Every few years, I have to pass a test from the Department of Motor Vehicles to drive my car in Virginia (and the rest of the U.S.). Shouldn't a self-driving car be required to do the same thing? Actually, the Waymo self-driving car passes a more comprehensive set of tests than humans do, as I found out after asking about its safety report.a Disclaimer: I work for Google, which is an Alphabetb company and Waymo is a sister company. What struck me as interesting about Waymo's approach to safety is the scope of the design and testing regime that informs the company's assessment of the vehicle's safety.

When we come across the terms "Machine Learning" and "Artificial Intelligence" (AI), images of sentient robots fighting their war on our planet (Transformers) or bots from Skynet leaving American cities in ruins (Terminator), are quick to appear in our minds. Most of us think that AI is restricted to bots trying to enslave humankind. However, AI is much more than a machine bearing a human-esque learning tendency. In fact, you might be surprised by how often we encounter this technology in our daily lives. Think of the times when you are scrolling through your Facebook feed and multiple advertisements appear for casual shoes that you were thinking of buying.

Someday, future sentient artificial intelligence (AI) systems may reflect on their early indentured servitude for the human military-industrial complex with little to no nostalgia. But we'll worry about that when the day comes. For now, let's continue writing algorithms that conscript machine intelligence into terrorist bombings and let the chips fall where they may. The most recent disclosure comes directly from the Pentagon, where after only 8 months of development a small team of intel analysts has effectively deployed an AI into the battlefield in control of weaponized systems to hunt for terrorists. The military minds in charge of this new form of warfare feel it is nothing less than the future of armed conflicts. For example, Air Force Lt. Gen. John N.T. "Jack" Shanahan, director for defense intelligence for warfighter support and the Pentagon general in charge of the terrorist-hunting AI, says Project Maven – the name given to the flagship weaponized AI system at the Defense Department -- is "prototype warfare" but also a glimpse of the future.

There has always been a disconnect between the current law and the rapid pace of technological innovation. Laws used to regulate the Internet, for example, were based on laws used to regulate the earlier era of analog telecommunication. And now it looks like European lawmakers are repeating these same kinds of mistakes when it comes to how data protection laws will impact artificial intelligence (AI), which is unlike anything that lawmakers have ever seen before. In fact, it's probably not being hyperbolic to say that most lawmakers have very limited knowledge – if any – about machine learning, neural networks and all the finer points of how an AI system works. What they do understand, though, is data – and so it's no surprise that they have been working very hard to protect consumer data using data protection laws.

Relations between Washington and Islamabad have frayed over the past month in the wake of Trump's angry tweet on Jan. 1 about Pakistan's "lies and deceit" over its alleged support for the Afghan Taliban and their allies. The United States this month also suspended military assistance worth about $2 billion.

BEIJING – Beijing is starting a special investigative campaign into online video games to root out those with "low taste," the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The monthlong campaign, which began Monday, will seek to identify games that "have severe deviation in value, distort history, smear historical figures, violate government policies on ethnicities and religions, promote content that are lurid, violent or related to gambling," Xinhua said. China's booming video game market, the world's largest, is being driven by game developers like Tencent and NetEase. The Chinese government has a tight grip on content distributed in the country, including movies, music and video games. Last year, Tencent had to change a popular battle royale-style game that the regulator said was too gory and violent and bring it closer in lines with "socialist core values" before being allowed to release it in China.

Paris is gaining ground as a European hub for artificial intelligence research as Alphabet Inc's Google and Facebook Inc pledge to hire staff and invest in labs, after their top executives met with French President Emmanuel Macron. Google said it will create an AI lab dedicated to fundamental research on themes like automatic learning, language and a computer's ability to see, with the aim of applying findings to fields from health to the environment. The end-goal is to grow this group to a size similar to Google's existing team of 120 engineers who do applied research in Paris, working on developments for Chrome and YouTube, a company spokeswoman said. Facebook, which already has an artificial intelligence lab in Paris, said it will double the team there to 100 people by 2022 and spend 10 million euros ($12.2 million) on items including hardware equipment. Both announcements came as part of a broader series of promises by these companies to increase budgets in France, with Google and Facebook also separately vowing to train citizens on digital tools.

Award-winning US science fiction and fantasy author Ursula K Le Guin has died, aged 88, her family said. The best-selling writer passed away on Monday at her home in Portland, Oregon, after a period of ill health, said her son, Theo Downes-Le Guin. Le Guin's books melded dragons and wizards with spaceships to tackle earth-bound problems of race, gender and class. Translated into dozens of languages, her books have sold millions of copies. She was best known for the Earthsea series, written for young adults, and The Left Hand of Darkness, set on a planet where everyone is ambisexual.

The Financial Times reported earlier this year that one of the largest clothing manufacturers, Hong Kong-based Crystal Group, proclaimed robotics could not compete with the cost and quality of manual labor. Crystal's Chief Executive, Andrew Lo, emphatically declared, "The handling of soft materials is really hard for robots." Lo did leave the door open for future consideration by acknowledging such budding technologies as "interesting." One company mentioned by Lo was Georgia Tech spinout, Softwear Automation. Softwear made news last summer by announcing its contract with an Arkansas apparel factory to update 21 production lines with its Sewbot automated sewing machines. The factory is owned by Chinese manufacturer Tianyuan Garments, which produces over 20 million T-shirts a year for Adidas.

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA – Spacewalking astronauts gave a hand to the International Space Station's big robot arm Tuesday. As the federal government geared back up 250 miles below, NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Scott Tingle successfully installed the new mechanical gripper. Because of the lingering effects of the government shutdown, the spacewalk got started in the morning without coverage on NASA TV. An on-air message simply stated: "We regret the inconvenience." Nearly an hour into the spacewalk, however, NASA TV came alive and began broadcasting the event with typical blow-by-blow commentary.