but "we hope that this can play its part in removing extremist content from the web". "Lone-wolf attacks are hard to spot with conventional surveillance – it is a difficult problem if someone is radicalised in their bedroom," he added.

The UK Government Digital Service (GDS) will work with government departments over the next 12 months to support the use of biometrics and artificial intelligence for services, according to a blog post by GDS head Kevin Cunnington. He suggests in the post that government services such as GOV.UK can make use of "innovative technologies like machine learning and voice control," and says GDS will work with government departments and public bodies to identify areas where digital technologies can solve challenges. GDS will also act as a "front door" for tech firms, to connect providers of such technologies with government entities that can benefit from them. "Once a finalised product is created, the public sector body can then choose to buy it from the tech company," Cunnington writes in the post. GDS is also considering developing courses in AI, geospatial data, and distributed ledgers for government workers from its GDS Academy, according to the post.

Thanks to SpaceX and Elon Musk, a space-mannequin driving a red Tesla Roadster is burned into our brains. SpaceX's Of Course I Still Love You drone ship, which is based on the East Coast. CAPE CANAVERAL -- A new SpaceX drone ship under construction will help the company handle increased launch operations and likely call the Space Coast home, CEO Elon Musk said Monday. The company's third ship, named A Shortfall of Gravitas, will join Of Course I Still Love You for East Coast booster landing operations, Musk said via Twitter in response to the USA TODAY Network. The latter is based at Port Canaveral and returns Falcon 9 boosters to facilities near the port for post-launch checkouts.