The game board was classic CES misdirection--a way to set the IVS booth apart from the convention's 4,000 other exhibitors and to draw journalists like me into learning about a piece of factory machinery.

Reg Events 2017 looks like being the year of AI. Or at least that's what a friendly computer keeps telling us. So we're partnering with our friends at Heise to bring you M3, a conference which aims to bring together researchers, academics and, crucially, practitioners, to show you how to put the latest in artificial intelligence, machine learning algorithms, and deep learning, to work in our organisation. The conference will take place from October 9 to 11, at 30 Euston Square, Central London. This is a stunningly comfortable venue in which to ponder some of the most intellectually, and ethically, challenging issues facing the tech community today.