Some people see artificial intelligence as a danger to democracy; others see it as a huge opportunity. Researchers and experts explain how algorithms and big data are deployed in Switzerland – and how they aren't. Voting in Switzerland takes place every three months. Fierce debates take place before the referendums, and the tone can be particularly aggressive online. Insults, pure hate and even murder threats are not unusual.

As a tech writer, I sometimes feel about new technology the way I suspect military historians must feel about war: You just can't say you love every aspect of your subject. My default model for "tomorrow" is built on the bright and exciting images of yesterday's tomorrow, from "Star Trek" and Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers and Tom Swift. As naïve as it may sound, I inherited from the books, films and TV shows of my childhood a basically progressive view: Despite bumps and missteps occasionally setting us back along the way, technology ultimately would lead to a better future. And I believe it has. Despite the anxiety we seem to thrive on these days, this is a safer world than the one I was born into nearly 70 years ago.

In a world of social media users sharing fake news and articles they haven't read--and a president who hates the media--it can pay to go directly to the source. By providing a digital archive of "all statements made in state legislative hearings," Digital Democracy allows people to do just that. The organization provides both videos and transcripts of the hearings -- all on a completely searchable platform. "These data rich transcripts represent an entirely new universe of information previously unavailable to the public," according to Digital Democracy. Right now, transcripts are available only for state legislatures in California (since 2015) and, as of February 6, 2017, New York.

No one knows better than Sam Blakeslee that your elected officials operate in the shadows. No one is sure what they do or what they say. He knows because he used to be one of them. As a Republican state senator and assemblyman in California, Blakeslee worked on negotiating the state budget and drafting bills around the energy sector and lobbying reform. And he did it--as did his fellow legislators--far from the prying eyes of the very people he was representing.

In this special guest feature, Alexander Khaytin, COO for Yandex Data Factory, explains how businesses can introduce "data democracy" and systematic testing and how agility can be introduced into even the most inflexible of organizations, overcoming the barriers prohibiting machine learning adoption and benefit. As Chief Operating Officer at YDF, Alexander oversees projects from concept to completion, alongside contributing to YDF's partnership, sales and technology strategies. Prior to joining Yandex in 2014, Alexander spent over a decade providing consulting and strategic analysis services for businesses in telecom, construction, energy, retail and finance industries. As a Partner at a system integrator, Korus Consulting, from 2011 to 2014, he ran projects for some of Russia's leading brands, including state-owned hi-tech corporation Rostech, Moscow City Telephone Network, mobile broadband services provider and smartphone manufacturer Yota, Bank Saint Petersburg and Russia's largest e-payment system Yandex.Money. Machine learning has come to play an important role for businesses looking to transform the way they work.

Zoltan Istvan, who represents the Transhumanist Party and bills himself as "the science candidate" in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, has garnered more media coverage than many third party candidates, with recent mentions in Vocativ, The Verge, USA Today, and Pacific Standard. He also writes regularly for Motherboard and The Huffington Post. Istvan's popularity is likely due to a combination of his quirky campaign style (he drives around in a bus painted to resemble a coffin with "Science vs. The Coffin" written above the bumper) and an unconventional platform that pushes for gene editing, human life extension, and morphological freedom (the right to do anything to your body so long as it doesn't harm others). As a broader movement, transhumanism focuses on leveraging science and technology toward the ultimate goal of overcoming death, largely through as-yet-unproven methods such as mind uploading, in which a person's entire consciousness would be transferred to a digital system or machine.

In a promotional video for Amazon's Echo virtual assistant device, a young girl no older than 12 asks excitedly: "Is it for me?". The voice-controlled speaker can search the web for information, answer questions and even tell kids' jokes. An investigation by the Guardian has found that despite Amazon marketing the Echo to families with young children, the device is likely to contravene the US Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), set up to regulate the collection and use of personal information from anyone younger than 13. Along with Google, Apple and others promoting voice-activated artificial intelligence systems to young children, the company could now face multimillion-dollar fines. "This is part of the initial wave of marketing to children using the internet of things," says Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a privacy advocacy group that helped write the law.

In a promotional video for Amazon's Echo virtual assistant device, a young girl no older than 12 asks excitedly: "Is it for me?". The voice-controlled speaker can search the web for information, answer questions and even tell kids' jokes. An investigation by the Guardian has found that despite Amazon marketing the Echo to families with young children, the device is likely to contravene the US Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), set up to regulate the collection and use of personal information from anyone younger than 13. Along with Google, Apple and others promoting voice-activated artificial intelligence systems to young children, the company could now face multimillion-dollar fines. "This is part of the initial wave of marketing to children using the internet of things," says Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a privacy advocacy group that helped write the law.