Could artificial intelligence make devices easier to use? According to Samsung, it sure can, and that's what it the company out to prove with its Bixby AI service. Bixby is being loaded on the Galaxy S8 and S8 smartphones, which were announced on Tuesday. Bixby is an agent that can help the smartphones talk, recommend, and remind, said Mok Oh, vice president of service strategy at Samsung. The AI service is being positioned as a more intuitive way to use and interact with smartphones.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin declared last week that the threat of artificial intelligence taking over American jobs "is not even on my radar screen." Mnuchin is "not worried at all," at least not for the next 50 to 100 years. This was in sharp contrast to the attitude of the previous administration. President Obama, for example, opined that "We've been seeing specialized AI in every aspect of our lives, from medicine and transportation to how electricity is distributed, and it promises to create a vastly more productive and efficient economy… But it also has some downsides that we're gonna have to figure out in terms of not eliminating jobs. How good or bad AI will be for employment and how soon its beneficial or detrimental effects will manifest themselves have been debated--loudly and persistently--over the last few years.

In late 2015, mandatory drone registration went into effect in the United States. Since then, anyone who wants to fly a drone (or model aircraft) weighing over 0.55 pounds (0.25 kilograms) must register with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to receive a unique identification number. This number needs to be placed on the drone, but there is no requirements for it to broadcast signals to allow for remote identification. That might change in the future. The FAA Extension, Safety, and Security Act of 2016 required the FAA administrator to "convene industry stakeholders to facilitate the development of consensus standards for remotely identifying operators and owners of unmanned aircraft systems and associated unmanned aircraft."

Economists have long argued that automation, not trade, is responsible for the bulk of the six million jobs shed by the manufacturing sector over the last 25 years. Now, they have a put a precise figure on some of the losses. Industrial robots alone have eliminated up to 670,000 American jobs between 1990 and 2007, according to new research from MIT's Daron Acemoglu and Boston University's Pascual Restrepo. The number is stunning on the face of it, and many have interpreted the study as an indictment of technological change -- a sign that "robots are winning the race for American jobs." But the bigger takeaway is that the nation has been ill-equipped to deal with the upheaval caused by automation.

Usually when people worry about machines and work, they are concerned that automation will take away their livelihoods, not their lives. But a new lawsuit claiming a rogue robot is responsible for killing a human colleague reveals additional nightmarish possibilities. In July 2015, Wanda Holbrook, a maintenance technician performing routine duties on an assembly line at Ventra Ionia Main, an auto-parts maker in Ionia, Michigan, was "trapped by robotic machinery" and crushed to death. On March 7, her husband, William Holbrook, filed a wrongful death complaint (pdf) in Michigan federal court, naming five North American robotics companies involved in engineering and integrating the machines and parts used at the plant: Prodomax, Flex-N-Gate, FANUC, Nachi, and Lincoln Electric. Holbrook's job involved keeping robots in working order.

Movies like I, Robot, Wall-e and Bicentennial Man pose interesting questions that blur lines between man and machines. They not only allow our imaginations to soar high but somewhere also peek a hint of fear or uncertainty about the actual good of our scientific actions when man tries to play God! However, with the latest developments in the AI sector it is safe to say, assassin robots or a trap of cyber-warp field like the Matrix, where they will enslave the creator of machines is still a distant and very unlikely future. Perhaps it helps us to understand our very humanness better when try to translate these traits of thought and decision-making into our machinist creations! So, how far are we from having robot with morals?

Machines, Robotic an AI: Technology is part of our lives. Like personal assistants, our smartphones and apps, computers and social media, ease our days, help us keeping in contact with friends and acquaintances, manage our working schedules, our workouts, and even help us find a job. In a society where human interaction with technology is increasing, challenges are a natural consequence. Robots have been used for quite some years now in the industry, autonomously performing repetitive tasks, in shop floors, where collaborative robots can work in close connection with humans, in medicine, just think about surgical robots, and even in our homes, where they clean our floors giving us some additional free time. Within this picture, artificial intelligence is just another step further.

With artificial intelligence set to transform our world, a new institute is putting Toronto to the front of the line to lead the charge. The Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence, made possible by funding from the federal government revealed in the 2017 budget, will move into new digs in the MaRS Discovery District by the end of the year. There, scientists will aim to attract and retain top global talent while working on software that mimics -- and may one day surpass -- human intelligence. Vector's funding comes partially from a $125 million investment announced in last Wednesday's federal budget to launch a pan-Canadian artificial intelligence strategy, with similar institutes being established in Montreal and Edmonton. 'I think this truly is Canada's moment and we would be foolish not to take advantage of it,' said Canadian Institute for Advanced Research CEO and president Dr. Alan Bernstein.

Few places evoke the rise and fall of Japan's industrial might than the head office of the Imperial Steel Works in Kitakyushu. The red brick Meiji Era building was the heart of the nation's first big steelworks. Kitakyushu, with nearly a million people, embodies the struggle of Japan's cities to adapt to a future where citizens are older, workers are fewer and many houses are emptying. The emblems of government efforts to revitalize the economy -- a billion-dollar airport, a robotics factory -- stand beside the empty lots, an idle blast furnace and shuttered shops. Five hours west of Tokyo by shinkansen, Kitakyushu lost over 15,000 people in the five years to 2015, more than any other city in the country apart from those evacuated because of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

"I think it gives time back to people to focus on pursuits that are creative and important," he added. His comments come after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said he is not worried about AI replacing jobs for at least 50 to 100 years. "I think that is so far in the future -- in terms of artificial intelligence taking over American jobs -- I think we're, like, so far away from that that," said Mnuchin at an event held by Axios last week. "Not even on my radar screen," he added. The comments were at odds with the technology industry.