The FBI has access to nearly 412 million photos in its facial recognition system--perhaps including the one on your driver's license. But according to a new government watchdog report, the bureau doesn't know how error-prone the system is, or whether it enhances or hinders investigations. Since 2011, the bureau has quietly been using this system to compare new images, such as those taken from surveillance cameras, against a large set of photos to look for a match. That set of existing images is not limited to the FBI's own database, which includes some 30 million photos. The bureau also has access to face recognition systems used by law enforcement agencies in 16 different states, and it can tap into databases from the Department of State and the Department of Defense.

The fact that Catherine - who's learned that her ex-husband Theodore has taken up with Samantha, a honey-voiced Operating System who screens his emails, entertains his fantasies and sends his writing off to publishers - comes off as judgmental is testament to Jonze's filmmaking skills. But it's also proof of how deeply we've internalised the notion that artificial intelligence is an extension of male desires and that, really, few things may be hotter than the hard-to-nail promise of female servitude. As Laurie Penny writes in an April 2016 article in The New Statesman, the issue of whether or not robots are slaves designed to serve their masters or sentient beings with inner lives and autonomous instincts has long paralleled the questions we ask of women in the world. READ MORE: * New Zealand could become first country to use Domino's pizza delivery robot * Drones, self-drive cars and'car butler' in our near future * Professor hopes robots will take over the rehabilitation world * Robots could threaten up to half New Zealand's jobs in next 20 years * Robots fooling humans they love something that can't love them back: AI expert * Self-learning robot escapes Russian facility, disrupts traffic * New robot from Google shows off human-like qualities Robots may take on domestic tasks and give working mothers more time. From Metropolis, the 1927 Fritz Lang classic in which Maria, a cyborg whose sultry ways plunge the city and its workers into chaos (she's later burned at a stake) to Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, the hit 1997 spy film whose comely fembots are programmed to ensnare the bumbling Powers with his own libido, female robots are often cast as temptresses or destroyers, coincidentally enough, the same roles reserved for flesh-and-blood women.

With customers like the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps, Boston Dynamics doesn't go out of its way to build friendly-looking robots. But its newest creation, SpotMini, is even creepier than the others. It looks like some sort of dog/giraffe hybrid, but unlike either of those, it's definitely not cute. SpotMini is a smaller version of the company's Spot robot. It weighs 55 lbs (65 lbs if you add the arm).

It's time for another edition of "What TNW is reading." If you're not familiar with them, take a moment and enjoy the previous edition about the US election. After having first been colonized by the Spanish, the country – in its own weird way – is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and one of the busiest ports in the Northern Hemisphere. One of its four official languages is English and they managed to smush them all together to create Papiamentu, the local language. Speaking all four languages fluently, Cecil is currently adding French and Russian to the mix… he's such an?????????.

The Californian desert rushes up in front of me. I can see the runway at Edwards Air Force Base emerging clearly from the hills, and I try to keep the nose of my spacecraft pointed straight down the centre. I am flying the Dream Chaser space plane back from a stint at the International Space Station (ISS), and am keenly aware of my delicate cargo – and the craft's past failures. I'm seated in front of three computer monitors, which show my view out of the cockpit, and rear and side views of the spacecraft as it descends. To go easy on me, the Draper crew starts the simulation after the Dream Chaser has already entered Earth's atmosphere and headed down towards the ground, so all I have to do is aim it straight at the runway.

We have been hearing predictions for decades of a takeover of the world by artificial intelligence. In 1957, Herbert A. Simon predicted that within 10 years a digital computer would be the world's chess champion. That didn't happen until 1996. And despite Marvin Minsky's 1970 prediction that "in from three to eight years we will have a machine with the general intelligence of an average human being," we still consider that a feat of science fiction. The pioneers of artificial intelligence were surely off on the timing, but they weren't wrong; AI is coming.

This week, federal regulators rolled out new rules for unmanned flying vehicles, in a first step that helps pave the way for drones to start delivering packages to your door. But because of a federal no-fly zone, drones are prohibited in the D.C. area. So the nation's capital is finding a workaround. In a unanimous vote Thursday, the District of Columbia's city council gave the green light for an Estonian company to start testing its ground-based robot delivery technology right on the sidewalks. The move represents the first time ground-based drones have been approved for testing anywhere in the country, according to the company, Starship Technologies.

Artificial intelligence may be the new face of medical diagnostics. For the first time, a flavor of A.I. called deep learning is being implemented in new ultrasound imaging equipment to aid in breast exams and help patients avoid unnecessary biopsies. A new feature in Samsung Medison's ultrasound system uses a deep-learning algorithm to make recommendations about whether a breast abnormality is benign or cancerous. The "S-Detect for Breast" feature is now included in an upgrade to the company's RS80A ultrasound system and is commercially available in parts of Europe, the Middle East and Korea and is pending FDA approval in the U.S., according to PR manager Doug Kim. Deep learning relies on large amounts of data to inform complex decision-making algorithms, has aided in everything from speech and image recognition software to pharmaceutical research.

It's only fair that robots used by companies to improve productivity pay their fair share of taxes, right? This might seem ridiculous, but the European Union is looking to create a set of new laws concerning the rise of robots. According to Forbes, one of the new laws would require robots to pay social security taxes. Naturally, the law can't specifically force a robot who likely works for free to pay taxes. The European Union does, however, want businesses that make use of robots to pay higher taxes based on the rational that a robot replaces a human worker who otherwise would pay taxes into the system.

Commercial drones still need to stay within an operator's line of sight. The FAA issued new rules regarding the use of commercial drones this week. Drone operators will no longer have to apply for an exemption (called a 333 exemption) to operate a drone commercially, but will instead use a more streamlined waiver process. Computer vision and 3D imaging are helping robots find new uses outside the factory. There's a feeling in the industry that for drones to be most effective for infrastructure inspection and eventually for last mile deliveries, the FAA has to ease restrictions that drones stay within an operator's line of sight.