Driven by the rapid progress in Artificial Intelligence (AI) research, intelligent machines are gaining the ability to learn, improve and make calculated decisions in ways that will enable them to perform tasks previously thought to rely solely on human experience, creativity, and ingenuit y. As a result, we will in the near future see large parts of our lives influenced by AI. AI innovation will also be central to the achievement of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and will help solving humanity's grand challenges by capitalizing on the unprecedented quantities of data now being generated on sentiment behavior, human health, commerce, communications, migration and more. With large parts of our lives being influenced by AI, it is critical that government, industry, academia and civil society work together to evaluate the opportunities presented by AI, ensuring that AI benefits all of humanity. Responding to this critical issue, ITU and the XPRIZE Foundation are organizing AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva, 7-9 June, 2017 in partnership with a number of UN sister agencies.

SpaceX will launch the Air Force's X-37B experimental spaceplane later this year, in the military's latest vote of confidence in the Elon Musk-led space company. This will be the first time SpaceX has launched the uncrewed, robotic vehicle. United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp., has launched the spaceplane's previous four missions atop one of its Atlas V rockets. The Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, which is responsible for the X-37B's experimental operations, said it was "very excited" for the fifth flight, which will test how special electronics and heat pipes will fare during a long-duration space mission. "We look forward to continued expansion of the vehicle's performance and are excited to continue hosting experimental payloads for the space community," the office's director, Randy Walden, said in a statement.

A four-part look at how robots are changing the way we work. About 180 robots here are doing work that humans used to do at a GE Aviation plant that makes parts for jet engines. But they haven't replaced the humans. Indeed, the opposite is true. Since a new, automated section of the plant ramped up at the start of the decade, the number of people working here has risen to more than 900 from 600. "A machine is not replacing three jobs," said Eric Bouchard, senior operations manager at the Bromont plant.

The UK election this Thursday will be shaped by artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence is being used to fake vocal political support on social media in the run up to the UK election. Then there's social media targeting. Huge swathes of marginalised people could be empowered by automated translation tools.

David Yang is an Armenian-born Russian founder, CEO of ABBYY an up and coming AI startup and an investor in AI startups. David is a co-founder, entrepreneur and/or co-investor of a number of other projects in addition to ABBYY. Foundation and participation in iiko company, which develops a new-generation system of restaurants and hospitality services management (http://www.iiko.ru, Participation in charity and educational projects, such as educational fund Ayb (http://www.ayb.am, David holds a, Ph.D. in Memeology, and received the Laureate of Russian Government Award in Science and Technology He has a BSc in Mathematics from Novosibirsk State University (Russia) and an MBA from the University of Brighton (UK).

Yasmin Green leads a team at Google's parent company with an audacious goal: solving the thorniest geopolitical problems that emerge online. Jigsaw, where she is the head of research and development, is a think tank within Alphabet tasked with fighting the unintended unsavory consequences of technological progress. That means listening to fake news creators, jihadis, and cyber bullies so that she and her team can understand their motivations, processes, and goals. "We look at censorship, cybersecurity, cyberattacks, ISIS--everything the creators of the internet did not imagine the internet would be used for," Green said today at WIRED's 2017 Business Conference in New York. Last week, Green traveled to Macedonia to meet with peddlers of fake news, those click-hungry opportunists who had such a sway over the 2016 presidential election in the US.

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer. Hackers have become increasingly sophisticated at obscuring their footsteps, at times flooding systems with fake alerts to distract from truly insidious ones. Researchers from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) demonstrated that a virtual AI security analyst trained by human experts accurately identifies 85% of attacks, beating previous benchmarks by a factor of three while reducing false positives by a factor of five.

The world's brightest minds in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and humanitarian action will meet with industry leaders and academia at the AI for Good Global Summit, 7-9 June 2017, to discuss how AI will assist global efforts to address poverty, hunger, education, healthcare and the protection of our environment. The event will in parallel explore means to ensure the safe, ethical development of AI, protecting against unintended consequences of advances in AI. The event is co-organized by ITU and the XPRIZE Foundation, in partnership with 20 other United Nations (UN) agencies, and with the participation of more than 70 leading companies and academic and research institutes. "Artificial Intelligence has the potential to accelerate progress towards a dignified life, in peace and prosperity, for all people," said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. "The time has arrived for all of us – governments, industry and civil society – to consider how AI will affect our future. The AI for Good Global Summit represents the beginnings of our efforts to ensure that AI charts a course that will benefit all of humanity."

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese Hezbollah's Al Manar TV channel said it would broadcast footage on Wednesday of an Iranian drone tracking a U.S. plane over southeastern Syria. It said it would air the footage during its news broadcast at 5:30 p.m. local time (1430 GMT). The announcement came as tensions grow between Washington and the military alliance that backs the Syrian government, including Iranian-backed forces. Not all U.S. presidents are missed once they leave the White House. President Donald Trump announced Wray's nomination for FBI director on Twitter.

In 2015, after much research, I wrote about China having 194 robot companies and used screen shots of The Robot Report's Global Map to show where they were and a chart to show their makeup. We've just concluded another research project and have added hundreds of new Chinese companies to the database and global map. China installed 90,000 robots in 2016, 1/3 of the world's total and a 30% increase over 2015. Simply said, China has three drivers helping them move toward country-wide adoption of robotics: scale, growth momentum, and money. Startup companies can achieve scale quickly because the domestic market is so large.