On New Year's Eve 25 years ago, sane people worried that the modern world was about to melt down. The millennium bug seemed to be threatening to crash the world's computer systems, as technology struggled to distinguish between the years 1900 and 2000. The public, faced with daily predictions of potentially terrible outcomes, braced themselves nervously. Dark jokes prevailed about avoiding being on "a life-support system at midnight on 31 December 1999". In China, Zhao Be, then the head of the country's millennium bug coordination efforts, commanded airline executives to be on a flight on 1 January 2000 to demonstrate any problems had been sorted.

Despite being a slow-moving disaster, famine is notoriously difficult to predict. The reason for this, experts say, is that severe food shortages are hardly ever about food supply alone. A famine might be triggered by drought or some other climatic interference in crop production, but other powerful forces usually bring the scourge to full bloom: food price inflation, political instability, military conflict and even too much rain. "The root cause of famine is extremely complex," said Franck Bousquet, senior director of the World Bank Fragility, Conflict, and Violence Group (FCV). "Usually, the poorest and most vulnerable are the most affected and the least able to cope with shocks that other populations can absorb. Out of the last 10 major famines, nine have resulted from conflict and war."

Undoubtedly, over the next few decades, artificial intelligence (AI) will begin to shape the world as Industry 4.0 prevails. Two of the world's most powerful businessmen Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk are already debating the merits of this phenomenon. Musk claims that AI is a "fundamental risk to the existence of civilisation", whilst Zuckerberg is presenting more of a positive stance. Whilst this claim may prove to be true or not, as the use of AI imprints on society further, time will reveal its benefits and shortcomings. Hopefully not before it is too late, as some report that technology is now growing faster than humans are adapting to it. This article will explore some artificial intelligence solutions to some of the most pressing challenges the world faces today.

How humanity will meet its end is a an endless source of fascination in science fiction. But scientists claim many of the scenarios depicted in films - such as an asteroid strike and killer robots - may not be as far fetched as you might think. Now researchers at Cambridge University's Study of Existential Risk (CESR) have come up with a list of 10 threats that may some day trigger an apocalypse. Humanity faces an uncertain future as technology learns to think for itself and adapt to its environment. Artificial Intelligence, disguised as helpful digital assistants and self-driving vehicles, is gaining a foothold and it could one day spell the end for mankind if allowed to develop without strict controls.