WASHINGTON – Donald Trump blames Mexico and China for stealing millions of jobs from the United States. Despite the Republican presidential nominee's charge that "we don't make anything anymore," manufacturing is still flourishing in America. Problem is, factories don't need as many people as they used to because machines now do so much of the work. America has lost more than 7 million factory jobs since manufacturing employment peaked in 1979. Yet American factory production, minus raw materials and some other costs, more than doubled over the same span to $1.91 trillion last year, according to the Commerce Department, which uses 2009 dollars to adjust for inflation.

A battle between the U.S. government and China is now brewing in the market for semiconductors, the foundation of electronics. The U.S. alleges that China is rigging the semiconductor market in its favor by indulging in unfair trade practices. "This unprecedented state-driven interference can distort the market and undermine the innovation ecosystem," Penny Pritzker, U.S. secretary of commerce, said during a Wednesday event organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The Chinese government is using its own resources to artificially reduce chip prices, which is hurting global competition, the U.S. alleges. Pritzker called on China to play fair and in accordance with "global trading rules," with healthy competition and free and fair trade, not through state investments aimed at distorting global markets.

The Marine Corps is in the hunt for a mega-drone that can take off and land vertically and deploy aboard ship -- all while carrying a serious amount of firepower. The service is asking a lot as it develops its MUX platform, short for Marine air-ground task force unmanned expeditionary capabilities, with plans to reach initial operational capability by 2026. The Corps' deputy commandant for aviation, Lt. Gen. Jon "Dog" Davis, said Wednesday at the Unmanned Systems Defense conference in Arlington, Virginia, that this future platform -- a Group 5, the largest class of military drone -- will be equipped to fight from sea as well as land. "I would say we're very aggressive with what we want that Group 5 to be," Davis said. "I want my airplane to go off a seabase and, frankly, I think the Group 5 [unmanned aircraft system] for the Marine Corps will have [AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile] on there, will have AIM-9X [Sidewinder missile], will have all the weapons that an F-35 will carry, maybe even the sensors the F-35 will carry."

The Pentagon says a U.S. airstrike in Syria this month killed what the Defense Department describes as a senior Al Qaeda leader who once had ties to Usama bin Laden. Jeff Davis, identified the target as Haydar Kirkan. The spokesman says Kirkan oversaw the planning of attacks against Western targets outside of Syria, including in Turkey. Brett McGurk, the president's special envoy in the fight against the Islamic State terror group, called Haydar a "legacy Al Qaeda terrorist and external plotter," in a tweet. Davis said a U.S. drone carried out the airstrike Oct. 17 in the vicinity of Idlib, in western Syria.

They're not driven by the unknown, but by the present. Let's look at the last epoch-changing technological development: the internet. The tech utopians of the late 20th century saw the incoming digital revolution as a liberating force, one that would dismantle the old power structures that oppress us and help humanity build a new, more perfect society. It's painfully clear now that their hypothesis was laughably naive. Who, exactly, has the internet liberated? Silicon Valley tech tycoons and advertisers aside, it has decimated the music, film and publishing industries, slashed the earnings of musicians, writers, photographers, and just about every other professional whose product can be digitized, shrinking their industries, killing off job openings, and maiming job security.

Equipment to sort recycled plastic is shown at the Repreve Bottle Processing Center, part of the Unifi textile company in Reidsville, N.C. HOW BIG IS THE PROBLEM? American factory production, minus raw materials and some other costs, more than doubled over the same span to $1.91 trillion last year, according to the Commerce Department, which uses 2009 dollars to adjust for inflation For jobs which involve performing predictable physical activities, the researchers say the feasibility of automation is roughly 78 percent. Research shows that the automation of U.S. factories is a much bigger factor than foreign trade in the loss of factory jobs A study at Ball State University's Center for Business and Economic Research last year found that trade accounted for just 13 percent of America's lost factory jobs. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

Manufacturing is still flourishing, even as machines do increasing amounts of work. Photo via Getty Images WASHINGTON -- Donald Trump blames Mexico and China for stealing millions of jobs from the United States. Would Trump disrupt the economy? This billionaire hopes so Trump says he'll bring jobs back to America. Economists are skeptical Column: Trump's outrage over outsourcing doesn't apply to his own merchandise Despite the Republican presidential nominee's charge that "we don't make anything anymore," manufacturing is still flourishing in America.

Others have a more positive approach and say that AI is just an extension of human thinking that can make intelligent decisions faster than us regular people. Just some days ago, Tieto nominated an AI member on the leadership team of a business unit, called Alicia T. And most of us are already familiar with personal AI assistants such as Siri, Cortana, Alexa, and Google Now. IT security has often been described as a game of cat and mouse. The bad guys try to devise attacks that cannot yet be detected, while the good guys try to figure out beforehand where the next attack could be coming from and hitting to. This is also a playing field where AI is going to play an important role.

This week – a massive investment in the world's first neural prosthetic for human intelligence enhancement, Chinese version of DARPA's Grand Challenge, MIT is ready for Halloween with a horror AI, the self-driving truck delivered a precious cargo of 50 000 beers and more! Bryan Johnson announced he's investing $100M dollars into Kernel, a company that built the world's first neural prosthetic for human intelligence enhancement. Bryan said he did it "in an effort to enhance human intelligence and reimagine our future. Unlocking our brain is the most significant and consequential opportunity in history -- and it's time sensitive." Wired takes a closer look at three teams that were competing at the first Cyborg Olympics – one from exoskeleton race, one from arm prosthetic competition and one that was stimulating paralyzed muscles in a cycling race.

There's a reason Tesla and its competitors use the term "autopilot" for their semi-autonomous cars: Aviation is way ahead of the auto industry when it comes to making machines handle themselves. And yes, the very latest Airbus, Boeings, and F35 fighter jets can pull all sorts of tricks to help the pilot. But the vast majority of the planes in the sky, military and civilian, still rely on humans pilot to manipulate the joysticks and pedals that move their flaps and ailerons. Now, the US Department of Defense says it can make those primitive aircraft, built around cables and pulleys, ready for the age of autonomy--and a robotic arm is part of the answer. Autonomy will prove a crucial feature of 21st century air transportation and warfare, but it's not the easiest thing to add to the current fleet.