When you first drive a Tesla, there's a moment when you just get it. For me, it was cruising around Detroit in a Model S about seven years ago and feeling that instant, supercar-crushing speed without the engine roar that usually accompanies it. Instead of an array of dials and buttons, I worked its controls through a giant touch screen, and used its Autopilot system to help with the monotony of long highway drives. When the Model S debuted in 2012, most other electric cars were impractical, souped-up golf carts. Here was one with sports-car acceleration that didn't skimp on luxury, either.

'It's not a matter of there being a set of ethics for machines and another for human beings; we argue that there is just one thing called ethics. We want to make sure that machines have this ethics built into them,' says Professor Susan Anderson, who says this needs to be an exhaustive process. 'In order to try to capture the ethical principles needed we need to have a dialogue with the machine that is centred just around whatever the domain is that the machine will be functioning in, and try to discover the ethically-relevant features that the machine will have to encounter or deal with, the prima facie duties that the machine should be aware of and the decision principles that in the last analysis should govern its behaviour.' Professor Anderson says that in the course of an'interactive dialogue' between the machine and one or more ethicists, the machine would be able to'tease out' ethical elements that are relevant to its domain. 'Like, could someone be harmed?

There has been a dramatic increase in work in the last five or six years, coming from the exponential data explosion and an increase in audit regulation bureaucracy,

The CEO and founder of cloud-based accountancy software giant Xero says artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies will be "transformational" for finance over the next few years. Rod Drury told Business Insider during a recent interview in London: "We'll see more innovation in the next 2 years than we have in the 10 years, all driven by AI." The Xero founder says: "We're getting a massive hit on the R&D we've done around machine learning and AI. We think it's going to be transformational for the industry. "If you capture information from the bank statement and the invoice and the bills that are flying through, you can actually programme things to do a whole lot of work for you and you're just checking and making fixes, which trains the machine." Xero's accountancy software helps small and medium-sized businesses manage their accountants in the cloud but Drury believes much of the management -- things like categorizing expenditure and sending accounts to be checked -- could be automated by "smart" AI and machine learning programmes, which learn the habits of your business. "You can build unique system for each business," says Drury. "The first innovation in cloud accounting was actually getting these transactions into the cloud.

Cloud accounting firm Xero has released its financial results for the first half of FY17, posting a net loss after tax of NZ$43.9 million. The New Zealand-based company experienced a 48 percent year-on-year increase in revenue to NZ$137 million; however, earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) was down 23 percent over the same period last year, to come in at a loss of NZ$25.9 million. Xero CEO and founder Rod Drury said his company remains focused on driving diversified global growth and executing on its business strategy. "Our focus is to build a sustainable global business with high margins, while managing our cash. Our revenue growth has allowed us to continue the significant investment in our platform, back-office, and team to support our global footprint," Drury said.

The CEO and founder of cloud-based accountancy software giant Xero says artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies will be "transformational" for finance over the next few years. Rod Drury told Business Insider during a recent interview in London: "We'll see more innovation in the next 2 years than we have in the last 10 years, all driven by AI." The Xero founder says: "We're getting a massive hit on the R&D we've done around machine learning and AI. We think it's going to be transformational for the industry. "If you capture information from the bank statement and the invoice and the bills that are flying through, you can actually programme things to do a whole lot of work for you and you're just checking and making fixes, which trains the machine." Xero's accountancy software helps small and medium-sized businesses manage their accountants in the cloud but Drury believes much of the management -- things like categorizing expenditure and sending accounts to be checked -- could be automated by "smart" AI and machine learning programmes, which learn the habits of your business. "You can build unique system for each business," says Drury. "The first innovation in cloud accounting was actually getting these transactions into the cloud.