Downtime

March 2016

• Microsoft's AI adventure shows there's hope for us all yet

  Bryan Glick - Editor in chief 24 Mar 2016

Artificial intelligence (AI) is going to take over the world, steal all our jobs and ultimately subjugate us all - or so we are told.We've seen IBM's AI system, Watson, beat humans on the US game ...

• Running an online poll can be dangerous

  Alex Scroxton - Security Editor 21 Mar 2016

The decision to allow people on the internet to have their say in anything has backfired again, this time on the Natural Environment Research Council

• The Internet of Birds: Meet London's pollution-tracking pigeon patrol

  Caroline Donnelly - Senior Editor, UK 18 Mar 2016

Someone has finally found a use for London's ubiquitous pigeon population that involves fitting their fat, feathery bodies with tiny air pollution-detecting backpacks. The bird-brained scheme has ...

• Adorable little robots don't stand a chance in the bad part of town

  Alex Scroxton - Security Editor 11 Mar 2016

What happens when the cute autonomous robot falls into the wrong hands?