Artificial intelligence isn't just good for customer service chatbots and personal assistants on your mobile, advances in the field are also helping to revolutionise scientific research. Scientists from the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have shown that a form of AI known as neural networks can accurately analyse complex distortions in spacetime a whopping ten million times faster than traditional methods. "Analyses that typically take weeks to months to complete, that require the input of experts and that are computationally demanding, can be done by neural nets within a fraction of a second, in a fully automated way and, in principle, on a cell phone's computer chip," said postdoctoral fellow Laurence Perreault Levasseur, a co-author of a study published in Nature. KIPAC scientists have for the first time used artificial neural networks to analyze complex distortions in spacetime, called gravitational lenses, demonstrating that the method is 10 million times faster than traditional analyses. The team at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, a joint institute of SLAC and Stanford, used the neural networks to look at images of strong gravitational lensing, where a picture of a far-flung galaxy is multiplied and distorted by the gravity of a massive object that's closer to us, such as a galaxy cluster.

Researchers from the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have for the first time shown that neural networks – a form of artificial intelligence – can accurately analyze the complex distortions in spacetime known as gravitational lenses 10 million times faster than traditional methods. "Analyses that typically take weeks to months to complete, that require the input of experts and that are computationally demanding, can be done by neural nets within a fraction of a second, in a fully automated way and, in principle, on a cell phone's computer chip," said postdoctoral fellow Laurence Perreault Levasseur, a co-author of a study published today in Nature. KIPAC scientists have for the first time used artificial neural networks to analyze complex distortions in spacetime, called gravitational lenses, demonstrating that the method is 10 million times faster than traditional analyses. The team at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC), a joint institute of SLAC and Stanford, used neural networks to analyze images of strong gravitational lensing, where the image of a faraway galaxy is multiplied and distorted into rings and arcs by the gravity of a massive object, such as a galaxy cluster, that's closer to us. The distortions provide important clues about how mass is distributed in space and how that distribution changes over time – properties linked to invisible dark matter that makes up 85 percent of all matter in the universe and to dark energy that's accelerating the expansion of the universe.

Richard Anderson, the tall, handsome actor best known for costarring simultaneously in the popular 1970s television shows "The Six Million Dollar Man" and "The Bionic Woman," has died at age 91. Anderson died of natural causes on Thursday, family spokesman Jonathan Taylor said. "The Six Million Dollar Man" brought a new wave of supernatural heroes to television. Based on the novel "Cyborg" by Martin Caidin, it starred Lee Majors as U.S. astronaut Steve Austin, who is severely injured in a crash. The government saves his life by rebuilding his body with atomic-powered artificial limbs and other parts, giving him superhuman strength, speed and other powers.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says that whoever reaches a breakthrough in developing artificial intelligence will come to dominate the world. Putin, speaking Friday at a meeting with students, said the development of AI raises'colossal opportunities and threats that are difficult to predict now.' He warned that'the one who becomes the leader in this sphere will be the ruler of the world.' Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, attends a meeting with students in Yaroslavl, Russia, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. Putin, speaking Friday at a meeting with students, said the development of AI raises'colossal opportunities and threats that are difficult to predict now' 'Artificial intelligence is the future, not only for Russia, but for all humankind,' Putin said during the discussion, according to RT.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says the country that masters artificial intelligence technology will be the "ruler of the world" and leader in military might. Putin, speaking Friday at a meeting with students, said the development of AI raises "colossal opportunities and threats that are difficult to predict now." He warned that "the one who becomes the leader in this sphere will be the ruler of the world." The Russian president's comments come weeks after top tech barons Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg engaged in a public spat over AI's future impact on the world. Zuckerberg, when asked about Musk's concerns about AI, said those who push "doomsday scenarios" about the technology are being "irresponsible.

But, then again, the aging of populations will reduce the number of workers in developed and some developing countries by many millions. The dependency ratio -- the ratio of people of non-working age to those of working age -- is a crude measure of the scale of the problem. Globally, the dependency ratio of non-working older people to workers has indeed risen over the 56 years, from 8.6 percent to 13 percent, and will continue to increase. Even in Japan, with its low birth and immigration rates, and an old-dependency ratio that has gone up by a remarkable 35 percentage points, from 9 percent to 44 percent, the total ratio has risen by a much more modest 10 percentage points, to 66 percent.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and other new technologies will undoubtedly destroy millions of jobs around the world. The losses sound like a problem to many people who fear automation could leave too few positions to go around. But, then again, the aging of populations will reduce the number of workers in developed and some developing countries by many millions. Those losses, too, might sound like a problem, because there might not be enough workers to go around. What are we to make of these apparently alarming but contradictory narratives? In fact, neither trend should cause much trouble.

Should artificial intelligence be regulated? Should artificial intelligence be regulated? I understand how recent advances and associated hype can be scary for people, especially since doomsday scenarios related to AI have been part of our popular culture for many decades. I also understand, to address one of Ben Y. Zhao's concerns, that my opinion might come across as one of those "dismissive insiders". However, I think there at least 3 good reasons not to regulate AI.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, applauds during a meeting with students in Yaroslavl, Russia, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. Putin said that whoever reaches a breakthrough in developing artificial intelligence will come to dominate the world. Putin, speaking Friday at a meeting with students, said the development of AI raises "colossal opportunities and threats that are difficult to predict now."

This article was first posted to The Conversation. The next major cyberattack could involve artificial intelligence systems. It could even happen soon: At a recent cybersecurity conference, 62 industry professionals, out of the 100 questioned, said they thought the first AI-enhanced cyberattack could come in the next 12 months. This doesn't mean robots will be marching down Main Street. Rather, artificial intelligence will make existing cyberattack efforts -- things like identity theft, denial-of-service attacks and password cracking -- more powerful and more efficient.