Politicians like President Donald Trump often demonize trade deals and undocumented immigrants for their suspected downward pressure on labor and job supply, but a study published Tuesday by the National Bureau of Economic Research indicated that the economic threat of artificial intelligence may be far more serious. With the introduction of one robot per 1,000 workers, the percent of the population employed could drop by between 0.18 and 0.34 percentage points, while wages could fall by between a quarter and a half of a percentage point, according to the study, by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston University. That may not sound like much, but, for perspective, Amazon.com The fast food restaurant Wendy's announced plans in February to install ordering kiosks at 1,000 of its stores by the end of 2017. Even stock market traders aren't immune, as investment management firm BlackRock Inc. has recently begun to shift its trade decision-making toward algorithmic and robotic stock pickers.

TODAY, IN 2017, the president's top economic advisor said he had no worries about robots putting people out of work. "In terms of artificial intelligence taking over the jobs, I think we're so far away from that that it's not even on my radar screen," Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told an audience in Washington. "I think it's 50 or 100 more years." Mnuchin has made similarly confounding statements about AI before. "Not even on my radar screen," he said breezily during an Axios interview: Mnuchin's blasé dismissal of AI's potential impact on jobs shouldn't surprise readers because, as the Washington Post reported (August 5, 2016) in an article scarily entitled "Trump's Economic Team Has Six Men Named Steve But No Women," Trump's team of economic advisors, initially comprised of 13 men, seemed woefully imbalanced in many respects.

Donald Trump has another political foe to worry about, with his latest adversary coming in the form of an insubordinate robot.

The history of computers is often told as a history of objects, from the abacus to the Babbage engine up through the code-breaking machines of World War II. In fact, it is better understood as a history of ideas, mainly ideas that emerged from mathematical logic, an obscure and cult-like discipline that first developed in the 19th century. Mathematical logic was pioneered by philosopher-mathematicians, most notably George Boole and Gottlob Frege, who were themselves inspired by Leibniz's dream of a universal "concept language," and the ancient logical system of Aristotle. Dixon goes on to describe the creation of Boolean logic (which has only two variables: TRUE and FALSE, represented as 1 and 0 respectively), and the insight by Claude E. Shannon that those two variables could be represented by a circuit, which itself has only two states: open and closed.1 Dixon writes: Another way to characterize Shannon's achievement is that he was first to distinguish between the logical and the physical layer of computers. Dixon is being modest: the distinction may be obvious to computer scientists, but it is precisely the clear articulation of said distinction that undergirds Dixon's remarkable essay; obviously "computers" as popularly conceptualized were not invented by Aristotle, but he created the means by which they would work (or, more accurately, set humanity down that path).

As our population ages, these caregiver robots will also be useful for the old as well as the young. This is not a rhetorical question. So-called robot nannies are already a hit in Japan and China, and are now beginning to appear stateside. The numbers show why this is an attractive proposition. According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 4 million babies are born annually in the United States. What's more, 62% percent of women who gave birth within the last year work outside of the home, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

In October 2016, two leading P2P platforms in the U.S. -- Lending Club and Prosper -- announced a new increase in interest rates for lower-grade loans. The decision was made in order to sustain investor demand, as the model platforms are operating under challenges faced during the last months due to compliance issues with Lending Club and the general turbulence of the P2P lending industry. However, keeping the investor demand stable is not the only reason for recent changes -- as Lending Club announced, delinquencies are growing, especially when it comes to high-risk loans. October 2016 was not the first time P2P platforms changed their interest rates that year. Initially, the decision was caused by the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in response to signs of a stable and strengthening economy in December 2015, following a period of low rates designed to promote quicker economic growth in the U.S. and worldwide after the financial crisis.

The topic of automation of jobs is a source of much debate in the business world. People are worried about how many jobs will be lost to the advancement of AI, however, a recent study made PwC also added that this new technology would create new professions in the process. Yet, if the United States' Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin, is to be believed the US doesn't think that its a matter worth worry about at the moment and believes that it's "50 to 100 more years away." While talking to Axios' Mike Allen on Friday, the Treasury Secretary was asked to address to concerns of people like Mark Cuban and Elon Musk regarding the potential loss of jobs to automation. His response confirmed that it isn't something this current administration is very concerned about. "We had an Axios event the other day with Mark Cuban who was very focused on artificial intelligence and how that was going to affect the workforce," Allen divulged.

Once heavily invested in the AI and machine learning systems that helped run the NASA Space Shuttle, Splice Machine CEO Monte Zweben is trying to overhaul the structure that lies at its very core. Despite 2017 being described as the breakthrough year for machine learning and AI, the process by which computers learn complex skills and functions without human intervention is nothing new. One person who can attest to that is Monte Zweben, CEO of Splice Machine, who in a previous life was the deputy branch chief of NASA Ames Research Center's artificial intelligence (AI) hub. Spending seven years there during the 1980s and 1990s, Zweben and the rest of his team were using machine learning, not only to discover cosmic phenomena through radio telescopes, but also to maintain and plan the famous space shuttle missions. This, Zweben said in conversation with Siliconrepublic.com,

AI is helping cybersecurity but researchers are warning about over-promising. Cybersecurity pros shouldn't rely on artificial intelligence and machine learning just yet, according to a new report. The report from security firm Carbon Black, which surveyed 410 cybersecurity researchers and 74 percent said that AI-driven security solutions are flawed, citing "high false-positive rates", while 70 percent claimed attackers can bypass machine learning techniques. The respondents did not write off AI or machine learning as unhelpful but rather said that they just aren't there yet and cannot be solely relied on to make big decisions when it comes to security. AI and machine learning should be used "primarily to assist and augment human decision making," said the report.

Drones could someday have a sort of invisible license plate that allows local authorities to determine who the unmanned aerial system (UAS) belongs too. Pitched by Chinese drone manufacturer DJI, the concept for an electronic identification system for small drones is just one of many ideas as the Federal Aviation Administration looks into potential ways of identifying drone users. DJI suggests drones should use the radio equipment already on board most systems to transmit a unique registration number. That number would identify the drone owner to law enforcement in the event of a complaint or flight through a restricted area. Areas with restricted drone flight, such as airports, could use radio equipment to read that number and report the ID number to the authorities.