You can only use a computer to paint like Van Gogh if, first, there is a real Van Gogh. This year's news about what artificial intelligence can do in the arts has been both exciting and scary. Neural networks have learned to paint like masters and compose sophisticated music. Those of us in creative endeavours might be as endangered by technological advances as blue-collar workers are often said to be -- though we are protected by certain limitations that technology is never likely to overcome. Last summer, a team of Russian developers released Prisma, a mobile app based on the work of some German artificial intelligence researchers. The neural network behind it could redraw an image using techniques it had learned from studying the oeuvre of a number of painters, including Vincent Van Gogh and Edvard Munch.

Building the AI'butler' is Zuckerberg's personal challenge for 2016 The 31-year-old said: 'You can think of it kind of like J.A.R.V.I.S in Iron Man' His plans include teaching the assistant to let friends into his home by looking at their faces when they ring the doorbell, for example Building the AI'butler' is Zuckerberg's personal challenge for 2016 The 31-year-old said: 'You can think of it kind of like J.A.R.V.I.S in Iron Man' The AI is able to do everything from recognise friend's faces at the door to work out who is asking it questions - and Zuckerberg said he's even connected up a 1950s toaster and a t-shirt cannon to it. Watch as Nasa shake tests the Orion capsule that could take... Airlines add'fire containment bags' for overheating phones... Google and Facebook to install giant 8,000-mile internet... EXCLUSIVE: Royal Navy trials robot spy boats that can scour... Watch as Nasa shake tests the Orion capsule that could take... Airlines add'fire containment bags' for overheating phones... Google and Facebook to install giant 8,000-mile internet... EXCLUSIVE: Royal Navy trials robot spy boats that can scour... Zuckerberg also programmed the system to play music. Zuckerberg's daughter, Max is also able to use the AI to play. The project is modelled on the J.A.R.V.I.S. stands for (Just A Rather Very Intelligent System) system used by Tony Stark in the Iron Man films. 'I'll do in a heartbeat if Bettany gets paid and donates it to a cause of Cumberbatch's choosing...that's the right kind of STRANGE!' the Iron Man actor responded.

When new engineers join Facebook--no matter whether they're just out of college or VP-level veterans--they spend their first six weeks in Bootcamp, an intensive program designed to help them learn the ins and outs of the company's massive code base and the always-evolving set of programming tools at their disposal. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's original engineer, contributed more to that code than anyone else in the early years of its existence. But the 32-year-old CEO never went through the Bootcamp program, which was launched in 2006, two years after he founded the company in his Harvard dorm room. Last January, Zuckerberg announced that he planned to build an AI system to run his home using Facebook tools, in the latest of the personal-growth challenges he gives himself each year. An exciting exploration of the state of the art of AI--a technology field essential to Facebook's future--the project also forced him to refresh his command of the company's programming tools and processes.

What if your security camera could not only see who's at your door, but also identify whether it's a guest you're expecting, alert you when they arrive, and let them in? Or how about a speaker system that automatically plays music as your child wakes up? That's the type of functionality Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is trying to build into his virtual butler, Jarvis, which he's been developing throughout the year as part of his New Year's resolution. With 2016 coming to a close, Zuckerberg published a lengthy blog post detailing the types of tasks Jarvis can accomplish. He also wrote about the biggest challenges that he faced when developing his artificial intelligence (AI) software, and where he believes AI is heading.

For many people, the word "digital" is synonymous with modern, technologically advanced programs or devices capable of performing complex processes in a fraction of the time that it would take a manual or analog system to do the same thing. Analog, on the other hand, is generally thought of as old-fashioned and something that needs to be converted to digital in order to be in line with the modern technology, even though much of what we take for granted in terms of technology actually runs on analog components. In fact, one of the most transformative trends in technology today relies heavily on analog technology. When you think of artificial intelligence, you probably think of robots or at least high-powered computers like IBM's Watson-- the epitome of modern technology -- you probably don't think analog, with its reliance on capturing real-time data and measuring the changes in the signals put out by physical phenomena. The Executive Office of the President recently said that advances in AI will make it easier than ever to search public records and streamline healthcare.

Christmas is coming, and Google Assistant is getting into the holiday spirit. Just in time for Santa's arrival, the fun-loving virtual helper has been given an injection of good tidings in the form of a few seasonal responses. Available across all instances of Google Assistant--Allo, Google Home, and the Pixel phones--the new commands will help you find Santa, have a good laugh or just get a dose of cheer. If you ask where Santa is, for example, it will tell you that he's still chilling at the North Pole. Presumably it will provide a more specific location on the night before Christmas to match the Google Santa Tracker that also springs to life that night.

The study "Future of IT: Hype vs. Reality" revealed that while these emerging technologies have potential in the workplace, IT professionals are grappling with budget and security concerns as they evaluate the impact these technologies can offer today versus in the future. The results show that among emerging technologies covered in the survey, IT professionals in Europe, the Middle East and Africa expect IoT devices and AI technology to have the biggest impact in the workplace, and VR to have the least impact. In fact, 79 percent of IT professionals in the region said IoT devices will be useful to their business practices in three to five years and 55 percent said the same for AI. Although most IT professionals don't expect mass adoption to take off in the workplace for VR and 3D printers, some industries have significantly higher adoption rates than the industry average. "Despite recent innovations in VR and 3D printing, the majority of IT professionals across EMEA are struggling to find viable use cases for the technology in their organisations," said John Webb, general manager of Europe at Spiceworks. "As a result, many can't justify the investment as opposed to AI and IoT that offer tangible benefits for the workplace today.

For singles in Southeast Asia, finding love online has been historically frowned upon. While our unmarried peers across the globe have found matches on OkCupid and Match.com for more than a decade, cultural norms and lingering stigmas have kept Asian dating rituals firmly in the past. Yet, the recent emergence of new developer tools, including those that reduce mobile app account details to a phone number, is facilitating more discreet access to dating platforms throughout Singapore, Taiwan and other parts of Southeast Asia. An eager market has responded, and millions of people are finding dates -- and sometimes a lasting partner -- as a result. Paktor is one such popular mobile option for singles throughout the region.

Microsoft is trying to help create machines that can have conversations by releasing a new set of data for free. The data, called the Microsoft Machine Reading Comprehension dataset (MS MARCO) is a bundle of 100,000 English queries along with corresponding answers. It's supposed to help people build artificial intelligence systems that can understand human written language. The company is opening up its dataset in the hope that Microsoft can work with other organizations on making machines better at reading comprehension, said Rangan Majumder, program manager for the Microsoft Partner Group, in a blog post on Friday. The queries in MS MARCO are based on anonymized questions that were submitted to Microsoft's Bing search engine and Cortana virtual assistant.

When Apple pulled the headphone jack off the iPhone 7, it also unveiled a new set of wireless earbuds called AirPods, that it claimed were so great that users wouldn't mind the missing headphone jack. Then the AirPods didn't come out for nearly three months after the iPhone, but now that they're here, they've solved every problem an iPhone 7-using music lover could have, right? Like so many Apple products before them, the AirPods bring with them as big of a problem as they're solving. With no onboard buttons, the AirPods require users to ask Siri to do everything from changing a track to adjusting the volume, and Siri just doesn't have the same abilities in all music apps--an arbitrary restriction set by Apple to steer you toward Apple Music. But let's start with the first question everyone has about the AirPods.