Plaintiffs had sought more than $5 million collectively for the "hundreds of thousands" of state residents affected, according to court documents. Plaintiffs had asked the court for $5,000 for each intentional violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, or $1,000 for every negligent violation, court documents said.

By the year 2025, robots and machines driven by artificial intelligence are predicted to perform half of all productive functions in the workplace. What is not clear is whether the robots will have any worker rights. Companies across many industries already have robots in their workforce. DHL uses autonomous robots by Fetch Robotics to help fulfillment center and warehouse employees, while Toyota, Google and Panasonic are among the companies that use Fetch's mobile manipulator technology in research efforts. Humans already have shown hatred toward robots, often kicking robot police resources over or knocking down delivery bots in hopes of reclaiming a feeling of security or superiority.

The legal status of AI-androids able to move and speak has been a major bone of contention between robotics developers, academics, lawmakers, and ethicists over the past few years. Since the draft report's publication, there's been much discussion on the issues related to the liability of robots. Speaking with Daily Star Online, Dr Oliver Bendel, professor of information systems at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts, said that there's no need to grant "electronic persons" with moral rights or any personal status due to a lack of philosophical or ethical grounds. "You only have such rights if you can feel or suffer, if you have a consciousness or a will to live. If one day robots can feel or suffer, if they have a consciousness or a will to live, they must be granted rights. But I don't see any way to get there at the moment. One could at best develop'reverse cyborgs', i.e. let brain and nerve cells grow on technical structures or in a robot. Such reverse or inverted cyborgs might at some point feel something", he said.

What an innocent, carefree year it must have been to spawn so bland a word of the year. It has a nice ring to it, especially when spoken with the Hokkaido lilt the women's curling team -- surprise bronze medalists -- gave it during February's Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. So what if all it means is, "That's right"? Let 2018, the Year of the Dog, end as it began -- on a positive note. Speaking of dogs and beginnings: Sony's robot dog Aibo was a big hit at January's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Let's expand this question asked by Alan Turing in the 50s. The countless disaster scenarios, in which artificial intelligence (AI) takes over the world and destroys humanity, are already made-up and still being told in Hollywood. AI has not yet taken control of humanity, but it has indeed taken control of many aspects of our lives even if we do not perceive it as such. We accept AI as a part of our lives. The simplest example is our smartphones!

Yes, it is Holy Grail of AI and for the right reason; whether it about losing a High-Value customer due to wrong Churn Prediction or losing dollars due to incorrect classification of a financial transaction. In reality, Customers are the less bothered accuracy of AI model, but their concerns are about Cluelessness of Data Scientist to explain "How do I trust its decision making?" Data Scientists building credit risk models in the consumer space faced the transparency requirement probably for as long as this field existed, due to regulatory compliance which governs the consumer risk. Marketers also have been bound by certain rules which disallow protected categories such as gender or race to enter the models. These regulations were created in US to protect consumers.

We already know Facebook will do pretty much whatever it wants with your data, but a lawsuit shows the lengths it will go to in defending that approach. On Monday, the ACLU, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Center for Democracy & Technology, and Illinois Public Interest Research Group, filed what's known as a "friend of the court brief." The brief takes a stance against what appears to be an argument Facebook is advancing in court that would weaken a strong biometric data privacy law. SEE ALSO: Facebook's Privacy Disaster Three Illinois plaintiffs are suing Facebook in a class-action suit, stating Facebook did not comply with an Illinois law that requires informed and written consent for the collection of biometric data -- in Facebook's case, facial recognition. A federal judge gave the case the go ahead in April.

We already know Facebook will do pretty much whatever it wants with your data, but a lawsuit shows the lengths it will go to in defending that approach. On Monday, the ACLU, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Center for Democracy & Technology, and Illinois Public Interest Research Group, filed what's known as a "friend of the court brief." The brief takes a stance against what appears to be an argument Facebook is advancing in court that would weaken a strong biometric data privacy law. SEE ALSO: Facebook's Privacy Disaster Three Illinois plaintiffs are suing Facebook in a class-action suit, stating Facebook did not comply with an Illinois law that requires informed and written consent for the collection of biometric data -- in Facebook's case, facial recognition. A federal judge gave the case the go ahead in April.

The Illinois Department of Transportation wants people who may have found brand new drones under the tree on Christmas morning that their new toy comes with state and federal regulations that have to be followed.

Companies from a wide range of industries use machine learning data to do everyday business. From consumer marketing and workforce management to healthcare treatment decision solutions and public safety and policing solutions, whether you realize it or not your life is increasingly more affected by the outcomes of machine learning algorithms. Machine learning algorithms make decisions like who gets a bonus, a job interview, whether or not your credit card limit (or interest) is raised, and who gets into a clinical trial. Machine learning algorithms even help make decisions about who gets parole and who languishes in prison. The result is that people's lives and livelihood are affected by the decisions made by machines.