F-35s, F-22s and other fighter jets will soon use improved "artificial intelligence" to control nearby drone "wingmen" able to carry weapons, test enemy air defenses or perform intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance missions in high risk areas, senior Air Force officials said. Citing ongoing progress with computer algorithms and some degree of AI (artificial intelligence) already engineered into the F-35, Air Force Chief Scientist Gregory Zacharias said that technology was progressing quickly at the Air Force Research Lab - to the point where much higher degrees of autonomy and manned-unmanned teaming is expected to emerge in the near future. "This involves an attempt to have another platform fly alongside a human, perhaps serving as a weapons truck carrying a bunch of missiles," Zacharias said in an interview with Scout Warrior. An F-35 computer system, Autonomic Logistics Information System, involves early applications of artificial intelligence wherein computers make assessments, go through checklists, organize information and make some decisions by themselves – without needing human intervention. "We are working on making platforms more autonomous with multi-int fusion systems and data from across different intel streams," Zacharias explained.

The idea that robots could replace humans in the workplace dates back to science fiction writers a century ago, and it has been a recurring theme in political life for almost as long. Back in 1964, US President Lyndon B. Johnson created a national commission to examine the impact of automation on the economy and employment. Automation should be viewed as an ally, not an enemy, he said at the time. "If we understand it, if we plan for it, if we apply it well, automation will not be a job destroyer or a family displaced. Instead, it can remove dullness from the work of man and provide him with more than man has ever had before."

Today, as America plans to lead efforts to send humans to Mars in the early 2030s, it is important to clearly articulate the rationale for undertaking such ambitious missions. This often has been a challenge, as there are dozens of compelling reasons to pursue such a goal. However, those reasons can be succinctly organized into the six categories set forth below. In addition, unlike the Cold War motivation of the 1960s that led us to the moon, the reasons for going to Mars are likely to result in a program that is far more sustainable than the Apollo lunar program, which ended in 1972 after only a handful of missions. Although robotic exploration of Mars over the past 50 plus years has provided us with a wealth of information and incredible discoveries, most experts agree that it will probably take human explorers to determine whether there ever was or even still is life on Mars and to conduct many other scientific investigations that are not possible with robots alone.

What initially began as a Facebook event has morphed into a cultural moment, a juxtaposition of the previous day's inauguration of America's 45th president, Donald Trump. Heather Whaling is CEO of Geben Communication, a PR and social media agency with offices in Columbus, Ohio, and Chicago. She serves on the board of The Women's Fund of Central Ohio, mentors women entrepreneurs, and is a vocal advocate for paid parental leave. On the issues, it's increasingly difficult to find commonalities between Trump supporters and the marchers who will flock to DC and other cities around the country. Yet both groups share at least one tool in their toolbox: A mastery of social media as the go-to channel to amplify viewpoints and shape perceptions.

If your job involves inputting reams of data for a company, you might want to think about retraining in a more specialised field. After industrial robots and international trade put paid to many manufacturing jobs in the West, millions of white-collar workers could now be under threat from new technology such as artificial intelligence (AI). The issue of how best to face up to this "Fourth Industrial Revolution" has been exercising politicians and business leaders this week at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alpine town of Davos. The progress of artificial intelligence has been "staggering" in recent years, said Vishal Sikka, chief executive of Indian IT services giant Infosys. "But in many ways we are at the beginning of this evolution and we face the prospect of leaving a larger part of humanity behind than in any other (industrial) advance," he warned.

In fact, in many countries, the internet, the very thing that was supposed to smash down the walls of authoritarianism like a sledgehammer of liberty, has been instead been co-opted by those very regimes in order to push their own agendas while crushing dissent and opposition. And with the emergence of conversational AI -- the technology at the heart of services like Google's Allo and Jigsaw or Intel's Hack Harassment initiative -- these governments could have a new tool to further censor their citizens. Turkey, Brazil, Egypt, India and Uganda have all shut off internet access when politically beneficial to their ruling parties. Nations like Singapore, Russia and China all exert outsized control over the structure and function of their national networks, often relying on a mix of political, technical and social schemes to control the flow of information within their digital borders. The effects of these policies are self-evident.

One of the highlights at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was the parade of new connected vehicle technologies. Automakers and their suppliers rolled out a number of innovative capabilities that promise to shape the next generation of driving, make transportation safer and more efficient, revitalize our cities, and reduce air pollution. Often lost amidst the "oohs" and "ahhs" these new capabilities inspire, however, is their dependence on radio spectrum and the policies that govern its use. The new connected vehicle capabilities come in decidedly different flavors. Some, for example, seek to enhance the automobile user's experience.

As financial companies have begun employing automated advisors aimed at helping customers manage their money, and oncologists have started using the artificial intelligence system known as Watson to identify new treatments, the prominent role that sophisticated computer programs have begun to occupy in our lives has become undeniable. Government agencies are also harnessing the powers of automation. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, for example, are starting to use complex computer models that can predict environmental exposure to chemicals and drug interactions across patient groups. As agencies begin to enter this brave new world of automation, questions have begun to emerge about how government officials should delegate important tasks to machines. For one, will automation negatively affect the level and quality of human deliberation and dialogue that are integral to democratic governance? Furthermore, when adjudicating individual determinations, like the awarding of disability benefits, will machines prove incapable of providing much needed empathy to claimants?

Artificial intelligence (AI) on its own isn't enough to compete -- companies need industry-specific solutions to business problems. So said Martin Schroeter, IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM)'s company senior vice president and chief financial officer, on the company's quarterly earnings call Thursday afternoon. Cognitive computing technology (IBM's term for AI) is just "table stakes," said Schroeter, claiming that his company is going the extra mile. IBM is building datasets for Watson to serve specific industries, including healthcare and finance. "You need more than public data or algorithms to solve real-world problems," Schroeter said.

The internet was supposed to become an overwhelming democratizing force against illiberal administrations. It was supposed to open repressed citizens eyes, expose them to new democratic ideals and help them rise up against their authoritarian governments in declaring their basic human rights. It was supposed to be inherently resistant to centralized control. In fact, in many countries, the internet, the very thing that was supposed to smash down the walls of authoritarianism like a sledgehammer of liberty, has been instead been co-opted by those very regimes in order to push their own agendas while crushing dissent and opposition. And with the emergence of conversational AI -- the technology at the heart of services like Google's Allo and Jigsaw or Intel's Hack Harassment initiative -- these governments could have a new tool to further censor their citizens.