Science fiction is becoming a reality as Japanese scientists reach new heights in Artificial Intelligence, announcing a program capable of "mind reading" through recreated images one pixel at a time. The program, developed by a team of experts from the University of Kyoto, is based on a neural network system, decoding brain activity and reproducing images presented to test subjects. Photos of stained glass windows, owls, aircrafts and red post boxes were presented to three volunteers. FMRI scans were then used to measure the information, analyzing electrical activity as well as the variants of blood flow to the brain. The results varied according to its volunteers, researchers said, but the majority showed an astounding level of accuracy recreating the objects as well as others imagined by test subjects such as bowling balls, leopards, goldfish and swans.

Sophia, the robot is a bit of non-persona non grata in the AI community. The creators of Sophia, Hanson robotics, regularly exaggerate the robots abilities and pretend that it's basically human and alive rather an a form of unnerving automation. For researchers in the AI field, this has been an annoyance for a long time. However, since artificial intelligence is currently a hot topic globally, Sophia is getting worldwide coverage. Researchers are angry that the Hanson Robotics team is misleading the people about what AI can and cannot do.

The hottest thing in the world of technology these days is your own voice. During the holiday season, some of the most popular gadgets were smart speakers with digital assistants from Google & Amazon. Apple also plans to come out with its own speaker this year. Microsoft & Samsung have partnered on another one. During the annual CES gadgets show that that will kick off this week in Las Vegas, manufacturers are expected to showcase more voice-controlled devices.