The Fourth Industrial Revolution has seen many new and exciting concepts take place in the lives of human beings. This massive shift in terms of technological advancement and the role of artificial intelligence (AI) continues to fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another. Against this backdrop, a surge in the number of smart cities can be seen across the globe.

Jack Ma, the billionaire co-founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, urged Mark Zuckerberg to tackle the growing criticism aimed at Facebook Inc. by regulators and users around the world, and “really take it seriously.”China’s richest man and chairman of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. on Monday weighed in on the controversy, calling on his fellow internet pioneer to “fix” a social network that had grown explosively over the past decade and a half.

Poring over books in order to ace an important exam and land a place at a reputable university was once considered the only avenue to a high paying job and subsequently a comfortable life. Video games were mere distractions to that goal. However, the days of getting chastised for prioritising video games over one’s books is over. Video games can and has turned many people into millionaires and even multi-millionaires.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd recently announced that they will invest an additional US$2 billion into the Lazada Group. It is believed that this move by Alibaba is to counter Amazon’s plans of expanding its market to this region which has over 600 million potential customers. The American e-commerce giant officially launched a membership programme named Prime in Singapore in December, 2017.

The era of traditional microprocessor powered computing that has shaped our lives in many different ways is coming to an end. The future lies in quantum computing technology.Researchers at New York based multinational technology firm IBM, believe that quantum computers will be a mainstream presence in our lives in five years. According to American financial services provider, Morgan Stanley, the quantum computing market is slated to be worth US$10 billion in the next decade.

Elon Musk famously compared the dangers of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to that posed by nuclear; an indication, he said, of the urgent need for regulation of the field. At present, the difficulty of regulating AI as a whole may largely rest in the lack of any one single definition of what artificial intelligence is, which encompasses a wide range of technologies and hence, applications.

Bitcoin started the week badly, as prices for the popular cryptocurrency fell 7% to dip below US$8,000. The sudden sell-off follows from Twitter’s decision to ban advertising for cryptocurrencies. Twitter is joined by Facebook and Google who have both banned advertisements for initial coin offerings and token sales on their respective platforms.

The world is changing at a rapid pace. 20 years ago, no one could have predicted the scale of which smartphone, internet, virtual reality, blockchain and big data technologies – just to name a few – would have on our lives.But that hasn’t stopped others from looking at how technology will shape our future. Kindergarten drawings of flying cars and Star Wars-like futuristic buildings in outer space may come to mind.

Previously seen as a disruptor to traditional banking methods, blockchain technology is now being adopted by banks in Thailand. In an unprecedented move last week, 14 banks came together and jointly launched the Thailand Blockchain Community Initiative.Apart from the 14 commercial banks, the Thailand Blockchain Community Initiative will also involve seven corporations and state enterprises.

Southeast Asians are becoming more aware of the need to address their health issues properly, but the underdeveloped state of Southeast Asia’s healthcare infrastructure, as well as resource shortages, still make these needs difficult to address effectively. In many cases, the cost of building new infrastructure to serve these needs is simply too much for national governments to bear all at once.