Weekly roundup: What you should read today on AI, technology and our future

1. When my father started working in a bank, calculators were rare. Closing the bank’s books at the end of a financial year, through out most of his working life, was considered a Herculean task. By the time he retired though, everything was centralized and automated using a computer, much to his relief. Which leads me to this article on the transformation of machines from tools to power-wielding-data-hoarding-middle-managers, that will give you a new perspective on the real impact of technology on financial industry.
2. AI is affecting not just the financial industry, but everything around us. Did you ever think of the role that you are playing in in educating this AI? The Algorithm that will Save Humanity… or Destroy It.
3. Once you train them, they can take up your job. In Japan, an AI has been appointed as a creative director in an advertising company. And here you were thinking creative jobs were safe from AI. Very soon this article would be written by a bot with a more dry wit than mine.
4. In this context, we need to read through this concise article on the existential dangers that comes up with AI developments.
5. While everyone has been focusing on Microsoft’s Hololens and the dozen VR products, Magic leap has announced its VR product that looks very very interesting. The bigger questions such as portability, Field of Vision, power usage, processing power etc are still unknown.This video demo that the company claims did not use any CGI will impress you.
6. Speaking of videos, this one of a robotic snake swimming under water without any thrusters will inspire awe. It will also give you nightmares if you are scared of snakes. Realistically it could be used to fix underwater oil leaks or… to scare people at a beach.

7. If you are interested in govt policy around self driving cars, you should check out the Declaration of Amsterdam that was up for discussion among transport ministers of all EU member states during an informal meeting.

8. Fingerprint, 7. pincode, patterns. It feels like we are being secured by technology that is two decades old. So how about a person’s brainprint? Apparently it’s a thing and it would soon be used for high security scenarios in the near future. prepare to have your brain scanned by a machine.

Jetpack.in is an attempt to predict the conversations we may be involved in, a few years from now, based on the tech trends we see today. Click here to read more about the site.