When it comes to policing artificial intelligence, technology leaders think there is safety in numbers. A new organization called the Partnership on Artificial Intelligence to Benefit People and Society will seek to foster public dialogue and create guidelines for developing AI so that systems do not misbehave. The companies involved include Google and its subsidiary DeepMind, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, and IBM. The partnership is founded on eight tenets or principles, including the idea that AI should benefit as many people as possible; that the public should be involved in its development; that research should be conducted in an open way; and that AI systems should be able to explain their reasoning. That such fierce rivals would come together in this way shows how important the companies feel it is to head off public concern and speculation over the potential impacts of AI.

I started my career in 1997 with the advent of modern eDiscovery. In fact, it was not even called eDiscovery when I developed my first applications for processing data in the context of eDiscovery. I founded Advocate Solutions, Inc around that same time and we developed Discovery Cracker - one of the first eDiscovery processing applications. Producing documents was a different game back then as the price for processing was incredibly high. I Joined kCura, known for its legal database application Relativity, in 2010 and saw firsthand how fast the amount of data involved eDiscovery was rising.

AI is the technology that will have the single biggest impact on cities over the next decade. At Urban.Us, we already meet teams using very large datasets to train algorithms to drive cars, water yards efficiently, guide drones to survey construction sites and route first responders to the people who need them most, and others who use bots to provide legal guidance to people with parking fines. These startups are benefiting from an explosion of data generated by human activities and sensors. Ironically, while the flood of data is difficult for people to understand, it's great for teaching machines. Thanks to cheaper storage and processing to train new algorithms, we've seen a surge in AI deep-learning techniques.

When the writer Rebecca Forster first heard how Google was using her work, it felt like she was trapped in a science fiction novel. "Is this any different than someone using one of my books to start a fire? I have no idea," she says. "I have no idea what their objective is. Certainly it is not to bring me readers."

Operational AI systems (for example, self-driving cars) need to obey both the law of the land and our values. We propose AI oversight systems ("AI Guardians") as an approach to addressing this challenge, and to respond to the potential risks associated with increasingly autonomous AI systems.a These AI oversight systems serve to verify that operational systems did not stray unduly from the guidelines of their programmers and to bring them back in compliance if they do stray. The introduction of such second-order, oversight systems is not meant to suggest strict, powerful, or rigid (from here on'strong') controls. Operations systems need a great degree of latitude in order to follow the lessons of their learning from additional data mining and experience and to be able to render at least semi-autonomous decisions (more about this later).

One of the many questions in the design and use of Clinical Decision Support software is whether or not the user can recreate the logic used by the system in reaching its conclusions and recommendations–or alerts, or suggestions. If the CDS is based on sound medical logic, perhaps supported by specific reference material, then the user could in principle reach the same conclusions by reading the same literature, or perhaps reach a different conclusion. This transparency was part of the proposed criteria for some CDS systems not falling under FDA regulation in 2015 federal draft legislation--which didn't pass. The FDA has otherwise not been forthcoming on the general subject of CDS despite many pleas for guidance, and a draft guidance in this domain is an as yet unfulfilled part of the 2015 strategic plan. However underlying logic and science is not the only way to build "artificial intelligence" (AI), which might in some instances turn out to be artificial mediocrity if not artificial stupidity.

Over the last few decades, globalization has created great wealth and brought millions out of poverty. Today, a combination of technology, politics, and social pressures seems to be reversing globalization. While the new technology will continue to create wealth, it will favor developed countries. The increasing regionalization of economies and differences in rates of growth will create instability and challenge international security arrangements. The Economist defines globalization as the "global integration of the movement of goods, capital and jobs." The combination of labor cost advantages, efficient freight systems, and trade agreements fueled globalization by providing regional cost advantages for manufacturing. Over the last six decades, it transformed agricultural societies into industrial powerhouses.

Warsaw prosecutors have officially informed a Russian citizen that he is suspected of violating Polish aviation law by flying a drone over Polish government buildings in Warsaw. In Poland, this is the first step toward charges being possibly pressed against the man, identified only as Ivan K., in line with Poland's privacy regulations. Police detained the man Monday on suspicion he was operating a drone that was flying in the prohibited area around Prime Minister Beata Szydlo's office and other state buildings. Spokesman for the prosecutors, Michal Dziekanski, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that following questioning the man was given a suspect status and released. If charged and convicted of flying a drone in an off-limits area, he could face up to five years in prison.

Indian laws need to be examined to better address the changes in technology. The explosion of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at its Cape Canaveral launch pad on September 1 and the crash of Tesla's driverless car in June are powerful reminders that while technology driven by artificial intelligence (AI) is advancing at a dizzying pace, regulators cannot lag behind. Although self-driving cars have not yet hit the Indian roads, app-based taxi aggregators such as Uber and Ola do operate in the country. We have all experienced the many benefits of AI – email spam filtering, web page translations and Facebook's auto recognition to tag friends and family in a photograph. A number of AI startups in India are helping people book cabs, order food, pay bills and recharge mobile phones.

Still, Mark Geistfeld, Sheila Lubetsky Birnbaum Professor of Civil Litigation at The New York University School of Law, believes Apple and similar firms have a responsibility to explore ways to cut down on distracted driving. One such technological solution might be for smartphone makers to disable or limit a device's functionality when it's traveling at driving speeds. Jennifer H. Arlen, Norma Z. Paige Professor of Law at The New York University School of Law, says that makes texting-while-driving cases a "very good place for liability imposed directly on the person who misuses [a phone], and perhaps criminal statutes that enhance the penalties on people who have serious accidents while texting and driving." Apple calls its system CarPlay, for Android devices there's Android Auto.