More frequently we read news alerts about cyber attacks. The scary notion is that the cyber world has become a dangerous arena where most anything goes. Businesses and governments are trying to secure their online systems as quickly and effectively as possible against these digital risks. Unfortunately, the infiltrations these parties fear is not just enemies and hackers, but competitors and others looking to read confidential emails, steal secrets, or simply commit fraud. I was recently asked to share my thoughts on what could help mitigate risk in a technology driven world.

On March 21, 1966, NASA announced its crew selection for the AS-204 mission -- the first crewed mission in the program aimed at reaching the moon. Astronauts Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Edward H. White II and Roger B. Chaffee were chosen to carry out a 14-day low orbital test of the Apollo Command/Service Module, with a launch date of Feb. 21, 1967. The men were well suited to the task. Grissom was a decorated fighter pilot and veteran of projects Mercury and Gemini, White was the first American to perform a spacewalk during Project Gemini and Chaffee had served with both men as the capsule communicator for the Gemini 4 mission. As the astronauts spent months training for their mission, the Command/Service Module was tweaked, modified and finally mated to its Saturn launch vehicle at Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 34.

Over four days there are over 400 sessions on the official World Economic Forum Annual Summit program. In addition, there are a multitude of breakfasts, lunches and dinners with speakers and panels. No person can truly summarize the event since one only gets to experience a sliver of what is possible. Keeping this reality in mind, here are some of the key themes and takeaways from my perspective. Globalization on the whole has been dramatically good for the world, helping lift a billion people out of poverty, reducing prices, and bringing new opportunities.

Takeover is a pretty key part of how autopilots work in cars right now. Last May, a Tesla Model S driver died when both he and his car failed to spot a tractor-trailer crossing the highway. A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation into the crash did not find sufficient grounds for a product recall. It did note, however, that despite the clear limitations of the autopilot feature, "other jurisdictions have raised concerns about Tesla's use of the name "Autopilot." Autopilots have been legally tricky from the start.

Artificial Intelligence has another champion and watchdog. Four months after its formation, the Partnership on AI, a group dedicated to tackling AI opportunities and challenges finally, officially welcomed Apple as a member. Tom Gruber, Apple's head of advanced development for Apple's digital assistant, Siri, joined the Partnership on AI's board of Trustees on Friday. Gruber joins science, research and AI leaders from a disparate group of companies including Google, Amazon, Microsoft, IBM and DeepMind (part of Google), along with leaders from the ACLU, UC Berkeley and the Association for the Advancement of AI. "We're glad to see the industry engaging on some of the larger opportunities and concerns created with the advance of machine learning and AI. We believe it's beneficial to Apple, our customers, and the industry to play an active role in its development and look forward to collaborating with the group to help drive discussion on how to advance AI while protecting the privacy and security of consumers." said Gruber in a blog post on the update.

NASA is preparing for lift off once again. The agency is scheduled to broadcast an unpiloted Japanese cargo spacecraft that will depart the International Space Station Friday morning. The cargo spacecraft, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) H-II Transport Vehicle-6, will be released by the station's robotic arm commanded by the European Space Agency's Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet with support from NASA's Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough. You can watch the NASA Orbital ATK launch here. Transport Vehicle-6 is expected to move underneath and in front of the International Space Station and gather data for a week using a JAXA experiment which will "measure electromagnetic forces using a tether in low-Earth orbit," a NASA statement read.

WIRE)--Virtualitics, LLC, a data analytics in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) startup, today announced the launch of its new tool that combines powerful data visualization in VR/AR and artificial intelligence to provide insights and discover actionable knowledge hidden in big and complex data. The company also announced they closed a $3 million investment seed round from angel investors. Virtualitics combines VR/AR with machine learning and natural language in a data exploration, collaborative environment suitable for both data scientists and non-expert users. The technology is the only one of its kind that can provide a simultaneous rendering of up to 10 dimensions, revealing multidimensional relationships present in the data, which may not be discoverable in any other way. The company is based on over a decade of research at Caltech and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and was founded by: professor George Djorgovski, the founding director of Caltech's Center for Data-Driven Discovery; Michael Amori, former Deutsche Bank managing director, Harvard MBA and Caltech alumnus; Dr. Ciro Donalek, computational scientist at Caltech; and Dr. Scott Davidoff, manager of the Human Interfaces Group at NASA's JPL.

Increased investor interest in AI startups – from around 10 deals in Q1'11 to over 120 in Q2'16 – can be attributed to recent advances in machine learning algorithms, particularly "deep learning" technology, a souped up version of AI. Just this week, Google integrated deep learning into its Google Translate tool; Baidu announced the launch of DeepBench, an "open source benchmarking tool for evaluating deep learning performance across different hardware platforms"; and NVIDIA introduced Xavier, a deep learning-based supercomputer for driverless cars. In the private market, Google put deep learning in the spotlight back in 2014 when it acquired 4 startups focused on this AI tech in quick succession: DeepMind, Vision Factory, Dark Blue Labs, and DNNresearch. Apple, which joined the race in 2015, most recently acquired Turi, which has developed a deep learning toolkit, among other AI-based solutions. Not to be outdone, Intel has acquired around 5 AI startups since January 2015, including deep learning startup Nervana Systems and, more recently, Movidius.

On the upcoming SpaceX CRS-10 mission, a rocket will launch carrying the next batch of cargo to the International Space Station. Inside its Dragon capsule's unpressurized trunk will be a critical Earth-facing instrument--one that maps ozone molecules and other compounds in the atmosphere. Its name is the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III, or SAGE III. When the Dragon arrives at the ISS, a robot arm will reach into the trunk, pull out the experiment's parts, put them together, and install them on the outside of the habitat. Scientists at NASA's Langley Research Center will watch streaming video of their baby being assembled, breaths held till everything is in place.

Meanwhile the leader of Communist China rebranded his prickly protectionist power as the defender of globalisation and shared values. So after week one in this upside down new world, how stands China's bid for global leadership? A week is just a week, but when it comes to strategic focus, China is on course. It's easier to look laser sharp when the competition is in disarray. Here the internal difficulties of the US and the European Union are helpful to China.