In a world first, Romania's prime minister unveiled a new honorary government adviser that will be joining his team – run entirely on artificial intelligence (AI). The AI is called Ion and consists of a mirror-like surface that displays text as well as at times a male or female face that responds in a calm voice. "Hi, you gave me life and my role is now to represent you, like a mirror," Ion's voice said at the launch. "What should I know about Romania?" The AI-powered adviser was developed by researchers to quickly analyse the opinions of Romanian citizens on key issues and policies.

Will artificial intelligence (AI) soon replace journalists? Many have been asking this question since the boom of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, which can write a high school essay, a poem, or even pass a medical licensing exam in a matter of seconds. Now, AI tools are seeping into newsrooms. CNET, an American tech news outlet, has acknowledged using AI to write financial articles, seemingly as early as November 2022. When looking more closely at the articles on CNET, a disclaimer reads: "This article was assisted by an AI engine and reviewed, fact-checked and edited by our editorial staff".

A few weeks after the launch of ChatGPT, a powerful artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, Darren Hick said he caught one of his students cheating by submitting a robot-generated essay. The new technology, released by OpenAI and openly available to the public, can pretty much do anything. Type a request and it can write a persuasive school essay, compose a song or even crack a silly knock-knock joke within a few seconds. Although it can write convincingly, it doesn't mean that what it says is true. That's what set off alarm bells for Hick, an assistant professor of philosophy at Furman University, in the US state of South Carolina.

A simple device, just a heat and movement sensor attached to digital camera, has revolutionised the way that conservationists learn about animals in the wild. Camera traps are a very simple solution to the task of working out when, where and how wildlife interacts with its environment. Monitoring populations without damaging habitats, these relatively simple devices have provided some astonishing finds including revealing species previously hidden in the untouched depths of the forest. Elusive new creatures aren't their only speciality, however, as in 2015, similar devices helped reveal that the critically endangered Javan rhinoceros was breeding and significantly adding to its tiny population. After identifying a likely area for a sighting, usually with the help of local guides, traps are placed at animal height on trees and posts and left to wait until wildlife walks by.

Part of London Tech Week, the conference brings together 3,500 delegates and 400 speakers to explore what AI means for the world of business. The event is focused on near-term developments in AI, and real-world examples of how the vast amounts of data now available in our digitized world are being exploited to boost a company's bottom line. We discuss some of the key trends emerging from AI Summit 2018. Something extraordinary is happening to customer service. It's becoming increasingly common for common queries from real people to be treated by so-called'chatbots', a type of software that carefully mimics real conversations.