Let's start at the beginning. The term "artificial intelligence" gets tossed around a lot to describe robots, self-driving cars, facial recognition technology and almost anything else that seems vaguely futuristic. A group of academics coined the term in the late 1950s as they set out to build a machine that could do anything the human brain could do -- skills like reasoning, problem-solving, learning new tasks and communicating using natural language. Progress was relatively slow until around 2012, when a single idea shifted the entire field. It was called a neural network.

A suspected drunk driver crashed into a man's spare bedroom in the early morning hours of Jan. 19 in Austin, Texas. Over a million hobby drones are registered in the U.S. You may never know when you're being watched. Check out my guide to avoiding drone surveillance. We wrote this after one hovered over my pool while I was swimming.

CARPI, Italy – The older woman asked to hear a story. "An excellent choice," answered the small robot, reclined like a nonchalant professor atop the classroom's desk, instructing her to listen closely. She leaned in, her wizened forehead almost touching the smooth plastic head. This could be due to a conflict with your ad-blocking or security software. Please add japantimes.co.jp and piano.io to your list of allowed sites.

KYIV – At an unassuming industrial estate in northern Ukraine, two former Microsoft executives and a team of engineers are producing military drones that can travel over long distances and carry large payloads. AeroDrone, which made crop-dusting drones prior to the war and now supplies Ukraine's armed forces, makes unmanned aircraft that can carry up to 300 kilograms or fly up to several thousand kilometers in certain configurations. As Ukraine seeks to narrow the yawning gap between its own military capabilities and Russia's, Kyiv says it is expanding its drone program for both reconnaissance and attacking enemy targets over an increasing range. It is hoping that domestic drone makers like AeroDrone will help it meet its ambitious goals. This could be due to a conflict with your ad-blocking or security software. Please add japantimes.co.jp and piano.io to your list of allowed sites.

Aston University has completed a two-year Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with Coventry-based global transport technology firm Aurrigo, resulting in a sophisticated machine vision solution making its autonomous vehicles more capable. A KTP is a UK-wide program that helps businesses to improve their competitiveness and productivity through the better use of knowledge, technology and skills. This project has led to Aurrigo's driverless vehicles being able to see and recognize objects in greater detail, resulting in improved performance across a wider spectrum of operational domains. Previously the company's driverless vehicles were only capable of detecting that there was an object in their path and not the type of object. The project team leveraged computer vision systems, coupled with machine learning and artificial intelligence, to differentiate between objects of interest.

Drone video taken Saturday morning shows Rolling Fork, Mississippi, which was heavily damaged when tornadoes and severe storms ripped through the area Friday. Video footage taken Saturday morning showed widespread destruction after tornadoes ripped through Mississippi. A severe weather outbreak across several southern states Friday evening and Saturday morning left at least 23 people dead in Mississippi. Footage captured by camera drones show residential and commercial structures wiped out by the lethal storms in Rolling Fork and Armory, Mississippi. That state's governor, Republican Tate Reeves, issued a state of emergency in all counties affected by the storm Saturday.

Pro-Iranian forces in Syria have said they have a "long arm" to respond to further United States air strikes on their positions, after tit-for-tat missile and drone attacks in Syria over the last 24 hours. The online statement, released late on Friday and signed by the Iranian Advisory Committee in Syria, said US air strikes had left several of their fighters dead and wounded, without specifying the fighters' nationality. "We have the capability to respond if our centres and forces in Syria are targeted," the statement said. On Friday night, two Syrian opposition activist groups reported a new wave of US air attacks on eastern Syria, which hit positions of Iran-backed militias, after rockets were fired at bases in Syria housing US troops. Several US officials, however, denied that attacks were launched late on Friday.

WASHINGTON – The conflict in northeast Syria escalated Friday as Iran-backed militias launched a volley of rocket and drone attacks against coalition bases after American reprisals for a drone attack that killed a U.S. contractor and injured six other Americans. President Joe Biden, speaking at a news conference in Canada, sought to tamp down fears that tit-for-tat strikes between the United States and militant groups could spiral out of control, while at the same time warning Iran to rein in its proxies. "Make no mistake, the United States does not, does not, I emphasize, seek conflict with Iran," Biden said in Ottawa, Ontario, where he was making a state visit. "But be prepared for us to act forcefully to protect our people. That's exactly what happened last night."

Fox News chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin has the latest on the attack and retaliatory measures on'The Story.' The main air defense system at a coalition military base in Northeast Syria was not working Thursday when one American contractor was killed after a suspected Iranian drone hit the base and injured six other servicemen, a senior U.S. defense official told Fox News Friday. U.S. intelligence has assessed that the drone that struck the base was Iranian. The injured U.S. service members are in "stable" condition and have been transported to a hospital in Landstuhl, Germany the senior official added. In testimony on the Hill Thursday, Gen. Erik Kurilla said in that Iranian-backed forces have been behind 78 attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria since January 2021.

Nikki Haley, presidential candidate and former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., weighs in after President Biden authorized an air strike in response to an Iranian drone that killed an American. Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley called on the Biden administration to get tough on a slew of foreign adversaries or risk war after an American citizen was killed in an Iranian drone strike in Syria. "It shows what happens when there's American weakness," Haley said Friday of the attack on "America's Newsroom." "Whether it's in Afghanistan, whether you see it in Ukraine, whether you see it on the southern border, you're going to continue to see more of these things happen." "There is no deterrence," she continued.