The term "sentient" is used several times in the video below and it means "able to perceive or feel things." An Artificial Intelligence (AI) philosopher suggests that certain chatbots may show traces of consciousness. However, he suggested this doesn't always equate to the same level of sentience we associate with human beings. The concept of sentience has long been a contentious topic in the philosophical and scientific fields, but Oxford academic Nick Bostrom's take on the matter may offer a new perspective. In an interview with the New York Times, Bostrom suggested that rather than viewing sentience as all-or-nothing, he thinks of it in terms of degrees.

When Apple appointed former Googler John Giannandrea as the first senior vice president of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Strategy, the tech giant indicated that it's getting more serious about AI. Now, the company is showing its commitment to strengthen its AI efforts by hiring another expert in the field from its staunchest rival. Apple has named Ian Goodfellow as the Director of Machine Learning in the Special Projects Group last month. Goodfellow worked with Google from 2013 to 2016 and then again from 2017 and 2019. During the last five months of his employment with the tech giant, he was a Senior Staff Research Scientist.

The smartphone will still be our central tech device by the end of next year, but as augmented reality and wearables progress, we'll sense more and more that a new paradigm in personal computing is around the corner. That will be helped along by enabling technologies such as 5G networks, which will be stretching far and wide by the end of 2020. And, artificial intelligence will become infused in all kinds of products, allowing gadgets and services to subtly begin to anticipate our wants. These tectonic shifts are already creating opportunity and chances for innovation. Venture capital investments on startup companies are on pace to reach $100 billion in 2018, far exceeding 2017's $82 billion in investments.

Rogue states and terrorists could cause havoc using artificial intelligence unless preparations are made against the malicious use of the technology, experts have warned. Twenty-six experts on AI, security and technology suggest in a report that cyber-crime could rapidly increase in years to come. They forecast artificially intelligent bots being used to manipulate the news agenda, social media and elections as well as the hijacking of drones and autonomous vehicles. The report, titled The Malicious Use of Artificial Intelligence: Forecasting, Prevention, and Mitigation, also warns of the rise of "highly believable fake videos" impersonating prominent figures or faking events to manipulate public opinion around political events.

PARIS – Artificial intelligence could be deployed by dictators, criminals and terrorists to manipulate elections and use drones in terrorist attacks, more than two dozen experts said Wednesday as they sounded the alarm over misuse of the technology. In a 100-page analysis, they outlined a rapid growth in cybercrime and the use of "bots" to interfere with news gathering and penetrate social media among a host of plausible scenarios in the next five to 10 years. "Our report focuses on ways in which people could do deliberate harm with AI," said Sean O hEigeartaigh, Executive Director of the Cambridge Centre for the Study of Existential Risk. "AI may pose new threats, or change the nature of existing threats, across cyber, physical and political security," he said. The common practice, for example, of "phishing" -- sending emails seeded with malware or designed to finagle valuable personal data -- could become far more dangerous, the report detailed.

"Sophia is in a different class. While she is now a partially fictional character we have developed, she is also an AI development platform and we are developing smarter algorithms with the expectation she will grow really smart, she will have experiences, she will evolve and surprise us, she will become her own woman, her own robotic person, out there in the world. And when that happens, we hope that she will make remarkable contributions, maybe she'll go to university, maybe win a Nobel Prize someday, so I have hopes for her the way that I have hopes for my child." What this also means, Hanson explained, is that AI could have the ability to be able to choose their own career path and that could mean a robot might decide to become a prostitute. In that case, society should support the robot's decision.