Republican John Reid used AI to create a mock debate with Democratic rival Ghazala Hashmi for the Virginia lieutenant governor's race after she declined real debates.

The Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at Duqm is being prepped for investments related to artificial intelligence (AI) as well as 3D-printing projects, a senior official announced on Saturday. Eng Saleh bin Rashid al Hashmi, Director General of Planning and Engineering Affairs and Head of the Modern Building and 3D Printing Techniques Team at SEZAD, said the zone can provide a suitable and attractive environment for experimenting such technologies offered by the corporates specialised in modern building techniques. Successful technologies can then be promoted within and outside the Sultanate, he noted. "The Zone welcomes the initiatives of local and international private sector companies and research institutions to expand their services and activities and develop their business in SEZAD. Accordingly, investors will be stimulated to use modern technologies that serve reducing the building cost and duration of projects as well as providing environment-friendly buildings", Al Hashmi commented.

The fourth wave in industry, known as Industry 4.0, is underway connecting the physical world to the digital. To bring these together, manufacturers are developing smarter, better-connected machines that use big data, machine-to-machine communication and machine-learning technology to optimise productivity. Digital twinning, the mapping of a physical asset to a digital platform, is one of the latest technologies to emerge from Industry 4.0. It uses data from sensors on the physical asset to analyse its efficiency, condition and real-time status. Up to 85 per cent of internet of things platforms will contain some form of this by 2020, according to Orbis Research.

The robot on an oil drillship in the Gulf of Mexico made it easier for Mark Rodgers to do his job stringing together heavy, dirty pipes. It could also be a reason he's not working there today. The Iron Roughneck, made by National Oilwell Varco Inc., automates the repetitive and dangerous task of connecting hundreds of segments of drill pipe as they're shoved through miles of ocean water and oil-bearing rock. The machine has also cut to two from three the need for roustabouts, estimates Rodgers, who took a job repairing appliances after being laid off from Transocean Ltd. "I'd love to go back offshore," he says. The odds are against him.