Roger Schank, an experienced computer and cognitive scientist with long experience in artificial intelligence research, is continually offended when media present simple tools like chatbots as examples of AI. "Key word analysis that enables responses previously written by people to be found and printed out, is not AI," as Schank sees it. And he complains, "We are in a situation where machine learning is not about learning at all, but about massive matching capabilities to produce canned responses." Schank worries that a bubble of hype about AI will lead, as it has in the past, to an "AI winter" -- when disillusionment from unfulfilled expectations causes interest and research funding in AI to dry up. Given the breadth of investment now in business, military, and consumer AI applications, perhaps this time may be different. Which is not a minor problem.

The trend is clearly visible: Sensors, and actuators, together with computation, memory and communication capabilities, are making all the objects around us smarter and smarter. Too many times, whether we call them robots or AIs, the trend is depicted in menacing tones, represented in the dystopian futures preferred by Hollywood movies, and shape the gut reactions of policymakers eager to please the reactionary impulses of their electorates. But smart machines are our allies, and the war is not against them but against the dumb machines that allow us to use them badly. More than a million people each year are killed by the dumbest of all machines--the car. Fifty million each year are disabled at various degrees, many permanently.

New technology could lead humans to relinquish control over decisions to use lethal force. As artificial intelligence advances, the possibility that machines could independently select and fire on targets is fast approaching. Fully autonomous weapons, also known as'killer robots,' are quickly moving from the realm of science fiction toward reality. As artificial intelligence advances, the possibility that machines could independently select and fire on targets is fast approaching. Fully autonomous weapons, also known as'killer robots,' are quickly moving from the realm of science fiction( like the plot of Terminator) toward reality Researchers explain that machines would make life-and-death determinations outside of human control.

Popular search engines are great at finding answers for point-of-fact questions like the elevation of Mount Everest or current movies running at local theaters. They are not, however, very good at answering what-if or predictive questions--questions that depend on multiple variables, such as "What influences the stock market?" In many cases that shortcoming is not for lack of relevant data. Rather, what's missing are empirical models of complex processes that influence the behavior and impact of those data elements. In a world in which scientists, policymakers and others are awash in data, the inability to construct reliable models that can deliver insights from that raw information has become an acute limitation for planners.

A computer algorithm that can identify patterns in the social media activity of Islamic State supporters could provide clues about where terrorist attacks are likely to occur. Scientists have found they can spot distinct behavioural patterns in the interactions between groups on social media, and it could even help them predict'lone wolf' attacks'. Social media has been a key tool for organisations like Isis to help them recruit supporters and coordinate their activities. Scientists at the University of Miami have used equations used in physics and chemistry to track the constantly shifting behaviour of supporters of Isis (Isis flag pictured). While law enforcement authorities have attempted to keep track of Isis members using social media, they have tended to focus on monitoring the posts made by individuals.

Driverless trucks will be safer and cheaper than their human-controlled counterparts, but that doesn't mean America's 3.5 million professional truck drivers are giving up to the machines without a fight. Across the US, truckers collectively haul more than 10bn tons of freight each year, but it's a tough job – the hours are long and lonely, the pay is low and the lifestyle is sedentary. "Picture the taxi drivers around the world acting in response to Uber," says Andy Stern, the former former president of the Service Employees International Union, referring to protests and violence that erupted in many cities as the 62.5bn Silicon Valley on-demand ride-hailing firm challenged conventional, regulated taxis. "Truck drivers will follow a similar pattern," says Stern. "There will be disruption in different places. You can imagine people ringing state capitals with their trucks."

Navid Khonsari wants to make honest video games. Not just games that say something about the world, but games that draw on real events and bring a documentary approach to an interactive experience. "The 1979 Iranian Revolution is a defining moment in the twentieth century," he says. "The rifts it started define what the Middle East is now and what the West is. The moral decisions: who do you protect, who don't you protect?"

Whether you're reading this article on a smartphone, tablet or laptop, chances are the device in front of you contains components from at least six countries spanning three or more continents. Its sleek exterior belies the complicated and intricate set of internal parts that only a global supply chain can provide. Over the past century, finished products made in a single country have become increasingly hard to find as globalization -- weighted a term as it is -- has stretched supply chains to the ends of the Earth. Now, anything from planes, trains and automobiles to computers, cellphones and appliances can trace its hundreds of pieces to nearly as many companies around the world. And its assembly might take place in a different country still.

Opining about the future of AI at the recent Brilliant Minds event at Symposium Stockholm, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt rejected warnings from Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking about the dangers of AI, saying, "In the case of Stephen Hawking, although a brilliant man, he's not a computer scientist. Elon is also a brilliant man, though he too is a physicist, not a computer scientist." This absurd dismissal of Musk and Hawking was in response to an absurd question about "the possibility of an artificial superintelligence trying to destroy mankind in the near future." Schmidt went on to say, "It's a movie. The state of the earth currently does not support any of these scenarios."

At a theoretical level, the concept of artificial intelligence has fueled and sharpened the philosophical debates on the nature of the mind, intelligence, and the uniqueness of human beings. Insights from the field have proved invaluable to biologists, psychologists, and linguists in helping to understand the processes of memory, learning, and language. Today, we're continuing our Q&A with Maggie Boden, Research Professor of Cognitive Science at the University of Sussex, and one of the best known figures in the field of Artificial Intelligence, answers four more questions about this developing area. ANNs are computer systems made of large number of interconnected units, each of which can compute only one (very simple) thing. They are (very broadly) inspired by the structure of brains.