How can you design an ethical robot lawyer? What regulations are needed for flying taxis? These are some of the questions the British government is hoping to answer with a new £10m fund for futuristic projects that pose significant challenges to existing rules and regulations. The business secretary, Greg Clark, said the regulators' pioneer fund, being awarded to 15 projects, would help regulators "unblock" innovation that might otherwise be hampered by red tape. Clark said the move would show that Britain had a flexible regulatory environment which could keep pace with technology.

A £10 million innovation fund has been unveiled to'lay the groundwork' for a future of flying cars and ethical robot lawyers. Business secretary Greg Clark has today (5 October) announced the 15 winning bidders for the government's Regulators' Pioneer Fund. The cash will be given to UK regulators to help drive forward innovation in the public sector and help it seize long-term opportunities like the growth of AI and the future of mobility. A £700,000 grant has been given to the Solicitors Regulation Authority to help the development of AI legal services for small businesses – dubbed'robolawyers'. The SRA's chief executive, Paul Philip, said AI services could widen access to legal services.

Jumping in a taxi, we often have our own idea of the quickest route for the driver to take. Soon, all we may need to say is'up' – after the Business Secretary announced a £10million cash injection that will help pave the way to flying cabs. Greg Clark said the money would go towards a series of projects that focus on how to regulate 15 plausible technologies of the future. They range from airborne taxis to'robolawyers' that use artificial intelligence to help streamline the legal services market. A flying taxi concept previously unveiled by engine maker Rolls-Royce.

Near the end of Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 2, Dick the Butcher offers a simple plan to create chaos and help his band of outsiders ascend to the throne: "Let's kill all the lawyers." Though far from the Bard's most beautiful turn of phrase, it is nonetheless one of his most enduring. All these years later, the law is still America's most hated profession and one of the least trusted, whether you go by scientific studies or informal opinion polls. But advances in artificial intelligence may diminish their role in the legal system or even, in some cases, replace them altogether. Here's what we stand to gain--and what we should fear--from these technologies.

WHEN it comes to the difficult problem of deciding who gets to keep the holiday home, the dog and the Barry Manilow albums, divorcing couples now have somewhere new to turn. Researchers in Australia have developed a computer program that relies on a branch of mathematics known as game theory to produce a fairer outcome when dividing property. Instead of the traditional approach of dividing a couple's property in half, the system, called Family Winner, guides the couple through a series of trade-offs and compensation strategies. According to John Zeleznikow, a computer scientist at Victoria University in Melbourne, who developed the software with his colleague Emilia Bellucci, the results are fairer because both parties end up with what they value most. The software was tested last year on 50 divorcing couples, with the outcomes evaluated by Victoria Legal Aid.