The Telegraph of Macon reported Tuesday that Georgia Department of Corrections Commissioner Gregory Dozier told lawmakers that he will be asking them to support a bill that stipulates that it's illegal for a drone to cross a prison's airspace.

Each day we read about amazing technology breakthroughs, particularly when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI). But if AI is so great, why are these breathtaking technological achievements not matched with soaring productivity and economic growth? Or, to paraphrase an old jibe: If the economy is so smart, why aren't we all rich? After all, we live among astonishing examples of potentially transformative new technologies that could greatly increase productivity and economic welfare. As noted in the 2014 book, "The Second Machine Age," leaps in AI, machine learning and, more recently in areas such as image recognition, abound.

Ever since early-nineteenth-century textile workers destroyed the mechanical looms that threatened their livelihoods, debates over automation have conjured gloom-and-doom scenarios about the future of work. With another era of automation upon us, how nervous about the future of our own livelihoods should we be? A recent report by the McKinsey Global Institute estimates that depending on a country's level of development, advances in automation will require 3 to 14 per cent of workers worldwide to change occupations or upgrade their skills by the year 2030. Already, about 10 per cent of all jobs in Europe have disappeared since 1990 during the first wave of routine-based technological change. And with advances in artificial intelligence (AI), which affects a broader range of tasks, that share could double in the coming years.

Artificial intelligence will be the main focus of this year's World Government Summit as Dubai aims to transform itself into the most digitally-savvy city. Beyond smart cities, AI is seen as a key pillar in providing services across the board. "Every phone will be like a personal computer," said Hussain Lootah, director general at the emirate's municipality. "Providing it in hardware and robotics will maintain the city's landscape too – we plant 70 million flowers every year but AI will help save us a lot of time. We will also have'smart canes' for the elderly and disabled."

A Harvard Belfer Center study commissioned by the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency (IARPA), Artificial Intelligence and National Security, predicted last May that AI will be as transformative to national defense as nuclear weapons, aircraft, computers and biotech. Advances in AI will enable new capabilities and make others far more affordable – not only to the U.S., but to adversaries as well, raising the stakes as the United States seeks to preserve its hard-won strategic overmatch in the air, land, sea, space and cyberspace domains. The Pentagon's Third Offset Strategy seeks to leverage AI and related technologies in a variety of ways, according to Robert Work, former deputy secretary of defense and one of the strategy's architects. In a forward to a new report from the market analytics firm Govini, Work says the strategy "seeks to exploit advances in AI and autonomous systems to improve the performance of Joint Force guided munitions battle networks" through: "By exploiting advances in AI and autonomous systems to improve the warfighting potential and performance of the U.S. military," Work says, "the strategy aims to restore the Joint Force's eroding conventional overmatch versus any potential adversary, thereby strengthening conventional deterrence." Spending is growing, Govini reports, with AI and related defense program spending increasing at a compound annual rate of 14.5 percent from 2012 to 2017, and poised to grow substantially faster in coming years as advanced computing technologies come on line, driving down computational costs.

The system was trained with public employment records, an ostensibly unbiased dataset. But even 20 years after sex-based discrimination was thrust into the media spotlight, the tech industry still hasn't fully corrected its gender imbalance. The job screening system "learns" that most software engineers are men and starts favoring male candidates over women. This dangerous scenario is one of many posited in "The Future Computed," a new book published by Microsoft, with a foreword by Brad Smith, Microsoft president and chief legal officer, and Harry Shum, executive vice president of Microsoft's Artificial Intelligence and Research group. The book examines the use cases and potential dangers of AI technology, which will soon be integrated into many of the systems people use everyday.

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. We're creating viewer supported news. The military minds in charge of this new form of warfare feel it is nothing less than the future of armed conflicts.

WASHINGTON – A prestigious scientific panel is recommending that states significantly lower their drunken driving thresholds as part of a blueprint to eliminate the "entirely preventable" 10,000 alcohol-impaired driving deaths in the United States each year. The U.S. government-commissioned, 489-page report by a panel of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine released Wednesday throws the weight of the scientific body behind lowering the blood-alcohol concentration threshold from 0.08 to 0.05. All states have 0.08 thresholds. A Utah law passed last year that lowers the state's threshold to 0.05 doesn't go into effect until Dec. 30. The amount of alcohol required to reach 0.05 would depend on several factors, including the person's size and whether the person has recently eaten.

The surge in robot sales has seen the emergence of four major suppliers, two Japanese, Fanuc and Yaskawa, a Swiss/Swedish concern ABB and Germany's Kuka AG. The rise in robot demand has coincided with a jump in their share prices. Kuka made the news last year not because its robots were building Tesla and Porsche cars, but for its €4.5bn takeover by the Chinese appliance company Medea, which hopes to build small mobile robots for the home and consumer industry. However, the German government was unhappy with the takeover. While it has a right to block any non-EU company from acquiring more than a 25pc stake in any German entity, it is limited to public order being endangered or national security.

People are increasingly reliant on artificial intelligence (AI) -- that is, the machines, systems or applications that are capable of performing tasks that, until recently, could only be performed by a human. Think of your morning routine: maybe a Google Assistant checks your calendar and reminds you of your meetings. Then you survey Twitter, which uses algorithms to curate what you see -- the latest about Trump, trade and technology rise to the top. And at the end of it all, when you settle in for some Netflix, your profile suggests a few thrillers you're likely to binge-watch. Marketing statistics reveal that some 57 percent of consumers expect voice-activated smart assistants to have a major or moderate impact on their daily lives by 2020.