The rise of automation is destined to replace some worker employment, and it could increasingly cause friction with efforts to create new jobs, a hallmark of the Donald Trump administration. Many studies have forecast a day when repetitive and labor-intensive jobs will be recast by automation, though the jury is still out about whether the humans now holding those jobs will be elevated to more meaningful positions that utilize automation or will be replaced outright. One particular technology, self-driving cars, is on pace to emerge en masse in 2021, right around the next election, as most car manufacturers will offer these features in their fleets. Furthermore, Lyft has partnered with GM to roll out self-driving on-demand fleets, and Uber and Mercedes have forged a partnership with a similar offering. Uber also purchased Otto, which automates large trucks -- a move that will have profound effects on safety, speed, and the shortage of truck drivers.

Artificial intelligence is becoming mainstream not only in the private sector but also in the public sector. In late 2016, the White House released a report, Preparing for the Future of Artificial Intelligence, which cements AI's future in government.

General Motors President Dan Ammann urged more local and state governments to allow testing of autonomous vehicles on public streets, saying doing so is the only way to ensure they will be ready for public use. "To make autonomous vehicles the best they can be and the safest they can be, we really need to be testing on public streets," Ammann said during an address to the Economic Club of Chicago at the Chicago Auto Show. "It can be limited to a geo-fenced area, but it needs to be public streets in a real world environment." Ammann said the development of autonomous vehicles is in the public interest, citing the numerous safety and quality of life benefits they can produce. GM has invested heavily in the development of self-driving vehicles, most notably buying the autonomous tech startup Cruise Automation last year, reportedly for $1 billion.

While bomb disposal robots have become a a common sight on land, the US Navy is now hoping to use them underwater as well. It hopes the robo-hands will be able to search harbours, piers and even ships for IEDs. Once found, the hands are so dexterous they will be able to safety diffuse the device and remove it, the researchers hope. The'underwater dual manipulator system' has two robot arms, and will be put onto an underwater drone to look for, and defuse IEDs. The robot arms will be attached to a US Navy underwater drone.

So. You're single, it's the weekend, and you don't want a rerun of last Saturday night's chocolate chip pancakes a la mode and Gilmore Girls bingefest. Is it too early to fire up Tinder? In the age of the app, you never have to be alone if you don't want to be. And to make sure you don't get more than you bargained for from your hook-up, a number of companies are now offering a way to share STD test results through your phone. In the last few years, services like myLAB Box, Mately, and GetTested have cropped up to meet millennials where they like to meet sexual partners--online.

GM CEO Mary stands next to a Chevrolet Bolt EV self-driving car at a news conference in Detroit on Dec. 15, 2016. With billions of dollars committed to research and testing of vehicles driven by artificial intelligence rather than humans, the last thing automakers and tech firms want is balkanized regulations that vary from state to state or out-of-date federal rules for this fast-developing technology. So General Motors, Toyota, Volvo and ride-hailing service Lyft had a unified message for members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday: Set a national framework for testing and deploying autonomous vehicles -- and do it soon. "One of the most significant challenges that we face today with respect to the testing of autonomous vehicle technology is the patchwork of policy initiatives at the state level," Gill Pratt, CEO of the Silicon Valley-based Toyota Research Institute, said in testimony to the House Subcommittee on Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection. "More and more states are developing legislation and regulations that are unfortunately creating impediments to the development of autonomous vehicle technology."

SAN FRANCISCO--Cryptographers said at the RSA Conference Tuesday they're skeptical that advances in quantum computing and artificial intelligence will profoundly transform computer security. "I'm skeptical there will be much of an impact," Ron Rivest, a MIT professor and inventor of several symmetric key encryption algorithms, said early at the annual Cryptographers' Panel here. Susan Landau, a professor who specializes in cybersecurity policy and computer science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, said that while artificial intelligence can be helpful when it comes to processing lots of data effectively, she doesn't think it will be useful in fingering out series attacks or anomalous situations. Adi Shamir, Borman Professor of Computer Science at the Weizmann Institute, said he was optimistic about AI's potential when it comes to defense – anything that involves finding deviations in behavior – but said he doubts it can ever be used in offensive sense, such as in identifying zero days, something he said requires more ingenuity and originality. The discussion was steered by a report recently released by the Global Risk Institute on the emergence of quantum computing technologies.

It's called the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Curiously, rapid developments happening in fields previously thought to be disjointed are now amplifying each other. We are seeing this in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, robotics, nanotechnology, 3D printing, genetics and biotechnology. On a different tangent altogether, smart systems are able to address a diverse set of issues ranging from climate to supply chains. What must be underscored here is a sense of urgency. Perhaps less than five years is what we have to enable this transition.

Love is in the air and one man is trying to make America date again. Turns out that those who voted for the President are looking for like-minded partners, just as people with specific professions or the same religion turn to certain dating sites to find a match. The site's founder David Goss started the site after seeing there was one like it for supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders, who was in the running for President and the Democratic nomination, according to CNET. While you can browse single supporters in your area for free, you can't contact them without signing up for the site and paying the fees associated with use. Users can either pay a monthly fee of $19.99 or pay in smaller amounts for credits that earn them messages to other users, says CNET.

Terns are a family of shorebirds that can nest in marginal conditions and thrive everywhere from beaches to wetlands to rivers to inlets. TERN, or the Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node, is a drone developed by Northrop Grumman for both the DARPA and the Office of Naval Research, with the goal of giving the Navy and Marine Corps a versatile flying scout that can support ships and troops almost anywhere they may be. Today, DARPA announced funding for Phase III of the project, which aims to take it from a mere concept to a working, flying, fighting robot by 2018. So what, exactly, does TERN do? It perches on ships, even small ships without runways, and then takes off vertically like a helicopter, before transitioning to plane-like horizontal flight in midair.