In the next 15 years, machines are expected to be able to drive cars, replace soldiers, work on the factory line building components, provide comprehensive customer service, run our financial services, translate and interpret text quicker than humans and and and (the list goes on and on). Machines are already writing articles for national newspapers (no, not this article) and the fear is that all jobs will go to robots. Around 40% of jobs will be gone by 2030 in the US, says analysts PwC, and 30% of jobs will go in the UK. This dystopian view of the future, the one of Terminator destruction rather than Iron Man superhuman powers, is something that artificial intelligence companies are very keen to distance themselves from. 'We use the term augmented intelligence [rather than artificial intelligence],' Paul Ryan, head of Watson Artificial Intelligence, IBM UK, tells Metro.co.uk at the AI Summit.

The Lighthouse interactive assistant monitors the comings and goings at a home remotely, but with an AI touch. SAN FRANCISCO -- Lighthouse, an artificial intelligence services start-up with roots in the self-driving car world, wants to do for the home what the DARPA Grand Challenge did for autonomous cars. The 2-year-old start-up has developed an interactive assistant for the home that, essentially, does the opposite of Alexa, Amazon's voice-activated personal assistant. While Alexa keeps consumers connected to the outside world while they're at home, Lighthouse keeps consumers connected to their homes while they're far away. The interactive assistant, in the form of a mini-lighthouse, leverages deep learning and 3-D sensing technology developed as part of the DARPA Grand Challenge, the world-renowned competition in which autonomous vehicles navigate an off-road course.

Dr. Yoshua Bengio, one of the key researchers credited with establishing the field of deep learning, announced today that he will serve as a strategy adviser for legal tech company Botler AI, a Montreal-based startup that runs a free chatbot to assist users as they navigate the legal procedures required for immigration. "I knew this was an idea that we needed to take to the next level," Bengio said in today's press release. "I want AI to be developed towards positive social impact and this is one place where beneficial AI must happen." The techniques pioneered by Bengio and others have led to breakthroughs in natural language comprehension and translation, abilities that are critical to this kind of chatbot. "Deep Learning could help provide affordable or even free legal services to people who might otherwise not be able to have access," he said.

For investors trying to understand the opportunity and the size of the market, a report from Statista says that, "In 2017, the global AI market is expected to be worth approximately 1.25 billion U.S. dollars. Some current major uses of artificial intelligence include image recognition, object identification, detection and classification, as well as automated geophysical feature detection. The largest proportion of revenues come from the AI for enterprise applications market." Featured Company: Gopher Protocol, Inc. (OTCQB: GOPH) is a development-stage company developing Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence enabled mobile technology. The Company has a portfolio of Intellectual Property that when commercialized will include smart microchips, mobile application software and supporting cloud software.

While the world watches anxiously for signs of US President Donald Trump's next move vis-a-vis China, Chinese leaders remain focused on the next stage of their country's ongoing economic transformation. What they do should interest everyone ― especially US policymakers. China's industrialization process, like that of other successful East Asian economies, has combined profit-led investment, active industrial policy, and export discipline. But that approach has its limits, exemplified in the numerous developing countries that have attempted to climb the same development ladder, only to become stuck on the middle rungs or even to fall back, owing to what Harvard University economist Dani Rodrik has called "premature deindustrialization." China hopes to avoid this fate, with the help of "China Manufacturing 2025" (CM2025), a roadmap released by Premier Li Keqiang in 2015 to guide the country's industrial modernization.

Army researchers are teaching artificial intelligence to learn from humans to become sharper shooters. At the annual Intelligent User Interface conference, scientists from DCS Corp and the Army Research Lab revealed how training a neural network on datasets of human brain waves can improve its ability to identify a target in a dynamic environment. The approach teaches AI to spot when a human has made a targeted decision, with hopes that it could one day be used to assess a battlefield scenario in real-time. At the annual Intelligent User Interface conference, scientists from DCS Corp and the Army Research Lab revealed how training a neural network on datasets of human brain waves can improve its ability to identify a target in a dynamic environment. The study comes as part of the multi-year Cognition and Neuroergonomics Collaborative Technology Alliance, according to Defense One.

Self-driving cars could soon be hitting the streets of the Big Apple, thanks to a new law that allows firms to apply to run trials there. New York joins a growing list of states that are accepting applications for autonomous vehicle trials. Cars will not allowed to be completely driverless yet, with a human driver in place to step in in case of emergency. New York's road system is famous for its grid-like design and heavy traffic, which could pose a challenge to self-driving cars, which are used to cities with vaster roads. Those who apply to run trials in New York are obligated to give the state regulators reports on how the tests have been going.

Biology has emerged as one of the most important technology platforms of the 21st century. With the arrival of the gene-editing technology Crispr, biology will soon converge with everyday medicine, big agriculture, and artificial intelligence to influence the future of all life on our planet. Crispr, which allows scientists to edit precise positions on DNA using a bacterial enzyme, is already transforming cancer treatment, preventing the spread of disease, and solving global famine. Its trajectory necessarily involves government agencies and commissions, our elected officials, and the courts--and none of them are prepared for what's coming. Amy Webb (@amywebb) is the author of The Signals Are Talking: Why Today's Fringe Is Tomorrow's Mainstream and is the chief executive of the Future Today Institute, a strategic foresight and research group in Washington, DC.

Some astronauts may spend a year orbiting cislunar space before NASA finally makes its way to Mars. At the Human to Mars Summit in Washington DC, Greg Williams from the agency's human exploration division revealed the details of NASA's two-phased plan to send humans to the red planet. According to Space, he said the first phase includes four manned flights to cislunar space in order to deliver a crew habitat, a science research module, a power source and an airlock for visiting vehicles. The whole installation could also have a robotic arm like the Canadarm2 with some autonomous functions. All those trips will take place between 2018 and 2026.

If you follow China's bold ambition to join the great space powers, it will eventually lead you here, to the neglected eastern edge of steamy Hainan island, in a speck of a village that doesn't appear on most maps. Rocket replicas and signs for Wi-Fi welcome visitors past coconut trees and peppers grown from seeds bred in space. Guide maps show what this hamlet of about 50 residents might become, though the blacktop still looks fresh and most of the noise comes from the chicken coop. Local officials envision Haosheng as the start of a thriving tourist destination tied to nearby Wenchang Satellite Launch Center, much in the way Florida's Space Coast draws visitors interested in Cape Canaveral. China's newest spaceport opened for tours last year and just sent the country's first cargo spacecraft into orbit.