AI, and the branch of this discipline called deep learning, crashed the public consciousness on March 9 when Google DeepMind's AlphaGo program beat South Korean champion Lee Se-dol at ancient Chinese game Go. Since then, barely a week has gone by without a fresh breakthrough – or scare story. True AI implies a change in the relationship between machine and human – from predictable task worker reliant on our instructions, to a system which has the capacity to surprise and surpass us. For many, the loss of control inherent in this change is alarming. Hal and Skynet are suddenly too close for comfort.

A staff member presents a robot designed for children at the 2016 Chinese Congress on Artificial Intelligence (CCAI 2016) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 26, 2016. The two-day CCAI 2016 kicked off here Friday. BEIJING, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Tan Tieniu, a top expert in China's artificial intelligence (AI) sector, on Friday suggested creating a plan to guide the country's AI research and development in the next decade or longer. China should independently develop an AI innovation system, with a focus on core technology, high-end equipment and applications, basic theories and facilities in the AI sector, said Tan, vice president of the Chinese Association for Artificial Intelligence. By doing so, China could have a world-leading AI industry by 2025, said Tan, also vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, at the two-day 2016 China Conference on Artificial Intelligence (CCAI 2016), which will conclude on Saturday.

Japanese research center Riken and twenty companies have created a joint platform to develop applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in the fields of medicine, industry or infrastructure, announced today the Nikkei newspaper. Research Center of Advanced Intelligence Integrated opens on September 1st in Tokyo, and will include the participation of Japan's leading automotive, Toyota Motor and other tech giants including Sony and NEC, among other large companies and " start-up "Japanese. The aim is to develop artificial intelligence systems capable of solving specific problems involving a large amount of data analyzed. One of the specific fields of application is industrial manufacturing, in which Toyota and NEC working in an AI technology to help promote the efficiency of production chains from the analysis of details of the procedure that are beyond human workers, according to Japanese newspaper he said. In the health area, Sony computer research branch is developing an AI system to recommend personalized treatments to patients after comparing your medical history with all available clinical studies.

The number of robots ordered by automotive OEMs and component suppliers increased 16 percent and 4 percent, respectively, to begin the year. The robots indeed are coming -- and in record numbers. As organizations find new ways to adopt greater automation into their processes, the machines that support these efforts are flying off the shelves. The North American automation industry set new records to begin 2016, according to the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), the industry's trade group. The advent of more automation in manufacturing promises increased efficiencies in production and the ability to compete globally, the group said.

I had the pleasure of participating in Milan's FI-WARE VIP Bootcamp (4–6th May, 2016), under invitation by EBAN. There, along with several other investors and entrepreneurs, we assisted 15 startups from all across Europe to improve the structure and the presentation of their VC pitches. One of the people who actively participated, giving their full support to the event (and as a volunteer, nonetheless) was Federico Travella, founder and CEO of NoviCap, an extremely interesting venture in the "fintech" sector that came up with an innovative way of providing working capital for every kind of business. In discussion with Federico and other participants, the topic of AI was brought up, seen as a contributing factor to increasing unemployment, and through that, to social discontent and political instability. It's surely an interesting subject and is connected to the broader issue of technological progress and its social impact.

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display

Niki, the AI fueled bot, built to make discovery and transactions simple, has launched her chatbot on Messenger. Niki envisions to be the gateway of everything commerce by enabling conversations between brands and consumers. In a single chat interface, she can help you with cab bookings, utility bill payments and mobile recharges, with plans to provide food ordering, flight bookings, hotel reservations and movie ticketing very soon. They are backed by Mr. Ratan Tata and Unilazer Ventures. Having been in development for a year, it has generated significant traction on its Android Application with over 75,000 users.

It's kept Kickstarter backers waiting for two years, but the Rotimatic is finally ready to make its maiden voyage to U.S. buyers. Singapore startup Zimplistic, which makes the robot roti-maker, started taking orders for its 999 kitchen appliance in 2014. Although fairly pricey, over 8,000 units were bought within a week and the company had to close orders to cope with demand. The fully automated roti-maker takes flour, water and oil, and spits out fresh and hot rotis, unleavened Indian bread also known as chapati. Buyers in Singapore started getting their Rotimatics in June this year.

Line Corp. plans to use part of the 130 billion it garnered from last month's initial public offering to bankroll acquisitions of content and technology, transforming its messaging service into a one-stop shop for Asian social media users. Japan's most popular messaging service is gunning for companies in areas ranging from artificial intelligence chatbots and advertising to video streaming and games, including those with augmented reality features, Chief Executive Officer Takeshi Idezawa said in an interview. The Tokyo-based company has assembled a dedicated team to scope out and review possible targets across the globe. The idea is to build Line into a "smart portal," supplementing its mainstay features of chatting, stickers and games with commercial services such as food delivery, job searches and travel reservations in main markets. "We are very open-minded about the size and geography" of potential acquisitions, Idezawa said.

Despite the slowdown in GDP growth to 6.9 percent in 2015, China is still making aggressive investments to drive the adoption of high technology by local enterprises and organizations, according to Gartner, Inc… The massive consumer base and the number of internet users in China (estimated at 650 million internet and 980 million mobile internet users in 2016) present the most-promising big data opportunities. Led by hyperscale internet companies such as Baidu (internet traffic data), Alibaba (supply chain and transaction data) and Tencent (social data), approximately 25 percent of businesses have been pursuing the value of big data. "The government-sponsored strategy'Internet Plus' is targeted at boosting economic growth through digital transformation," said Jie Zhang, research director at Gartner. "It has issued a detailed action plan for 11 key industries in 2015, mandating the necessity of digital business transformation by leveraging big data and cloud technologies." Venture capitalists have been pouring money into startups focused on AI, which broadly refers to efforts to make computers emulate human cognitive functions such as recognizing speech or images.