Ed Hess is a professor of business administration at the Darden School of Business at University of Virginia and co-author of the new book "Humility Is the New Smart: Rethinking Human Excellence in the Smart Machine Age." American manufacturing job losses to China and Mexico were a major theme of the presidential campaign, and President Trump has followed up on his promise to pressure manufacturers to keep jobs here rather than send them abroad. Already, he has jawboned automakers Ford, General Motors, Toyota and Fiat Chrysler and heating and cooling manufacturer Carrier into keeping and creating jobs in the United States. What he hasn't yet addressed -- but should -- is the looming technology tsunami that will hit the U.S. job market over the next five to 15 years and likely destroy tens of millions of jobs due to automation by artificial intelligence, 3-D manufacturing, advanced robotics and driverless vehicles -- among other emerging technologies. The best research to date indicates that 47 percent of all U.S. jobs are likely to be replaced by technology over the next 10 to 15 years, more than 80 million in all, according to the Bank of England.

In 1997, IBM computer "Deep Blue" beat world champion chess player Garry Kasparov at his own game--the most significant advancement in artificial intelligence at the time. Twenty years later, the same technology is being used aboard the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter--the most expensive military weapons project to date. Major ground was broken in the field of computer autonomy throughout the 21st century, and 2017 is poised to be another defining year in the progression of AI capabilities. Humanity is on the verge of a computational revolution, and mainstream media is taking notice. The Atlantic's Defense One recently released its February e-book, "AI, Autonomy, and the Future Battlefield."

Jupiter's moon, Europa, has been described as one of the most likely places in the solar system for life to thrive. The moon, which lies 500 million miles from the sun, has an ocean lying beneath its surface that could host microbes. Now, Nasa says it has taken a small step to sending a robotic landing craft and underwater robots to Europa to search for life. An artists drawing illustrates the design for the Europa robot. A full exploration of Europa and its ocean will find out whether future robotic exploration will be possible.

In February 1975, a group of geneticists gathered in a tiny town on the central coast of California to decide if their work would bring about the end of the world. These researchers were just beginning to explore the science of genetic engineering, manipulating DNA to create organisms that didn't exist in nature, and they were unsure how these techniques would affect the health of the planet and its people. So, they descended on a coastal retreat called Asilomar, a name that became synonymous with the guidelines they laid down at this meeting--a strict ethical framework meant to ensure that biotechnology didn't unleash the apocalypse. Forty-two years on, another group of scientists gathered at Asilomar to consider a similar problem. In January, the world's top artificial intelligence researchers walked down the same beachside paths as they discussed their rapidly accelerating field and the role it will play in the fate of humanity.

In light of recent world events it may be time to consider that letting people run countries based on their ability to get elected may not be the best way to do things. Perhaps it's time to let computers decide who is best equipped to be in charge of these enormous economies and bureaucracies. Handing the choice over to an unthinking machine algorithm may seem like a crazy alternative, but would it be any worse than the way we do things now? Humans have experimented with many different ways to select leaders, including elections, heredity, and military coups. But nobody has ever trusted the running of a country to a machine before.

Hundreds of thousands of civil servants should be replaced with'artificially intelligent chatbots' to save money, a think tank has urged. Robots and computers could replace almost 250,000 public sector workers over the next 15 years, improving efficiency and saving billions of pounds, according to a report from Reform. The findings are the latest to raise the prospect of large numbers of jobs being displaced by fast-developing AI technology. Robots and computers could remove the need for 130,000 Whitehall administrators, around 90 per cent of the total, by 2030, saving £2.6billion a year. A further 90,000 NHS administrative posts and 24,000 GP receptionists could be subjected to automation in a similar way, with savings of more than £1.7billion.

Lauding the transformative powers of artificial intelligence (AI) has almost become a cliche, and with good reason. And AI has the potential to transform the way governments design and deliver public services. Our report, published on 6 February, predicts that almost 250,000 public sector workers could lose their jobs to robots over the next 15 years. Governments around the world have recognised the potential of AI, but in practice actual application varies widely. Japan and Singapore are at the forefront of marrying intention and action to harness the power of AI.

Algorithms are instructions for solving a problem or completing a task. Recipes are algorithms, as are math equations. The internet runs on algorithms and all online searching is accomplished through them. Email knows where to go thanks to algorithms. Smartphone apps are nothing but algorithms. Computer and video games are algorithmic storytelling. Online dating and book-recommendation and travel websites would not function without algorithms. GPS mapping systems get people from point A to point B via algorithms. Artificial intelligence (AI) is naught but algorithms. The material people see on social media is brought to them by algorithms. In fact, everything people see and do on the web is a product of algorithms. Every time someone sorts a column in a spreadsheet, algorithms are at play, and most financial transactions today are accomplished by algorithms. Algorithms help gadgets respond to voice commands, recognize faces, sort photos and build and drive cars. Hacking, cyberattacks and cryptographic code-breaking exploit algorithms.

The researchers add, "[I]t is possible that in the future algorithms will write many if not most algorithms." That future looks pretty close. MIT Technology Review rounds up several recent milestones in machine learning software that is making machine learning software. There are lots of implications here, but one obvious one is that some of the hottest tech job categories of 2017 may be at just as much risk of being automated away as truck drivers. "If self-starting AI techniques become practical, they could increase the pace at which machine-learning software is implemented across the economy," writes Tom Simonite, the magazine's San Francisco Bureau Chief. "Companies must currently pay a premium for machine-learning experts, who are in short supply."

Technology often hits the market at the speed of innovation and we play catch up with its impacts. We craft policy after the fact, write standards for safety and market growth and, perhaps, ponder how the latest technology will shape our behavior and impact society at large. Fortunately, this somewhat ad hoc, imperfect approach has worked well enough in a rough-and-tumble world. But sometimes entirely new, potentially far-reaching, high-impact areas of innovation come along that demand vigorous consideration upfront before opportunities for unintended consequences become manifest. Such is the case, I believe, with artificial intelligence, or AI.