A prototype autonomous ship known as the Medium Displacement Unmanned Surface Vehicle (MDUSV) has officially been transferred to the U.S. Navy from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) after a two-year testing and evaluation program. Named "Sea Hunter," the Office of Naval Research will continue to develop the vessel from this point forward. Although there's no specific timetable for when the Sea Hunter would join active naval operations, the statement from DARPA indicated that it could happen as early as this year. The anti-submarine warfare vessel could be the first of an entirely new class of warship. "[Sea Hunter] represents a new vision of naval surface warfare that trades small numbers of very capable, high-value assets for large numbers of commoditized, simpler platforms that are more capable in the aggregate," said Fred Kennedy of DARPA.

It is easy to confuse the current geopolitical situation with that of the 1980s. The United States and Russia each accuse the other of interfering in domestic affairs. Russia has annexed territory over U.S. objections, raising concerns about military conflict. As during the Cold War after World War II, nations are developing and building weapons based on advanced technology. During the Cold War, the weapon of choice was nuclear missiles; today it's software, whether its used for attacking computer systems or targets in the real world. Russian rhetoric about the importance of artificial intelligence is picking up – and with good reason: As artificial intelligence software develops, it will be able to make decisions based on more data, and more quickly, than humans can handle.

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and international collaborators have demonstrated computers' readiness to solve the universe's mysteries. The team used thousands of images from simulated high-energy particle collisions to train neural networks to identify important features. They found the networks were up to 95-percent successful in recognizing important features in a sampling of about 18,000 images. The researchers say machine-learning algorithms enable the networks to improve their analysis as they process more images, with the underlying technology employed in facial recognition and other types of image-based object recognition applications. "With this type of machine learning, we are trying to identify a certain pattern or correlation of patterns that is a unique signature of the equation of state," says Long-Gang Pan of the University of California, Berkeley.

For its part, Google has committed to donating $1 billion to job-retraining over the next five years to help a transitioning workforce. But according to YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, it can't be the sole responsibility of the private sector -- companies and the government are going to need to work together, she says. Caution and strategic retraining are necessary because there is no way to stem the tsunami of technological innovation once, nor should there be, both Wojcicki and Pichai point out. "We have to recognize where we do live, in this time where there is really dramatic change from a technology standpoint and the innovations that we have, but that doesn't mean those innovations are going to stop," says Wojcicki. "Technology is going to continue, it is going to continue to move forward. You need to move forward with that technology responsibly."

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a disruptive force that is defining the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and promises to change nearly every aspect of business and society. Most agree its impact will be profound--nearly 3 in 4 (72%) of business leaders (reports the PwC Consumer Intelligence Series survey on AI) believe AI will be the business advantage of the future. But AI technologies (including machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing and generation, autonomous systems, robotics, virtual assistants) are so complex and advancing so quickly it's impossible to pin down what will happen over the next 5 to 10 years. But you can--and should--anticipate what's coming in the near-term so you can prepare your business and workforce for a world in which AI is the engine that drives exponential amounts innovation. In fact, a recent PwC study forecasted that AI will contribute $15.7 trillion to global GDP by 2030.

Big Brother Watch fears it could lead to a huge unchecked database which could be secretly abused by police forces and the government. Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch, said: "Selfie pay may seem like a convenience but it's actually a biometric identification tool, much like DNA and iris scanning. "Selfie pay caused controversy when it recently became normalised in China and yet Brits are now submitting themselves to the same identity checks for simple payments. "Under the Snooper's Charter, the UK Government can secretly seize any database, and that includes databases of facial scans. "Police forces in the UK are also getting their hands on facial recognition tech and even used it to spy on fans at the Champions League final.

Imformatics PHD student Sebastian Bitzer performs push up exercises with a programmed Kondo humanoid robot at the newly opened Imformatics Forum building of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland September 3, 2008. It is easy to confuse the current geopolitical situation with that of the 1980s. The United States and Russia each accuse the other of interfering in domestic affairs. Russia has annexed territory over U.S. objections, raising concerns about military conflict. As during the Cold War after World War II, nations are developing and building weapons based on advanced technology. During the Cold War, the weapon of choice was nuclear missiles; today it's software, whether its used for attacking computer systems or targets in the real world.

PARIS (Reuters) - The French government aims to broaden its powers to block foreign takeovers of French companies deemed as strategic, to also include firms involved in data protection and artificial intelligence ('AI'), the finance minister said on Friday. Bruno Le Maire said he wanted the two sectors to be added to a 2014 decree requiring foreign companies to get permission from the French state before taking control of firms in the energy, telecoms, transport, water and the health industries. "I think that when you look at current economic trends, there's a certain number of sectors that could be added to this decree," Le Maire said on BFM TV. Do we really want investors to market our data? I'm thinking about artificial intelligence, a very sensitive sector that we want more investment in," he added.

Ever since the beginning of industrial society, people have simultaneously marveled at the power of automation and lamented that human capabilities are being irredeemably devalued. Demanding better conditions and higher pay, textile workers in England smash machinery and set factories on fire. These workers will come to be known as Luddites, after their mythical leader, Ned Ludd, and the name will become a synonym for opponents or critics of technology. But it's a misnomer: this is a class protest more than a technological one. The stocking-frame machines the Luddites vandalize have been around since the 1600s.

He looks at ethical issues such as dealing with technological risks. The Meetings Program provides members with in-person access -- in New York, NY and Washington, DC -- to world leaders, senior government officials, members of US Congress, and prominent practitioners in academia, policy, and business -- many are members themselves. Ray Kurzweil is personally featured or discussed in these talks by world renowned thinkers at CFR events. CFR recurring meeting series invite leaders to discuss the important foreign policy issues of our time. QUESTION: Would you be willing to speculate on the trajectory of artificial intelligence and machine learning and its social impact?