It is the year 2029 and an LA cop finds himself accused of murdering his wife. I rish writer Marco van Belle delivers an entertaining script for this real time futurist thriller-satire set in LA in 2029, in a world (as they say) where AI is wholly responsible for assessing criminal guilt or innocence. Veteran Russian-Kazakh film-maker Timur Bekmambetov directs, bringing his usual robust approach to the big action sequences, and Chris Pratt stars as the LAPD cop accused of murder. The film's ostensible target is the insidious power of AI, though the movie partakes of today's liberal opinion doublethink, in which we all solemnly concur that AI is very worrying while not having the smallest intention of doing anything about it. Pratt plays Detective Chris Raven, an officer with a drinking problem but nonetheless a poster boy for LA law enforcement in 2029 for having brought in the first conviction under the city's creepy new hi-tech justice system, ironically entitled Mercy (it doesn't appear to be an acronym).

Chris Pratt on new film Mercy: I asked to be locked into an executioner's chair Being locked barefoot in an executioner's chair sounds uncomfortable, but that is what Chris Pratt requested for his latest film, Mercy. More familiar as a wisecracking action hero in blockbusters like Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic World, this role is quite a departure for him. He plays homicide detective Chris Raven, who's fighting for his life after being accused of murdering his wife. Raven is an alcoholic who wakes in the chair after a drinking binge, with just 90 minutes to convince an AI judge he's innocent, or he'll be executed immediately. The film is set in real time, so we see Raven defend his case - while enduring a crashing hangover.

A horrific rape and incest video game has sparked fury by encouraging players to be'women's worst nightmare'. The game, titled'No Mercy', centres around a protagonist who rapes his family members including his aunt and his own mother. Players of the vile game are instructed to'never take no for an answer' in their ambition to'subdue' and'own' women. Despite its horrendous themes, the game does not have an official age rating and was available for sale on Steam, the most popular digital game store. The game's developer, Zerat Games, published the game on Steam in March where children as young as 13 can make an account.

This is part of Airplane Mode, a series on the business--and pleasure--of travel right now. I'm a travel agent, and when I sat down to write this article, there were 1,154 flight cancellations. Days like this used to be a once-a-year occurrence. A snowpocalypse would smother the entire East Coast or an airline's computer system would go down or a strike would happen. A week of misery would follow while the whole industry dug out.

The once futuristic potential for artificial intelligence in healthcare is coming to fruition, integrating with key operational and clinical aspects of healthcare to improve patient care. But how far will it go? What the future holds The future holds huge potential for AI, as companies are testing algorithms to detect conditions such as pneumonia, flagging those patients for physicians to take a more nuanced look. Mark Hoffman, PhD, chief research information officer at Children's Research Institute at Children's Mercy Kansas City, anticipates the next step will be focused on methods to evaluate the accuracy of AI, as well as its value, in diagnostics. And as with any changes in healthcare, regulatory agencies will slow the process.

KYOTO – A 400-year-old temple is attempting to hot-wire interest in Buddhism with a robotic priest it believes will change the face of the religion -- despite critics comparing the android to "Frankenstein's monster." The android Kannon, based on the Buddhist deity of mercy, preaches sermons at Kodaiji temple in Kyoto, and its human colleagues predict that with artificial intelligence it could one day acquire unlimited wisdom. "This robot will never die; it will just keep updating itself and evolving," said priest Tensho Goto. It can store knowledge forever and limitlessly. "With AI we hope it will grow in wisdom to help people overcome even the most difficult troubles. It's changing Buddhism," he added.

I've been watching this space for some time now, and I continue to be bullish on the prospects of ML/AI in the healthcare industry. Here, I'm going to write about my views on The Why of ML/AI, some examples of The Who in this space, and, finally, some thoughts on The How these practices are going to disrupt processes in healthcare. Oh, and I'll also provide some thoughts on the infrastructure that's needed to make this all happen, because, those who know me will know my thoughts on infrastructure, viz. Let's start by looking at this clever map of the most well-funded AI startups in each state. Healthcare is, by far, the leading vertical focus for these AI startups, with the next largest focus being Business Intelligence (BI) @ 12%, followed by Cybersecurity and Marketing, both @ 9%.

Healthcare is a ripe target for machine learning to both optimize processes and greatly improve care delivery. Take Mercy Health, for instance. When the health system was considering ways to improve care delivery, hospital executives looked at one of the most successful initiatives it had undertaken in the last decade: supply chain management. "We have a lot of experience with operational efficiency," said Todd Stewart, MD, vice president of clinical integrated solutions at Mercy. Using the operative suite as an example, he noted that all the supplies that go into and through it are very expensive.

Warning: this article contains sexual references, sexual innuendo and unlikely sexual interpretations of ostensibly inoffensive material. It turns out that 2016 was a pretty good year for video games. Everything else might have gone to hell, but games pretty much delivered. From the showy popcorn thrills of Uncharted 4 to the sombre gothic chills of Dishonored 2; from blockbusters to rule-breakers; from lumbering epics to short, sharp shocks, 2016 had it all. But was it a sexy year for games?

Overwatch, the new team-based first-person shooter from World of Warcraft developer Blizzard, has been out for less than 48 hours, but it's already fairly clear that the game is a hit. Its short, open beta, which concluded two weeks ago, was popular enough to spark a meme in the intervening period detailing all the things players were doing now they couldn't play the game (sample post: the person who drew all the Overwatch heroes as if they were bowls of lukewarm water). Then, on release day, the Overwatch subreddit briefly drew more traffic than the front page of Reddit itself, seemingly a result of users hammering refresh to find out when the servers were turned on. Speaking with Michael Chu, a senior game designer at Blizzard, it's clear that the fervour is no huge surprise. The company has a strong history of success in multiplayer games, from World of Warcraft to Diablo III, and drew inspiration from across the board in developing Overwatch.