Robots are becoming an inevitable part of our future. But questions remain over whether the increased use of artificial intelligence will be a good thing for humanity. Now academics are becoming concerned that autonomous machines will break the law - and we will be powerless to stop them. Academics are becoming concerned about whether the autonomous machines will abide by the law - and if they don't, whether police would be able to control them, like in the 1984 film Terminator (pictured) If a robot unlawfully kills someone in the heat of battle, who is liable for the death? A report by the Human Rights Watch earlier this year highlighted the rather disturbing answer: no one.

Courts use similar logic in case after case: It's not infringement if computers "read or review" the new copies, only if people do. Completely legal, four courts have agreed, because it's not as though Google is turning the complete books over to people. "Google Books ... is not a tool to be used to read books," wrote one judge. In another strand of the litigation, the parties at one point proposed a settlement that would have allowed "non-consumptive" digital humanities research on the scanned books, defined as "research in which computational analysis is performed on one or more Books, but not research in which a researcher reads or displays substantial portions of a Book to understand the intellectual content presented within the Book." This was fine, in the view of the author and publisher representatives who negotiated the proposed settlement.

The idea of having sex with a robot might seem more like something out of a science fiction film. But one in five of us are now open to the idea, according to new research. Now, one academic claims droids could also lead to changes in the sex industry, replacing prostitutes to help stamp out sexual slavery and trafficking. Sex robots could be a good substitute for human prostitutes. Dr John Danaher, a lecturer in business at NUI Galway believes that sex robots could be a good substitute for human prostitutes.

The people who are selling these machines want them to augment human intelligence, not replace it #ROSS #LegalTech https://t.co/TfcQ4Fm9mf With news that ROSS, the world's first AI lawyer, built upon IBM's Watson was'hired' by law firm Baker & Hostetler, there was much weeping and gnashing of teeth by organic, flesh-and-bone lawyers. They were then summarily rounded up by their new machine overlords and sealed in pods where their bioelectric energy was harnessed and used to power the very computers that now subjugated them. But for all the alarm-raising over the rise of AI and what it means for tomorrow's legal professionals, does machine intelligence pose a legitimate threat to the practice of law by human beings? Will clients in the near future be represented in court by Lawbot 3000?

It seems like there isn't a day which goes by at the moment without a new robotic invention in the news, with promises around how these inventions will not only revolutionise our lives, but threaten our jobs. In the outsourcing sector robots are most definitely on the way, or in some cases, already here. And it is, therefore, vital that businesses operating in this sector seriously consider how some robotic processes can enhance their operations – there's no doubt competitors are also considering the same issue. These robotic innovations can be roughly split into two separate areas: robotic process automation (RPA) and artificial intelligence (AI). RPA, simply speaking, is a process which enables computer software to partially or fully automate human activities which are manual, repetitive and rule-based.

Quasi-versions of artificial intelligence are already around us. We're on the cusp of self-driving cars, self-directed surgery machines, and machines that we can literally have a conversation with. And of course, as with any new technology, a few kinks have to get ironed out. Artificially "intelligent" machines already are used to to do quite a bit, including creating algorithms to solve problems. This form of "learning" is making machines more "intelligent" every day. In a few years, we'll be having such a deep and intimate discourse with our machines that we will be spending more time with them than we are with other human beings.

M erely twenty years ago, artificial intelligence (AI) was the plot line in movies, books, and short stories. While it loomed on the horizon, it is only now getting the attention of world, and business leaders. A few days into 2016, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook announced that he plans to spend 2016 developing an AI system to help run his life. He stated in his Facebook post: "My personal challenge for 2016 is to build a simple AI to run my home and help me with my work. You can think of it kind of like Jarvis in Iron Man."

A drone was confiscated earlier this month after it crashed at a north London jail with drugs and cell phones, according to police. The drone was not alone: Another was seen later that day and caught mid-flight. The drone seizures followed a man acting suspiciously near the prison just one day before the drones were caught. That man ran from police when confronted, dropping two bags of drugs and phones, according to the BBC. No arrests have been made so far in connection to the drugs, phones and drones.

There is universal proverb that roughly translates into "Empty vessels make the most noise." Some ascribe it to Plato, but having come from Punjab (India), I can safely confirm that the Punjabi translation means exactly that, and Punjab has as much to do with Plato as chicken tikka masala has to do with French cuisine. One of my favourite version of this proverb comes from Polish, which translated into English means, "The cow which moos a lot gives little milk." This pretty much reflects a certain philosopher from Oxford who without having any foundation in principles of engineering, let alone (proper) machine learning, seems to think himself as the leading authority to warn the world against the perils of machine learning. And for the last few years has busied himself making outrageous, pseudoscientific and shamanic claims to sell his book.

Data-driven techniques have improved decision-making processes for people in industries such as finance and real estate. Yet, despite promising solutions that data analytics and artificial intelligence/machine learning (ML) tools can bring to healthcare, the industry remains largely unconvinced. In this O'Reilly report, you'll explore the potential of--and impediments to--widespread adoption of AI and ML in the medical field. You'll also learn how extensive government regulation and resistance from the medical community have so far stymied full-scale acceptance of sophisticated data analytics in healthcare. Mike Barlow is an award-winning journalist, author, and communications strategy consultant.