According to AI, the future is bright. The prompts focused on how overcrowding, climate change and technological development are likely to change the cities of the future. The amazing results show many of the concrete jungles adorned with lush vegetation sprouting from sci-fi-looking hi-rises that winged vehicles soar around in bright blue skies. By 2050, almost three-quarters of the world population (68 percent) will live in cities, according to a UN prediction. While it might sound bleak, technology could turn congested regions into lush utopias.

Technology has enabled humans to work smarter and more efficiently. In theory, this allows them to be more productive. It's an even taller order for developers in smart city environments: to harness technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) to enable urban environments to operate more efficiently, utilize resources more intelligently, reduce crime and pollution, improve mobility, rid cities of traffic backlogs, enhance community safety, encourage social inclusivity, attract and support business, provide more infrastructural services, support the vulnerable, make city information available to citizens at the click of a button, and offer ordinary people a sustainable, eco-friendly lifestyle. Smart cities are made possible by the intelligent gathering and utilization of data from numerous sources. But development is something of a moving target as technology matures.

GlobalData research has found the top influencers in future cities based on their performance online and on social media.Using research from GlobalData's Influencer platform, Verdict has named ten of the most influential people and companies in digital construction on Twitter during Q4 2020. Ronald Van Loon is a principal analyst and CEO of the Intelligent World, an influencer network connecting businesses and experts with new tech, artificial intelligence (AI), analytics, and data enthusiasts. He is a recognised thought leader in technologies such as AI, the internet of things (IoT), machine learning, and 5G, among others. Loon is an advisory board member at Simplilearn, an education management company and has also served as director of Advertisement, an information technology and services company. Glen Gilmore is the founding faculty for digital marketing programmes at the Rutgers University School of Business.

Artificial intelligence will take over from humans and force us to abandon our anthropocentric view of the world, curator and brand consultant Suzanne Livingston said at the Dezeen Day conference this week. "We will no longer be centre stage," Livingston said during a panel discussion on the future of cities. Humans will have to accept being "surrounded by a diversity of intelligence," she added. According to Livingston, who curated the AI: More than Human exhibition at the Barbican Centre this summer, this will be difficult for people living in western countries to accept, as they are used to an anthropocentric view of the world. "In the west we will find this difficult," she explained. "We have a model of the self that is top down, in control, autonomous, rational and the highest form of evolutionary life."

Not the Terminator kind that will take over the world. But definitely, the kind that are taking over our jobs! We live in an automated world, where our Uber rides are booked by Alexa and Siri gives us driving directions. PwC estimates that 30% of jobs will be impacted by automation by 2030. You and I may become irrelevant.

A new generation of ultralight drone has been designed using flapping wings, as opposed to rigid ones, or rotating propellers. Alireza Ramezan, a roboticist at Boston's Northeastern University, devised the UAV after studying nature and hopes it could one day be used to enhance modern life by pollinating crops, collecting weather data and monitoring traffic. They may even function as'guardians of future cities', monitoring elderly people who live alone, or by working with the emergency services. Mimic: The Bat Bot has highly stretchable silicone-based membrane wings that are controlled by number of joints, much like the creature it's inspired by'There will be these machines that are round the clock doing monitoring and providing information,' says Dr Ramezani. 'We can think of them as the guardians of future cities.' Dr Ramezani came up with the idea after studying how bats take flight.

Ford's F-Series pickups are not just America's best-selling trucks--they are America's best-selling vehicle, and have been for decades. Every year, in the US alone, the automaker sells more than 800,000 F-150s (the smallest of the family) a year, and they're a major profit driver. When Ford's new CEO announced major budget cuts last year, he also added extra investment into electric vehicles and pickups. All of which is to say, the F-Series is vital to Ford, and it's not the kind of thing you mess with lightly. But the company knows things are changing.

Dubai, the Future City, recently announced its plans to debut self-flying taxis this year. Now, Dubai Police is taking its force to the next level with small autonomous patrol cars equipped with drones, according to Gulf News (via The Verge). The self-driving police cars are expected to hit the road by the end of the year. The vehicles will come with biometric software that will scan individuals it comes across, looking out for criminals and those who are suspected of breaking the law. The police car, which is equipped with 360-degree cameras, will patrol different locations in Dubai, will be on the lookout for suspicious activity and will scan crowds.

This article is a part of an evolving theme. Here, I explain the basics of Deep Learning and how Deep learning algorithms could apply to IoT and Smart city domains. Specifically, as I discuss below, I am interested in complementing Deep learning algorithms using IoT datasets. I elaborate these ideas in the Data Science for Internet of Things program which enables you to work towards being a Data Scientist for the Internet of Things (modelled on the course I teach at Oxford University and UPM – Madrid).

Over the coming decades, a dozen dense and developed cities may aggressively use shared fleets of electric and self-driving cars that could be summoned to pick up passengers and shuttle them to offices and stores.