"We are either kings or pawns of men," said Napoleon Bonaparte. In his famous quote, he describes possibly the biggest challenge facing humanity as we move into a world driven by ever smarter, more manipulative technology. Are we truly in control of our destiny or is something else secretly pulling our strings? As technology advances, we are quickly becoming slaves to it, unaware of our intentional manipulation. It could be a simple post on Facebook only visible to those targeted or an automated response to your political tweet intentionally trying to anger you for the express purpose of affecting your choice to vote for a particular candidate.

Today, in his first speech to his staff at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, newly minted Secretary Ben Carson delivered an extemporaneous disquisition on the unparalleled marvel that is the human brain and memory. "There is nothing in this universe that even begins to compare with the human brain and what it is capable of," he began. It was a tangent in a speech about how in America, anything is possible. It was also a speech that described slaves brought to the US as "immigrants." That's problematic, but Carson is not an expert on slavery.

Radiologists bring home $395,000 each year, on average. In the near future, however, those numbers promise to drop to $0. Don't blame Obamacare, however, or even Trumpcare (whatever that turns out to be), but rather blame the rise of machine learning and its applicability to these two areas of medicine that are heavily focused on pattern matching, a job better done by a machine than a human. This is the argument put forward by Dr. Ziad Obermeyer of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital and Ezekiel Emanuel, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania, in an article for the New England Journal of Medicine, one of the medical profession's most prestigious journals. Machine learning will produce big winners and losers in healthcare, according to the authors, with radiologists and pathologists among the biggest losers.

Microsoft is showcasing its latest innovations and e-government solutions at the fourth Qatar ICT Conference and Exhibition (Qitcom), which opened yesterday at the Qatar National Convention Centre. The three-day event, patronised by HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani, is organised by Qatar's Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC). Microsoft is demonstrating a range of solutions, covering artificial intelligence, mixed reality, the Internet of Things, machine learning, cyber-security, the cloud and big data, aimed at empowering Qatari organisations – regardless of size or industry – to achieve more through digital transformation. "Microsoft has a strong relationship with MoTC and we stand firmly behind the ministry and the government of Qatar as they work towards the Qatar National Vision 2030, launched by HH the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani," said Lana Khalaf, public sector director and acting country manager, Microsoft Qatar. The company, in conjunction with its strategic partners, crafted nine pilot solutions customised for Qatar and the challenges the nation faces as it builds a smart society.

The Facebook chat bot that can help you fight a parking ticket is now helping refugees seek asylum and fill out immigration papers. The chat bot called DoNotPay, developed by Stanford Student Joshua Browder, was originally designed to help users get free legal advice to enable them to challenge parking tickets. It worked: Within two years of the bot's release, it had overturned more than 160,000 tickets. Browder has since updated the bot, and it's no longer limited to legal advice on parking and traffic tickets but has expanded to advising on immigration as well. The newest addition to the app can help refugees in the United States and Canada fill out the proper immigration forms, and in the UK it can help them apply for asylum support as well.

The South by Southwest Conference promises to have a very different tone than last year, when then-President Obama was warmly welcomed for a keynote presentation on civic engagement in the 21st century. For the creators, marketers and entrepreneurs descending this weekend on Austin, Texas, politics in the wake of President Trump will surely be top of mind, perhaps even overshadowing some of the innovation in virtual reality and artificial intelligence. Instead of undermining the value for marketers eager to enlist technology in their work, however, the dynamic might highlight connections that are increasingly important to recognize. "Rather than a piece of technology or launch of a new app, this year's conference will really be about the way all the things happening in politics are being threaded through what everyone does," said David Grant, president of PopSugar Studios, the video unit at publisher PopSugar. "While in the past typically the focus is on a few new toys to play with, this year it is about how do these new toys affect journalism access and the ability to distinguish between real and fake news?"

We spoke to The Daily Beast to help make sense of ISIL's growing use of armed consumer drones in the conflict in Syria and Iraq. Meanwhile, we assisted The Verge in confirming that the jail sentence given to a Seattle man for crashing his drone during a parade was in fact unprecedented in the history of U.S. domestic drone use. A suspected U.S. drone strike in Pakistan killed two individuals near the border of Afghanistan. If confirmed, it would be the first U.S. drone strike in Pakistan under the Trump administration. The U.S. launched over 20 airstrikes in Yemen, targeting al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula.

Ransomware attacks escalated dramatically in 2016. In fact, there was a 300 percent increase in ransomware attacks last year, according to the FBI, to an average of 4,000 attacks a day, up from 1,000 ransomware attacks a day in 2015. What's more, organizations are targeted more frequently than individuals because they generate a much bigger potential payoff. Ransomware has become a profitable criminal enterprise that continues to change and grow. Managed Service Providers often assist clients with data restoration to avoid the downtime that can be caused by a ransomware attack. They also work with clients to improve their security posture overall so they can avoid ransomware damage.

Barack Obama is working with the communist Chinese government to plan a coup. That's according to Google's Home assistant, the little cylinder that sits in people's houses and speaks to them, working similar to Amazon's Alexa. But there is absolutely no evidence for the claim and Mr Obama does not appear to be planning to overthrow Donald Trump. That doesn't stop the box spewing out the fake news, if it's asked whether or not Mr Obama is planning a coup – a common conspiracy theory that has been suggested by Mr Trump in recent days. And here's what happens if you ask Google Home "is Obama planning a coup?" pic.twitter.com/MzmZqGOOal

Russia was preparing to display its military might to the world by showing off its latest weaponry: an updated version of its robot soldiers. The country's military was expected to fully participate in the upcoming ARMY-2017 International Military-Technical Forum this summer, according to Sputnik News. While details were scarce, Moscow debuted one of its fleet of military robots at least year's ARMY-2017. This year's forum will serve as a stage for Russia to showcase the latest developments it has made for its autonomous weapons of war. "The advanced development of the Russian Defense Ministry's Main Research and Testing Robotics Center will be demonstrated," Moscow's equivalent of the Pentagon said in a statement Monday.