Plus: Why other industries are keeping such a close eye on Big Tech's job cuts It is July 2027, and China is on the brink of invading Taiwan. Autonomous drones with AI targeting capabilities are primed to overpower the island's air defenses as a series of crippling AI-generated cyberattacks cut off energy supplies and key communications. In the meantime, a vast disinformation campaign enacted by an AI-powered pro-Chinese meme farm spreads across global social media, deadening the outcry at Beijing's act of aggression. Scenarios such as this have brought dystopian horror to the debate about the use of AI in warfare. Military commanders hope for a digitally enhanced force that is faster and more accurate than human-directed combat. But there are fears that as AI assumes an increasingly central role, these same commanders will lose control of a conflict that escalates too quickly and lacks ethical or legal oversight.

Plus: China is catching up with America's AI lead Climate change is subjecting vulnerable people to temperatures that push their limits. In 2023, about 47,000 heat-related deaths are believed to have occurred in Europe. Researchers estimate that climate change could add an extra 2.3 million European heat deaths this century. That's heightened the stakes for solving the mystery of just what happens to bodies in extreme conditions. While we broadly know how people thermoregulate, the science of keeping warm or cool is mottled with blind spots. Researchers around the world are revising rules about when extremes veer from uncomfortable to deadly.

I hear it's close: two years, five years--maybe next year! And I hear it's going to solve our biggest problems in ways we cannot yet imagine. I also hear it will bring on the apocalypse and kill us all We're of course talking about artificial general intelligence, or AGI--that hypothetical near-future technology that (I hear) will be able to do pretty much whatever a human brain can do. Every age has its believers, people with an unshakeable faith that something huge is about to happen--a before and an after that they are privileged (or doomed) to live through. For us, that's the promised advent of AGI. And here's what I think: AGI is a lot like a conspiracy theory, and it may be the most consequential one of our time.

In modern geo-politics the role of Indian Navy is going to be more challenging and its active participation could decide the place of India in global power play. The seminar "Swavlamban" chaired by the PM Modi on SPRINT Challenges on July 18th 2022, is showcasing the seriousness of New Delhi towards the strengthening the Indian Navy through the modern indigenous technologies. The presence of Chinses third generation research and survey ship "Yuan Wang 5" in Hambantota, Sri Lanka, is sufficient to explain that the Indo-Pacific is going to be future coliseum of geo-politics. It is provoking India to adopt modern cutting-edge naval technologies to protect the country's interest and control the foreign powers. Technology is always an important agent, which decides or redefines the war parameters with some distinctive outputs.

The draft text, presented today by the rapporteur, says that the public debate should shift towards a focus on the enormous potential of AI, which offers humankind the unique chance to improve almost every area of our lives. AI could help combat climate change, pandemics and global hunger, and enhance quality of life through personalised medicine. According to the draft document, AI can substantially increase productivity, innovation, growth and job creation. The EU should not regulate AI as a technology; instead, the type, intensity and timing of regulatory intervention should solely depend on the type of risk associated with a particular use of an AI system. The text warns that the EU is currently falling behind in the global tech race that will determine the future political and economic global power balance.

"Mike Kanaan is an influential new voice in the field of AI, and his thoughts paint an insightful perspective. "Kanaan's book makes us aware of the urgent need for international understanding and a formal agreement on AI. Without binding commitments, the future will pose threats, both military and social, that risk our very survival. AI may be a blessing, but it can also be the ultimate curse. The world must agree to draw a red line between the two, and make sure that no one crosses it." "Never have I read a book that did a better job of putting the challenges and prospects of artificial intelligence into context.

Progress in artificial intelligence research has been remarkable in recent years, with global superpowers like China and the US successfully demonstrating in various ways the powerful extent of the technology.