This is a Lesson from our Data Science for Lawyers Workshops (Moderately Advanced). We'd appreciate any Feed Back, especially from non-Lawyers!. Click here to see presentation.

A three-day sentencing hearing for Dr. Salomon Melgen is scheduled to begin Tuesday in West Palm Beach on 67 counts. Prosecutors say the 63-year-old doctor stole more than $100 million from the federal government. He was convicted in April after a 2 1/2- month trial.

We've all heard the big philosophical arguments and debate between rockstar entrepreneurs and genius academics – but have we stopped to think exactly how the AI revolution will play out on our own turf? At RSNA this year I posed the same question to everyone I spoke to: What if radiology AI gets into the wrong hands? Judging by the way the crowds voted with their feet by packing out every lecture on AI, radiologists would certainly seem to be very aware of the looming seismic shift in the profession – but I wanted to know if anyone was considering the potential side effects, the unintended consequences of unleashing such a disruptive technology into the clinical realm? While I'm very excited about the prospect and potential of algorithmic augmentation in radiological practice, I'm also a little nervous about more malevolent parties using it for predatory financial gains. This is what I call the'Nightmare on ML Street' scenario… Luckily this advertisement is a fake (I mocked it up), but I wanted to depict in absolute clarity the medico-legal nightmare that could potentially unfold.

"You good?" a man asked two narcotics detectives late in the summer of 2015. The detectives had just finished an undercover drug deal in Brentwood, a predominately black neighborhood in Jacksonville, Florida, that is among the poorest in the country, when the man unexpectedly approached them. One of the detectives responded that he was looking for $50 worth of "hard"– slang for crack cocaine. The man disappeared into a nearby apartment and came back out to fulfill the detective's request, swapping the drugs for money. "You see me around, my name is Midnight," the dealer said as he left.

While covering the rapid rise in the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) during the past few years, I have had the privilege of monitoring its implementation in numerous sectors. As part of my current series of interviews with the RELX Group, I been able to see the use of analytics from Artificial Intelligence in the legal industry. The legal sector has a lot of data to work with which makes it ideal for the implementation of AI and ML. To understand how these technologies are being deployed in the legal sector, I interviewed Jeff Reihl, CTO at LexisNexis. LexisNexis is one of the world's leading providers of business, legal, and regulatory information. With offices in more than 40 countries, LexisNexis serves customers in 150 countries and is part of the RELX Group.

Universities in China and elsewhere in Asia are belatedly joining global alliances to promote ethical practices in artificial intelligence or AI, which were previously being studied in university research centres in a fragmented way. Countries like South Korea, Japan, China and Singapore are making huge investments in AI research and development, including the AI interface with robotics and are in some areas rapidly narrowing the gap with the United States. But crucially there are still no international guidelines and standards in place for ethical research, design and use of AI and automated systems. China's universities in particular are turning out a large number of researchers specialising in AI. Whereas in the past they would head for Silicon Valley in the US, many are now opting to stay in the country to work for home-grown technology giants such as Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu – companies which gather and use huge amounts of consumer data with few legal limits.

A memo written by former Uber security analyst Ric Jacobs, which has become a primary piece of evidence in the company's legal battle with autonomous car development company Waymo, is expected to be made public Dec. 13. The 37-page letter from Jacobs was addressed to Uber's deputy general counsel Angela Padilla and details the company's "marketplace analytics" team that, according to Jacobs, existed for the sole purpose of stealing trade secrets from competitors. The revelation of the letter--which was raised by the United States Department of Justice after the agency collected the document earlier this year as part of its own criminal investigation into Uber--raised questions about whether Uber knowingly withheld evidence that was relevant to its dispute with the Google subsidiary company Waymo. The two firms have been locked in a dispute since February, when Waymo sued the ride hailing service for allegedly stealing proprietary information pertaining to Waymo's autonomous vehicle technology. The case revolves around former Waymo employee Anthony Levandowski who, prior to departing from the company to found his own that would eventually be acquired by Uber, downloaded 14,000 "highly confidential and proprietary design files" from Waymo servers.

Not long after Jefferson was put behind bars, another political corruption case blossomed, this time around Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell and his wife, Maureen. The McDonnells reportedly accepted more than $175,000 in loans and gifts from a local businessman in return for his exposure to state officials and industry leaders. McDonnell and his wife were indicted and convicted after the governor left office in January 2014.

As big data and artificial intelligence continue to spread their gargantuan influence throughout the global economy, today's investors and tech entrepreneurs eager to make a buck off of these innovations in 2018 are starting to identify the key trends that will come to define them. So, what exactly are the driving forces behind today's artificial intelligence and big data boom, and what can eager investors looking to cash in on this phenomenon do to prepare themselves? As it turns out, many of the forces that have defined the AI revolution thus far are still at work, and will continue to define how AI impacts the markets well into 2018. By familiarizing yourself with these top 5 emerging trends, you and your company will be well-prepared to leverage big data and AI-based solutions as the new year approaches. Few areas stand to benefit as much from the recent boom in big data and artificial intelligence as AI; whether it's Walmart or your local mom and pop shop, businesses everywhere seem to be leveraging these technologies to cut their overhead cost while widening the scopes of their business.

Politicians in New Zealand might want to watch their backs, as they could soon face stiff competition in the form of a virtual bot. 'Sam' is the world's first virtual politician that users can interact with through Facebook Messenger. The AI chatbot is'representing' New Zealand's constituents, and claims to consider everyone's position, without bias, when making decisions. And it may not be long before we see the AI bot in action, as Sam's creator claims that it will be ready to run for office in 2020. 'Sam' is the world's first virtual politician that users can interact with through Facebook Messenger.