Any sci-fi buff knows that when computers become self-aware, they ultimately destroy their creators. From 2001: A Space Odyssey to Terminator, the message is clear: The only good self-aware machine is an unplugged one. We may soon find out whether that's true. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is accepting research proposals to create the first system that actually knows what it's doing. The "cognitive system" DARPA envisions would reason in a variety of ways, learn from experience and adapt to surprises.

For example, type the question, Automated language translation is it an idea whose time has come? Now do the same with this sentence: Reboot your computer and try again. Youll wind up with this: Their computer and attempt still again load. Language translation software isnt likely to allow you to lay off your bilingual staffers at least not right away. But applied with discrimination and lots of preparation, translation tools can be fantastic productivity aids.

Jan Krikke After 50 years of research and tinkering, machine translation might be ready to compete with human translators. Several companies have announced breakthroughs or substantial progress in MT research in recent months. In January, for example, Steven Klein, CEO of New York-based Meaningful Machines, announced that his company successfully tested new translation algorithms that he says could lead to translation engines replacing human translators. "While our current prototype is already outperforming other systems on limited resources," says Klein, "we expect to see significant improvement to our quality as both the target language corpus and the dictionary continue to increase in size, with a realistic goal of reaching human quality." "Although the prototype is only partially complete," says Klein, "we recently began blind testing from Spanish to English, and our system is already performing at higher quality levels on the BLEU (Bilingual Evaluation Understudy) scale than any system we are aware of--0.6092. Systran, whose Spanish-to-English system is one of the best, scored a 0.5494 when we ran it through the same test, and the Systran system has been through many decades of development and incremental improvements." Meaningful Machines' test has not been independently verified, and the goal of reaching near-human quality translation will probably depend on some degree of pre- and post-editing for years to come. But, the growing number of global corporations (such as Philips, Samsung, and HP) and international agencies and institutions (such as the UN and the European Commission) using the technology illustrates that machine translation--the first nonnumerical application of AI--is finally delivering practical solutions. Popular perception of MT has suffered from low-quality "gisting" translation that Web-based translation engines, such as Babelfish and other online services, generate. But MT engines designed for limited domains, and tailor-made systems that use controlled language, are already delivering services. The site makes available a wealth of information previously inaccessible to non-Japanese speakers. MT has also made it to the desktop. The system is self-learning--it improves over time as its associative memory grows.

Software with increasingly complex algorithms are now writing news stories and financial reports The L.A. Times uses Quakebot to write about tremors, using data from the US Geological Survey. Chicago-based company Narrative Science markets its Quill software to media and financial houses The company's chief scientists believes a computer program could win a Pulitzer Prize within the next 5 years The L.A. Times uses Quakebot to write about tremors, using data from the US Geological Survey. The company's chief scientists believes a computer program could win a Pulitzer Prize within the next 5 years At large news agencies where speed is crucial, template-style stories have long been used for company results, allowing journalists to simply key in the relevant facts and numbers and fire off the dispatch. Often disparagingly referred to as'churnalism,' some of the larger media organisations -- including the L.A. Times and Associated Press -- have now turned to robots to take the grind out of formulaic dispatches. The L.A. Times uses the algorithms in its in-house software -- called Quakebot - to produce reports on local earthquakes, using data provided by the US Geological Survey.

Meet Spot, the 160 lbs dog robot that can run, climb stairs and has an uncanny ability to maintain its balance. Designed by robotics company Boston Dynamics, there were heated discussions online when Google bought the company in 2013, with accusations that Google had gone against its "Don't be evil" motto by purchasing a company that had worked with the U.S. military and had close ties with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Google motto 2004: Don't be evil Google motto 2010: Evil is tricky to define Google motto 2013: We make military robots But more recently, the conversation flared up again, most of it stemming from the video released this week showing Boston Dynamics employees trying to kick Spot over in order to show how robust it is. The video spread around the Internet like wildfire and raised questions about ethics, the future of robotics and Google's intentions. As robots begin to act and look more and more like living things, it's increasingly hard not to see them in that way.

