Yitu Technology, based in Shanghai, China has developed and employed an artificial intelligence (A.I.) algorithm called Dragonfly Eye that uses facial recognition technology capable of identifying 2 billion people in seconds. Zhu Long, CEO of Yitu Technologies, told the South China Morning Post, "Our machines can very easily recognise you among at least 2 billion people in a matter of seconds, which would have been unbelievable just three years ago." Dragonfly Eye is presently used by 150 municipal public security systems and 20 provincial public security departments across the country of China. Dragonfly Eye was initially employed on the Shanghai Metro in Shanghai, China, during January of this year. Local police authorities credit Dragonfly Eye with aiding in the arrest of 576 suspects on the Shanghai Metro in the first three months of using the facial recognition system.

New York City may soon gain a task force dedicated to monitoring the fairness of algorithms used by municipal agencies. Formed from experts in automated systems and representatives of groups affected by those systems, it would be responsible for closely examining algorithms in use by the city and making recommendations on how to improve accountability and avoid bias. The bill, which doesn't have a fancy name, has been approved by the city council and is on the Mayor's desk for signing. The New York division of the ACLU has argued in favor of it. Say, for instance, an "automated decision system" (as the law calls them) determines to a certain extent who's eligible for bail.

Our internet-connected devices could be impeding climate change efforts, according to an update to a 2016 peer-reviewed study on power consumption, as reported by Climate Home News. The billions of devices many of us use every day could produce 3.5 percent of global emissions within 10 years and 14 percent by 2040. This would result in the industry using approximately 20 percent of all of the world's electricity by 2025. This growing problem threatens to disrupt progress toward climate change goals and exacerbate increasingly-stressed power grids. These severe consequences are caused by one, major, underlying trend: the rapidly growing power needs of server farms which store data from billions of smart devices.

Zhu Long, co-founder and CEO of Yitu Technology, has his identity checked at the company's headquarters in the Hongqiao business district in Shanghai. "Our machines can very easily recognise you among at least 2 billion people in a matter of seconds," says chief executive and Yitu co-founder Zhu Long, "which would have been unbelievable just three years ago." Its platform is also in service with more than 20 provincial public security departments, and is used as part of more than 150 municipal public security systems across the country, and Dragonfly Eye has already proved its worth. On its very first day of operation on the Shanghai Metro, in January, the system identified a wanted man when he entered a station. After matching his face against the database, Dragonfly Eye sent his photo to a policeman, who made an arrest.

From babysitting children to beating the world champion at Go, robots are slowly but surely developing more and more advanced capabilities. And many scientists, including Professor Stephen Hawking, suggest it may only be a matter of time before machines gain consciousness. In a new article for The Conversation, Professor Subhash Kak, Regents Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Oklahoma State University explains the possible consequences if artificial intelligence gains consciousness. In a new article for The Conversation, Professor Subhash Kak explains the possible consequences if artificial intelligence gains consciousness. Most computer scientists think that consciousness is a characteristic that will emerge as technology develops. Some believe that consciousness involves accepting new information, storing and retrieving old information and cognitive processing of it all into perceptions and actions.

However quickly artificial intelligence evolves, however steadfastly it becomes embedded in our lives--in health, law enforcement, sex, etc.--it can't outpace the biases of its creators, humans. Kate Crawford, a Microsoft researcher and co-founder of AI Now, a research institute studying the social impact of artificial intelligence, delivered an incredible keynote speech, titled "The Trouble with Bias," at Neural Information Processing System Conference on Tuesday. In Crawford's keynote, she presented a fascinating breakdown of different types of harms done by algorithmic biases. As she explained, the word "bias" has a mathematically specific definition in machine learning, usually referring to errors in estimation or over/under representing populations when sampling. Less discussed is bias in terms of the disparate impact machine learning might have on different populations.

A fraudster who met her victim on a dating website for naturists scammed him out of £50,000. Moira Etchells, 45, met Ian Chatting-Tonks in 2013 and persuaded him to lend her the cash to start a business artificially inseminating cows. Swansea Crown Court heard she spent £35,000 on a new Land Rover and banked the rest. Etchells, of Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, admitted fraud and got an 18-month sentence, suspended for two years. Widower Mr Chatting-Tonks, from Norfolk, went online to search for a new partner who was also interested in naturism, which is when he found Etchells' profile.

Smart assistants are designed to tackle a whole host of everyday tasks, but some users are unhappy that this seems to include taking a stand on political issues. Amazon's Alexa has come under fire on social media thanks to the AI-powered speaker's thoughts on a number of hot button topics. Some have branded Alexa a'social justice warrior' because of her responses to questions on subjects ranging from feminism to the Black Lives Matter movement. Smart assistants are designed to tackle a whole host of everyday tasks but some users are unhappy that this seems to include taking a stand on political issues. Amazon's Alexa has come under fire thanks to the AI powered speaker's thoughts on a number of hot button topics The response has been particularly vociferous among the alt-right community on social media.

Microsoft has announced an expansion to its AI for Earth program, committing an additional $50 million to organizations that are working to solve the climate change crisis. The tech giant first announced AI for Earth back in June, and the initiative promised to provide a bunch of cloud-based tools and AI services to organizations looking to tackle problems relating to climate change. At the time, Microsoft said it was putting $2 million into the program, in addition to other add-ons, such as providing training on the use of AI. Today, the company announced an "expanded strategic plan" and a further $50 million over the next five years to "put artificial intelligence technology in the hands of individuals and organizations around the world who are working to protect our planet," according to Microsoft president and chief legal officer, Brad Smith. The news comes on the eve of the two-year anniversary of the Paris Agreement, which was adopted by nearly 200 countries around the world in December, 2015.

One year ago, we wrote about the world's first robot lawyer. It is a website with a chatbot that started off with a single and free legal service: helping to appeal unfair parking tickets. When the article was published, the services was available in the UK, and in New York and Seattle. At the time, it had helped overturn traffic tickets to the value of 4 million dollars. Apart from appealing parking tickets, the website could already assist you, too, in claiming compensation if your flight was delayed.