A seminal moment in the history of artificial intelligence (AI) occurred on Oct. 11, when a robot addressed the UK's House of Lords to discuss the topic of AI-created art. The focus of the meeting was Ai-Da, the AI-controlled, humanoid robot conceived by art dealer Aidan Meller and researcher Lucy Seal. The software algorithms controlling Ai-Da were developed by researchers at Oxford University, while the hardware components were produced by Engineered Arts and engineering students Salah Al Abd and Ziad Abass. The demonstration of the robot, which made its debut in 2019, quickly gave way to serious discussion of how AI-produced art might impact humans in the future. The assembled lawmakers appeared uneasy throughout the presentation, and at times unsure of how to address the robot in the room, as both Meller and Ai-Da responded to their questions.

It's been reported that services such as online banking have been down for some TSB customers for over a week. Many individuals and businesses will have made arrangements for the planned outage, but not for the additional time that the systems have been unavailable.

Facebook disclosed last month it had found ads linked to fake accounts -- likely run from Russia -- that sought to influence the U.S. election. Facebook said the ads focused on divisive political issues such as immigration and gun rights in an apparent attempt to sow discord among the U.S. population.