Think about an industry that has had a huge labor problem for decades. Hiring managers can't find enough skilled people, and it takes way too long to train someone to an effective level. With all of the advances in technology, why hasn't there been a complete automation of procedures? The truth is that new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning tend to increase the efficiency and precision of tasks. With humans able to accomplish more work in less time, they are free to explore other domains.

The European Parliament wants to guarantee EU citizens' digital privacy by making end-to-end encryption compulsory for electronic communications. It has also proposed a ban on so-called security "backdoors", which would enable government agencies to access private conversations whenever they wanted to. The proposals are completely at odds with Theresa May's highly controversial plans to crack down on tech companies and our use of the internet. The Prime Minister claims the web provides terrorists with "safe spaces", and wants to introduce a number of strict rules that would restrict the types of content users could access and post. In the aftermath of the Finsbury Park Mosque terror attack, she said her rules would also ensure "that police and security services have the powers they need".

"What is actually driving our economy is the transport network," says Huang Shao Fei, Director of Innovation and Smart Mobility at Singapore's Land Transport Authority (LTA). Reliable transport is crucial for Singapore's success as a trade and logistics hub, while millions of commuters trust that it will get them to the office every morning. "If we get into a gridlock like what you see in Indonesia and Thailand, we are done for," Huang believes. "We will no longer be the transport hub." "That's why we have to take bold steps," Huang adds. Below, he tells GovInsider how the island state is exploring plans to predict train disruptions; make every vehicle a traffic sensor; and ways to use artificial intelligence to secure all this infrastructure.

Schools are to be given £1.3m to set up clubs to teach computer coding. The investment over five years is part of the Welsh Government's £100m to raise school standards over the assembly term. Education Secretary Kirsty Williams said she wanted all pupils to have the opportunity to learn about and get involved in coding as the importance of digital skills continues to grow. It is estimated there will be 100,000 new coding jobs by 2020 in the UK. The Welsh Government said there are currently about 1.5 million jobs in the digital sector in the UK, 400,000 of which involve coding.

The key takeaway from Tuesday's RobotLabNYC forum, on "Exploring The Autonomous Future," was humans are the key to robot adoption. Howard Morgan of First Round Capital expressed to the audience of more than 100 innovators working within the automation ecosystem, the necessity of embracing "entrepreneurial marketing" to reach customers. Tom Ryden echoed Morgan's sentiment in his presentation about Mass Robotics, conveying his startups' frustrations with the pace of adoption. Dr. Eric Daimler, formerly of the Obama Administration, concluded the evening succinctly by exclaiming, "we only adopt what we trust." Trust is key for crossing the chasm.

Like many artificial intelligence companies in Canada, PeopleAnalytics.ai was happy to see the federal government's launch of its Pan-Canadian Artificial lntelligence Strategy for research and talent as part of the federal budget this year. The $125-million that the Liberals are committing to the project, to be administered through the Canadian Institute For Advanced Research (CIFAR), is expected to help to attract and retain top academic talent in this country. With the market for AI-related ideas and products expected to reach $47-billion by 2020, according to CIFAR, the sector has already attracted major investment from Facebook and Google, among others. For PeopleAnalytics.ai, based out of Toronto's MaRS Discovery District, Canada is at a crossroads where it has the ability to define exactly how it wants to mould its focus on AI. Mark Chaikelson, below, vice-president of product for PeopleAnalytics.ai, says the success of the government's plan, particularly in the AI clusters in Montreal, Toronto-Waterloo and Edmonton, will come down to three things: capital, customers and talent.

Why this matters: Presidents have traditionally used the weight of the presidency -- in various ways public and private -- to push Congress to raise the ceiling. Some in Republican leadership circles are frustrated that the White House has no unified position on the debt ceiling strategy and appears willing to make GOP leadership do the thankless work. "This is the full faith and credit of the United States of America. It needs presidential leadership," said a source briefed on Short's recommendation. "It is not in a single member's best interest to vote for [a debt ceiling raise] and it has always taken the weight of the presidency behind it."

As artificial intelligence proliferates, companies and governments are aggregating enormous data sets to feed their AI initiatives. Although privacy is not a new concept in computing, the growth of aggregated data magnifies privacy challenges and leads to extreme ethical risks such as unintentionally building biased AI systems, among many others. Privacy and artificial intelligence are both complex topics. There are no easy or simple answers because solutions lie at the shifting and conflicted intersection of technology, commercial profit, public policy, and even individual and cultural attitudes. Given this complexity, I invited two brilliant people to share their thoughts in a CXOTALK conversation on privacy and AI.

A group of researchers from Tufts University, Brown University and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are collaborating with the US Navy in a multi-year effort to explore how they might create robots endowed with their own sense of morality. If they are successful, they will create an artificial intelligence able to autonomously assess a difficult situation and then make complex ethical decisions that can override the rigid instructions it was given. Seventy-two years ago, science fiction writer Isaac Asimov introduced "three laws of robotics" that could guide the moral compass of a highly advanced artificial intelligence. Sadly, given that today's most advanced AIs are still rather brittle and clueless about the world around them, one could argue that we are nowhere near building robots that are even able to understand these rules, let alone apply them. Upgrade to a Plus subscription today, and read the site without ads.

Today's guest is Sean Lane, CEO of CrossChx, and we have a great chat about artificial intelligence. President Trump met with Juan Manuel the President of Columbia yesterday and held a joint news conference. The President emphasized counter drug trafficking in partnership with Columbia. Other key points include the President's claims that illegal border crossings in the U.S. are down 73%, he wants the U.S. to work with South American countries on the Venezuelan problem, and also promised that MS-13 gang members will be gone from the U.S. soon. President Trump also took to Twitter today as he tweeted, "this is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!" and "with all of the illegal acts that took place in the Clinton campaign & Obama Administration, there was never a special counsel!" The tweets were in response to Wednesday's news that the Department of Justice appointment former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election.