Erik Brynjolfsson, MIT Sloan School professor, explains how rapid advances in machine learning are presenting new opportunities for businesses. He breaks down how the technology works and what it can and can't do (yet). He also discusses the potential impact of AI on the economy, how workforces will interact with it in the future, and suggests managers start experimenting now. Brynjolfsson is the co-author, with Andrew McAfee, of the HBR Big Idea article, "The Business of Artificial Intelligence." SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: Welcome to the HBR IdeaCast from Harvard Business Review. It's a pretty sad photo when you look at it. A robot, just over a meter tall and shaped kind of like a pudgy rocket ship, laying on its side in a shallow pool in the courtyard of a Washington, D.C. office building. Workers – human ones – stand around, trying to figure out how to rescue it. The security robot had just been on the job for a few days when the mishap occurred. One entrepreneur who works in the office complex wrote: "We were promised flying cars. Instead we got suicidal robots."

A silent communications system in which nonaural carriers, in the very low or very high audio-frequency range or in the adjacent ultrasonic frequency spectrum are amplitude- or frequency-modulated with the desired intelligence and propagated acoustically or vibrationally, for inducement into the brain, typically through the use of loudspeakers, earphones, or piezoelectric transducers. The modulated carriers may be transmitted directly in real time or may be conveniently recorded and stored on mechanical, magnetic, or optical media for delayed or repeated transmission to the listener.

Australian law explicitly allows computers to make important decisions previously made by the ministers or staff of at least 11 federal government departments. This has been going on since at least 2001, well before the age of algorithms, and yet there remains little clarity about exactly what decisions are being entrusted to the computers. As best we can tell, the first legislation allowing computers to automatically make important decisions with real impact on people's lives was the Social Security (Administration) Act -- which also happens to be the critical piece of legislation that allowed the most high-profile and controversial automated government program so far, Centrelink's'robodebt' endeavour. The legislation giving computers decision-making power over social security is very short and, as these things go, easy to understand. It was introduced in 2001 along with a slew of other provisions around debt recovery.

Economics correspondent Paul Solman and Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom discuss existential threats such as nuclear winter and how the biggest threat to humanity may be what we don't yet know. Editor's note: Economics correspondent Paul Solman recently traveled to Oxford University's Future of Humanity Institute. And yes, there is an institute that studies only that -- the future of the human species. In PBS NewsHour's Thursday Making Sen$e report, Paul speaks with the institute's founding director Nick Bostrom, a Swedish philosopher known for his work on artificial intelligence and existential threats. You can watch Bostrom's TED talk on "superintelligence" -- what happens when computers become smarter than humans -- here.

Machine learning is perhaps the hottest buzzword in cybersecurity today. The artificial intelligence technology is deployed by cybersecurity firms in an effort to keep pace with the evolution of cyberattacks, as machine learning algorithms are able to improve predictability the more it is used. But according to Guy Caspi, CEO of cybersecurity company Deep Instinct, machine learning is no longer enough in an age of unprecedented evolution and volume of cybercrime. G DATA researchers recently found that last year a new malware specimen surfaced every 4.6 seconds. In the first quarter of 2017, it reduced to every 4.2 seconds, meaning millions and millions of new malware surfaced every year.

Analysis Elon Musk – the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and Neuralink, not to mention co-chairman of OpenAI and founder of The Boring Company – is once again warning that artificial intelligence threatens humanity. In an interview at the National Governors Association 2017 Summer Meeting in Providence, Rhode Island on Saturday, Musk insisted that AI endangers human civilization and called for its regulation. "I have exposure to the most cutting edge AI and I think people should be really concerned about it," he said. "I keep sounding the alarm bell, but until people see robots going down the street killing people, they don't know how to react, you know, 'cause it seems so ethereal." Musk said AI represents a rare case where regulation should be proactive rather than reactive, "because I think by the time we're reactive in AI regulation, it's too late."

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has unveiled the first images captured by its spherical camera drone on the International Space Station. 'Int-Ball' arrived at the ISS on June 4, and can be controlled from the ground to gather photos and videos of its surroundings in the space environment. The camera can also navigate autonomously, and scientists are aiming to improve its capabilities so it can move and record'anywhere at any time' without human intervention. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has unveiled the first images captured by its spherical camera drone on the International Space Station. 'Int-Ball' (pictured) arrived at the ISS on June 4 Int-Ball arrived to the Japanese Experiment Module'Kibo' on the ISS on June 4. The camera ball uses 3D printed internal and external components, and uses drone technology such as Miniaturized Attitude Control Sensors and Actuators in an'All-in-one Module.'

If you hadn't heard, Elon Musk is worried about the machines. Though that may seem a quixotic stance for the head of multiple tech companies to take, it seems that his proximity to the bleeding edge of technological development has given him the heebie-jeebies when it comes to artificial intelligence. He's shared his fears of AI running amok before, likening it to "summoning the demon," and Musk doubled down on his stance at a meeting of the National Governors Association this weekend, telling state leaders that AI poses an existential threat to humanity. "Until people see robots going down the street killing people, they don't know how to react because it seems so ethereal. AI is a rare case where I think we need to be proactive in regulation instead of reactive. Because I think by the time we are reactive in AI regulation, it's too late," according to the MIT Tech Review.

In December of 2016, a team of researchers showed up at Romy Camargo's house with a better-than-average holiday gift. The front of the nondescript silver box lowered--like one of those spaceship doors from Star Wars, minus the dramatic clouds of vapor--to reveal a fetching robot, with cameras for eyes and a flatscreen for a hat. With the assistance of its human handlers, the Human Support Robot, as Toyota calls it, wheeled into Camargo's home on a mission: to support the quadriplegic veteran and in the process pave the way for truly useful care robots. First, though, the HSR had to surmount a host of obstacles. That's why self-driving cars are so promising: Urban planners have certain rules for signage, for instance, that the car can read.

The US Department of Justice has shut down AlphaBay and Hansa, two of the biggest criminal marketplaces in the world. AlphaBay, the largest marketplace of its kind on the internet, has been linked to several deaths. It was known as "the new Silk Road" when it was operating, and went offline in mysterious circumstances earlier this month. Many of its users initially thought its admins had pulled an exit scam, but it turns out its closure was the result of a massive international operation. The I.F.O. is fuelled by eight electric engines, which is able to push the flying object to an estimated top speed of about 120mph.