In a remarkable step to render human journalism obsolete, state news outlet Xinhua teamed up with search engine Sogou to create the world's first female AI news anchor. According to reports, the anchor, Xin Xiaomeng will make her first appearance in March, during the upcoming two sessions political meeting. As far as applying artificial intelligence in journalism goes, China is pushing the boundaries further than ever. Just four months ago, Xinhua debuted the first male AI News anchor during China's world internet conference in Wuzhen. But, that was just the beginning.

AI is already being implemented in businesses around the world, and while worries persist over whether robots will be taking over the workplace, some are predicting that it will actually improve and even create jobs in the future. From devices in our homes to mobile apps, AI has already made its way into our daily lives. The workplace is no exception and AI has already helped businesses make better use of data and streamline processes. Artificial Intelligence on Big Data – Businesses are starting to use data to make decisions with the help of algorithms and real-time methods. AI assists with this by breaking down excessive data to help businesses make use of it.

When people think of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the major image that pops up in their heads is that of a robot gliding around and giving mechanical replies. There are many forms of AI but humanoid robots are one of the most popular forms. They have been depicted in several Hollywood movies and if you are a fan of science fiction, you might have come across a few humanoids. One of the earliest forms of humanoids was created in 1495 by Leonardo Da Vinci. It was an armor suit and it could perform a lot of human functions such as sitting, standing and walking.

We may be advancing into a new age of artificial intelligence, but humans have been dreaming about the possibilities of AI for far longer. It was almost 100 years ago when an AI first appeared on the silver screen, and the technology's prevalence has only grown since then. These AI characters vary from big to small, from good to evil, and from anthropomorphic to robotic, but what's really incredible is that these non-human characters were, from the start, always portrayed as individual nuanced personalities in their own right. The relationship between humans and AI in the movies is often complicated, much like it is in reality. Throughout the years, we've seen film representations of AI that range from benevolent companions seeking to help their human counterparts to hostile machines bent on the total destruction of humankind.

Early on, fans had every reason to be wary of Sony's Oscar-winning "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse." The studio's last three Spider-movies outside the Marvel Cinematic Universe had seemed trapped in a web of confusion. And wouldn't a new release by the studio -- even an animated one -- conflict with the extremely popular Tom Holland iteration in the MCU? But all "Spider-Verse" has done since its release is earn the best reviews of any Spider-movie, ever (97% on Rotten Tomatoes) and sweep awards-season honors, including the animated feature Academy Award on Sunday night. It bested two competitors from Marvel's parent company, Disney, including early favorite "Incredibles 2" and "Ralph Breaks the Internet," as well as the smaller-scale "Isle of Dogs" and Japanese import "Mirai." Co-producer Chris Miller accepted the Oscar by saying, "There's 800 filmmakers [on this film] who pushed boundaries and took risks to make people feel powerful and seen."

Of primary importance in formulating a response to the increasing prevalence and power of artificial intelligence (AI) applications in society are questions of ontology. Questions such as: What "are" these systems? How are they to be regarded? How does an algorithm come to be regarded as an agent? We discuss three factors which hinder discussion and obscure attempts to form a clear ontology of AI: (1) the various and evolving definitions of AI, (2) the tendency for pre-existing technologies to be assimilated and regarded as "normal," and (3) the tendency of human beings to anthropomorphize. This list is not intended as exhaustive, nor is it seen to preclude entirely a clear ontology, however, these challenges are a necessary set of topics for consideration. Each of these factors is seen to present a 'moving target' for discussion, which poses a challenge for both technical specialists and non-practitioners of AI systems development (e.g., philosophers and theologians) to speak meaningfully given that the corpus of AI structures and capabilities evolves at a rapid pace. Finally, we present avenues for moving forward, including opportunities for collaborative synthesis for scholars in philosophy and science.

"How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World" breathed some fire into a slumping box office with a franchise-best $55.5 million debut over Oscar weekend. Writer-director Dean DeBlois' third and supposedly final installment in the "How to Train Your Dragon" series notched the best opening of the year in U.S. and Canadian theaters. Going into the weekend, overall ticket sales for 2019 were down 18 percent, according to Comscore, throwing cold water on the record box office of 2018. But as Hollywood was set to gather for the Academy Awards on Sunday, "The Hidden World" lent the industry some good news -- albeit not a hint at all of the magnitude of what that was in theaters last Oscar weekend when "Black Panther" was the top film. Made for $129 million, "The Hidden World" rode good reviews (91 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and warm audience reaction (an A CinemaScore) to exceed the $43.7 million opening of the 2010 original (which ultimately made $494.9 million worldwide) and the $49 million opening of the 2014 sequel (which amassed $621.5 million).

A recent decision by research lab OpenAI to limit the release of a new algorithm has caused controversy in the AI community. The nonprofit said it decided not to share the full version of the program, a text-generation algorithm named GPT-2, due to concerns over "malicious applications." But many AI researchers have criticized the decision, accusing the lab of exaggerating the danger posed by the work and inadvertently stoking "mass hysteria" about AI in the process. The debate has been wide-ranging and sometimes contentious. It even turned into a bit of a meme among AI researchers, who joked that they've had an amazing breakthrough in the lab, but the results were too dangerous to share at the moment.

ONCE THOUGHT OF AS A NICHE TOY for early adopters, drones can now be found buzzing over parks, in select cities, and are even being increasingly used for video production as the popularity of aerial photography soars. However, drones aren't only for fun and entertainment, and the high-pitched hum of their spinning propellers could replace the wail of ambulance sirens for global citizens as drones are put to work for humanitarian purposes. In March of 2017, DJI, the manufacturers of the most popular commercial drones, published a report about drones' life-saving capabilities, citing cases in which drones manned by volunteers or bystanders were used in emergency situations like floods and avalanches, resulting in 59 life-saving rescues in China, Canada, the U.S., and Turkey. Given that it takes 25 people 35 hours to search one square mile for missing persons, compared to the 30 minutes it takes a drone to cover the same area, regardless of treacherous conditions on the ground, drones are uniquely suited for search and rescue, even when piloted by hobbyists. Based on the increasing trend of drone use in the last 10 months covered by the report, DJI estimated that drones would be directly responsible for saving at least one person per week in the future.