Imagine a world in which you can scan your face to board a train, check into a hotel, order a meal at a café, or even track your food from farm to table. In China, all of this is already happening. Facial recognition became more pervasive this year after the Chinese government in December 2017 announced an ambitious plan to achieve greater face-reading accuracy by 2020. The country also plans to introduce a system that will identify any of its 1.3 billion citizens in just three seconds. Public and private enterprises have rushed to adopt the futuristic, artificial intelligence-powered technology, implementing facial-recognition systems in transportation networks, medical facilities, and law enforcement initiatives.

The new Syfy series Nightflyers is based on a novella by George R. R. Martin that was first published back in 1980. Fantasy author Erin Lindsey says that the original story feels dated, but that it displays a basic storytelling competence that the show never really achieves. "The things that I didn't like about the Martin novella were details, at the end of the day, but I thought the bones were good, and in a certain way this is the reverse," Lindsey says in Episode 341 of the Geek's Guide to the Galaxy podcast. "Some of the details are cool, but they can't make up for the fact that the bones aren't there." Science fiction author Matthew Kressel notes that Nightflyers never really moves beyond recycling familiar elements from better movies and TV shows.

As the era of global digitalization is coming closer, systems are getting smarter day by day. Machine Learning is revolutionizing the digital culture. We now live in a time where machines are something we need in our day to day lives. They can now teach themselves without human intervention. This self- learning or self-education can produce insights that are helpful in making proper and productive decisions.

It stops unexpectedly when it actually starts doing the comparison and the specifics on this study case.

Independent Minds Comments can be posted by members of our membership scheme, Independent Minds. It allows our most engaged readers to debate the big issues, share their own experiences, discuss real-world solutions, and more. Our journalists will try to respond by joining the threads when they can to create a true meeting of independent minds. The most insightful comments on all subjects will be published daily in dedicated articles. You can also choose to be emailed when someone replies to your comment.

If you work in the technology sector, you know by now that areas such as automation, big data and artificial intelligence are where the most lucrative opportunities exist. A new report by online skilling firm Simplilearn throws some light on this, listing the most high-paying job profiles, the total number of jobs in that space and the cities where demand for these is the most. 'The Future of IT Jobs In India' survey was conducted among 1000 learners, IT working professionals across metro cities in India to understand their views on digital transformation and how it is impacting their careers. "The salaries for some of the roles are dependent on the skills," Kashyap Dalal, Co-founder and Chief Business Office, Simplilearn told Moneycontrol. "Companies, especially in the IT sector, are no longer are into mass hiring. They are in fact looking at trained talent in areas like automation, data science and artificial intelligence," he added.

The notebook version of the code can be found on GitHub. A script-based version can be found on GitHub as well.

Listen to Slate's The Gist: Slate Plus members get extended, ad-free versions of our podcasts--and much more. Sign up today and try it free for two weeks. Copy this link and add it in your podcast app. For detailed instructions, see our Slate Plus podcasts page. Listen to The Gist via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

A few years ago, the idea of controlling your lights or even security system remotely through your smartphone would have been deemed so futuristic and only present in the minds of science fiction novelists. Artificial intelligence might conjure images of the latest Sci-fi movie that you recently watched, yet in actual sense, its actual impact in our everyday life is more understated and far reaching than the science fiction movies and novels might actually suggest. Most of us have encountered AI in our everyday lives. Think about Netflix suggesting to you are a TV to watch. Google maps are already sourcing location data from our smartphone and aiding us with directions.

A new generation of idols are singing and dancing in music videos in China, with plans to sell albums and perform in concerts where they will engage fans with personalised interaction. Only thing is, they don't actually exist, at least corporeally. In the latest Christmas music video released by Chinese girl idol group SNH48, six of the group's most popular stars sing and dance with some special partners – digital copies of themselves based on their looks, voices and body language. The four-minute music video, co-produced by Tencent-backed artificial intelligence (AI) start-up ObEN, claims to be the world's first commercially released song co-starring human singers and their AI 3D avatars. "This song is our first step to test the waters in the virtual idol market. We are planning to create more intelligent virtual idols, releasing albums and making movies for them," said Xiong Wei, vice-president of the Shanghai-based SNH48.