Russian officials have unveiled a'microwave gun' that can disable an unmanned drone and even a missile from up to 0.6 miles (1km) away. The first sample of the weapons have been revealed following a secretive Russian Defense Ministry exhibition. The'death ray' will be used to target enemy drones and apparently deactivates the radios of UAVs and warheads, causing them to lose control. Russian officials have unveiled a'microwave gun' that can disable an unmanned drone and even a missile from up to 0.6 miles (1km) away. A Krasukha, a Russian electronic warfare system, is pictured.

A new report from the Office of Science Technology Policy (OSTP) addresses the fast-growing field of artificial intelligence (AI), which is increasingly poised to reshape the way we live and work. Titled "Preparing for the Future of Artificial Intelligence," the report makes 23 policy recommendations on a number of topics concerned with the best way to harness the power of machine learning and algorithm-driven intelligence for the benefit of society. The OSTP position is that government has several roles to play in driving the direction of AI. Namely, "It should convene conversations about important issues and help to set the agenda for public debate. It should monitor the safety and fairness of applications as they develop, and adapt regulatory frameworks to encourage innovation while protecting the public. It should support basic research and the application of AI to public goods, as well as the development of a skilled, diverse workforce. And government should use AI itself, to serve the public faster, more effectively, and at lower cost."

Research suggests Australians are ready to embrace fintech banking solutions, and the launch of three new London-based chatbot startups may be a sign the rest of the world is gearing up for a revolution too. Artificial intelligence (AI) has been rapidly progressing over the past two decades, with machines reaching and exceeding human performance on an increasing number of tasks. Just this week, the White House released a report entitled Preparing for the future of Artificial Intelligence, which describes the ways in which AI has and continues to yield new opportunities for progress in critical areas such as health, education, energy, and the environment. Another important area of business, ripe for disruption, is finance and banking. In Australia, almost half (47%) the population expect to use financial technology (fintech) services for 50% or more of their financial needs in five years' time.

As banks look for places to save time and effort by deploying artificial intelligence software, one logical place is cybercrime and fraud investigations. One reason for this is that the amount of cybersecurity threat information keeps growing as the availability of cybersecurity skills in this country shrinks. According to the Ponemon Institute, organizations receive on average nearly 17,000 malware alerts a week, and the time spent responding to these alerts as well as to inaccurate and erroneous intelligence in general costs 1.27 million annually. The group's research has also found that 19% of all security alerts are considered reliable, but only 4% are investigated. According to IBM, 10,000 security research papers are published every year and over 60,000 security blogs are posted each month, adding to the challenge for small security teams to keep up.

A UK parliamentary committee has appealed the UK government to take action and begin seriously considering "a host of social, ethical and legal questions" that are increasingly pertinent thanks to the rise of artificial intelligence. The science and technology committee started its inquiry in March 2016, visiting Google's DeepMind office, gathering 67 written statements, and interviewing 12 witnesses in person in order to establish the most urgent issues. In its newly published report, the committee has concluded that "while it is too soon to set down sector-wide regulations for this nascent field, it is vital that careful scrutiny of the ethical, legal and societal dimensions of artificially intelligent systems begins now." The biggest reason for this is the need to ensure that the UK is building socially beneficial AI systems, and one of the best ways to make this happen is to start a wider public dialogue on the issue. There are three main issues that the committee flags up as requiring "serious" consideration: minimizing bias being accidentally built into AI systems; ensuring that the decisions they make are transparent; and establishing ways to verify that AI systems are operating as intended and won't behave unpredictably. In these early stages, the committee advises in its report that the government creates a standing Commission on Artificial Intelligence with a broad membership that is able to provide a wide range of expertise.

New Zealand is being urged to act now to manage the rapid rise of robotics and artificial intelligence. Within 24 years there is a 50 percent chance artificial intelligence could be smarter than us. Within 60 years, it's almost guaranteed. Now a leading business group and law firm want the Government to set up a working group of leaders from all areas of business and society to tackle the opportunities and challenges AI represents. "AI is an extraordinary challenge for our future.'

In the aftermath of the Brexit vote to leave, one of the Tweets that caught my eye was from founder and CEO of analyst firm HfS Research Phil Fersht, which simply said, "At least the British can stop worrying about robots taking their jobs. Just get rid of the jobs altogether…" While that may not be amusing as it plays out against our globalized economy, it demonstrates how this topic has taken hold of so many of us. About a year ago, I was asked to sit on a panel at the annual Constellation Research Connected Enterprise 2015 called "The Robots Are Here! The Future of HR Tech," to debate whether we're entering a dystopian existence where humans are the bottleneck to productivity and innovation or becoming a world of augmented humanity and digital humanization. It's a fact that major economic shifts have led to both marginalization, the downside, as well as great opportunity, clearly the upside.

The White House's first-ever Frontiers Conference is underway in Pittsburgh, gathering ideas across science, technology, and robotics. Which now also includes transportation. The Urban Transportation Future panel discussed issues related to driverless cars and an autonomous future. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, mayor of Pittsburgh William Peduto, Zipcar co-founder Robin Chase, and Zoox CEO Tim Kentley-Klay all gathered to discuss what's to come in the self-driving car space. "[My wish] is that people can imagine not owning cars," said Chase, stressing the idea of driverless vehicles not just replacing personal cars but offering an alternative to ownership altogether.

Cotton ball spider webs and peeled grape-eyeballs, begone! Because this year, the hottest new Halloween decoration is set to be the "Trumpkin," or a pumpkin carved in striking resemblance to none other than Donald Trump. Is the life of a fashion editor all front-row seats and Instagram perfection? Well, yes and no, as Marie Claire U.S.'s editor-in-chief Anne Fulenwider told us. Yes, it's glamorous, but it also means "putting your hair back in a ponytail, rolling up your sleeves, editing stories, and meeting with … Flipping posts, videos, images and more into Flipboard Magazines allows bloggers to show off passions that reach far beyond what's covered on their blog's niche. He showed us that just because music was innately physical did not mean that it was anti-intellectual."

The White House released a 58 page narrative on how the government should prepare and approach utilizing Artificial Intelligence for a wide variety of applications; you can find the doc here, Executive Office of the President AI Report. Yet, I'm stuck filling out and mailing (millennials, I'm talking about postal mail with a stamp) a PDF for the City of Chicago to update my address they send my property taxes to, something not quite adding up but I digress. I am firm believer in the power of Artificial Intelligence to revolutionize all industries and how our government operates is no exception. The report does a great job at highlighting how a dedicated and concerted effort needs to be focused on Artificial Intelligence and the economic value that can be created from it – at a local, state and federal level. Overall, it was a solid read that talked a lot about the potential of Artificial Intelligence to change the world as we know it.