DARPA is looking to develop robotic swarms that can assist troops from the ground and skies, with hundreds of drones all working together. The Pentagon's research branch has revealed its Offensive Swarm-Enabled Tactics (OFFSET) program is seeking ideas for new systems that could allow for'human-swarm teaming.' The program has awarded contracts to teams from Raytheon and Northrop Grumman to design, develop, and deploy the technology in physical and virtual environments – and eventually, they're hoping to create swarms of over 250 robots. The Pentagon's research branch has revealed its Offensive Swarm-Enabled Tactics (OFFSET) program is seeking ideas for new systems that could allow for'human-swarm teaming' in cities High-tech weapons that the Secret Service is not trained to cope with pose a'grave threat' to the White House, a former agent has warned. Swarms of weaponized drones or even 3D printed plastic guns could be used to launch unforeseen attacks on the president, according to Dan Bongino, author of Protecting the President.

Labor has secured support for a Senate inquiry into the dramatic changes about to hit the workforce in the belief the political establishment is not doing enough to prepare people for the impact of innovation and robotics. The move follows a warning sounded last month by the shadow minister for the future of work and the digital economy Ed Husic who told the AFR's innovation summit that Australia risked being swamped by the consequences of technological change due to the reluctance of government and elements of business to take a lead role in preparing for automation and innovation. Mr Husic said 3.5 million Australian jobs stood to be affected by automation and change, including 250,000 vehicle drivers, while the economy stood to gain $1 trillion by 2030. Yet the rapidly-approaching change was barely audible in the national debate, in part due to the government retreating from its key innovation theme following a backlash during the last election campaign and criticism by former prime minister Tony Abbott.

I am a poet and artist, and I make Twitter bots. The term "bot" encompasses many different kinds of software agents, from conversation simulators like Eliza, to programs that write stories about sports events without human intervention, to automatically created social media accounts that spam hashtags. The bots I make have an artistic and literary bent: for example, I made @everyword -- which tweeted every word in the English language in alphabetical order over the course of seven years -- and more recently @the_ephemerides, which tweets computer-generated poetry juxtaposed with NASA imagery. I'm part of a community of bot-making artists (loosely known as #botALLY) who are taking the canvas of social media and covering it with computer-generated writing and other kinds of generative art. As part of Sam Woolley's provocateur-in-residence workshop at Data & Society, I was asked to write a provocation regarding automated agents and bots from my perspective as a poet and artist.

WASHINGTON-- Some Americans could see a lot more drones flying around their communities as the result of a Trump administration test program to increase government and commercial use of the unmanned aircraft. President Donald Trump gave the go-ahead Wednesday, signing a directive intended to increase the number and complexity of drone flights. The presidential memo would allow exemptions from current safety rules so communities could move ahead with testing of drone operations. States, communities and tribes selected to participate would devise their own trial programs in partnership with government and industry drone users. The administration anticipates approving at least five applications, but there is no limit on the number of communities that can join.

President Trump and Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao announced the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Pilot Program today -- an initiative aimed at exploring expanded use of drones. While the Obama administration began allowing some drone activity to take place in US airspace, a fair amount of restrictions were still applicable. This new program, however, will allow companies and local governments to use drones in ways that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) currently doesn't allow. That includes "beyond-visual-line-of-sight flights, nighttime operations, and flights over people," as White House advisor Michael Kratsios said today. "This program supports the President's commitment to foster technological innovation that will be a catalyst for ideas that have the potential to change our day-to-day lives. Drones are proving to be especially valuable in emergency situations, including assessing damage from natural disasters such as the recent hurricanes and the wildfires in California," Secretary Chao said in a statement.

Americans could see a lot more drones flying around their communities as the result of a Trump administration test program to increase government and commercial use of the unmanned aircraft. President Trump gave the go-ahead Wednesday, signing a directive intended to increase the number and complexity of drone flights. The presidential memo would allow exemptions from current safety rules so communities could move ahead with testing of drone operations. States, communities and Native American tribes selected to participate would devise their own trial programs in partnership with government and industry drone users. The administration anticipates approving at least five applications, but there is no limit on the number of communities that can join.

Mark Johnson wants to beat the United States Department of Agriculture at its own game: predicting yields of America's crops. The USDA puts boots on the ground, deploying hundreds of workers to survey thousands of farms a month ahead of the October corn harvest, America's biggest crop. Johnson's startup, Descartes Labs, has just 20 employees, and they never leave the office in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Instead, Descartes relies on 4 petabytes of satellite imaging data and a machine learning algorithm to figure out how healthy the corn crop is from space. Corn yield prediction is big business in the US. Billions of dollars are at stake along the ag supply chain each year as corn starts to come out of the ground in August.

Hiring someone who turns out to be a bad fit can be costly: Unhappy employees cost the U.S. economy between $450 billion and $550 billion in lost productivity each year, according to research firm Gallup. And replacing a full-time worker can cost up to twice the employee's salary. While working on a project at Harvard Law School, Angela Antony found herself immersed in statistics like those. "If you look across the economy, about 46 percent of hires leave within 18 months. That's despite all the time, resources, and billions of dollars spent trying to effectively hire," Antony says.

You thought it would never come, but the end of the year is almost upon us, and with it the latest Call of Duty release from Activision. Now's your chance to catch the game at a discount before it rolls out: Today, Newegg's selling Call of Duty: WWII for $50. Here are the caveats: This is for the disc-based version of the PC game, and it's one of those "see price in cart" deals, so you won't see the price on Newegg's listings. The game is set to release on November 3, and Newegg says the disc will ship "after" this date. That means you probably won't be playing on day one, but you're saving 10 bucks.

The Federal Aviation Administration would review each program. The agency would grant waivers if necessary -- to safety rules that now restrict drone operations. Examples include prohibitions on flights over people, nighttime flights and flights beyond the line of sight of the drone operator.