Google is now using RankBrain, its machine-learning system, to process the more than 2 trillion queries sent each year through its search engine, according to Search Engine Land. This is a considerable increase from when RankBrain was first introduced in Q3 2015, when it was used for roughly 15% of search queries. The full time deployment of RankBrain will make Google Search far more intuitive for users. RankBrain "interprets" users' search terms using machine learning -- a type of artificial intelligence -- to find pages that may not have contained the exact keywords that were used in the search query. The system is able to "guess" what a user means when they type in an ambiguous search query and then pass along its assumptions to the search platform. Furthermore, it learns over time, better refining search results.

Joachim Buhmann, Professor for Computer Science and Head of the Institute for Machine Learning at ETH Zurich, offers a more sober assessment of the situation: "The Go player's algorithm has, of course, set a milestone in machine learning, but it's a milestone in a very limited, artificial field," he says. Since the early days of computer science as a scientific discipline, one of the challenges against which it has been relatively easy to measure progress has been strategy games. It started with simple games such as Nine Men's Morris and Draughts. In 1997, IBM's computer Deep Blue beat the reigning chess world champion Garry Kasparov. Soon thereafter, programmers set their sights on the considerably more complex game Go as the next potential milestone.

A future in which humanity is subservient to computers and giant corporations was one of the predictions that came out of last week's Code Conference in LA. This forecast came from one of today's most forward-thinking entrepreneurs: Elon Musk. Musk, who is well known for touting the dangers of AI, gave some of the boldest predictions on AI at this year's conference. Left unchecked, he warned that AI could have a devastating effect on humanity, which is why he supports OpenAI to bring artificial intelligence to the masses. Jeff Bezos also spoke at the conference, giving a more positive prediction of how AI can help consumers.

Despite the promise of artificial intelligence, Europe's managers aren't yet ready to embrace it.

In the military world, fighter pilots have long been described as the best of the best. As Tom Wolfe famously wrote, only those with the "right stuff" can handle the job. Now, it seems, the right stuff may no longer be the sole purview of human pilots. A pilot A.I. developed by a doctoral graduate from the University of Cincinnati has shown that it can not only beat other A.I.s, but also a professional fighter pilot with decades of experience. In a series of flight combat simulations, the A.I. successfully evaded retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Gene "Geno" Lee, and shot him down every time.

Hisashi Taniguchi used a sabbatical from developing software for driverless taxis and drones to take a pilgrimage to a Buddhist temple in western Japan. He shaved his head, donned black robes and studied to become its leader. He passed the test, yet within a week was back at the Tokyo offices of ZMP Inc., overseeing his robotics company in the more typical garb of jeans and red Converse sneakers. As ZMP's founder and chief executive officer, he tries to sync millenniums-old teachings with efforts to make artificial intelligence part of everyday life. "The temple teaches you that if you shine, you'll shed light on those around you," Taniguchi, 52, said.

An Osaka-based startup founded by health care product group Fujimoto Holding Co. and toymaker Wiz Co. has released an upgraded version of a stuffed robot doll designed to be a conversation partner for elderly people. The new Unazuki Kabochan, released June 17, has been programmed with a greater variety of words and phrases, totaling around 450, allowing a greater scope of response to the user's words and actions, according to PIP & WiZ Co. The previous model could handle some 400 words and phrases, but sometimes failed to reply appropriately according to context. Selling for a suggested retail price of 27,000 at department stores and shops handling nursing care devices, the new Unazuki Kabochan can also sing 13 songs, eight more than the older unit, and the need to reset after it is switched off has been eliminated, the company said. The 28-cm, 680-gram doll is made to resemble a 3-year-old boy.

Google uses a machine-learning artificial intelligence system called "RankBrain" to help sort through its search results. Wondering how that works and fits in with Google's overall ranking system? Here's what we know about RankBrain. The information covered below comes from three original sources and has been updated over time, with notes where updates have happened. First is the Bloomberg story that broke the news about RankBrain (See also our write-up of it).

If you're interested in large scale machine learning, then this book is for you. This book doesn't provide deep coverage of theoretical foundations of machine learning (I would recommend to look to other books, like Introduction to Machine Learning (Adaptive Computation and Machine Learning series), Machine Learning in Action or Programming Collective Intelligence: Building Smart Web 2.0 Applications, etc., if you want to get more background), but concentrates on explanation on how to use Apache Mahout ([...]) to solve some of machine learning problems: making recommendations, data clustering & classification. For each of class of these problems, description starts with base things, and continues with more complex examples, including complete solutions, that could be easily adapted for your machine learning problems. All examples that come with book were checked with actual release of Apache Mahout (version 0.5). Book is written in succinct, but understandable language and provides many code snippets that make understanding of topics much easier.

By early fall, a billboard in Tokyo will automatically identify the make and model of vehicles driving by it to display a targeted advertisement. "The ad could come up with'Hey you in the Mercedes, you could be driving this [instead],'" said Paul Turner, chief marketing officer with Cloudian, which is working with the Japanese company Dentsu on the project. A camera on the billboard will look hundreds of meters down the expressway to identify vehicles and present a corresponding ad for about five seconds. By targeting ads to specific types of vehicles, the companies should be able to charge a higher rate to advertisers. Highly-targeted ads are the norm while we browse the web and use apps, but such approaches have not largely entered the broader world yet.