The Smartphone • 2019 • Breakthrough the Ideas that Changed the World

59:02

Professor Jim Al-Khalili looks at how we have created machines that can simulate, augment, and even outperform the human mind - and why we shouldn't let this spook us. He reveals the story of the pursuit of AI, the emergence of machine learning and the recent breakthroughs brought about by artificial neural networks. He shows how AI is not only changing our world but also challenging our very ideas of intelligence and consciousness. Along the way, we'll investigate spam filters, meet a cutting-edge chatbot, look at why a few altered pixels makes a computer think it's looking at a trombone rather than a dog and talk to Demis Hassabis, who heads DeepMind and whose stated mission is to 'solve intelligence, and then use that to solve everything else'. Stephen Hawking remarked 'AI could be the biggest event in the history of our civilisation. Or the worst'. Jim argues that AI is a potent new tool that should enhance our lives, not replace us.

2018 • Technology

59:08

The surprising story of the hidden powerhouse behind the globalised world - the diesel engine, a 19th-century invention that has become indispensable to the 21st century. It's a turtle versus hare tale in which the diesel engine races the petrol engine in a competition to replace ageing steam technology - a race eventually won hands down by diesel. Splendidly, car enthusiast presenter Mark Evans gets excitedly hands on with some of the many applications of Mr Diesel's - yes, there was one - original creation, from vintage submarines and tractors to locomotive trains and container ships. You'll never feel the same about that humble old diesel family car again.

Time Shift • 2015 • Technology

58:58

Apple is the most valuable brand on the planet, making products that everyone wants - but how are its workers treated when the world isn't looking? Panorama goes undercover in China to show what life is like for the workers making the iPhone 6. And it's not just the factories. Reporter Richard Bilton travels to Indonesia to find children working in some of the most dangerous mines in the world. But is the tin they dig out by hand finding its way into Apple's products?

2015 • Technology

57:47

In South Korea, China and Saudi Arabia, in Abu Dhabi and in Russia, a new kind of city is now under construction. These are prototypes of green, hyper-connected cities that are stuffed with digital technology and ecological equipment.

1/3 • Cities of Tomorrow • 2016 • Technology

54:11

In 50 years from now, cities will be home to 70% of all human beings. They will have seven billion mouths to feed and will face an immense challenge in terms of food supply. Are hydroponics and vertical farming going to solve this challenge?

3/3 • Cities of Tomorrow • 2016 • Technology

90:31

In 1998 a single video game forever changed the world. The game was StarCraft. It would go on to become the foundation of e-sports and the force behind the online streaming medium Twitch. This global phenomenon began in the modest South Korean internet cafes known as PC bangs. It was from these humble beginnings that our characters "MC" and "MMA" would begin their dreams. Dreams that eventually lifted them out of poverty and placed them on the world stage as champions. But life in esports comes at a cost and as we follow these players throughout a year of their lives we find out just what it takes to compete at the highest level and achieve ones' "Dreams of Blizzcon".

2017 • Technology