When it comes to artificial intelligence, we may all be suffering from the fallacy of availability: thinking that creating intelligence is much easier than it is, because we see examples all around us. In a recent poll, machine intelligence experts predicted that computers would gain human-level ability around the year 2050, and superhuman ability less than 30 years after.1 But, like a tribe on a tropical island littered with World War II debris imagining that the manufacture of aluminum propellers or steel casings would be within their power, our confidence is probably inflated. AI can be thought of as a search problem over an effectively infinite, high-dimensional landscape of possible programs. Nature solved this search problem by brute force, effectively performing a huge computation involving trillions of evolving agents of varying information processing capability in a complex environment (the Earth). It took billions of years to go from the first tiny DNA replicators to Homo Sapiens.

Kalingrad is a Russian seaport named for a Soviet revolutionary. It sits near the Baltic Sea, between Poland and Lithuania, and it's a place where pre-Putin Russian leaders would occasionally threaten to install nuclear missiles. But in the 18th century, it was a city called Königsberg in the German kingdom of Prussia. And it was a math problem. Königsberg stretched across both banks of the river Pregel, and it included two islands in the middle of the river.

Ahmad Khan Rahami, the man suspected of planting a series of bombs in New York and New Jersey over the weekend, praised Anwar Awlaki in handwritten notes found on his person after he was wounded in a shootout Monday. FBI agents recovered a notebook from Rahami after he was wounded by police in Linden, N.J., a U.S. official told the Los Angeles Times. In the notebook, Rahami describes his affinity for Awlaki, the American-born Islamic cleric who became a leader of Al Qaeda in Yemen. Awlaki was killed in a CIA drone strike in 2011, but his legacy has spread among jihadists thanks to online audio and video sermons. The notebook also contained ramblings about the Boston Marathon bombers, the official said.

The U.S. Department of Transportation released long-awaited guidelines Tuesday for the testing and deployment of self-driving vehicles, giving manufacturers and researchers some clarity for the future, but providing only a vague sense of the federal government's exact responsibilities. At a Tuesday morning news conference, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx described the 116-page policy document as "the most comprehensive national automated vehicle policy that the world has ever seen." However, he added that the policy is a "living document" and leaves room for "more growth and changes in the future." "One of reasons we take great pains not to be so prescriptive" is because the technology is "dynamic" and changing fast, he said, so the government needs to be "flexible." In the document, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration emphasized that it did not intend to write the "final word on highly automated vehicles" with these guidelines.

President Obama, in his final address as president before the U.N. General Assembly, called Tuesday for more global cooperation especially in helping refugees from war-torn countries – while making only passing reference to the Islamic State and the ever-expanding scourge of like-minded terror groups. The president called for a "course correction" for globalization to ensure nations don't retreat into a more sharply divided world, while pushing back against an isolationist approach gaining popularity in many countries. He advocated for open democracies and open economies, while railing against the example set by Russia and calling for more tolerance in all nations. He also took what appeared to be a jab at Donald Trump, saying: "The world is too small for us to simply be able to build a wall" and prevent extremism from affecting societies. With that message in hand, Obama urged nations to "follow through even when the politics are hard," in helping refugees fleeing conflict.

With driverless cars on the horizon, the government is adding its two cents on the matter. On Tuesday, the U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) released a four-part policy outlining safety measures to ensure all vehicles are ready to be on the road. The four sections of the policy--created in consultation with experts in the field, state governments, safety advocates and more--include a 15 point safety assessment, a Model State policy, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) current regulatory tools and modern regulatory tools. According to the DOT, the goal of the policy is to provide car makers with a framework. "Automated vehicles have the potential to save thousands of lives, driving the single biggest leap in road safety that our country has ever taken," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx in a statement.

Self-driving cars have the potential to save thousands of lives lost on the nation's roads each year and to change the lives of the elderly and the disabled, President Barack Obama said in an op-ed published Monday by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. WASHINGTON -- Obama administration officials are previewing long-awaited guidance that attempts to bring self-driving cars to the nation's roadways safely -- without creating so many roadblocks that the technology can't make it to market quickly. Traditional automakers and tech companies have been testing self-driving prototypes on public roads for several years, with a human in the driver's seat just in case. The results suggest that what once seemed like a technology perpetually over the horizon appears to be fast approaching, especially with car companies announcing a string of investments and acquisitions in recent months. Federal officials have been struggling with how to capitalize on the technology's promised safety benefits -- the cars can react faster than people, but don't drink or get distracted -- while making sure they are ready for widespread use.

Steve recognises the "disruptive and pervasive" impact AI is already having on business: "AI is enabling companies to achieve improved operational efficiency, develop new and improved products and services, and most significantly entirely new business models. Universities are particularly well suited for interdisciplinary approaches that include multiple technical disciplines as well as the liberal arts, humanities, arts, and social sciences. "Data sharing agreements with appropriate protections for sensitive confidential information enable university data science researchers to develop practical algorithms using real-world data. Municipal, state, and national governments are working to improve accessibility and the democratization of data.

Obama administration officials are previewing long-awaited guidance that attempts to bring self-driving cars to the nation's roadways safely -- without creating so many roadblocks that the technology can't make it to market quickly. Traditional automakers and tech companies have been testing self-driving prototypes on public roads for several years, with a human in the driver's seat just in case. The results suggest that what once seemed like a technology perpetually over the horizon appears to be fast approaching, especially with car companies announcing a string of investments and acquisitions in recent months. Federal officials have been struggling with how to capitalize on the technology's promised safety benefits -- the cars can react faster than people, but don't drink or get distracted -- while making sure they are ready for widespread use. The new guidance represents their current thinking, which they hope will bring some order to what has been a chaotic rollout so far.

Machine learning, autonomy, and artificial intelligence are being explored as key new areas for cybersecurity. What is their history and likely future? As we rely more on autonomous machines for our security, what are the benefits? How can policymakers keep pace? A panel of leading experts will explore the issues from the perspectives of computer science, political science, ethics and law.