A malfunctioning robot fatally crushed a woman's head as she adjusted machinery at her job, according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed in federal court by her husband. Wanda Holbrook, a maintenance technician for Michigan's Ventra Ionia, which does work related to trailer hitches, was inspecting machinery on July 7, 2015, when a robot from another section "took Wanda by surprise," per William Holbrook's suit. It entered Wanda's section, where hitch components were assembled, then "hit and crushed Wanda's head between a hitch assembly it was attempting to place in the fixture of section 140, and a hitch assembly that was already in the fixture." Holbrook's co-workers found her, and she died of severe head trauma at the scene, Courthouse News reports. The robot shouldn't have gone into that section in the first place, and, furthermore, shouldn't have tried to place a hitch assembly in a fixture that already had one loaded, per the lawsuit, which was filed against various companies involved in the production, installation, and servicing of the robot.

Two Democratic lawmakers proposed legislation Wednesday that would protect the privacy of U.S. citizens from the growing use of drones by government and commercial entities. The bill, dubbed the Drone Aircraft Privacy and Transparency Act, was introduced by Democratic Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Congressman Peter Welch of Vermont to install transparency standards for drone usage and privacy protections for individuals. According to the two legislators, the bill will require disclosure for location, flight timing and ownership information of unmanned aerial vehicles. It will also require that any data collected by drones adhere to privacy protections. The bill would require data collected by drones to undergo a minimization process to make sure no unnecessary or excess personally identifying information is gathered.

In the consumer report, we are number one once again and just like the Q7, in the consumer report it also occupies the first position as the best luxury SUV. And I think this power of the brand makes it possible for us to grow significantly. There are couple of models which have not even be launched yet in this market, models which we already know here, for instance the S4, the A5, and the entirely new A5 Sportback. They are now being launched in the United States. All new models for this market, and I assume that this year once again we are going to experience very solid growth in the United States. And the question so whether we spend more money for this? I can tell you we even spend less money in form of sales discounts because of the powerful brand and the relatively young product portfolio. So you would take the second part?

Editor's Note: This article first appeared in Spektrum der Wissenschaft, Scientific American's sister publication, as "Digitale Demokratie statt Datendiktatur." "Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one's understanding without guidance from another." The digital revolution is in full swing. How will it change our world? The amount of data we produce doubles every year. In other words: in 2016 we produced as much data as in the entire history of humankind through 2015. Every minute we produce hundreds of thousands of Google searches and Facebook posts. These contain information that reveals how we think and feel. Soon, the things around us, possibly even our clothing, also will be connected with the Internet. It is estimated that in 10 years' time there will be 150 billion networked measuring sensors, 20 times more than people on Earth. Then, the amount of data will double every 12 hours. Many companies are already trying to turn this Big Data into Big Money. Everything will become intelligent; soon we will not only have smart phones, but also smart homes, smart factories and smart cities. Should we also expect these developments to result in smart nations and a smarter planet? The field of artificial intelligence is, indeed, making breathtaking advances. In particular, it is contributing to the automation of data analysis. Artificial intelligence is no longer programmed line by line, but is now capable of learning, thereby continuously developing itself. Recently, Google's DeepMind algorithm taught itself how to win 49 Atari games. Algorithms can now recognize handwritten language and patterns almost as well as humans and even complete some tasks better than them. They are able to describe the contents of photos and videos. Today 70% of all financial transactions are performed by algorithms. News content is, in part, automatically generated. This all has radical economic consequences: in the coming 10 to 20 years around half of today's jobs will be threatened by algorithms. It can be expected that supercomputers will soon surpass human capabilities in almost all areas--somewhere between 2020 and 2060. Experts are starting to ring alarm bells.

"Within just a few years, the overwhelming majority of large and midsize organizations globally will deploy analytics applications or advanced analytics as part of a platform to improve business decision-making," said Dr. Rod Fontecilla, vice president and global lead for analytics at Unisys. "We want to give users an opportunity to learn about how artificial intelligence can help build those capabilities by giving them access to the unique tools and expertise offered by Unisys to help them remain competitive in the future." About Unisys Unisys is a global information technology company that specializes in providing industry-focused solutions integrated with leading-edge security to clients in the government, financial services and commercial markets. Unisys offerings include security solutions, advanced data analytics, cloud and infrastructure services, application services and application and server software. Unisys and other Unisys products and services mentioned herein, as well as their respective logos, are trademarks or registered trademarks of Unisys Corporation.

Tragically, something went wrong in 2015, but Holbrook never saw it coming. The tragedy devastated her husband, three children, grandchildren and dozens of coworkers who filled the back four pews at her funeral.

A rogue robot has been blamed for the death of a woman killed in an accident at an auto-parts factory in Michigan. Wanda Holbrook, who worked as a maintenance technician at the Ventra Ionia Mains plant for 12 years, was "trapped by robotic machinery and pronounced dead at the scene" in July 2015. The 57-year-old's widower, William Holbrook, has filed a wrongful death complaint seeking damages from five robotics companies responsible for manufacturing, installing and testing the robotics: Lincoln Electric, Flex-N-Gate, Prodomax, FANUC and Nachi. "Wanda was working in either section 140 or 150 within the '100' cell, when a robot from section 130 took Wanda by surprise, entering the section she was working," the lawsuit alleges. She "suffered tremendous fright, shock and conscious pain and suffering" when she was crushed to death, the suit claims.

With the completion of our platform design and plans for an invitation-only alpha, we are excited to announce a token crowdsale for Lunyr on March 29, 2017 at 16:00 UTC. Lunyr is an Ethereum-based decentralized crowdsourced encyclopedia which rewards users with app tokens for peer-reviewing and contributing information. It aims to be the starting point of the internet for finding reliable, accurate information. The long-term vision is to develop a knowledge base API that developers can use to create next generation decentralized applications in Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and more. The platform itself is designed to encourage the continuous growth of highly accurate and reliable content.

On Thursday, March 9th, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) hosted a forum on the consumer implications of recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technologies. This was the FTC's third forum on issues in FinTech. Previous FinTech Forums covered marketplace lending and crowdfunding and peer-to-peer payments. In opening remarks, the FTC acknowledged the benefits of technological developments in AI and blockchain technologies: AI promises better decision-making and personalized consumer technologies, while blockchain technologies would increase the efficiency of financial transactions and eliminate the need for the middleman, among other benefits. But, the FTC stressed that advancements in these technologies must be coupled with an awareness of and active engagement in identifying and minimizing associated risks.

Machines, you may have heard, are coming for all the jobs. Artificial intelligence handles insurance claims and basic bookkeeping, manages investment portfolios, does legal research, and performs basic HR tasks. Human labor doesn't stand a chance against them--after the "automation apocalypse," only those with spectacular abilities and the owners of the robots will thrive. But before you start campaigning for a universal basic income and set up a bunker, you might want to also familiarize yourself with the competing theory: In the long run, we're going to be just fine. Our modern fear that robots will steal all the jobs fits a classic script. Nearly 500 years ago, Queen Elizabeth I cited the same fear when she denied an English inventor named William Lee a patent for an automated knitting contraption.