The human voice, with all its subtlety and nuance, is proving to be an exceptionally difficult thing for computers to emulate. Using a powerful new algorithm, a Montreal-based AI startup has developed a voice generator that can mimic virtually any person's voice, and even add an emotional punch when necessary. The system isn't perfect, but it heralds a future when voices, like photos, can be easily faked. When Siri, Alexa, or our GPS talk to us, it's fairly obvious that we're being spoken to by a machine. That's because virtually every text-to-speech system on the market relies on a pre-recorded set of words, phrases, and utterances (recorded from voice actors), which are then strung together in Frankenstein-like fashion to produce complete words and sentences.

The remarks by Cuban came six days after Twitter reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings. The social media company has used algorithms to combat user harassment, vowing to prevent abusive behavior and block repeat offenders from the site. Twitter said in its first-quarter earnings release, it "continued to use other machine learning techniques to improve the relevance of notifications, which increased engagement and brought people back to Twitter." In March, Chief Executive Jack Dorsey said the impact of AI on society would be "positive," but he appeared unsure if the U.S. government is ready to deal with the impact. I think so, I hope so.

Montreal-based start-up Lyrebird is looking to change that with an artificially intelligent system that learns to mimic a person's voice by analyzing speech recordings and the corresponding text transcripts as well as identifying the relationships between them. Introduced last week, Lyrebird's speech synthesis can generate thousands of sentences per second--significantly faster than existing methods--and mimic just about any voice, an advancement that raises ethical questions about how the technology might be used and misused. The ability to generate natural-sounding speech has long been a core challenge for computer programs that transform text into spoken words. Artificial intelligence (AI) personal assistants such as Siri, Alexa, Microsoft's Cortana and the Google Assistant all use text-to-speech software to create a more convenient interface with their users. Those systems work by cobbling together words and phrases from prerecorded files of one particular voice.

It is, without a doubt, the most expensive air hockey table on Earth. Surrounded by three walls papered with pictures of the International Space Station's interior, the perfectly polished, perfectly level granite slab at NASA's Ames Research Center supports not a puck, but a robot riding on a cushion of CO2. Astrobee, it's called, is a cubic bot outfitted with 12 thrusters spitting blasts of air. It glides cautiously across the granite, sounding not unlike a muted jet engine. This is a training exercise--the wallpaper is for Astrobee to get its bearings.

RobotLabNYC's third installment will be on June 13, in New York City with Howard Morgan (FirstRound Capital) and Tom Ryden (MassRobotics); together, we will be "Exploring The Autonomous Future" (RSVP today). Coincidentally, Jimmy Fallon featured a new bit this week called "Showbotics," providing viewers with a sneak peek into the robotic future: While Fallon pokes fun, the reality is that robots today are showing up for work in record numbers. As America pulls out of NAFTA and starts a trade war with Canada over lumber imports, it is predicted that home building costs could increase by more than 20% over the next year. In order to keep America building without sacrificing margin, labor is shifting from humans with tool belts to job-ready robots. An example of machines being added to the field is MIT's Digital Construction Platform (DCP) – a 3D-printing fabrication robot.

It's a question that I've been musing about ever since I started testing Vi, which its creators call the "first true AI personal trainer." It combines a pair of bio-sensing headphones and an app from Lifebeam, a military biosensor company founded by a pair of former Israeli air force pilots. Lifebeam's side hustle is to take those same sensors and bake them into consumer products like cycling helmets and baseball caps. Here, the company has added that technology to a pair of Bluetooth earphones, along with a raft of other fitness tracking equipment. Buried inside the "halo" that sits around your neck is a six-axis gyroscope, barometer and accelerometer.

Mobvoi, a Chinese voice recognition startup, signed a strategic partnership to build a 50/50 joint venture targeting the automotive market with Volkswagen. The deal involved VW investing $180 million in a Mobvoi series D funding. Modvoi has developed an advanced Chinese speech recognition system, Chinese/English translation, semantic analysis and integrated vertical and proactive search, all adapted for and connected with a smart rear-view mirror that provides navigation, messaging and information through voice input. Prof. Dr. Heizmann, President and CEO of Volkswagen Group China said: "This partnership is a particular example of Volkswagen's determination to work with groundbreaking Chinese tech companies like Mobvoi to create new forms of people-oriented mobility technology. We are impressed by Mobvoi's innovative approach of AI technologies, and we are pleased to form this joint venture to explore the next generation of smart mobility."

What do the leaks of unflattering emails from the Democratic National Committee's hacked servers during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign and the deafening hour-long emergency-warning siren in Dallas have in common? It's the same thing that links the North Korean nuclear threat and terrorist attacks in Europe and the United States: All represent the downsides of tremendously beneficial technologies -- risks that increasingly demand a robust policy response. The growing contentiousness of technology is exemplified in debates over so-called net neutrality and disputes between Apple and the FBI over unlocking suspected terrorists' iPhones. This is hardly surprising: As technology has become increasingly consequential -- affecting everything from our security (nuclear weapons and cyberwar) to our jobs (labor market disruptions from advanced software and robotics) -- its impact has been good, bad and potentially ugly. Technology has eliminated diseases like smallpox and has all but eradicated others, like polio; enabled space exploration; sped up transportation; and opened new vistas of opportunity for finance, entertainment and much else.

Indian outsourcer Infosys is hiring 10,000 American workers over the next two years, in the wake of a review of U.S. visa rules and an emphasis on local hires by the administration of President Donald Trump. Infosys said Monday it will open four new "Technology and Innovation Hubs" in the U.S., focusing on cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, user experience, emerging digital technologies, cloud, and big data. The first such center is coming up in Indiana in August and is expected to create 2,000 jobs by 2021 for American workers, besides boosting the state economy. The company plans to hire both experienced technology professionals and recent graduates from major universities, and local and community colleges, besides setting up training programs in areas such as user experience, cloud, artificial intelligence, big data and digital offerings, and core technology and computer science skills. The American staff that the company plans to hire over the next two years is a small percentage of the over 200,000 staff the Bangalore company employed as on March 31 this year.

It's going to take a lot of humans to create the kind of artificial intelligence that could replace truckers, financial analysts, and customer service representatives with robots. U.S. employers will spend more than $650 million on annual salaries for 10,000 jobs in AI this year, according to a study from career and hiring data firm Paysa. The 2-year-old firm touts itself as the only platform to use AI to deliver personalized job and salary recommendations. It was founded by Chris Bolte, Zachary Poley, Nikhil Raj and Patrick Harrington -- all formerly of Walmart Labs and Walmart's engineering and product teams. The firm uses millions of data points like job openings, resumes, and compensation to determine the market value of individual skills.