Elon Musk is a polarizing figure. He's promised that, with his two companies, his sole interest is to free humanity from its current tethers -- Tesla, with its autonomous electric cars, and SpaceX, with its plans for Mars-bound spacecraft. Together, these companies have the potential to release us from our dependence on fossil fuels, virtually eliminate car accident fatalities, and get us off Earth. Musk's vision for the future of the species is bright. As long as you don't let him talk about artificial intelligence.

It seems like we've perennially been on the edge of major breakthroughs in AI (artificial intelligence), virtual reality, personal robots, and other such cool tech for the past two decades. The first set of science fiction imaginings came true rather rapidly -- think trans-continental air travel, space stations, even drone warfare -- but it appears that the emergence of next-gen tech wizardry has stalled. But while we still can't chat with the on-board computer on our personal spaceship, artificial intelligence is far more pervasive in our daily lives today than most of us realize. As anyone who has trained their mobile phone assistant can attest, years of painstaking research and investment in artificial intelligence technologies is starting to yield impressive results. Siri can predict our commute patterns, Microsoft Cortana warns us of bad weather, and the Google Assistant diligently sets calendar reminders with the impassive demeanor of an English butler of yore.

With the push of a button, 300 drones ascend from a ground station and float over a nearby lake. You can't see them at first--it's well after sundown--but you can hear them falling into formation. The music starts, the drones light up, and the choreography begins. That's the hope for both Disney and Intel, anyway, as they prepare to launch previews of their "Starbright Holidays" extravaganza in Orlando. The drones are Intel's new Shooting Star quadcopters, and while this isn't Intel's biggest air show--the company synced up 500 of them earlier this year in Sydney--it will be the first implementation in which Disney's imagineers helped guide the production.

DENVER – A Department of Veterans Affairs employee who told Congress the agency was using unauthorized wait lists for mental health care in Colorado has resigned, saying he was subjected to retaliation for speaking out. Brian Smothers told The Associated Press Wednesday the VA had opened two separate inquiries into his actions and tried to get him to sign a statement saying he had broken VA rules. Smothers also said the VA reassigned him to an office with no computer access, no significant duties and no social contact. He called the VA's actions punitive and his working conditions intolerable. He said he resigned as of Tuesday.

The former F-16 and Air Force Thunderbirds pilot took over as commander of the unit in July 2015 and continues to fly drone missions himself from Creech on the MQ-9, more commonly known as the Reaper. His tenure comes at a time of unprecedented demand for the aircraft he commands – the percentage of missions in which Reapers fire their weapons has increased fivefold since 2011, he says. Now, roughly 15 percent of all the airstrikes in the war against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria are conducted by drones.

Microsoft's President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith was in town yesterday to share advice for how to boost the entrepreneurial scene and tech industry in Milwaukee and beyond. The Appleton native and Columbia University Law School graduate was here to speak "On the Issues" with Mike Gousha at Marquette University Law School, but his day actually got started before that. In the morning Smith met with the local startup scene. Then came the 12:15 forum when he was interviewed by Gousha. Smith later led a lecture at MU with attorneys as the primary audience on intellectual property law and policy.

The sizeable majority of experts surveyed for this report envision major advances in robotics and artificial intelligence in the coming decade. To what degree will AI and robotics be parts of the ordinary landscape of the general population by 2025? Describe which parts of life will change the most as these tools advance and which parts of life will remain relatively unchanged. These are the themes that emerged from their answers to this question. AI and robotics will be integrated into nearly every aspect of most people's daily lives Many respondents see advances in AI and robotics pervading nearly every aspect of daily life by the year 2025--from distant manufacturing processes to the most mundane household activities. Jeff Jarvis, director of the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism at the City University of New York, wrote, "Think'Intel Inside'. By 2025, artificial intelligence will be built into the algorithmic architecture of countless functions of business and communication, increasing relevance, reducing noise, increasing efficiency, and reducing risk across everything from finding information to making transactions. If robot cars are not yet driving on their own, robotic and intelligent functions will be taking over more of the work of manufacturing and moving." Vint Cerf, vice president and chief Internet evangelist for Google, responded, "Self-driving cars seem very likely by 2025. Natural language processing will lead to conversational interactions with computer-based systems. Google search is likely to become a dialog rather than a client-server interaction. The Internet of Things will be well under way by this time and interaction with and among a wide range of appliances is predictable. Third party services to manage many of these devices will also be common."

Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella has revealed the Australian government will be among the first in the world to deploy artificial intelligence "bots" to deal with inquiries from citizens. As the tech giant looks to lead in the new era of cognitive computing, Mr Nadella told a technology developers' conference in Sydney on Wednesday morning that increasingly intelligent technology would allow human-like interaction with complex business systems. Mr Nadella told The Australian Financial Review after the speech that the Department of Human Services had completed the largest deployment of the Windows 10 operating system in the Asia-Pacific region and was now working on AI-powered applications. He said the DHS was working to create a smart software-driven conversational bot, which could help in reducing the amount of time citizens had to wait to speak to human staff.

All around us people are slowly (or sometimes quickly) transitioning into the future of work. The full-time job (9 to 5, traditional career, etc.) is about to become a rarity; only available to a select group of people who represent the core of an organization, or who possess a very specific skill set. Because we live in a society increasingly shaped by tech. Automation will take over many of the tasks previously assigned to people. And the youth of today (and tomorrow) will have no problem transitioning into that situation.

This episode brings two esteemed experts to discuss these issues and present guidance for both commercial companies and the public sector policymakers. Dr. David A. Bray began work in public service at age 15, later serving in the private sector before returning as IT Chief for the CDC's Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Program during 9/11; volunteering to deploy to Afghanistan to "think differently" on military and humanitarian issues; and serving as a Senior Executive advocating for increased information interoperability, cybersecurity, and civil liberty protections. He serves as a Visiting Executive In-Residence at Harvard University, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a Visiting Associate at the University of Oxford. He has received both the Arthur S, Flemming Award and Roger W. Jones Award for Executive Leadership. In 2015, he was chosen to be an Eisenhower Fellow to Taiwan and Australia and in 2016, Business Insider named him one of the top "24 Americans Who Are Changing the World".