Zurich Insurance is deploying artificial intelligence in deciding personal injury claims after trials cut the processing time from an hour to just seconds, its chairman said. "We recently introduced AI claims handling … and saved 40,000 work hours, while speeding up the claim processing time to five seconds," Tom de Swaan told Reuters, after the insurer started using machines in March to review paperwork, such as medical reports. "We absolutely plan to expand the use of this type of AI (artificial intelligence)," he said. Insurers are racing to hone the benefits of technological advancements such as big data and AI as tech-driven startups, like Lemonade Inc., enter the market. Lemonade promises renters and homeowners insurance in as little as 90 seconds and payment of claims in three minutes with the help of artificial intelligence bots that set up policies and process claims.

Artificial intelligence is already helping determine your future – whether it's your Netflix viewing preferences, your suitability for a mortgage or your compatibility with a prospective employer. But can we agree, at least for now, that having an AI determine your guilt or innocence in a court of law is a step too far? Worryingly, it seems this may already be happening. When American Chief Justice John Roberts recently attended an event, he was asked whether he could forsee a day "when smart machines, driven with artificial intelligences, will assist with courtroom fact finding or, more controversially even, judicial decision making". He responded: "It's a day that's here and it's putting a significant strain on how the judiciary goes about doing things". Roberts might have been referring to the recent case of Eric Loomis, who was sentenced to six years in prison at least in part by the recommendation of a private company's secret proprietary software.

Legal technology, commonly known as LegalTech, refers to software that enable lawyers to do their jobs more efficiently and cost-effectively. Though very much an emerging sector, LegalTech already comprises a $16 billion market in the U.S and is growing. Undoubtedly the biggest change in this burgeoning market --taking lawyers by storm--is the rapid rise of artificial intelligence technologies. Here we look at how AI is transforming the everyday practice of law, changing the profession and skills required by lawyers. More than 40 companies are offering solutions--from removing arduous contract reviews, to eDiscovery, or even providing intelligence on where best to try a case.

While EMMA is a relatively simple application, developers are thinking bigger as well: Today's cognitive technologies can track the course, speed, and destination of nearly 2,000 airliners at a time, allowing them to fly safely.4 Over time, AI will spawn massive changes in the public sector, transforming how government employees get work done. It's likely to eliminate some jobs, lead to the redesign of countless others, and create entirely new professions.5 In the near term, our analysis suggests, large government job losses are unlikely. But cognitive technologies will change the nature of many jobs--both what gets done and how workers go about doing it--freeing up to one quarter of many workers' time to focus on other activities.

Over the last decade, advances in computing have given us a teaser of what artificial intelligence is capable of. Through machine learning, algorithms can learn on their own using large amounts of real-time data. These algorithms can answer myriad questions, including what we should buy, what we should watch, and who we should date. However, the true benefits of AI and machine learning are yet to be discovered, and they extend to more impactful application areas such as computer vision, speech recognition, and medicine. Artificial intelligence is a mammoth computing challenge because of the large amount of new data generated every day.

A few years ago, Jason Freeman was confronted by a classic hiring challenge. The 10-person startup he had founded, an online commercial real estate service called 42Floors.com, Suddenly, it seemed, Freedman, who had myriad other duties as CEO, was spending hours at a time sifting through towering stacks of résumés. The solution appeared in the form of artificial intelligence software from a young company called Interviewed. It speeds the vetting process by providing online simulations of what applicants might do on their first day as an employee. The software does much more than grade multiple-choice questions.

Researchers have developed an artificial intelligence system that can put words right into people's mouths. It takes an image of a person as well as an audio clip, using them to create a video of a person speaking that audio. While the system is still rough and not realistic looking, the researchers claim the software could soon make fake videos that seem real. As an audio clip plays, the AI manipulates the mouth to look like the person is speaking. Left is the original still image.

Uber employee Anthony Levandowski is at the center of the ride-sharing service's current legal battle with competitor Waymo. But now, Levandowski has another potential adversary against him: his own company. Uber said in a letter to Levandowski that if he did not follow the court's orders, the company could take action that could include firing him, the New York Times reports. Via TechCrunch, the letter, which was sent May 15, requested that Levandowski either confirm he never took documents from Waymo or that he hand over any documents within his possession. Levandowski, who is not directly being sued, has so far claimed his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination during the case. See A. Levandowski Employment Agreement, Aug. 17, 2016 ¶ 5(a) ("August 17, 2016 Employment Agreement").

Artificial intelligence can put words right into your mouth. A new system takes a still image of a person and an audio clip, and uses them to create a doctored video of the person speaking the audio. The results are still a little rough around the edges, but the software could soon make realistically fake videos only a single click away. It works by first identifying facial features using face-recognition algorithms. As the audio clip plays, the system then manipulates the mouth of the person in the still image so that it looks as if they are speaking.