Populism is sweeping the nation, but it's likely just getting started. Donald Trump's win is a wake-up call that voters are angry with a system that's made middle-class jobs tougher to come by, and increased inequality. As pronounced as the trend already is, it's only just the beginning, experts say. Looming technological advances will wipe out more jobs, broadening the base of disenfranchised, unemployable and frustrated citizens. Meanwhile, elites with the skills to flourish in the digital economy will get richer.

One major example of promising ‘smart’ technology in the public sector is the autonomous vehicle (AV). AVs are expected to yield numerous social benefits, such as increasing traffic efficiency, decreasing pollution, and decreasing traffic accidents by 90%. However, a recent 2016 study published by Bonnefon et al. argued that manufacturers and regulators face a major design challenge of balancing competing public preferences: a moral preference for “utilitarian” algorithms; a consumer preference for vehicles that prioritize passenger safety; and a policy preference for minimum government regulation of vehicle algorithm design. Our paper responds to the 2016 study, calling into question the importance of explicitly moral algorithms and the seriousness of the challenge identified by Bonnefon et al. We conclude that the ‘social dilemma’ is probably overstated. Given that attempts to resolve the ‘social dilemma’ are likely to delay the rollout of socially beneficial AVs, we implore the need for further research validating Bonnefon et al.’s conclusions and encourage manufacturers and regulators to commercialize AVs as soon as possible. We discuss the implications of this example for AV’s for the larger context of Cognitive Assistance in other application areas and the government and public policies that are being discussed.

On a Friday morning nine (!) years ago, I published a post with just one video and one line of text on BotJunkie.com, That was the beginning of Video Friday. As more and more robot video content started showing up over the years, Video Friday turned into a way to keep you updated on everything that happened all week in one efficient (and hopefully entertaining) post. At one point Video Friday grew to include something like 30 videos (if we've crashed your browser, we're very sorry!). We've now toned it down to around 20 videos by being slightly more selective.

Britain may be about to spend just over £800 million ($1 billion) on 26 Predator drones. The deadly drone, with a 79 feet (24 metres) wingspan, can fly for 40 hours at a time, carrying two AGM-114 Hellfire missiles or other munitions. If the deal goes through, 26 Predator unmanned aircraft will be built as early as 2018. Britain is looking to spend £803.92 million (1 billion US dollars) on American Predator drones (pictured), equipment and training. The Predator was first conceived in the early 1990s as an aerial reconnaissance vehicle, and carries cameras and other sensors.

Retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn gestures as he arrives at Trump Tower, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2016, in New York. Retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn gestures as he arrives at Trump Tower, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2016, in New York. FILE- In this file photo taken on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin, center right, with retired U.S. Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, center left, and Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica, obscured second right, attend an exhibition marking the 10th anniversary of RT (Russia Today) 24-hour English-language TV news channel in Moscow, Russia. Flynn is widely reported Thursday Nov. 17, 2016, to be a potential contender to become national security advisor to U.S. president elect Donald Trump, although his appointment may be controversial. Retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn walks through the lobby at Trump Tower, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2016, in New York.

The days of having to remember to your ID with you could soon be a thing of the past. The famous tourist town of Wuzhen, China, is now using face recognition technology to act as its entry pass through the gates of the attraction. The system uses cameras to spot people as they approach the entry, and checks these against a database of registered visitors within a few seconds. The facial recognition technology is thought to be up to 99.77 per cent accurate and able to distinguish people better than a human. Chinese web firm Baidu's system is based on neural networks, which can process huge amounts of data – more than one billion faces – with 99.8 per cent accuracy.

Investors believe it is'inevitable' that artificial intelligence will destroy millions of jobs and that governments are unprepared for such an impact, according to a new survey. Artificial intelligence (AI), or the process by which computers or robots take on tasks that need human intelligence, is one of the key themes of this week's Web Summit in Lisbon. The poll among 224 venture capitalists attending the conference showed 53 percent believed AI would destroy millions of jobs and 93 percent saw governments as unprepared for this. The poll among 224 venture capitalists attending the Web summit in Lisbon found 53 percent believed AI would destroy millions of jobs and 93 percent saw governments as unprepared for this. The survey also found that 83 percent of the investors canvassed expect Britain's exit from the European Union to damage Europe's economy and 77 percent believe it will damage British startups.

Amid the wall-to-wall coverage of the U.S. presidential race, it was easy to miss the Obama administration's release this month of a slim, 48-page report titled "Preparing for the Future of Artificial Intelligence." Yet the subject of the report -- and the changes it foreshadows -- may prove to be as consequential for our society, and our education system, as even the most high-stakes national election. The term "artificial intelligence" means different things to different people, but broadly speaking, it refers to computers and advanced machines that can think, reason and communicate like humans, respond to novel or nuanced situations as a person might, and most critically, learn from experiences as a human would. According to a recent survey, 80 percent of AI researchers believe that computers and advanced machines will eventually achieve levels of artificial intelligence that rival human intelligence. Moreover, half believe that this will happen by the year 2040 -- just one generation from now.

November 2016: we have a newly elected president, and there is as much suspense about the future of our country as there is about the role that Artificial Intelligence is about to play in our lives. While the presidential election is over, the technology election campaign for the most usable and useful AI gadget is just heating up, and we will all be voting with our dollar. From the point of view of business investors, ChatBots have to be profitable to have a chance. One obvious and far-reaching opportunity is the replacement of human service representatives who can cost businesses anywhere from $1 to $30 (or more!) per call/transaction, all things considered. Even with outsourcing, the costs are substantial, and include calling center maintenance, training of the representatives, insurance, support -- all that does not come to mind when all we need is a minute or two of someone's time.

Flynn has also been outspoken in his warnings about the dangers of Islamist groups, complaining on CNN in June that the U.S. needs to "discredit" radical Islam, but that "we're not allowed to do that right now." He accused the Obama administration in a New York Post op-ed in July of failing to design a coherent strategy for opposing the Islamic State group. And in August, he spoke at an event in Dallas for the anti-Islamist group Act for America, saying that Islam "is a political ideology" and that it "definitely hides behind being a religion."