A shorter version was published in HBR Online on 21st December 2016. Also, the post does not review a new White House paper on AI and its impact released on 20th December 2016, that cites some posts on this blog.] On October 12, 2016, President Obama's Executive Office published two reports that received less media attention than they might have otherwise because the United States was gripped by the final weeks of a presidential campaign race. In these two reports, the administration laid out its plans for the future of artificial intelligence (AI). Depending on one's view of AI's potential impact, the actions resulting from these reports may be more influential on the long arc of history than the outcome of that election.

The 2012 publication Race against the Machine makes the case that the digitalization of work activities is proceeding so rapidly as to cause dislocations in the job market beyond anything previously experienced [1]. Unlike past mechanization/automation, which affected lower-skill blue-collar and white-collar work, today's information technology affects workers high in the education and skill distribution. Machines can substitute for brains as well as brawn. On one estimate, about 47% of total US employment is at risk of computerization [2]. If you doubt whether a robot or some other machine equipped with digital intelligence connected to the internet could outdo you or me in our work in the foreseeable future, consider news reports about an IBM program to "create" new food dishes (chefs beware), the battle between anesthesiologists and computer programs/robots that do their job much cheaper, and the coming version of Watson ("twice as powerful as the original") based on computers connected over the internet via IBM's Cloud [3]. On the darker side, you do not have to be paranoid to be paranoid about the potential technologies that the super-secret computers of the US National Security Agency (NSA) have on their digital drawing-boards.

The growing popularity of artificial intelligence technology probably will lead to millions of lost jobs, especially among less-educated workers, and could exacerbate the economic divide between socioeconomic classes in the United States, according to a newly released White House report. But that same technology is also essential to improving the country's productivity growth, a key measure of how efficiently the economy produces goods. That could ultimately lead to higher average wages and fewer work hours. For that reason, the report concludes, our economy actually needs more artificial intelligence, not less. To reconcile the benefits of the technology with its expected toll, the report states, the federal government should expand both access to education in technical fields and the scope of unemployment benefits.

Artificial intelligence can often be just as unintentionally prejudiced as its human creators, with potentially disastrous consequences. The US government thinks educating future programmers on AI ethics will help solve our computers' fairness problem. The White House released its report on the future of artificial intelligence research in the US on Wednesday, and it contains a slew of recommendations. In a section on fairness, the report notes what numerous AI researchers have already pointed out: biased data results in a biased machine. For example, artificial intelligence is being used by law enforcement across North America to identify convicts at risk of re-offending and high-risk areas for crime.

Back in those now forgotten days of January, before The Great Inversion of 2016, Zuckerberg was surely kicking his heels when he set himself that "personal challenge" to build a simple AI, which he said would be like: "[l]ike Jarvis from Iron Man - to help run my home and help me with work." Since then, Zuckerberg's challenge has taken on a different, rather more pressing dimension, one which even the deliverance of his actual Jarvis couldn't distract us from: elevating Facebook from the mire of fake news. Whether Zuckerberg was first to the punch or simply the cipher for a trend, he succeed in putting the stamp of AI on 2016 - at least in enterprise circles - and 2016 broadly became the year when anything AI-related could generate headlines. But if your idea for December was for a piece of AI more sophisticated than a voice-activated version of Nest controlling all Zuck's domestic appliances - and not just his central heating - sorry. Like British supporters of the membership of the European Union and those Americans who voted for Hillary Clinton, the year didn't quite go your way.

The annual exercise of looking forward to all the exciting innovations the next year can reasonably be expected to bring is here once again. Last year at Telegraph tech we predicted 2016 would witness the rise of mobile payments, the creation of smart cities that can think and function autonomously, and the premiere of virtual reality in people's living rooms. Trials have proven artificial intelligence to be effective in suggesting treatments by analysing patients' genomes This year we've expanded our horizons somewhat to include moonshot projects, the social ramifications of technology and one disaster scenario. Here are our predictions of the technology events to come in 2017. Self-driving vehicles have arrived more swiftly than anybody thought: Google and Apple have been experimenting with the technology for years, the Autopilot mode on Tesla cars has clocked up over 200 million miles, and every carmaker is scrambling to get self-driving software into their vehicles.

Crime Prediction software analyzes existing patterns from police databases It uses the data to predict when and where an event is likely to occur next It's hoped this can alert patrol teams to which districts may need more attention It's hoped this can alert patrol teams to which districts may need more attention Nanotech'superbatteries' that can last longer and charge... Water discovery! Scientists find a new state of matter for... Travelling star heading towards Earth could cause a... Consumer Reports refuses to recommend Apple's new MacBook... Nanotech'superbatteries' that can last longer and charge... Water discovery! Scientists find a new state of matter for... Travelling star heading towards Earth could cause a... Consumer Reports refuses to recommend Apple's new MacBook... Minority Report-style crime prediction has edged closer to reality with a new AI software launched in Dubai. CCTV footage shows group of youths launch brutal assault on man POTUS and FLOTUS give their last holiday message from the White House Santa delivers! Little girl asks Santa for her daddy to come home Video shows Brooklyn lawyer who verbally attacked Ivanka on plane Male guests in a Chinese wedding flock to harass a bridesmaid Danish man crosses German border'dressed as ISIS soldier' Guests throw chairs as huge fight breaks out during wedding Man's amazing backflip saves child from out of control car Adorable baby gets incredibly excited about live motor racing MASSIVE Christmas brawl breaks out at New Jersey's Newport Mall Prince William & Duchess of Cambridge arrive at church service Danish man crosses German border'dressed as ISIS soldier' Man's amazing backflip saves child from out of control car Fans of Ivanka Trump flood Clinton supporter's Amazon book... Italian TV presenter gives viewers a real news flash when... Zara and Mike Tindall reveal they have lost their unborn... Baby starves to death in home days after her parents died... Stupid or dangerous?

In some ways, tech in 2017 will be a steady progression from what came before it. Time marches on, and so too does the advance of technology. In other ways, though, it will be just as upended as the rest of the world by the unprecedented disruption that 2016 has left in its wake. The artificial intelligence revolution is well and truly upon us, but so far, the biggest players are venerable Silicon Valley titans such as Google, Amazon and Apple. That's partially because they have the money to hire teams full of PhDs at seven-figure salaries, but it's also because they have the data.

Advanced analytics and other emerging technologies are revolutionizing the way governments and public service agencies are trying to address citizen demands, helping to overcome persistent challenges such as regulatory compliance, outdated legacy IT infrastructures and organizational cultures, according to a new research report from Accenture. The report, Emerging Technologies in Public Service, examines the adoption of emerging technologies across agencies with the most direct interaction with citizens or the greatest responsibility for citizen-facing services: health and social services, policing/justice, revenue, border services, pension / social security and administration. As part of the report, Accenture surveyed nearly 800 public service technology professionals across nine countries to identify emerging technologies being implemented or piloted. These technologies include advanced analytics/ predictive modeling, the Internet of Things, intelligent process automation, video analytics, biometrics/ identity analytics, machine learning, and natural language processing/ generation. The survey found that while more than two-thirds (70 percent) of public sector agencies are evaluating the potential of emerging technologies, only a small percentage (25 percent) is moving beyond the pilot phase to full implementation.

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