Lockheed Martin's interest in a San Diego start-up shows how big aerospace companies are pushing the drone revolution out to sea. Lockheed Martin Ventures last month invested an undisclosed amount in San Diego-based Ocean Aero -- a 25-employee start-up that is developing the Submaran, a solar- and wind-powered ocean drone capable of operating above and below the surface. "The ability to be environmentally powered allows us to maneuver at great persistence because it's renewable," said Eric Patten, chief executive of Ocean Aero and a former Navy officer. "And then to be able to transition that vehicle from the surface to a sub-surface vehicle that has significant capability under water, that is truly unique." Lockheed Martin Venture typically invests $1 million to $5 million in young companies.

Consider the job of an intelligence analyst--someone who has to sift through vast amounts of information and figure out the bigger narrative. The raw data this hypothetical analyst looks at could be anything from a report on the ground, to government statements, to items in the local media. The analyst's job--looking at data, synthesizing it in a report--is rich territory for artificial intelligence to help out, according to a new company called Primer. Primer has developed an AI system that's in part intended to augment the job of an intelligence analyst at a spy agency. Intelligence isn't the only field they're working in--their partners include Walmart and a sovereign wealth fund in Singapore--but it's perhaps the most intriguing.

Analysts fear criminal groups will use explosive devices attached to drones to attack the U.S. (Reuters) Mexican police reportedly pulled over four men driving a stolen pick-up truck and discovered a drone carrying an explosive device in the vehicle, leading some analysts to fear drug cartels may have figured out how to arm the devices to attack opponents -- including those inside the United States. Federal police discovered the drone attached to the IED last week during a traffic stop in Guanajunto, where several cartels are known to operate, including the Sinaloa Cartel, Small Wars Journal reported. Besides the drone, police found phones, an AK-47 and ammunition. An improvised explosive device was taped to the drone, 3Dr Solo Quadcopter, that could reportedly be detonated with a remote control. It was not clear if the four men were a part of any criminal group.

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Facebook disclosed last month it had found ads linked to fake accounts -- likely run from Russia -- that sought to influence the U.S. election. Facebook said the ads focused on divisive political issues such as immigration and gun rights in an apparent attempt to sow discord among the U.S. population.

Despite recent attempts to tease the robotics projects incubating at its Google X skunkworks, industry observers say that Google has done more to stifle than advance innovation in robotics. On December 4th, 2013, John Markoff, a technology reporter for The New York Times, broke the story that Google had acquired seven robotic companies and that Andy Rubin, of Android fame, would be heading the group. Schaft, a Japanese start-up developing a humanoid robot; Industrial Perception, a Silicon Valley start-up that developed a computer vision system for loading and unloading trucks; Meka Robotics, a robot developer for academia; Redwood Robotics, a start-up intended to compete with the Baxter robot (and others) entering the small and medium-sized shop and factory marketplace; Bot & Dolly, a maker of robotic camera systems used for special effects such as in the movie "Gravity;" Autofuss, a design and marketing firm and a partner in Bot & Dolly; and Holomni, a maker of powered caster modules for omnidirectional vehicles. On December 14th, 2013, Markoff followed up with the news that Google had added to its new stable of robotic companies by acquiring Boston Dynamics, a 20-year old developer of mobile and off-road robotics and human simulation technology mostly for DARPA and the Department of Defense. Thus some of the leading startups in the industry and the whole 80 talent pool from Boston Dynamics became part of Google. "The company's initial market will be in manufacturing, e.g., electronics assembly which is mostly done by hand.

Artificial intelligence: everybody is talking about it, and the as-of-yet unrealized possibilities of the technology are fueling a renaissance in the hardware and software industry. Hardware and software companies -- including Intel, NVidia, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Facebook, Qualcomm, ARM and many others -- are racing to build the next AI hardware platform or fighting to maintain their lead. AI, and deep learning (a sub-field of neural networks) in particular is an inherently non-Von Neumann process, and the prospect of having a processor more closely tailored to the specific needs of neural networks is appealing. But, I like to think before acting, especially before diving into a potentially very expensive hardware project. Should the AI industry build a specialized deep learning chip, and, if so, what should it look like?

Two days after K.S. Sunil Kumar received a promotion, Human Resources phoned him up and asked him to resign. This happened in April, just as Kumar was beginning his ninth year at Tech Mahindra, one of the giants in India's IT services industry. He worked in engineering services, where he designed components and tools for aerospace firms in North America and Europe. They'd send over specs--the materials available to construct a hinge, and the kind of load it had to bear, and the cost at which it had to be manufactured--and he mocked up options with the help of software. He was a foot soldier in the army of Indian engineers to whom work is outsourced from the West, so that it can be finished at a fraction of the expense. Sometimes he left his base, Tech Mahindra's Bangalore campus, to serve stints at clients' offices abroad: in Montreal, Belfast, or Stockholm.

Are we doing enough to get ready for the emergence of artificial intelligence as a major driving force for transformation in our economy? Forget the apocalyptic concerns of people like Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking for a moment and consider the very real and practical ways AI is already changing the way we do things, from chatbots for customer service through to driverless vehicles in industries like mining and agriculture. This stuff is already here and it's only going to accelerate as we start to understand and apply AI, machine learning and automation technologies across our industries. A new report from the UK government which looks into growing the AI industry is taking its potential as an economic driver very seriously. Are we doing the same here in Australia?

In the 1970s and the 1980s, the tech scene witnessed the so-called "AI winter". It was a period that came after a phase of hype that was followed by disappointments that resulted in the loss of interest in AI and the cutting of the funds. Although AI today impacts our lives way more than it used to do back then, there are striking similarities between that period and today. AI is there to stay, but we might hit a stagnation point soon. It is difficult to pin down when exactly AI was born.