A drone boat which can patrol the English Channel and track migrants on 12-hour missions is being trialled for Special Forces during a massive robot war games exercise. Yesterday it took part in the Royal Navy's robotic Unmanned Warrior exercise, the biggest ever war game using more than 50 types of drones off the UK coast. The inflatable P950 boat - of which a manned version is already in service and is used by elite troops - can be driven both manually by a remote control and also in an autonomous mode. Using a remote control with a joystick, troops on a ships miles away or on land can tell it where to go and have a live 360 degree angle of what the boat sees. Or they can put it in autonomous mode and just give the boat a destination, and the boat will navigate itself avoiding any obstacles it comes into contact with. In the future it could be equipped with weaponry to help with mine-hunting.

President Barack Obama holds a robotic arm being controlled by the mind of the man in the wheel chair at right as he makes a stop at the exhibition hall of the White House Frontiers Conference on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, in Pittsburgh.

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence Apps and Platforms Briefing subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here. The White House released a lengthy report Wednesday on artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential impact on multiple industries. Understanding and pinpointing possibly harmful factors that underline the rapid evolution of AI will help prepare future government bodies, businesses, and users for the broad deployment of AI. The report, titled "Preparing For The Future Of Artificial Intelligence," highlighted four key areas of AI and offered recommendations for each: To receive stories like this one directly to your inbox every morning, sign up for the Apps and Platforms Briefing newsletter.

So why does Siri seem so dumb? Why are its talents so limited? Why does it stumble so often? When was the last time Siri delighted you with a satisfying and surprising answer or action? I have an answer for this: when I discovered during the NBA playoffs that Siri can tell you the Vegas betting odds for sporting events. In recent weeks, on multiple Apple devices, Siri has been unable to tell me the names of the major-party candidates for president and vice president of the United States.

Artificial intelligence can bring enormous prosperity and opportunity. But in an interview with WIRED Editor-in-Chief Scott Dadich and MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito, the president also worries that AI could suppress wages, eliminate jobs, and create new inequalities. As we build new forms of AI, he says, we must also develop new economic and social models that can ensure these technologies don't leave people behind. "We are going to have to have a societal conversation about how we manage this," President Obama says. "How are we training and ensuring the economy is inclusive if, in fact, we are producing more than ever, but more and more of it is going to a small group at the top? How do we make sure that folks have a living income? And what does this mean in terms of us supporting things like the arts or culture or making sure our veterans are getting cared for? The social compact has to accommodate these new technologies, and our economic models have to accommodate them."

If the movies have taught us anything, artificial intelligence created by the government bad. The Obama administration is aware of those concerns, which is why a new report questions how government-backed AI could impact society and public policy. It calls for long-term investments in AI research, as well as investigations into the ethics and security implications of the technology. "Advances in AI technology hold incredible potential to help America stay on the cutting edge of innovation," the White House said in a blog post. At Walter Reed Medical Center, for example, the Department of Veteran Affairs is using AI to better predict medical complications and improve treatment.

IBM Corp.'s Watson technology defeated two Jeopardy champions in a famous man-against-machine TV showdown in 2011, and now IBM is counting on Watson to help its U.S. employees fight cancer. IBM, developer of Watson, a supercomputer that combines artificial intelligence and advanced analytical software in a format that turns a computer into a "question and answer" machine, announced that as a new benefit for its U.S. workforce certain employees with cancer or undergoing a diagnosis for cancer will have access to Watson for insight into better types of treatment. IBM's cancers-stricken U.S. employees will have access to Watson and an oncology collaboration with Best Doctors, which provides diagnosis and treatment plan reviews using a network of physician specialists, beginning in January. The IBM benefit uses the artificial intelligence capability of Watson to provide employees and their doctors with evidence-based treatment recommendations related to breast, lung, colorectal and gastric cancers, IBM says. With the patient's permission, Best Doctors will collect medical records and feed relevant data into Watson, IBM says.

U.S. President Barack Obama waves as he boards Air Force One to depart O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. October 9, 2016. LOS ANGELES -- The cerebral interstellar saga "2001: A Space Odyssey" and the android drama "Blade Runner" are among President Barack Obama's favorite sci-fi films and TV shows. Obama shared his must-watch list of movies and TV shows to "expand your mind to new horizons" in the November issue of Wired magazine. Obama told the publication that he picked Stanley Kubrick's "2001" because it "captures the grandeur and scale of the unknown," while he selected Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner" because it "asks what it means to be human." Other films on Obama's list included the marooned-on-Mars drama "The Martian" starring Matt Damon and the simulated reality epic "The Matrix" featuring Keanu Reeves.

Humanity may still be years if not decades away from producing sentient artificial intelligence. But with the rise of machine-learning services in our smartphones and other devices, one type of narrow, specialized AI has become all the rage. And the research on this branch of AI is only accelerating. In fact, as more industries and policymakers awaken to the benefits of machine learning, two countries appear to be pulling away in the research race. The results will probably have significant implications for the future of AI.

Washington, D.C. - IBM, a pioneer in the advancement of artificial intelligence, today welcomed the release of a White House report on the future and promise of this exciting technology: "We commend the Administration, and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in particular, for launching an open and inclusive dialogue that helped shape today's report. The document recognizes what IBM has believed all along, that artificial intelligence (AI), or cognitive computing systems like IBM Watson, will jump start economic opportunity and help solve some of humanity's biggest challenges. Embedding ethical training into computer science education, as the report recommends, is a positive way to prepare the next generation of technology experts to appropriately guide the advancement of AI systems. Cybersecurity is one area in particular where IBM agrees that AI can be a true game-changer, and one where we are actively preparing IBM Watson to make a real and tangible difference in the push to better defend America's digital networks.