What is the Insurrection Act? Is Trump trying to dial back tensions with Brazil? Why was Letitia James indicted? Will a government shutdown hurt the economy? The United States's artificial intelligence (AI) investment boom might be an economic bubble that could burst, comparable to the dot-com bust in the early 2000s, according to the International Monetary Fund.

A handful of tech companies are jeopardising humanity's future through unrestrained AI development and must stop their "race to the bottom", according to the scientist behind an influential letter calling for a pause in building powerful systems. Max Tegmark, a professor of physics and AI researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said the world was "witnessing a race to the bottom that must be stopped". Tegmark organised an open letter published in April, signed by thousands of tech industry figures including Elon Musk and the Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, that called for a six-month hiatus on giant AI experiments. "We're witnessing a race to the bottom that must be stopped," Tegmark told the Guardian. "We urgently need AI safety standards, so that this transforms into a race to the top. AI promises many incredible benefits, but the reckless and unchecked development of increasingly powerful systems, with no oversight, puts our economy, our society, and our lives at risk. Regulation is critical to safe innovation, so that a handful of AI corporations don't jeopardise our shared future."

Chinese AI businesses have been growing rapidly since 2010. They have attracted significant investment from Internet giants and a vast number of emerging AI companies have emerged. Over the past decade, Chinese AI start-ups have gradually moved away from noisy bubbles and landed in an investment boom. In 2020, when people were fighting against the pandemic, CloudMinds, an AI start-up based in Beijing, developed a humanoid service robot named Cloud Ginger XR-1. Ginger played an important role in local hospitals, delivering food and medication to patients in a contactless manner when it was needed the most. Moreover, Ginger entertained patients, freeing up doctors and medical teams to focus on more critical health matters.

The pharma industry is seeing an increase in artificial intelligence (AI) investment across several key metrics, according to an analysis of GlobalData data. AI is gaining an increasing presence across multiple sectors, with top companies completing more AI deals, hiring for more AI roles and mentioning it more frequently in company reports at the start of 2021. GlobalData's thematic approach to sector activity seeks to group key company information on hiring, deals, patents and more by topic to see which companies are best placed to weather the disruptions coming to their industries. These themes, of which AI is one, are best thought of as "any issue that keeps a CEO awake at night", and by tracking them it becomes possible to ascertain which companies are leading the way on specific issues and which are dragging their heels. According to this method, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck & Co are classed as dominant players in AI in the sector, with an additional 19 companies classified as leaders.

You may not be sharing your office with a robot yet, but the next wave of automation has begun. Humanoid service robots, machine learning algorithms and autonomous logistics will replace millions of service workers in the coming decade. Experts are rushing to forecast the likely impact on jobs. But most projections overlook two powerful forces that will combine with automation to reshape the global economy by 2030: rapidly aging populations and rising inequality. The collision of these three forces sets the stage for a 10- to 15-year economic boom followed by a bust. An aging workforce, advances in automation, and growing income inequality point to an era of rapid and volatile change--and greater economic disruption than we have seen over the past 60 years.

In warehouses, hospitals and retail stores, and on city streets, industrial parks and the footpaths of college campuses, the first representatives of this new invading force are starting to become apparent. "The robots are among us," says Steve Jurvetson, a Silicon Valley investor and a director at Elon Musk's Tesla and SpaceX companies, which have relied heavily on robotics. A multitude of machines will follow, he says: "A lot of people are going to come in contact with robots in the next two to five years." The arrival of the robots -- and their potentially devastating effect on human employment -- has been widely predicted. Now, the machines are starting to roll or walk out of the labs.

The cheaper, flexible machines that are emerging are designed to be more adaptive. From driverless cars and drones to the "cobots" that work alongside humans in industrial settings, they try to sense and adapt to their surroundings. Like Tug (a robot that moves supplies around hospitals), Savioke (which handles deliveries to hotel rooms) and Locus Robotics (which operates in warehouses), they are moving into the service industries. In industrial settings--still the main venue for robot investment--they are moving out of the cages and into a far wider range of roles.

"Huge difference between a genuinely self-deprecating egoless comedic patter and one that is self-serving. And knowing you are very good at something and telling the world about it is not necessarily ego-driven - Roger Federer admits he is a great tennis player, Alan Partridge has no shame admitting his talents as a broadcaster. The world is a better place for both." "Whilst I totally disagree with requiring women to wear heels and make up, I have been encouraged not to wear heels by male colleagues who I tower over in flats. The comments have never been explicit but I think there is something of a double-standard going on.

In warehouses, hospitals and retail stores, and on city streets, industrial parks and the footpaths of college campuses, the first representatives of this new invading force are starting to become apparent. "The robots are among us," says Steve Jurvetson, a Silicon Valley investor and a director at Elon Musk's Tesla and SpaceX companies, which have relied heavily on robotics. A multitude of machines will follow, he says: "A lot of people are going to come in contact with robots in the next two to five years." The arrival of the robots -- and their potentially devastating effect on human employment -- has been widely predicted. Now, the machines are starting to roll or walk out of the labs.