Fans of the innovative HBO series "Westworld" -- a futuristic tale of life-like robots mixing with guests of a Wild West-styled adult theme park -- can hear Wednesday about how close such technology is from a Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute professor involved in artificial intelligence research for the U.S. military. "'Westworld' is an HBO series that deals with the'big questions' of artificial intelligence (AI) in an undeniably vivid and timely way," said Selmer Bringsjord, director of the RPI Artificial Intelligence and Reasoning Lab. "The real world will ineluctably move toward giving experiences to humans in environments that are at once immersive and populated with sophisticated AIs and robots." Currently, Bringsjord is working on a multi-million dollar AI development project with support from the U.S. Office of Naval Research, which wants to advance military robotics for logistics and other missions. His work focuses on how to program a form of moral sense into AI, so that a robot not under continuous human control can make appropriate choices -- such as not harming innocent humans or causing unnecessary damage -- when faced with unexpected circumstances.

Obama's emphasis on drones was met with controversy, particularly following reports in Afghanistan, the tribal areas of Pakistan's northwest region and in Yemen of errant strikes that killed civilians, prompting Obama to turn over responsibility for drone strikes to the military, which under its authorities for war must report them to Congress. It remains unclear whether the CIA needs to or does so for each of its covert drone activities.

Germany reportedly intends to acquire the Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton high-altitude surveillance drone, according to a story in Sueddeutsche Zeitung. In 2013, Germany cancelled a similar program to acquire Northrop Grumman's RQ-4 Global Hawk, a surveillance drone on which the newer Triton is based, due to cost overruns. The Triton is a large, long-endurance system that was originally developed for maritime surveillance by the U.S. Navy. The U.S. Army released a report outlining its strategy for obtaining and using unmanned ground vehicles. The Robotics and Autonomous Systems strategy outlines short, medium, and long-term goals for the service's ground robot programs.

Kalashnikov Concern, Russia's largest weapons manufacturer, has plans to develop a massive 20-ton attack and spy robot, intends to break into the increasingly popular drone market and even develop video games, the company's top executive told TASS News Agency in a far-ranging interview published Tuesday. CEO Aleksey Krivoruchko touched on his company's plans to hit almost every part of the arms and technology sectors but also said an entire family of robots were in development and the progress would be unveiled later this year. "We are pushing ahead with this work and hope to show some of our achievements at the Army-2017," Krivoruchko said, referring to a military technology convention when asked about potential new robot projects. "I'm talking not about one vehicle but a whole family of reconnaissance and attack vehicles of different class that can operate as a team." After creating the Soratnik, an unmanned combat ground vehicle revealed in September, Krivoruchko was also asked if something even bigger was in the mix.

We head to Austin now for the annual South by Southwest Conference in this week's All Tech Considered. CORNISH: Now, South by Southwest is known for the music, but running alongside the shows are panels that bring leaders across industries together to discuss what's cutting edge. And one emerging technology being talked about a lot is artificial intelligence. For more on that, NPR's Laura Sydell joins us from Austin. CORNISH: To begin, obviously, people are talking about AI across the tech industry.

For a previous generation in the US, the only places where one might worry about the possibility of a mass casualty were "high-value targets," like airports and government offices, places that have body scanners and bag inspections, security guards and long lines to get in today. But attackers increasingly strike at public places like nightclubs, stadiums, clinics, malls, places of worship and schools. A startup called Evolv Technology Inc., has raised $18 million to help venues with even a limited budget use advanced technology rather than pat downs to detect and prevent mass casualties. Investors in Evolv's new round of funding included General Catalyst, Lux Capital, Gates Ventures, and Data Collective. The Waltham, Mass.-based startup has created both hardware and software for physical security.

In cities like San Francisco, New York and Boston, 60% of the residents are renters. And across the U.S., there has been unprecedented growth in rental demand. Nine million more households have become renters over the last 10 years -- the largest gain in housing history. Today, roughly 45 million families and households are tenants. Investors have noticed these rental trends, and billions of dollars have been invested in the rental property market.

When IBM CEO Ginni Rometty delivered the opening keynote at HIMSS17 she effectively set the stage for artificial intelligence, cognitive computing and machine learning to be prevalent themes throughout the rest of the conference. Healthcare IT News asked our readers where they stand in terms of these initiatives. And we threw in a bonus question to figure out what their favorite part of HIMSS17 was. Some 70 percent of respondents are either actively planning or researching artificial intelligence, cognitive computing and machine learning technologies -- while 7 percent are rolling them out and 1 percent have already completed an implementation. A Sunday afternoon session featuring AI startups demonstrated the big promise of such tools as well as the persistent questions, skepticism and even fear when it comes to these emerging technologies.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has given the Central Intelligence Agency secret new authority to conduct drone strikes against suspected terrorists, U.S. officials said, changing the Obama administration's policy of limiting the spy agency's paramilitary role and reopening a turf war between the agency and the Pentagon. The new authority, which hadn't been previously disclosed, represents a significant departure from a cooperative approach that had become standard practice by the end of former President Barack Obama's tenure: The CIA used drones and other intelligence resources to locate suspected terrorists and then the military conducted the actual strike. The U.S. drone strike that killed Taliban leader Mullah Mansour in May 2016 in Pakistan was the best example of that hybrid approach, U.S. officials said. The Obama administration put the military in charge of pulling the trigger to promote transparency and accountability. The CIA, which operates under covert authorities, wasn't required to disclose the number of suspected terrorists or civilian bystanders it killed in drone strikes.

Shifting from the drone policy of the Obama administration, President Donald Trump has given the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) new authority to conduct drone attacks against suspected militants, anonymous U.S. officials said. The new policy is in contrast to that of former President Barack Obama that limited the CIA's paramilitary role, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday. Under the Obama administration, the CIA used drones and other intelligence resources to locate suspected terrorists and then the military conducted the actual strike. Although Obama pushed for the use of drones, he kept the military in place to conduct the actual strike. During Obama's two terms, a total of 563 strikes, largely by drones, targeted Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen compared to 57 strikes under George W. Bush, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.