Fortem Technologies has announced the release of DroneHunter, a military-tested unmanned aerial system (UAS) that provides perimeter intrusion detection and protection by autonomously patrolling an airspace and towing away any rogue drones from the sky. Using AI algorithms, the DroneHunter system provides detection, monitoring and capture of rogue drones over restricted airspace or no-fly zones. Once a rogue drone is detected and captured, DroneHunter can tether and return, or safely discard to a predefined safe zone. "Drones are accessible to everyone now and are beginning to proliferate to enable many new services," said CEO of Fortem Technologies, Timothy Bean. "However, to fully embrace these benefits, we must monitor the airspace and secure no-fly zones. Fortem's safe, low-cost detection and mitigation systems like DroneHunter are game-changing, enabling the benefits of a drone world to be realized."

Such attacks fall into three categories of violations: digital, physical and political, according to the report. AI will allow the automation of tasks involved in digital cyberattacks that will make those offensives easier to carry out, larger and more efficient. They authors expect new varieties of attacks using speech synthesis for impersonation and automated hacking too. In the physical ream, using AI to automate tasks involved in drone and autonomous weapon attacks "may expand the threats associated with these attacks," the report says. Further, the report predicts new attacks that "subvert" the signals to autonomous vehicles, causing them to crash.

Airbus has shared new footage of its autonomous robot taxi taking to the skies for the first time. The flying taxi, dubbed Alpha One, is part of Project Vahana, the aerospace giant's advanced projects division. The video shows the self-flying drone hovering above the ground for about a minute or so, before smoothly lowering itself back to the ground. Airbus posted the video on Thursday, a month after the test flight took place at the Pendleton Unmanned Aerial Systems Range in Oregon, close to a nearby airport where the craft has been stored since November 2017. Airbus' plans to create a fleet of self-flying taxis have moved a step closer to becoming reality, thanks to the first successful test flight of a full-scale prototype. Project Vahana's aircraft, dubbed Alpha One, took to the skies for the first time, flying for a total of 53 seconds AlphaOne is a full-scale aircraft that's all-electric and self-piloted.

The healthcare industry is in the middle of a revolution, social media is getting smarter, and the era of drone-wielding super villains is right around the corner. Earlier this week seven of the world's most prominent organizations in the field of futurism published a report predicting the dangers posed by AI. The document is called "The Malicious Use of Artificial Intelligence: Forecasting, Prevention, and Mitigation." You can read the full version here. The only thing that could make it scarier is if Samuel L. Jackson were holding you at gunpoint and screaming it at you.

US military says drone strike in Somalia kills 4 al-Shabab extremists; 5th strike this year.

MOGADISHU, Somalia – The United States military for the second straight day is announcing a drone strike that killed al-Shabab extremists in Somalia. The U.S. Africa Command says the strike on Wednesday killed four "terrorists" near Jamaame in Lower Juba region in the south. The statement says the U.S. assesses no civilians were killed. The U.S. on Wednesday said a drone strike killed three al-Shabab extremists near Jilib town in Middle Juba region earlier this week. This latest U.S. drone strike is the fifth this year in Somalia.

The Vahana team's goal is to leverage new and emerging technologies like electric propulsion and machine vision to "democratize personal flight." Their drone only lifted off the ground and touched back down during its first set of tests -- they definitely have a long road ahead to get it ready for forward flight -- but it was a huge deal for the team and the company. If they succeed, Airbus could eventually use the drone for an autonomous passenger network that will give people a way to hail a flying taxi to get to where they want to go.

Artificial intelligence (AI) could be deployed by dictators, criminals and terrorists to manipulate elections and use drones in terrorist attacks, more than two dozen experts said Wednesday as they sounded the alarm over misuse of the technology. In a 100-page analysis, they outlined a rapid growth in cyber crime and the use of "bots" to interfere with news gathering and penetrate social media among a host of plausible scenarios in the next five to 10 years. "Our report focuses on ways in which people could do deliberate harm with AI," said Sean O hEigeartaigh, Executive Director of the Cambridge Center for the Study of Existential Risk. "AI may pose new threats, or change the nature of existing threats, across physical, political and cyber security," he told AFP. The common practice, for example, of "phishing" -- sending emails seeded with malware or designed to finagle valuable personal data -- could become far more dangerous, the report detailed.

Drones are finding increasing use in Japanese agriculture as farmers start to use the unmanned aerial vehicles for crop inspection and other purposes. Drones "are effective in promoting data-based agriculture and reducing agricultural work" at a time when many aged farmers are struggling to find successors, says an official at the farm ministry's Technology Policy Office. In Japan, it is necessary for unmanned helicopters that spray pesticide, fertilizer or seeds to be registered with a special organization. Registration became necessary for drones in 2015. As of January, 673 drones had been registered, up about three times since last March.

Essentially, no one wants suffocating regulations and laws, yet a line has to be drawn somewhere. Where exactly that should be? Well, the debate is only just starting. Clark reckoned policymakers are "slightly concerned about AI, but not generally not aware of its rate of progress." He hoped to see more people hosting more workshops, where scientists, engineers, those advising lawmakers, and other experts, can raise their concerns. "This is the beginning of a dialogue on this topic, not the end," Brundage added.