A group of business and former military leaders wants to limit states' ability to regulate driverless cars, calling for sweeping federal legislation to avoid a patchwork of rules they believe could hinder adoption of the technologically advanced vehicles. Executives including FedEx Corp. Chief Executive Fred Smith and retired U.S. generals associated with a Washington group that lobbies to reduce America's oil dependence plan to meet with politicians in the nation's capital on Thursday to discuss recommendations for speeding introduction of driverless cars. Others expected to be present include John Krafcik, head of the self-driving car division at Google parent Alphabet Inc. In addition to limiting states' regulatory efforts, the group wants a U.S. legal liability fund created to ease concerns over lawsuits that could arise in skirmishes over whether drivers or computers are at fault in crashes. The proposals aren't likely to gain immediate traction on Capitol Hill, where Republican lawmakers are at loggerheads with the Obama administration on a variety of fronts during a presidential election year.

People wave while waiting to take their seats to hear the keynote address of the Google I/O conference in Mountain View, Calif. FOSTER CITY, Calif.--Computers as we know them are about to disappear. Well, okay, they won't completely disappear, but they will take on a new form that makes them very difficult to distinguish from everyday objects all around us. This transformation is part of a bigger, longer term trend that some have dubbed "ambient" computing. The idea is that computing capability will end up being embedded in devices ranging from speakers to automobiles, and will provide capabilities and services to us throughout the day via the environment around us. "The difference between receiving useful information or performing specific actions automatically, as opposed to instigating the efforts on our own, is profound" The most obvious example of ambient computing to date is Amazon's Echo line of products. Echo and Tap integrate the company's Alexa digital assistant into what appears to be a Bluetooth speaker.

Forget about superintelligent AIs being created by a company, university, or a rogue programmer with Einstein-like IQ. Hollywood and its AI-themed movies like Transcendence and Her have misled the public. The launch of the first truly autonomous, self-aware artificial intelligence--one that has the potential to become far smarter than human beings--is a matter of the highest national and global security. Its creation could change the landscape of international politics in a matter of weeks--maybe even days, depending on how fast the intelligence learns to upgrade itself, hack and rewrite the world's best codes, and utilize weaponry. In the last year, a chorus of leading technology exp erts, like Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, and Bill Gates, have chimed in on the dangers regarding the creation of AI.

In recent years, technology has become the primary focus of businesses around the world. Whether it's virtual reality for training your dog or laser hair removal for grooming your cat, the uses can seem a bit trivial at times. Thankfully, one company is making an effort to save lives when it comes to technology. And drones are at the head of the pack. EHang is the company behind dozens of drone breakthroughs.

The naval base at La Spezia in northern Italy is in an advanced state of decay. The grand Mussolini-era barracks are shuttered; the weeds won their battle with the concrete some time ago. But amid the crumbling masonry, there is an incongruously neat little building, shaded behind a line of flags, with smartly outfitted security men behind its glass doors. This is Nato's Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE). As one battleship after another has been removed from what remains of the Italian navy, and the base is wound down, the centre is preparing for a new kind of marine warfare amid the wreckage of the old. In a line of workshops along the quay, technicians tinker at the innards of the next generation of naval weapons. They may look like large bright yellow torpedoes, but they are in fact underwater drones, capable of being remote controlled on the surface and taking autonomous actions in the deep.

Amazon Fire TV is beefing up its Alexa voice features. You could already use the voice remote with Amazon's Fire TV and Fire Stick devices to ask Alexa to search for TV shows and movies. Amazon Fire TV owners will soon be able to ask Alexa to search for -- and get information from -- local movie theaters, restaurants and other businesses, as well as ask the voice-enabled virtual assistant for programming on HBO Go, Hulu, Showtime and other apps. Owners of Fire TV devices (Fire Stick, 49.99; Fire TV, 99.99) will get the new Alexa features automatically via free software upgrades in the coming weeks, Amazon says. "Customers have told us they love having the convenience of Alexa on their Amazon Fire TV," said Tim Twerdahl, General Manager, Amazon Fire TV.

France will deploy anti-drone technology to interfere with and take control of any flying machines that violate no-fly zones over stadiums at the European Championship, part of unprecedented measures to secure Europe's biggest sports event since the Paris attacks in November. In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Euro 2016 security chief Ziad Khoury said Tuesday that no-fly zones will be declared over all 10 stadiums as well as training grounds for the 24 teams at the June 10-July 10 tournament. "We've noted the general proliferation of drone-usage in society," Khoury said in his Paris office. "So no-fly zones will be defined over every training ground and every stadium, and in most stadiums and for most matches anti-drone measures -- which are quite innovative -- will be deployed, working with the state, which will interfere with drones and take control of them if they are spotted." French authorities have trained for the possibility of drones being used to disperse chemical weapons over crowds.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the first Dartmouth Conference, the research project that is credited with introducing'Artificial Intelligence' (AI) as we understand it today to the world. AI often seems like the stuff of science-fiction, but it did hit the headlines recently when Facebook announced it will use ChatBots to help businesses deliver automated customer support, online shopping guidance, and more'interactive' engagement. Facebook seems to have got its timing right, at least in the consumer market. This technology appears to growing in acceptance amongst the general public, who probably don't even really think of ChatBots as a form of AI. Perhaps because they're getting used to'personal assistants' like Apple's Siri.

IBM wants its Watson computer system to learn how to fight cyber crime and it's asking eight leading universities, including three in Canada, for help. Watson -- IBM's question answering computer system -- was originally designed to compete (and win) on the television quiz show Jeopardy, but the technology has since been used on other problem-solving projects. Now IBM is launching Watson for Cyber Security -- a cloud-based version of their cognitive technology -- that will be trained over the next year to examine threats of cyber crime. Caleb Barlow, vice-president of IBM Security, said it is becoming increasingly difficult for security staff to deal with the growing number of cyber threats. "Your average enterprise is dealing with 200,000 incidents a day that they've got to dig through. Human beings simply cannot look at all of that data," he said.

Last week, NVIDIA released its first-quarter fiscal 2017 report, which included some impressive results. The graphics-processor maker posted Q1 revenue of 1.3 billion, an increase of 13% year over year, and non-GAAP earning per share were up 39% from the year-ago quarter to 0.46. Wall Street analysts had been expecting revenue of around 1.26 billion and EPS of 0.41. NVIDIA co-founder and CEO Jen-Hsun Huang said the revenue and earnings growth were spurred on by all of the key segments of its business. "We are enjoying growth in all of our platforms -- gaming, professional visualization, datacenter and auto," Huang said in a press release.