The Commission is proposing a three-pronged approach to increase public and private investment in AI, prepare for socio-economic changes, and ensure an appropriate ethical and legal framework. This follows European leaders' call for a European approach on AI. Vice-President for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip said: "Just as the steam engine and electricity did in the past, AI is transforming our world. It presents new challenges that Europe should meet together in order for AI to succeed and work for everyone. We need to invest at least €20 billion by the end of 2020. The Commission is playing its part: today, we are giving a boost to researchers so that they can develop the next generation of AI technologies and applications, and to companies, so that they can embrace and incorporate them."

A diverse range of technologists, engineers, roboticists and lawyers come together to discuss the social and legal ramifications of rapid improvements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robots.

Most people are not very familiar with the concept of artificial intelligence (AI). As an illustration, when 1,500 senior business leaders in the United States in 2017 were asked about AI, only 17 percent said they were familiar with it.1 A number of them were not sure what it was or how it would affect their particular companies. They understood there was considerable potential for altering business processes, but were not clear how AI could be deployed within their own organizations. Despite its widespread lack of familiarity, AI is a technology that is transforming every walk of life. It is a wide-ranging tool that enables people to rethink how we integrate information, analyze data, and use the resulting insights to improve decisionmaking. Our hope through this comprehensive overview is to explain AI to an audience of policymakers, opinion leaders, and interested observers, and demonstrate how AI already is altering the world and raising important questions for society, the economy, and governance. In this paper, we discuss novel applications in finance, national security, health care, criminal justice, transportation, and smart cities, and address issues such as data access problems, algorithmic bias, AI ethics and transparency, and legal liability for AI decisions. We contrast the regulatory approaches of the U.S. and European Union, and close by making a number of recommendations for getting the most out of AI while still protecting important human values.2 Although there is no uniformly agreed upon definition, AI generally is thought to refer to "machines that respond to stimulation consistent with traditional responses from humans, given the human capacity for contemplation, judgment and intention."3 According to researchers Shubhendu and Vijay, these software systems "make decisions which normally require [a] human level of expertise" and help people anticipate problems or deal with issues as they come up.4 As such, they operate in an intentional, intelligent, and adaptive manner. Artificial intelligence algorithms are designed to make decisions, often using real-time data. They are unlike passive machines that are capable only of mechanical or predetermined responses. Using sensors, digital data, or remote inputs, they combine information from a variety of different sources, analyze the material instantly, and act on the insights derived from those data. With massive improvements in storage systems, processing speeds, and analytic techniques, they are capable of tremendous sophistication in analysis and decisionmaking.

Brussels has called for a €20bn (£14bn) cash injection for artificial intelligence research, while pouring cold water over controversial plans to give robots human rights. The European commission wants governments and private companies to boost research and innovation spending on AI, amid rising concern that Europe is losing ground to the US and China, where most leading AI firms are based. Health, transport and agriculture are among the areas the commission would like researchers to prioritise. But the commission distanced itself from proposals to give the most advanced robots the legal status of personhood. "I don't think it will happen," Andrus Ansip, a commission vice-president in charge of digital single-market policy told journalists.

Brussels has called for a €20bn (£14bn) cash injection for artificial intelligence research, while pouring cold water over controversial plans to give robots human rights. The European commission wants governments and private companies to boost research and innovation spending on AI, amid rising concern Europe is losing ground to the US and China, where most leading AI firms are based. Health, transport and agriculture are among the areas the commission would like researchers to prioritise. But the commission distanced itself from proposals to give the most advanced robots the legal status of personhood. "I don't think it will happen," Andrus Ansip, a commission vice-president in charge of digital single-market policy told journalists.

"Today, we are giving a boost to researchers so that they can develop the next generation of AI technologies and applications, and to companies, so that they can embrace and incorporate them." Other European countries such as France and Britain have also made AI investment a priority. French President Emmanuel Macron promised 1.5 billion euros of public money for AI in March. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to.

"In the US, it is entirely driven by the private sector, large corporations, and some startups dealing with them. All the choices they will make are private choices that deal with collective values," warned Macron. "On the other side, Chinese players collect a lot of data driven by a government whose principles and values are not ours," he pointed out. Macron showed in the thought-provoking interview he knew that if you want to shape how AI will affect us, you have to be involved at the design stage, and set the rules. "If we want to defend our way to deal with privacy, our collective preference for individual freedom versus technological progress, integrity of human beings and human DNA, if you want to manage your own choice of society, your choice of civilisation, you have to be able to be an acting part of this AI revolution," the French leader said, adding he wanted to "frame the discussion at a global scale". A similar message is due to come out of Brussels on Wednesday (25 April), when the European Commission presents its strategy paper on artificial intelligence - namely, that the EU should take the lead to shape the ethics of AI.

Please also do not insist on constantly changing the features just to sell a new version. We old(er) humans are simply not all that enamored of the latest and greatest tech (recall that, in many cases, we created it), nor are we impressed by the ability to add emojis to our digital correspondence. We have learned that talking is more satisfying than texting, and visits from grandchildren are better than Facebook. Do not pity us--though, if you like, you may envy us.

In July 2017, Google engineer James Damore distributed a memorandum titled "Google's Ideological Echo Chamber," which was critical of Google's diversity policies. The memo "went viral" and was widely distributed inside and outside of Google, leading to extensive media discussions. In August 2017, Google fired Damore for violation of the company's code of conduct. The U.S. National Labor Relations Board concluded that Google did not violate U.S. federal labor law when it fired Damore, but Damore filed a lawsuit against Google for discrimination. The memo's central argument was that the gender disparity observed in the tech industry in general, and in Google in particular, could be partially explained by biological differences between women and men.

The recent wave of technological innovations springing from the Fourth Industrial Revolution has opened up a huge opportunity in the space economy. Decreasing costs and a relatively open competitive field could mean huge growth; however, as a panel at the World Economic Forum Davos meetings this past January discussed, there are a number of potential pitfalls that could slow or even halt the growth of the space economy. The experts outlined the need for public-private collaboration, the innovations on Earth that have placed humanity on the threshold of this new frontier, and the possible downfalls the industry still faces. Here are the key takeaways. Public-private collaboration is the best way to foster growth in the space industry. The public sector may facilitate the growth of the space economy by building its infrastructure and absorbing some of its initial risk.