Traffic jams that clog up roads and slow down travel are the biggest problems many cities face. Rising incomes and growing aspirations convince many middle-income households to yearn for cars, which adds to the problem. Hangzhou, one of the most connected cities in China, intends to solve traffic woes with the help of artificial intelligence. The city is teaming up with Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group, to install a new smart-traffic management system. Using its AI and big data analytics capabilities, Alibaba Cloud is able to provide real-time traffic recommendations and travel routes based on video and image recognition technologies.

Through massive investments in artificial intelligence (AI) startups, the world's leading tech firms are racing to create markets to transform the economic landscape. According to a report by CB Insights, since 2011 mergers and acquisition activity in the sector has increased sevenfold, with most startups being acquired in the first four years of their initial financing round. In 2016, AI startups drew significant attention, with $1.05 billion pouring in during the third quarter. Here is a look at some of the many tech firms that are investing in AI research in order to capitalize on the shifting digital market. One of the most active tech investors since 2011 is Alphabet.

"I was determined to do it precisely because I was told it was impossible." So says Yasuo Kuniyoshi, professor at the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, in a quiet tone. However, the sharp glint in his eye betrays his grand ambition of developing a truly clever artificial intelligence to benefit humankind. Some current forms of artificial intelligence (AI), such as speech recognition and automated driving, are just as competent as humans--if not better--at carrying out their given tasks.However, just as AI developed for speech recognition cannot play chess, and chess-playing AI cannot drive a car, existing forms of AI are incapable of any actions beyond those intended by their creators. Because AI does not "think" the same way humans do, it cannot adapt to conditions besides the preconceived context it was programmed for in advance.For AI to be truly intelligent and highly adaptable, it must be able to think in the same way as humans.

From cloud platforms for medical data and hospital smart rooms to artificial intelligence and patient-engagement technologies, the giants of the digital world are threatening to disrupt healthcare. Leading the pack is IBM and its centerpiece offering Watson Health. In just the last six months, the company has announced major initiatives into healthcare including a partnership with clinical consultation provider Best Doctors to add Watson's cancer suite to employee benefits packages, a population health management alliance with Siemens Healthineers and an effort linking IBM's PowerAI deep learning software toolkit with NVIDIA's NVLink interconnect technology. The PowerAI is already being used improve diagnoses and care plans by sifting through patient data. In October, Big Blue announced a $200 million investment in its Watson Internet of Things global headquarters in Munich, Germany.

Meanwhile, low-skilled workers are already losing their jobs to robots and automation. The Trump administration has said it will put people back to work by opening factories again, but Cuban doubts that that's possible, given the realities of automation. He called on the audience of innovators at SXSW to think about ways to create good jobs for unemployed Americans who have been put out of work by robots and AI. "'What kind of opportunity can I create that gives these people hope for jobs and the ability to live a valuable life?' That's what people in this room can help think of, because our current administration is not going to solve that problem by thinking they are bringing back factories."

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, BMW CEO Harald Krueger, and Mobileye CTO and cofounder Amnon Shashua pose after a press conference in Munich on July 1, 2016. Intel started making lots of noise about the autonomous car market last year. But it's a long slog getting into a market like automotive, where it can take years to get designed into a vehicle. On Monday, the chip giant announced it would just buy its way into the market with a $15.3 billion acquisition of Mobileye, a leading provider of advanced driver assistant systems based in Israel. A massive consolidation spree is sweeping the semiconductor industry.

What is the state of AI Research in China? AI has witnessed rapid progress in China. This year, for the first time, the term AI has been mentioned in the government work report, indicating the significance of developing AI in China. Most internet companies including Baidu have invested heavily on AI. Many other companies across the industry have also established branches to develop and adopt AI in their businesses.

Microsoft Monday is a weekly column that focuses on updates in regards to the Redmond giant. This week, Microsoft Monday includes details about features removed from the Windows 10 Creators Update, the So.cl social network shutting down, Teams being released tomorrow, flash support being added to the Pix app, a new partnership between Microsoft and Qualcomm, Skype for macOS now supporting the Touch Bar and much more! Last week Forbes contributor Gordon Kelly pointed out that the Windows 10 Creators Update will have some feature removals. Flash autorun in Edge - Flash will be turned off by default in the default Windows 10 browser. Microsoft Paint extended language support - Microsoft Paint will only support languages on the main localization list going forward.

Thousands have flooded into Austin, Texas to experience the 31st Annual South by Southwest Convention and Festivals. Check out some of the sights and sounds from the first day. Osaka University roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro returned SXSW, this time bringing two robots, shown at left. Don't be too concerned about the rise of humanoid robots, because they're still not ready for prime time. But you might want to keep a wary eye on the machine-learning systems that power them.

The winds of healthcare tech are changing -- at least when it comes to trends. It's clear from the recent HIMSS Annual Conference & Exhibition that mHealth is becoming the norm, while machine learning and AI is creeping its way in as a dominant trend in the industry. It's not just at conferences though; pay attention to news and press releases, and you'll see talk of machine learning and how it's being used to do everything from predicting illness to using healthcare analytics to reduce hospital readmissions. One of the most recent developments comes from a company that's set out to make artificial intelligence "routine, pervasive and actionable" for the entire spectrum of healthcare organizations. In mid-February, healthcare data and analytics company Health Catalyst announced its plans to embed the benefits of next-generation healthcare analytics throughout the healthcare experience.