As industries across the world focus on innovation in all facets of their operations today, we inhabit an era of two progressive technologies leading a revolution. These, undoubtedly, are AI & Blockchain. The onset of artificial intelligence, which mimics human intelligence to complete complex tasks, has now seeped into how we function in our daily lives. With the ever so increased rush towards digitization – more and more applications are relying on the use of AI. In 2009, when Bitcoins were launched, Blockchain moved from being a theoretical concept to a real-world use case.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and cognitive computing can work together closely by connecting technology with the physical world. The concepts of AI and cognitive computing are deployed widely in various sectors. AI and cognitive computing can self-learn and adapt to new surroundings. However, there is a slight difference between these two technologies. AI creates devices that can act smarter than humans, whereas cognitive computing creates devices that adapt to the surroundings and communicate with humans naturally.

NPS SE thesis students are studying other aspects of the cognitive laser concept. One study is widening the scope of the problem beyond laser weapon system decisions (Carr 2021). This study is asking the broader question: how do warfare operators on ships make the determination of which weapon to select when they have kinetic weapons and laser weapons to choose from? For this higher-level kill chain function, the operator needs to be able to compare the predicted performance of the kinetic weapon with that of the laser weapon for a given threat scenario. The threat is not stationary--as it moves, the range between the weapon and target changes and therefore the amount of "atmosphere" that the laser beam must traverse changes.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a popular technology trend, which in recent years has been joined with another popular trend, Artificial Intelligence (AI) to form a brand new keyword: "AIoT". But what exactly is "AIoT"? The traditional Internet of Things refers to the deployment of a large number of physical sensors in a specific space, which can collect and return environmental data at regular intervals, such as temperature, pressure and sound. After integrating Artificial Intelligence, this IoT system can now not only sense environmental data, but as long as it also includes video or surveillance cameras, it can use "computer vision" enabled by AI deep learning technology to "see" and "recognize" surrounding objects, such as people, vehicles, numbers and animals, evolving this Internet of Things into an intelligent Internet of Things. The value of adopting AIoT technology not only lies in assisting to reduce labor costs but also in its ability to enable data analytics.

An Israeli agtech company called Seedo might have the solution for the challenges of urban agriculture in vulnerable areas such as the Caribbean, that struggle with environmental and climate factors that lead to crop loss. Latin and America and the Caribbean is the most urbanised region in the world with up to 80% of the region's population residing in cities (UN-Habitat 2012). While urbanization is an important element of economic growth and modernization, the diminishing ratio of food producers to food consumers in urban settings negatively impacts local food systems, causing populations to be more susceptible to non-communicable diseases, obesity and undernourishment. Urban farming practices such as rooftop gardens, community greenhouses and vertical farms have provided an alternative to rural agriculture, but given the high cost of urban land, space and size limitations, non-conducive environmental conditions and limited human resources, these methods have not been without their challenges. Vertical farming's "closed and controlled" approach has been successful in eliminating the risk of insects, pests and diseases that are prevalent in traditional agricultural systems but the infrastructure required has typically been cost-prohibitive and highly reliant on fossil fuels (solar power is typically not enough).

Computational thinking will be the mark of an MIT education when the MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing opens this fall, and glimpses of what's to come were on display during the final reception of a three-day celebration of the college Feb. 26-28.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are new technologies that some companies are innovators are experimenting with in order to develop new products and services. The world of art does not seem to be a natural fit for application of these technologies at first, but content creator Nathalie Frederiksen is working on combining AI with cinematic art and virtual reality (VR). Nathalie Frederiksen is working on a project called Innovatus which aims to combine AI, high-quality performance art with immersive VR. The project will be the largest that Nathalie Frederiksen has worked on so far. Full details on what Innovatus will entail have yet to be revealed, but indications are that it will involve'human simulation technology'.

Noted inventor and entrepreneur, Ralph Rodriguez, today announced he has filed for United States patent protection on his "method and apparatus for combining artificial intelligence (AI) concepts with event-driven security architectures and ideas." This patent is based on over 30 months of primary research in addition to his tenure as a Research Fellow with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and research at M.I.T. Media Lab. The paper is titled "An investigation relating to a sub-field of AI (artificial intelligence) with event-driven security architecture and ideas from'The Emotion Machine1'." "Ralph's work has produced a groundbreaking approach to a very real problem, that is at least two generations beyond the security technology currently regarded as cutting edge," said Richard C. Putz, managing director and senior fellow with the Cambridge Institute of Applied Management. "His research and development mark a milestone in the field, and illustrate the extraordinary value that can be derived from applied innovation and managerial acumen. The Institute is very pleased to host his newly published paper."

Over the weekend, either BBC Knowledge, the History Channel, or Discovery, aired a segment on "Combining Artificial Intelligence and Robots" and posed the question as to whether or not it was a threat to mankind. Part of this discussion included the moral concepts associated with enabling "smart robots" to conduct autonomous killing and what-not.