TD Bank Group has announced the acquisition of Layer 6 Inc. ("Layer 6"), a world-renowned artificial intelligence (AI) company based in Toronto, Ontario. Layer 6 has emerged as a global thought-leader and pioneer in the delivery of responsive, personalized and insight-driven experiences for the financial services industry. Layer 6 founders Tomi Poutanen and Jordan Jacobs are also co-founders of the Vector Institute, a world leader in AI research and education that TD also supports. "Anticipating and meeting customer needs are at the heart of our promise, and we are excited to further accelerate our innovation agenda to deliver well into the future. As we deploy new solutions, we will extend our deep relationship with customers across all of our platforms and offer personalized, connected and legendary experiences for our customers in the digital age."

Every year I give my forecast for the top 10 workplace trends for the upcoming year. The purpose is to help prepare organizations for the future by collecting, assessing and reporting the trends that will most impact them. You can read my predictions from 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. These trends are based on hundreds of conversations with executives and workers, a series of national and global online surveys and secondary research from more than 450 different research sources, including colleges, consulting firms, non-profits, the government and trade associations. All economic indicators show a positive view of the U.S. economy in 2018.

The 100 startups on our list have raised $11.7B in aggregate funding across 367 deals. Today, CB Insights unveiled the second annual AI 100 -- a list of 100 of the most promising private companies applying artificial intelligence algorithms across 25 industries, from healthcare to cybersecurity -- at the A-Ha! conference in San Francisco. The companies were selected from a pool of 2,000 startups based on several criteria, including investor profile, tech innovation, team strength, patent activity, mosaic score, funding history, valuation, and business model. The market map below categorizes the AI 100 companies based on their industry focus. Please click on the image to enlarge.

Royal Bank of Canada has been investing in AI research, setting up labs in Toronto and Edmonton, as well as one in Montreal in November 2017. RBC, Canada's largest bank by market capitalization, also last January tapped AI pioneer Dr. Meanwhile, the federal and Ontario governments have doubled down on AI, collectively investing $100 million in a Toronto-based research institute. The Vector Institute, which opened in March 2017, was also set to receive $80 million from more than 30 private sector companies. Both TD and RBC are Vector Institute partners, while Layer 6 founders Jordan Jacobs and Tomi Poutanen are Vector Institute founders.

The law is pretty firm when it comes to drunk driving -- the consequences are obvious. Now, officials are turning their attention to drunk droning. New Jersey has just approved a bill that, if signed by Governor Chris Christie, would make it illegal to fly one under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Operating a drone with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.8 percent of more (the same legal limit for driving a vehicle) would be considered a disorderly offence under the new rules, and would carry a $1,000 fine and up to six months in prison. There's been no shortage of drone crash stories in the news in recent times -- one of the most famous being the 3AM crash land on White House grounds in 2015, thanks to a drunken mishap.

On the night of 5 January and into the early hours of the next day, Russian forces in Syria came under attack by a "massive application of unmanned aerial vehicles", says the Russian Ministry of Defence. It is the first announced use of a swarm of drones in a military action, but is unlikely to be the last. According to reports, 13 small drones descended on Russian forces, but none did significant damage. Seven were destroyed by anti-aircraft defences and the others were brought down using electronic countermeasures to hijack or jam the drone's controls and land them intact. The captured aircraft seem crudely made, with a wooden undercarriage and plastic sheeting, powered by a small liquid-fuel engine. Under their wings, the drones carried several locally made bombs fitted with 3D printed plastic fins.

A top secret billion-dollar spy satellite plummeted into the Indian Ocean after a SpaceX mission over the weekend, but Elon Musk's company has insisted they are not to blame. The satellite, codenamed Zuma, launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida Sunday night, but it reportedly failed to remain in orbit, officials said Wednesday. The highly classified satellite launched by ended up plummeting into the Indian Ocean, a U.S. official confirmed to ABC News. A top secret billion-dollar spy satellite plummeted into the Indian Ocean after a botched SpaceX mission over the weekend, but Elon Musk's company has insisted they are not to blame. Lawmakers and congressional staffers from the Senate and the House have been briefed about the botched mission, some of the officials told the Wall Street Journal.

Fully autonomous cars won't be allowed on the streets until they're safe, but how will we know when that happens? The American Automobile Association (AAA) is trying to figure that out by testing self-driving cars powered by Torc Robotics "Asimov" system. The aim is to gather information and develop safety criteria that could be used by any company developing self-driving tech. "By creating a blueprint for automakers to follow, we hope to build public trust in technology," said AAA Northern California, Nevada & Utah CEO Tim Condon. A recent AAA survey found that 75 percent of Americans are skeptical of self-driving cars, and as a driver-focused, independent organization, the AAA feels its well-placed to help build up that trust. Torc Robotics, meanwhile, is one of the early pioneers of self-driving, having placed third in DARPA's 2007 Urban Challenge -- back when self-driving cars were a bit more bulky.

A stunning new Nasa image shows raging storms on Jupiter with clouds that stretch for thousands of miles - and it looks just like an oil painting. Nasa's Juno spacecraft was a little more than one Earth diameter from Jupiter - or 8,292 miles (13,345 kilometres) - when it captured this mind-bending view of the planet's tumultuous atmosphere. The incredible colour-enhanced image was captured at a latitude of 48.9 degrees and depicts vasts swirling cloud formations that travel at about 129,000 mph (60 km/s) over the gas giant planet's surface. Jupiter fills the image, with only a hint of the terminator (where daylight fades to night) in the upper right corner, and no visible limb (the curved edge of the planet). Juno took this image of colorful, turbulent clouds in Jupiter's northern hemisphere on December 16, from 8,292 miles (13,345 kilometers) above the tops of Jupiter's clouds The incredible colour-enhanced image, showing swirling cloud formations over the gas giant planet's surface, was captured at a latitude of 48.9 degrees.

The AI in security market is expected to be valued at U.S.D 3.92 billion in 2017 and is likely to reach U.S.D 34.81 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 31.38 percent during the forecast period. Factors such as the increasing U.S.e of the Internet and constant need for employees to be online are contributing to the growth of the market. Another major factor boosting the demand for AI-based security solutions is the shortage of cybersecurity professionals. The U.S.e of AI-based solutions for cybersecurity can mitigate the need for cybersecurity professionals. The inability of AI to stop zero-day and advanced threats, and limited security budgets of companies are the two major factors restraining the growth of the AI in security market.