Comment Debate has raged for months over various internet giants' forays into providing next-generation technology for war. For example, in March, dissenters at Google went to the press about the web goliath's contract with the US military's Project Maven, which aims to fit drones with object-detecting AI among other things. This US Department of Defense project apparently began a year before, in April 2017. Google has always maintained that its computer vision TensorFlow APIs are for "non-offensive" purposes only and repeatedly denied the malicious use of its technology in its Maven contract with the Pentagon. Over 3,000 staff signed an open letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, stating that "Google should not be in the business of war".

Technicians and researchers are cautioning about the threat such technology poses for cybersecurity, that fundamentally important practice that keeps our computers and data -- and governments' and corporations' computers and data -- safe from hackers. In February, a study from teams at the University of Oxford and University of Cambridge warned that AI could be used as a tool to hack into drones and autonomous vehicles, and turn them into potential weapons. "Autonomous cars like Google's (Waymo) are already using deep learning, can already raid obstacles in the real world," Caspi said, "so raiding traditional anti-malware system in cyber domain is possible." Another study, by U.S. cybersecurity software giant Symantec, said that 978 million people across 20 countries were affected by cybercrime last year. Victims of cybercrime lost a total of $172 billion -- an average of $142 per person -- as a result, researchers said.

The Mystic is designed to give the ultimate aerial video and photography experience, creating breathtaking imagery without the need to learn complicated film techniques. The Mystic automatically detects objects and avoids obstacles using the cutting-edge motion intelligence similarly found in the self-driving car. With gesture interaction, you can take stunning aerial selfies, using poses to control the drone. The Mystic recognizes each pose as a specific command and will follow your instructions, moving forward and backward, side to side, and taking photos. The Mystic is the first drone to support up to 6 different gestures, all of which can be customized to your personal preference.

Technicians and researchers are cautioning about the threat such technology poses for cybersecurity, that fundamentally important practice that keeps our computers and data -- and governments' and corporations' computers and data -- safe from hackers. In February, a study from teams at the University of Oxford and University of Cambridge warned that AI could be used as a tool to hack into drones and autonomous vehicles, and turn them into potential weapons. "Autonomous cars like Google's (Waymo) are already using deep learning, can already raid obstacles in the real world," Caspi said, "so raiding traditional anti-malware system in cyber domain is possible." Another study, by U.S. cybersecurity software giant Symantec, said that 978 million people across 20 countries were affected by cybercrime last year. Victims of cybercrime lost a total of $172 billion -- an average of $142 per person -- as a result, researchers said.

Drones are not new to industry or the oil and gas sector. They have been used by companies that are offering full-service video, or to capture survey photographs for some time. However, Renner Vaughn, director of oil and gas at commercial drone operator, Cape, believes that there is a major gap between what companies are hoping for and achieving in the use of drones. "What we've done at Cape, is bring the user drones together with aerial telepresence, our technology, to give experts that visibility they need in real time," Vaughn said. "Instead of hiring a company to go out and perform the survey for you, I'm trying to coach them on what to see and what's important in terms of the asset inspection.

A UK government backed drone innovation project that's exploring how unmanned aerial vehicles could benefit cities -- including for use-cases such as medical delivery, traffic incident response, fire response and construction and regeneration -- has reported early learnings from the first phase of the project. Five city regions are being used as drone test-beds as part of Nesta's Flying High Challenge -- namely London, the West Midlands, Southampton, Preston and Bradford. While five socially beneficial use-cases for drone technology have been analyzed as part of the project so far, including considering technical, social and economic implications of the tech. The project has been ongoing since December. Nesta, the innovation-focused charity behind the project and the report, wants the UK to become a global leader in shaping drone systems that place people's needs first, and writes in the report that: "Cities must shape the future of drones: Drones must not shape the future of cities."

Last month, The Free Thought Project reported that thousands of Google employees were speaking out about the company's close relationship with the Pentagon, and their involvement in the business of war. Initially, 3,100 Google employees signed a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, demanding that the company cancel an ongoing contract with the Pentagon that supported a drone program called "Project Maven." As expected, Google has not backed down, and at least a dozen of the employees who signed the letter are now resigning from the company in protest. Project Maven is an AI system that is being developed to scan images in drone footage and identify targets. It was launched in April 2017, and according to a Pentagon memo, the objective is to "augment or automate Processing, Exploitation and Dissemination (PED) for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)" in order to "reduce the human factors burden of [full motion video] analysis, increase actionable intelligence, and enhance military decision-making."

When you take a minute to stop and look around, the technological advancements of today could be perceived as something out of a futuristic novel. Cars are learning to drive, hands-free devices can turn on your lights or toast your bread, and flying drones are circling the skies. While the manifestation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) haven't been realized, impressive progress has certainly been made. As a location technology platform, we at Foursquare understand the power that something like AI and ML can have on the way people live and move throughout the world. Take for instance, our own Pilgrim SDK technology, the most sophisticated contextual awareness engine.

High altitude searches are a risky business. So let us introduce the hero of our story, the DJI Mavic Pro drone.

Thousands of artificial intelligence developers and researchers -- including Elon Musk, Google DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis, and Google Machine Intelligence head Jeffrey Dean -- just signed a "Lethal Autonomous Weapons Pledge," vowing to resist delegating the decision to murder in a military context to a machine. On its face, this pledge seems like a step in the right direction, a recognition of the concerns of tech employees. But here's the main problem with this pledge: the top drone manufacturers for the U.S. military -- including but not limited to Northrop Grumman, Boeing, General Atomics, and Textron, which make up 66 percent of the U.S. drone military market -- did not sign on to the contract. "We will neither participate in nor support the development, manufacture, trade, or use of lethal autonomous weapons," the pledge reads. "We ask that technology companies and organizations, as well as leaders, policymakers, and other individuals, join us in this pledge."