An artificial intelligence machine called Mark took on a human being.

At the end of March, I had the good fortune of visiting the Silicon Valley to attend Strata Hadoop World 2016. As it was my first visit to the Silicon Valley, I made pilgrimages to more than a dozen technology companies. At the Strata conference, I made it a priority to engage in exchanges with machine learning and artificial intelligence technology companies. Two things from this trip left the deepest impressions on me: 1. I realized that start-up companies are the main driving force behind the flourishing field of data science tools.

What started out as a rather simple, open-ended sandbox and survival game has turned into something more than what creater Markus "Notch" Persson probably imagined. Although Minecraft remains a virtual world where people can let their creativity run wild, it has also become a tool that can be used for the common good. In addition to using Minecraft for educational purposes, Microsoft has also turned it into a research tool. Project Malmo, formerly called Project AIX, uses Minecraft's open world for artificial intelligence research and is now available as open source for everyone to use. Despite recent advancements in the field of artificial intelligence, some experts might argue that we are far from the ideal, and dreaded, self-learning AI.

What if the Terminator served you a bespoke specialty cocktail instead of trying to blow away your whole family? Well, you might not get the chance to hear Arnold Schwarzenegger ask "Do you want to start a tab?" but artificial intelligence and alcohol are indeed coming together. In fact, London-based firm IntelligentX is using AI to brew beer. The idea is that after trying one of IntelligentX's four beers -- named Amber AI, Black AI, Golden AI and Pale AI -- consumers use a Facebook chat bot to give feedback on what they liked and didn't like about the flavor. The algorithm, named ABI (Automated Brewing Intelligence) takes that feedback and gives it to the master brewer to tweak the next batch.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already delivering game-changing benefits in inventory management, forecasting, faster diagnoses, order fulfilment, manufacturing processes and robotics. With very big data increasingly accessible and available, the tidal wave of Knowledge Work Automation is predicted to impact the global economy by 5-7 trillion per annum. But with new opportunity comes new risk. AI gone wrong could have disastrous consequences. But while the world angsts about the existential risks (will robots destroy the human race?), it's our job to protect your business in the here and now as you push forward the boundaries of technology. Specialist insurance that's designed with Artificial Intelligence in mind is a must.

Colfax International, a Silicon Valley company with 28 years of experience in high-end computing systems, is growing its research team by opening a full-time position of Research Engineer in Machine Learning based in Sunnyvale, California, USA. We are looking for professionals with passion for parallel computing with emphasis on machine learning tasks to help us expand our activity in research, education and consulting on modern computing technologies. Colfax International is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, national origin, gender, age, religion, disability, veteran status, or any other category protected by law.

"Ever since we started Moodstocks, our dream has been to give eyes to machines by turning cameras into smart sensors able to make sense of their surroundings," the company said in a statement. "Our [new] focus will be to build great image recognition tools within Google." Google stated that it will integrate Moodstock's software into its photo applications, improving the ability to tag and categorize user images. The acquisition raised concerns among privacy advocates. "All connected devices now have a camera and microphone in them, often these can be turned off and on without us knowing. Making these eyes intelligent will be great for identifying random objects and helping our smart devices to become even smarter, but not so good for keeping your personal life personal," Renate Samson, president of privacy group Big Brother Watch, told the Sun.

Sealy, Texas bridge collapses on mother and son (NBC) SEALY, Texas (KXAN/KPRC) - A bridge collapsed in Sealy, Texas around 10 a.m. after a tractor trailer collided with it. Parts of the bridge landed on a car killing a child and injuring th...

We're excited to announce that Evercontact has created the first app with crowdsourced contact updates, Evercontact . Evercontact users now benefit from immediate updates whenever a new public email signature is detected for one of their contacts, without having to wait for an email from them directly. Picture this: Ellen is not one of your contacts, but you and Ellen are both in touch with Ben. Ben gets a new phone number, changes his email signature and emails Ellen right away. Evercontact will now update your address book even if you haven't yet received a mail from Ben yourself.

There is general agreement that AI is already having a huge impact on our work and leisure lives, as well as society as a whole -- and the effects are escalating rapidly. More open to debate is exactly what to expect and when. Long-term projections for many economists and robotics designers go only as far as the next five, or maybe 20 years, when driverless cars, elder-case assistants and automated factories will be the norm. Robin Hanson takes another tack. The associate professor of economics at George Mason University is also a research associate at the Future of Humanity Institute of Oxford University.