At Experian DataLabs in Carmel Valley, a team of scientists is thwarting bad guys with math. A top-five U.S. credit card issuer recently dumped about 6 billion transaction records on Experian DataLabs to see if its fancy machine learning mathematical formulas could do a better job of rooting out credit card fraud than the bank's existing system. Experian scientists used neuro-embedding/natural language processing techniques to understand the "syntax" of the credit card data, said Honghao Shan, a Ph.D. computer scientist. "We thought we had figured it out and went back to them," said Eric Haller, head of Experian DataLabs. "They said, how did you do that? You identified fraud that we can't identify ourselves. And it turns out we reduced their false positives by half."

AMD wants its new Polaris GPUs to dazzle gamblers in Las Vegas using electronic devices. Qualcomm, meanwhile, wants its embedded Snapdragon chips to be installed in robots, drones, and smart devices used in homes and for commercial applications. For both chipmakers, the internet of things market is becoming too big to ignore. The companies this week announced CPUs and GPUs adapted from PCs and mobile devices for use in IoT devices. AMD adapted its Polaris GPU architecture, which is used in discrete GPUs and PC chips, for the IoT sector. Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 600E and 410E are compact chips originating from the company's mobile processor designs.

Although cyber attacks against businesses like the recent one against Yahoo are increasing, hackers are using the same techniques they always have. Stuart McClure, the CEO of security startup Cylance, told Fortune's Robert Hackett that "there is nothing new" in how hackers are breaching computer defenses. He compared cyber attacks to thieves breaking into homes. There are only so many ways thieves can sneak inside, and no one has created new methods like a "teleportation device" for criminals to more easily get through the front door, he explained. What's different now is that organizations can now use an artificial intelligence technique called machine learning to better defend themselves against these attacks, McClure said.

For many new Facebook employees, their first days begin in front of a computer screen, learning the ins and outs of the company's code. That code, after all, serves as the foundation of the company's gigantic social network, hosting more than 1 billion daily visitors. With that in mind, it may be surprising to hear that Joel Kjellgren's first six months at Facebook were spent working out of a construction trailer. He doesn't work on the Like buttons, notification icons, or the other tools and buttons Facebook members push and poke on a regular basis. Rather, as the site manager of Facebook's data center in Luleå, Sweden, Kjellgren's oversees the massive facility that processes petabytes of data in the form of photos and stories posted to Facebook.

From deep learning neural networks to artificial intelligence-based facial recognition, artificial intelligence has taken leaps and bounds in 2016. Virtual assistants and autopilot driving services are already influencing our lives, and the pace of innovation is frightening to some – but exciting for others. But if you work in cyber security, these advances also herald more challenging times ahead. Cyber security is already one of the top business risks today, and adding artificial intelligence (AI) to the hacker's already-sophisticated toolkit will make the job of defending against cyber attackers harder still. Modern hackers don't just target governments or large organisations – they can infiltrate any network activity and impact public services and individuals too.

Natural disasters are out of the reach and influence of human beings. However, a lot can be done to minimize loss of lives. Artificial intelligence is one viable option that can potentially prevent massive loss of lives while at the same time make rescue efforts easy and efficient. To learn more, checkout the infographic below created by Eastern Kentucky University's Online Masters in Safety degree program. In the period between 2005 and 2015, a total of 242 natural disasters occurred in the United States of America.

Tim Burton's new movie about an orphanage for fantastically gifted kids is expected to debut at the head of its class at the box office this weekend, expelling last week's victor, "The Magnificent Seven," from the top of the charts. "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children," from 20th Century Fox and Chernin Entertainment, is expected to gross 25 million to 30 million in its opening in the U.S. and Canada through Sunday, according to people who have reviewed prerelease audience surveys. That should be enough to unseat Sony and MGM's western remake (starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt) that bowed to 35 million and is expected to drop about 50% in its second go-around. "Miss Peregrine," adapted from the popular fantasy novel by Ransom Riggs, cost 110 million to make. Though it boasts high interest and parallels to the X-Men and Harry Potter series, it remains to be seen if the film will prove popular enough to start a Hollywood franchise.

In the fall of 2010, I traveled to New Zealand, and one of the places I visited was the small south island city of Christchurch. I was charmed by the tree-lined Avon River, the English-style cathedral in the main square, and the mountains looming in the distance. Inside the cathedral was a stack of poems with a moving message of peace. I saved one to tack on my cork board at home, where it remains to this day. Three months later I turned on the news to see the Christchurch cathedral splintered and broken, its spire crumbled to the ground.

Humanity has a major food problem. The world's population is expected to increase significantly over the next three decades, but our capacity for food production will struggle to keep pace. Although global fertility rates are actually falling, a general increase in life expectancy will mean a steady increase in headcount during our lifetimes. One 2015 UN DESA report claims the world's population will hit 9.7 billion by 2050 – an increase of some 2.3 billion over today. Of course, a general rise in life expectancy reflects a higher standard of living for more of the world, which is cause for celebration.

Science fiction has accustomed us to metallic, humanoid robots, but there are better models out there. Scientists have created a completely wireless, soft robotic octopus, dubbed the "Octobot." The robot is made of supple silicon and is powered by a chemical reaction. So far Octobot can only wave its legs up and down somewhat feebly, but it represents a major leap forward in the field of soft robotics. For some time, scientists observing the natural world have noticed that there are more promising robot models than humans.