While CRISPR, nanobots and head transplants are making headlines as medical breakthroughs, a number of new technologies are also making progress tackling some of the toughest age-old diseases still plaguing millions of people in the poorest parts of the world. In low income countries, over 75% of the population dies before the age of 70 due to infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS, lung infections, tuberculosis, diarrheal diseases, malaria, and increasingly, cardiovascular diseases. Over a third of deaths in low income countries are among children under age 14 primarily due to pneumonia, diarrheal diseases, malaria and neonatal complications. In the developed world, those living in extreme poverty, such as homeless populations, also die on average at age 48. Over the last year, artificial intelligence, robotics and biotechnology have all generated a number of new solutions that have the potential to dramatically reduce these problems.

IBM is teaming up with eight North American universities to further tune its cognitive system to tackle cybersecurity problems. Watson for Cyber Security, a platform already in pre-beta, will be further trained in "learning the nuances of security research findings and discovering patterns and evidence of hidden cyber attacks and threats that could otherwise be missed". IBM will work with eight US universities from autumn onwards for a year in order to push forward the project. The universities selected are California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; Pennsylvania State University; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; New York University; the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC); the University of New Brunswick; the University of Ottawa; and the University of Waterloo. The project is ultimately designed to bridge the cyber-security skills gap, a perennial issue in the industry.

Fifteen years of technology craziness and we've finally arrived squarely in the year 2001. We're back to the future because Silicon Valley in particular (and tech in general) has hyped Big Data for several years without answering the vital question, "To what end?" Having vast amounts of data was at first a problem, then an opportunity, before it settled in as an über-talked-about way to sell just about any variety of software. You Valley types know exactly what I'm talking about. So why 2001, and June 29, 2001 to be more specific? That's the moment that the hype over artificial intelligence hit its high water mark with the release of Spielberg's film, A.I. Artificial Intelligence.

Imagine if your teaching assistant was actually a robot--and looked like Alicia Vikander. A picture of the "Ex Machina" lead actress graces a Wall Street Journal article that explores students' surprise when they discovered one of their teaching assistants was, in fact, a bot. Her responses--which fooled even former IBM employees--were based on looking through nearly 40,000 questions and answers on a discussion forum. Ashok Goel, the professor who teaches the online Georgia Tech computer science course, believes that bots like Jill can answer 40 percent of all students' questions--many of the mundane variety--within a year. Best quote of the story goes to a student: "We're taking an artificial intelligence class. There should be some artificial intelligence here."

Movidius has announced the Fathom Neural Compute Stick, which is claimed to be the first acceleration module for deep learning in the world, alongside the Fathom deep learning software framework. The Fathom Neural Compute Stick utilizes Movidius' ultra-low power, high performance processor, the Myriad 2, allowing the device to operate neutral networks using power below 1 watt. The device not only looks like a USB stick, but it also functions as one, connecting to a USB port across a wide range of devices. In combination with the Fathom deep learning software framework, the Fathom Neural Compute Stick will allow neural networks to be taken down from the cloud and then deployed directly into end-user devices. Embedded in the Fathom Neural Compute Stick is Google's machine learning software named TensorFlow, which is primarily used for vision processing.

We are programmed (forgive the pun) to view anything technological as a vehicle for solving logical and practical problems, but the current debate is centred around how far it could (or should) develop to facilitate the future of our planet and how its acquired creativity might impact us. When we consider the future of AI and its effect on our industries, it is often the more technical and predictable jobs which will be affected first – hotel receptionists, truck drivers, manufacturing workers. We don't see A.I. writing the next hit record, penning a blockbuster children's novel or creating the next film franchise.

Michael Schmidt is the founder and CTO of Nutonian. But despite all the talk around AI, no one seems to really understand what it is or how companies can use it. Is AI the computer that competed on Jeopardy? Will machines really take our jobs? As data volumes surge and analytic engines become more mature, has technology finally caught up with the hype?

The nature of artistic style is something of a mystery to most people. Think of Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night, Picasso's work on cubism, or Edvard Munch's The Scream. All have a powerful, unique style that humans recognize easily. Deep neural networks are revolutionizing the way machines recognize and interpret the world. Machine vision now routinely outperforms humans at tasks such as object and face recognition, something that was unimaginable just a few years ago.

Artificial intelligence is deemed as a key to unlock the exponential growth of the beauty industry. A trade worth an estimated 20 billion, the beauty industry continually grows at a rate of around 3 percent annually. Unfortunately, the industry merely survives in the digital age where some industries are booming. Hence, artificial intelligence is deemed as a key to unlock the exponential growth of this industry. An old adage says, "Beauty is not flawless; it shines even through your flaws," while Marilyn Monroe believes, "Imperfection is beauty."

Photoshop is to use artificial intelligence to help users identify typefaces they have seen elsewhere. Developer Adobe describes its DeepFont feature as "Shazam for fonts" - a reference to the song-recognising app. It will work on both the mobile and desktop versions of the image-editing software, but users will need a Creative Cloud subscription. One expert said the tool would probably be popular with professionals, who often struggle to identify a design. Other font-matching online services already exist, but Adobe suggested the machine learning technology behind its system gave it an edge.