Navy leaders have spoken about the push to develop more autonomous and intelligent unmanned systems The Navy's push comes despite critics expressing increasing alarm at further automating drones The Navy's push comes despite critics expressing increasing alarm at further automating drones Washington (CNN)The Navy is looking to increase its use of drones that are more and more independent of direct human control despite the concerns of alarmed scientists and inventors over increasing automation in the military. In recent days, Pentagon officials and Navy leaders have spoken about the program and the push to develop more autonomous and intelligent unmanned systems. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter in a speech earlier this month confirmed that the United States was developing "self-driving boats which can network together to do all kinds of missions, from fleet defense to close-in surveillance, without putting sailors at risk." And Rear Adm. Robert P. Girrier, the Navy's director of Unmanned Warfare Systems, discussed the effort at a January event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The drive is being dubbed "human machine teaming," which uses unmanned vehicles that are more independent than those piloted or supervised by human operators.

If something can connect to a network, it can be hacked. Computers and phones are still popular targets, but increasingly so are cars, home security systems, TVs and even oil refineries. That was the message at this year's Black Hat and DefCon computer security conferences, which took place last week in Las Vegas. The annual conferences draw a mix of computer researchers and hackers who present the latest bugs and vulnerabilities they've discovered. These are some of the more popular targets covered at this year's conferences.

Gov. Jerry Brown signs a bill that will regulate self-driving cars in California Google co-founder Sergey Brin hopes to have self-driving cars on public roads within five years Brin says self-driving cars address safety, traffic and lifestyle issues Gov. Jerry Brown signs a bill that will regulate self-driving cars in California California is the latest state to allow testing of Google's self-driving cars on the roads, though only with a human passenger along as a safety measure. Gov. Edmund "Jerry" Brown signed the autonomous-vehicles bill into law Tuesday afternoon alongside Google co-founder Sergey Brin and State Sen. Alex Padilla, who authored the bill, at Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California. The bill, SB 1298, will set up procedures and requirements for determining when the cars are road-ready. Brin hopes that self-driving cars will be able to drive on public streets in five years or less. "Anybody who first gets in the car and finds the car is driving will be a little skittish. But they'll get over it," said Brown when asked if the California Highway Patrol was on board with the plan.

UK robotics professor leading calls for a worldwide ban on autonomous weapons We can't rely on robots to conform to international law, says Noel Sharkey Sharkey is chairman of and NGO leading a campaign to "Stop Killer Robots" Autonomous robots could destabilize world security and trigger unintentional wars We can't rely on robots to conform to international law, says Noel Sharkey Sharkey is chairman of and NGO leading a campaign to "Stop Killer Robots" As wars become increasingly automated, we must ask ourselves how far we want to delegate responsibility to machines. Where do we want to draw the line? Weapons systems have been evolving for millennia and there have always been attempts to resist them. But does that mean that we should just sit back and accept our fate and hand over the ultimate responsibility for killing to machines? Over the last few months there has been an increasing debate about the use of fully autonomous robot weapons: armed robots that once launched can select their own targets and kill them without further human intervention.

Douglas Rushkoff: U.S. Postal Service new example of human work replaced by technology He says technology affecting jobs market; not enough workers needed to run the technology He says we have to alter our ideas: It's not about jobs, it's about productivity Rushkoff: Technology lets us bypass corporations, make our own work -- a new model Douglas Rushkoff: U.S. Postal Service new example of human work replaced by technology He says we have to alter our ideas: It's not about jobs, it's about productivity Unless an external source of funding comes in, the post office will have to scale back its operations drastically, or simply shut down altogether. That's 600,000 people who would be out of work, and another 480,000 pensioners facing an adjustment in terms. We can blame a right wing attempting to undermine labor, or a left wing trying to preserve unions in the face of government and corporate cutbacks. But the real culprit -- at least in this case -- is e-mail. People are sending 22% fewer pieces of mail than they did four years ago, opting for electronic bill payment and other net-enabled means of communication over envelopes and stamps.