Putting aside contested definitions of what artificial intelligence actually is (Digital Journal has discussed this recently), the new Google projects are orientated towards pushing forward the concept of the thinking machine or, as the head of research Emmanuel Mogenet puts it, "teaching machines common sense." The projects form the core part of Google's significantly expanded European research center. Mogenet is head of Google's Zürich Search Team. He is credited with developing the application Shake (software), before being headhunted by the U.S. tech firm. The Google projects focus on three research areas: machine learning, natural language understanding and computer perception.

A serious problem in the Turing test for computer intelligence is exposed in a study published in the Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Artificial Intelligence. If a machine were to'take the Fifth Amendment' – that is, exercise the right to remain silent throughout the test – it could, potentially, pass the test and thus be regarded as a thinking entity, authors Kevin Warwick and Huma Shah of Coventry University argue. However, if this is the case, any silent entity could pass the test, even if it were clearly incapable of thought. The test, devised in 1950 by pioneering computer scientist Alan Turing, assesses a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behaviour indistinguishable from that of a human. Also known as the'imitation game', it requires a human judge to converse with two hidden entities, a human and a machine, and then determine which is which.

First they buy up a load of robotics companies for a series of undisclosed fees, and now they've gone splurged a reported 400million on buying an artificial intelligence firm. For a company whose motto is "Don't be evil", Google appears to doing its utmost to place itself in the Skynet role in our increasingly inevitable dystopian future. Earlier this month we told you how robots are going to be one of 2014's tech trends after Google made Boston Dynamics the eighth robotics company its bought in the last 12 months. And now its just made UK artificial intelligence start-up Deep Mind its largest European acquisition to date. DeepMind specialises in algorithms and machines learning for e-commerce and games and is the brainchild of Shane Legg, Mustafa Suleyman and Demis Hassabis, a neuroscientist and former teenage chess prodigy.

From drawing machines to early digital art and now AI, we've wondered whether the fundamentally human seeming endeavor of ART MAKING can be done by machines. At Idea Channel, we think the answer is unequivocally, yes! Perhaps the better question would be, will we ever let machines make art on their own? Will we ever be able to scrub away the influence and bias of the humans that created the machines making said art? And if so, how will we respond to the art being made by machines?

Panasonic just created a new 10 million budget for its new corporate shopping list in the areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning Technologies (MLT). The Japanese technology giant is looking at these two streams as the future beacon of change and development, for its handset business unit which currently faces an immensely competitive market in the country. The 10 million budget has been set aside for either creating joint-ventures with other enterprises, or perhaps even acquiring a few smaller ones. Pankaj Rana, Panasonic's head of mobility division in India, South-Asia, Middle-East, and Africa commented, "The budget is in tune of 10 million to start with and as we see progress on this front and things go in right direction, then there will be no constraint on the budget part. We can spend as high as possible. Some part of this budget has been generated from the India business, while some portion has been allocated from Japan."

Even the also-rans fared better, TechRepublic notes. Despite tougher demands, only four competitors failed to score (versus half in the 2015 challenge). Nearly half of the entries managed over 40 points, which would have been good enough to get third place a year ago. TU Delft and other entrants aren't about to replace people any time soon. Human workers typically pick 400 items per hour, and they won't suffer the 16.7 percent failure rate of the Picking Challenge leader.

Google DeepMind has announced a brand new research project in partnership with the NHS. The collaboration will see Google's artificial intelligence division working with London's Moorfields Eye Hospital to develop a machine learning system that will detect the early signs of degenerative eye conditions which humans might miss. Though this is the second project DeepMind is embarking on with the NHS, it's the first time the company has used machine learning in purely medical research and DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman says he thinks "one day this work will be a great benefit to patients across the NHS." Moorfields says that analysing complex eye scans is a time consuming process and traditional analysis tools have been unable to explore them fully. It hopes the research with DeepMind will lead to earlier detection and more effective treatment for patients and ultimately help to avoid cases of preventable eye disease.

After Apple's WWDC keynote last month, some reporters asked me if Apple's new additions to Siri are reactionary. They assumed that since Amazon, Google and Microsoft have upped the intelligence of their voice assistants, Apple was forced to make Siri more competitive. But to think that Apple's Siri improvements are reactionary shows a lack of understanding about the company's work in artificial intelligence (AI). Apple has been working on speech and voice AI solutions for decades. In fact, in 1992, I got involved with the earliest version of its voice technology research, which was tied to an early AI and machine learning engine.

In the construction industry, many projects involve remodeling or refurbishing existing buildings, and such jobs often face delays or cost overruns when hidden problems emerge. "Renovation projects live and die by the quality of information," according to Martin Fischer, a Stanford professor of civil and environmental engineering. New software can analyze this point cloud to automatically extract details to plan a remodel or other purposes. Newer buildings often have computerized blueprints and records, including details such as the number of rooms, doors and windows, and the square footage of floors, ceilings and walls. But such information may not exist for older buildings, necessitating the time-consuming and difficult task of collecting these details manually.

Clifford Chance (CC) has become the latest firm to sign a deal with an artificial intelligence (AI) provider, with the magic circle firm partnering with Kira Systems. The deal means CC's lawyers will be able to use the AI software for tasks such as document review in M&A due diligence. The firm said it has already used AI technology in several other applications but declined to provide details. The Kira deal, which is aimed at reducing costs for clients, was led by the firm's head of innovation and business change Bas Boris Visser. He said CC's clients are "under substantial pressure to reduce legal spend", adding: "At the same time, they need more support to manage the increasing risks and complex issues that their companies are facing."