While artificial intelligence is a loaded term that for some may conjure up images of a malicious Skynet system from the Terminator movie franchise, the reality is not as ominous. And when Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, argued during the U.S. Congress' first AI hearing -- dubbed "The Dawn of Artificial Intelligence" -- that it is already at work in the United States, improving the efficiency and productivity of systems across the map, he was right. "Artificial intelligence is already seeping into our daily lives," said Cruz, who is chairman of the Senate subcommittee on Space, Science and Competitiveness. The hearing, which included representatives from Microsoft, Carnegie Mellon University and NASA, among others, focused on the potential implications machine learning will have on the country's labor market, national security and transportation. One of the largest areas for growth through artificial intelligence is smart city planning and smart infrastructure.

Amazon today announced three new artificial intelligence-related toolkits for developers building apps on Amazon Web Services. At the company's AWS re:invent conference in Las Vegas, Amazon showed how developers can use three new services -- Amazon Lex, Amazon Polly, Amazon Rekognition -- to build artificial intelligence features into apps for platforms like Slack, Facebook Messenger, ZenDesk, and others. The idea is to let developers utilize the machine learning algorithms and technology that Amazon has already created for its own processes and services like Alexa. Instead of developing their own AI software, AWS customers can simply use an API call or the AWS Management Console to incorporate AI features into their own apps. AWS CEO Andy Jassy noted that Amazon has been building AI and machine learning technology for 20 years and said that there are now thousands of people "dedicated to AI in our business."

Google says its artificial intelligence has taught itself to'translate between languages that it doesn't even know' 'Zero-shot translation' can translate between languages it doesn't know Deep-learning researchers developed Google Neural Machine Translation GNMT developed algorithm that'self-teaches' it to translate languages'Zero-shot translation' can translate between languages it doesn't know GNMT developed algorithm that'self-teaches' it to translate languages Google headquarters in Menlo Park, California is seen in the above stock photo. Google says it has built an algorithm that allows its Google Translate service to translate languages it doesn't even know Google says that its artificial intelligence uses a'token' at the beginning of the input sentence to specify the required target language to translate to Skating on thin ice: Wife of Vladimir Putin's spokesman... 'This had nothing to do with Donald': Rosie O'Donnell... Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. says he... New Orleans violence'out of control' says mayor after one... Skating on thin ice: Wife of Vladimir Putin's spokesman... 'This had nothing to do with Donald': Rosie O'Donnell... Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. says he... New Orleans violence'out of control' says mayor after one... Man punches kangaroo in the face to save dog being strangled CCTV shows woman hit by a CAR as thieves dodge paying for petrol Mob storm police station and lynch suspected paedophile Moment judge gets slapped in the face at 2016 IFBB Diamond Cup Watch the original 1972 trailer for'Last Tango in Paris' Heart-stopping moment child climbs on tracks in front of train Christmas advert so touching it's being shared around the world Adorable baby'sings' along with Dutch champion beatboxer B-Art Which body types do women like best? Christmas advert so touching it's being shared around the world Adorable baby'sings' along with Dutch champion beatboxer B-Art Which body types do women like best? 'Don't believe a thing you hear, unless it comes from me':... EXCLUSIVE: Man who punched out kangaroo is a ZOOKEEPER:... EXCLUSIVE: The'arrogant' man behind illegal artist enclave... EXCLUSIVE: Ex-American Idol contestant Corey Clark describes... Pictured: Twelve victims identified as firefighters recover... Is Europe's Brexit revolution over? Gloating left-wing... High school algebra teacher calls off her wedding after she... 'Roo want a piece of me?

The pizzeria vowed on Monday to stay open despite a shooting incident sparked by a fake news report that it was fronting a child sex ring run by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. On Sunday afternoon, a 28-year-old man walked into a Washington, D.C. ping-pong bar and pizzeria. He was carrying an AR-15 assault rifle – hardly standard-issue hardware for a round of table tennis. He fired one or more shots, as people fled Comet Ping Pong, before surrendering to police officers. Edgar Maddison Welch told police he had traveled from his home in Salisbury, N.C. to the nation's capital to investigate a pre-election conspiracy theory, wherein Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton allegedly led a child-trafficking ring out of Comet Ping Pong.

Recent progress in deep learning algorithms for artificial intelligence has raised widespread ethical concerns [1][2]. It has been argued that human-level AI isn't automatically good for humanity. It might be presumptuous and overconfident to be sure that humans would be able to control superhuman-clever AIs, that those AIs would really care about humans, for example to allow us full access to mineral resources and agriculture fields of the planet. While there are numerous advantages of having clever AIs in the short-term, the long-term danger of having too clever AIs might outweigh, leading to net negative effect of AI progress on society. The most common argument against consideration of such long-term risks is their vagueness due to supposed very long time distance from us [3].

There has been a considerable amount of speculation surrounding Apple's interest in creating a car and while the company has largely been silent about the venture, a letter from Apple to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) appears to confirm its exploration of the idea. The five-page letter, from Apple director of product integrity Steve Kenner, was sent to offer comment on the United States government's attempts to lay a policy foundation for self-driving cars on roads across the country. Also revealed in the letter, though, is the strongest clue yet that Apple is planning to get into the car business. "Apple uses machine learning to make its products and services smarter, more intuitive, and more personal. The company is investing heavily in the study of machine learning and automation, and is excited about the potential of automated systems in many areas, including transportation," Kenner wrote.

Amazon.com Inc. has built a convenience store that deploys a gaggle of technologies to allow shoppers to come in, grab items and walk out without going through a register. The 1,800-square-foot store in downtown Seattle, officially dubbed Amazon Go, is the latest foray in bricks-and-mortar retail by the e-commerce giant, which already has bookstores (including one in San Diego) and is working on drive-through grocery locations. It's a sign that Seattle-based Amazon sees a big opportunity in revolutionizing the traditions of Main Street commerce. In the much longer term, if the experiment works out and is adopted widely, it could radically transform the nature of work in the retail industry, much like self-driving car and truck technology threatens to upend transportation. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said in a report this year that cashiers were the second-largest occupation, with 3.5 million employed in the U.S. The Amazon Go store is open to Amazon employees participating in a testing program.

Numerous California raisin growers are seeking federal compensation for crops surrendered years ago as part of an old supply management system. In two lawsuits that seek to become a large class action, and a separate suit filed by a single Fresno County farm, growers seek government payments to offset what's been deemed a government "taking" of their property. A federal judge last week kept all three lawsuits alive, rejecting Justice Department efforts to dismiss them. "At this point, the government should just settle and write the checks," said attorney James A. Moody, who represents Fresno County-based Lion Farms. "In my view, the case is over at this point."

Could internet searches identify dodgy drugs? A Microsoft researcher has trained an algorithm to predict whether a drug will be recalled, using queries made through Microsoft's Bing search engine. "We know that every once in a while there will be a batch of a pharmaceutical drug that will have something wrong about it," says Elad Yom-Tov at Microsoft Research in Israel. "People will start asking about that drug more often or more than they usually do." Pharmaceutical companies and regulators such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) monitor drugs on the market to keep tabs on adverse effects and potential faulty batches.