"Now I like artificial intelligence," said Karla Savage, a 71-year-old bioblitz participant from the East Bay. "I guess the only application I saw before was people losing jobs (to artificial intelligence), but to have this recognition software be used in a different way than just jobs and economy -- I just wasn't …

The most exciting thing about smart speakers is that they are all so utterly imperfect. Each of the mainstream examples – Amazon's Echos, the Google Home, Sonos's wide range and the new Apple HomePod – packs within it stunning technology that would have been unimaginable just a couple of years ago. But they're also full of downsides, making choosing one a matter of deciding what you want, not simply settling on the best. Deciding is a matter of picking which things you want – and which things you definitely don't. Some sound good, but are terrible at talking back to you.

A new artificial intelligence (AI) project from tech conglomerate Alibaba could alleviate some of the myriad problems facing Chinese farmers in the pork industry. China is the world's largest producer and consumer of pork, and keeping track of the nation's estimated 700 million animals is notoriously difficult for farmers. They need to pay careful attention to ensure that piglets aren't crushed to death by their mothers, sows aren't bred past their prime, and sick pigs don't pass their illnesses on to the rest of the population. Currently, farmers track pigs by clipping wireless radio frequency identification (RFID) tags to the animals' ears. These can be expensive, and farmers don't always have time to fit each pig with a tag and scan them. They also provide only very basic information about the pigs' locations -- they can't determine anything about the animals' health and wellbeing.

The demand for quality local news, holding power to account and keeping audiences informed and engaged, is higher than ever. RADAR is a new service which harnesses the power of technology to deliver incisive, fact-based news stories to local media across the UK and Ireland. It brings together PA, the national news agency with over 150 years' experience in supplying quality content, and Urbs Media, a tech driven start up using a combination of reporters and automation to mass localise news. Reports And Data and Robots (RADAR) is a global first in successfully combining humans and machine to scale up local news production across core local news pillars such as; health, education, crime, transport, housing and environment. RADAR is moving towards a full market launch and is expected to be able to create 30,000 localised stories each month. Register for this webinar where PA's Editor-in-Chief, Pete Clifton and RADAR's Alan Renwick will outline the details of the service; how the technology works, the content topics, the assets we'll be producing and the ways in which news outlets can access and use the service.

It may have been the first bit of fake news in the history of the Internet: in 1984, someone posted on Usenet that the Soviet Union was joining the network. It was a harmless April's Fools Day prank, a far cry from today's weaponized disinformation campaigns and unscrupulous fabrications designed to turn a quick profit. In 2017, misleading and maliciously false online content is so prolific that we humans have little hope of digging ourselves out of the mire. Instead, it looks increasingly likely that the machines will have to save us. One algorithm meant to shine a light in the darkness is AdVerif.ai,

Old age could soon be old news, according to a leading futurologist who claims people born after 1970 could live forever. He predicts that by the year 2050, humans could outlive the constraints of the physical body. Genetic engineering could be used to extend the body's life expectancy, by reducing or reversing the ageing of cells. Advances in AI could lead to android bodies for humans to live in after their own flesh and blood frames have ceased to function. And virtual reality worlds could be created for people to upload their consciousness into once their bodies have failed. Old age could soon be old news, according to a leading futurologist who claims people born after 1970 could live forever.

The era of big data led to companies all over the world embracing data as a key competitor driver. The more they knew about their operations, customers and products, the more successful they would be.

One of the themes that dominated this year's forum was artificial intelligence. For Sundar Pichai, the head of Google, "artificial intelligence (AI) will save us, not destroy us. AI is probably the most important thing humanity has ever worked on. I think of it as something more profound than electricity or fire.".

Phrasee's AI-powered software uses natural language generation and deep learning capability to automatically generate human sounding subject lines that adhere to brand style and guidelines. "The Phrasee platform itself made application of AI technology fast, simple and easy to use – we're able to …

Artificial intelligence (AI) is cropping up everywhere in business, as organizations deploy the technology to gain insights into customers, markets and competitors, and to automate processes in almost every facet of operations.