The traditional definition of artificial intelligence is the ability of machines to execute tasks and solve problems in ways normally attributed to humans. Some tasks that we consider simple--recognizing an object in a photo, driving a car--are incredibly complex for AI. Machines can surpass us when it comes to things like playing chess, but those machines are limited by the manual nature of their programming; a 30 gadget can beat us at a board game, but it can't do--or learn to do--anything else. This is where machine learning comes in. Show millions of cat photos to a machine, and it will hone its algorithms to improve at recognizing pictures of cats.

"We're on a journey here," says Forrester principal analyst Julie Ask. And what a strange, wonderful trip it is turning out to be. Marketers already dazed by the overnight emergence of almost 4,000 marketing technology companies and just starting to really take advantage of the mobile revolution are facing yet another disruption: AI, bots, and messaging platforms. Some of us are eagerly jumping on the bandwagon, as Facebook now has 11,000 bots that can help people order flowers, buy food, or fix an issue with their flight. But many marketers are still wondering how, why, where, and … what's the ROI?

Yet most of the concerns about the rise of the robots are centered on distributional concerns. The robots might boost productivity growth and therefore the growth of economic output, but will they displace large swaths of workers? This first fear--that robots will massively displace labor across manufacturing and services industries--is a concern because in the future additional capital investment in all manner of robots may well supplant labor rather than supplement it. If robots can essentially replace a large chunk of labor, then businesses will stop hiring workers and instead replace them with robots. Imagine an economy-wide version of robots on factory floors.

Fenwick & West was founded in 1972 in the heart of Silicon Valley--before "Silicon Valley" existed--by four visionary lawyers who left a top-tier New York law firm to pursue their shared belief that technology would revolutionize the business world and to pioneer the legal work for those technological innovations. In order to be most effective, they decided they needed to move to a location close to primary research and technology development. These four attorneys opened their first office in downtown Palo Alto, and Fenwick became one of the first technology law firms in the world.

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display

Putting a person on Mars has long been a dream of science fiction writers, but that vision took a step closer to reality Monday when NASA announced it had commissioned five US aerospace companies to conduct concept studies for a future Mars orbiter mission. NASA already has a small armada of robots studying the Red Planet, with two rovers on the ground and three spacecraft in orbit. The new orbiter mission would seek to boost capabilities in support of the next stages of the US space agency's Journey to Mars, which aims to culminate with humans setting foot on the Martian surface in the 2030s. "We're excited to continue planning for the next decade of Mars exploration," said Geoffrey Yoder, acting associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, in a NASA press release. The five companies selected for the concept studies are The Boeing Company, Northrop Grumman Corporation, and Space Systems/Loral from California, Lockheed Martin in Colorado, and Orbital ATK in Virginia.

Controlling robots using the human mind might seem like something taken from science fiction. But the technology is already available, and it could soon be used by the US army. A team of researchers has developed technology that lets a human control multiple drones using their brain waves, and the group is now working on squadrons of drones that could perform complex operations. Controlling robots using the human mind might seem like something taken straight out of science fiction. The Arizona researchers are not the first to investigate using brain waves to control drones.

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display

Some of society's brightest minds have warned that artificial intelligence (AI) may lead to dangerous unintended consequences, yet leaders of the U.S. intelligence community--with its vast budgets and profound capabilities--have yet to decide who within these organizations is responsible for the ethics of their AI creations. When a new capability is conceived or developed, the intelligence community does not assign anyone responsibility for anticipating how a new AI algorithm may go awry. If scenario-based exercises were conducted, the intelligence community provides no guidelines for deciding when a risk is too great and a system should not be built and assigns no authority to make such decisions. Intelligence agencies use advanced algorithms to interpret the meaning of intercepted communications, identify persons of interest and anticipate major events within troves of data too large for humans to analyze. If artificial intelligence is the ability of computers to create intelligence that humans alone could not have achieved, then the U.S. intelligence community invests in machines with such capabilities.