On Sunday, the world's governments made a series of commitments to transform global governance at the United Nations Summit of the Future in New York. The ambitiously named summit was described as a "once-in-a-generation opportunity" to "forge a new global consensus on what our future should look like". Indeed, we are at a critical time when change is urgently needed. The world faces "a moment of historic danger", with increasingly imminent risks – from nuclear war to a planetary emergency, from persistent poverty and widening inequality to the unhindered advancement of artificial intelligence – threatening humanity's very existence. These are global challenges that cannot be solved purely at the national level: The people of the world need – and deserve – better coordinated global action.

Were you to board an aeroplane piloted by a man who has never previously sat in a cockpit, you'd be alarmed. Were you to face surgery by a woman with no medical qualifications, you'd be frightened. Politics is the one profession that can put someone in a position of great power and responsibility without any prior experience or demonstration of ability. "It's bizarre," Tony Blair says. "In any other walk of life, that doesn't happen." When he became prime minister in 1997 he was in his early forties and an absolute neophyte at governing. He was much better at it, he believes, towards the end of his decade at No 10 than at the outset. So he's written a book about the dos and the don'ts of leadership "because government is a science as well as an art". In the first flush of taking power, leaders "listen eagerly" because they grasp that they know little or nothing about governing.

When Elinor O'Donovan found out she had been randomly selected to participate in a basic income pilot scheme, she couldn't believe her luck. In return for a guaranteed salary of just over 1,400 ( 1,200) a month from the Irish government, all the 27-year-old artist had to do was fill out a bi-annual questionnaire about her wellbeing and how she spends her time. "It was like winning the lottery. I was in such disbelief," she says. The income, which she will receive until September 2025, has enabled her to give up temping and focus instead on her art.

Do you support sustainability, social responsibility, tech ethics, or trust and safety? In his new self-published Techno-Optimist Manifesto, Andreessen presents his case for the advancement of technology under capitalism as "virtuous" and capable of creating "abundance that lifts all humans". Along the way he champions trickle-down economics (famously effective at increasing inequality), claims technology can solve any problem and suggests that slowing AI development is akin to murder. If you think such proposals sound divorced from reality, you're right. The harms of the state of technology are many: rampant surveillance, consolidation of power, bias and discrimination in automated decision-making systems, worsening power dynamics and labour conditions as a result of automation, and threats to creative workers from generative AI.

The concept of the AI singularity has been a topic of fascination and speculation for decades. At its most basic, the singularity refers to a hypothetical future point in time where artificial intelligence will surpass human intelligence, leading to exponential technological growth and a radical change in the nature of human civilization. The singularity has been described as a "tipping point" or a "knee of the curve" -- a moment when technological progress will accelerate at an unprecedented rate, leading to rapid and radical changes in society. While some believe that the singularity could lead to a utopia of technological advancement and human prosperity, others worry that it could have disastrous consequences, with some even going so far as to predict that it could lead to the end of humanity as we know it. Regardless of what the future holds, the AI singularity is a topic that is ripe for exploration and discussion, and one that will likely continue to be a source of fascination for years to come.

There's no reason you should have ever heard of Simon Squibb, the "chief purpose officer of the Purposeful Project". Mr Squibb, who describes himself as an "Elon Musk wanna-be" in his Twitter profile, is one of those tirelessly energetic mid-life influencers who proliferate on the petri dish of LinkedIn. Displaying the sort of enthusiasm that Matt Hancock reserves for a Bushtucker Challenge, Mr Squibb is on a mission. "I want to fix the education system", he says. This fix entails removing something that many of us consider quite an important part of the education system: the learning part.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will launch 75 artificial intelligence-powered Defence products today at the first-ever AI in Defence symposium and exhibition, organized by the Ministry of Defence. The AI products, launched as part of the'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' celebrations, fall under various domains. Out of these 75 products, some are already being used by the armed forces while the rest are in the process of deployment. India desired world peace but won't be left behind in the technologies needed to protect the nation. The nature of modern warfare is changing and AI will play a significant role in warfare. These products are tested and soon to be deployed for the safety and security of the nation.

While it seems unlikely that AI will enter another nuclear winter, the current COVID-19 situation is giving enterprises the opportunity to rethink their AI strategies, giving the better AI projects more room to run, while discarding the borderline AI projects that were unlikely to pay off. The macro economic situation deteriorated rapidly thanks to COVID-19. In the span of a few weeks in late March, the United States went from record-low unemployment and widespread prosperity to massive layoffs and the abrupt end of the longest economic expansion in history. Amid this brutal economic toll, many companies have declared bankruptcy, while others are slashing their budgets in an attempt to weather viral the storm. Will AI projects survive the mess? Companies that have already implemented AI have reported fewer impacts and a greater ability to respond to unanticipated disruptions to their businesses.

The covid-19 pandemic has shown us how much health care is in need of not just tweaking but radical change. The pressure on global health systems, providers, and staff has already been increasing to unsustainable levels. But it also illustrates how much can be achieved in times of crisis: for example, China and the UK recently built thousands of extra beds in intensive care units, or ICUs, in less than two weeks. Health-care reform will need to spur a totally different approach to how care is organized, delivered, and distributed, which will be paramount in a (hopefully soon) post-covid-19 era. It's the only way to deliver the quadruple aim of health care: better outcomes, improved patient and staff experience, and lower cost of care.

Libraries have always resisted change. Libraries are also viewed as an agent of change. The journey from clay tablet to e-tablet and from papyrus to paper has been made but it has not yet ended. Changing the paradigm from a traditional library setup to modern information network has enhanced the role of libraries as real services agents. These changes have stunned some scholars who wonder what else is going to be brought into consideration in order to impart quality and optimal information in minimal time.