ACCORDING to some prominent voices in the tech world, artificial intelligence presents a looming existential threat to humanity: Warnings by luminaries like Elon Musk and Nick Bostrom about "the singularity" -- when machines become smarter than humans -- have attracted millions of dollars and spawned a multitude of conferences. But this hand-wringing is a distraction from the very real problems with artificial intelligence today, which may already be exacerbating inequality in the workplace, at home and in our legal and judicial systems. Sexism, racism and other forms of discrimination are being built into the machine-learning algorithms that underlie the technology behind many "intelligent" systems that shape how we are categorized and advertised to. Take a small example from last year: Users discovered that Google's photo app, which applies automatic labels to pictures in digital photo albums, was classifying images of black people as gorillas. Google apologized; it was unintentional.

But physics and chemistry give us a clear definition of the element magnesium -- which we can then use in the Wolfram Language to have a well-defined "magnesium" entity. It's very important that the Wolfram Language is a symbolic language -- because it means that the things in it don't immediately have to have "values;" they can just be symbolic constructs that stand for themselves. And so, for example, the entity "magnesium" is represented as a symbolic construct, that doesn't itself "do" anything, but can still appear in a computation, just like, for example, a number (like 9.45) can appear. There are many kinds of constructs that the Wolfram Language supports. Like "New York City" or "last Christmas" or "geographically contained within." And the point is that the design of the language has defined a precise meaning for them. New York City, for example, is taken to mean the precise legal entity considered to be New York City, with geographical borders defined by law.

A former solicitor general has said she is concerned the Ched Evans rape case could discourage victims of sexual offences from coming forward. The 27-year-old footballer was cleared on Friday of raping a 19-year-old woman in a hotel room. Vera Baird told the BBC that details of the woman's sexual past should not have been heard in court. Mr Evans was found guilty of rape in 2012, but that conviction was quashed in April. The Chesterfield striker was accused of attacking the woman at a Premier Inn in Rhuddlan, Denbighshire, on 30 May 2011.

Nowadays people are -- or arguably should be -- aware of the advances, promises and challenges of artificial intelligence, which already controls computers, mobile phones, automobiles and just about everything else that has a battery or power cord. Along with artificial intelligence (AI) comes the need to make sure benefits aren't undermined by risks with something controlled by a computer algorithm rather than humans. It's an important but complex topic, explaining why the White House released a 58-page report, "Preparing for the Future of Artificial Intelligence," in advance of today's Frontiers Conference at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. "Developing and studying machine intelligence can help us better understand and appreciate our human intelligence," states the report's executive summary. "AI can augment our intelligence, helping us chart a better and wiser path forward."

A key pretrial hearing to determine what evidence prosecutors can use in Bill Cosby's Pennsylvania sex assault case has been scheduled for early November. Prosecutors hope to call 13 other accusers to show the comedian had a pattern of drugging and molesting women. The criminal charges involve an encounter with Andrea Constand in 2004. Prosecutors also want to use Cosby's deposition from Constand's 2005 lawsuit. Cosby acknowledges under oath that he had sexual encounters with a series of women after giving them drugs or alcohol.

General Electric (GE), the largest industrial company in the US, says it has developed processes that more than double the speed of innovation and which have the potential to completely restructure its own business. GE will next week launch its first business venture, called Fuse, that will test a hugely ambitious and radical approach to creating new companies through processes and technologies designed to harness the work of global crowds of experts. Dyan Finkhousen is Director of GE's Open Innovation and Advanced Manufacturing group. The GE startup "will usher in what we believe is the future of work," said Dyan Finkhousen, Director of GE's Open Innovation and Advanced Manufacturing group. See also: Emerging technologies to power your systems of insight Obama's report on the future of artificial intelligence: The main takeaways Robot security: Making sure machines don't become the latest big threat She was speaking at Brightidea's Synthesize user conference in San Francisco.

A UK parliamentary committee has appealed the UK government to take action and begin seriously considering "a host of social, ethical and legal questions" that are increasingly pertinent thanks to the rise of artificial intelligence. The science and technology committee started its inquiry in March 2016, visiting Google's DeepMind office, gathering 67 written statements, and interviewing 12 witnesses in person in order to establish the most urgent issues. In its newly published report, the committee has concluded that "while it is too soon to set down sector-wide regulations for this nascent field, it is vital that careful scrutiny of the ethical, legal and societal dimensions of artificially intelligent systems begins now." The biggest reason for this is the need to ensure that the UK is building socially beneficial AI systems, and one of the best ways to make this happen is to start a wider public dialogue on the issue. There are three main issues that the committee flags up as requiring "serious" consideration: minimizing bias being accidentally built into AI systems; ensuring that the decisions they make are transparent; and establishing ways to verify that AI systems are operating as intended and won't behave unpredictably. In these early stages, the committee advises in its report that the government creates a standing Commission on Artificial Intelligence with a broad membership that is able to provide a wide range of expertise.

New Zealand is being urged to act now to manage the rapid rise of robotics and artificial intelligence. Within 24 years there is a 50 percent chance artificial intelligence could be smarter than us. Within 60 years, it's almost guaranteed. Now a leading business group and law firm want the Government to set up a working group of leaders from all areas of business and society to tackle the opportunities and challenges AI represents. "AI is an extraordinary challenge for our future.'

In 1996 the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was enacted. The Accountability portion of the law requires that healthcare providers protect the privacy of patient health information and includes security measures that must be followed. Provider success has been mixed and has recently come under intense scrutiny due to the number and size of reportable breaches of health information.

For many people, Google is simply the gateway to a vast archive of facts and memories. For those who pay closer attention to its business dealings, the company also invests billions to find new ways to use the power of computers: it's developing robots, virtual reality gear and self-driving cars. Remember all the hubbub about Google Glass? Google has been using the same approach in sustainability – spreading its wealth in a variety of projects to cut its waste and carbon footprint, initiatives which may one day generate profits. During the SXSW Eco conference this week, I caught up with Google's sustainability officer, Kate Brandt, to find out more.