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The billionaire techpreneurs met on one stage at the World Artificial Intelligence (AI) Conference in Shanghai on Thursday to debate the power of AI and the future of computers.

Ma believes artificial intelligence poses no threat to humanity, claiming that compared to humans, computers are just a toy. The best resource in the world is the human brain, he says, explaining: “It’s impossible that humans could be controlled by machines. They’re machines that are invented by humans.”

Musk disagreed with Ma, noting that computers are getting smarter than humans in more and more spheres and that the trend will continue. “We will be far, far surpassed in every single way. I guarantee it,” he said to Ma. He pointed to advances in chess and the Chinese board game of Go as evidence of progress in AI, saying “Your cell phone could crush the world champion of chess, literally.”

Arguing his point, the Tesla and SpaceX founder said humans are capable of creating things that are superior to people. Humans are not the last step in evolution, Musk suggested, warning that people must be wary of thinking that they are smarter than they really are. “The most important mistake smart people make is that they think they’re smart. Computers are already smarter than people. We just keep moving the goalposts,” he said.

Ma, who seemed at times to be bored or puzzled by Musk’s comments, as he frequently pulled pained expressions and raised eyebrows, disagreed with his opponent’s statements.

“Computers may be clever, but human beings are much smarter,” Ma repeated. “We invented the computer – I’ve never seen a computer invent a human being.”

According to the e-commerce giant founder, AI will open a new chapter so that humans will know themselves better. “Most of the projections about AI are wrong … people who are street-smart about AI are not scared by it.”

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While insisting that he is “not a tech guy,” Ma added: “I think AI can help us understand humans better. I don’t think it’s a threat.”

Musk countered: “I don’t know man, that’s like, famous last words.”

Ma said he believes that with AI’s help, humans could eventually reach a point where the average workweek is only 3 days long, and the workday averages 4 hours. That opens the opportunity for humans to enjoy life more, and live longer, he said, adding: “We need to be ready to enter the era where everyone will get to live [to] 120 years.”

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The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has issued licenses to Zug-based SEBA Crypto AG and Zurich-headquartered Sygnum AG earlier this week, making them the first companies registered in Switzerland as broker-dealers with a blockchain focus. The companies will be able to issue, store, trade, and manage digital assets – namely bitcoin and ethereum – as well as convert fiat currencies such as Swiss francs, US dollars, and euros into the two cryptocurrencies.

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They also plan to offer their investors custody, brokerage and tokenization services for their digital assets. Both companies, however, have yet to fulfil certain “secondary criteria” demanded by FINMA to become fully-operational Swiss banks. These criteria have not been disclosed to the public.

“We have been approached over the past few months by many parties who hold a lot of cryptocurrencies and look for a fully regulated bank. One of their biggest challenges is to find banking specialists to connect them to the real world, to pay their taxes, their employees’ salary,” Sygnum co-founder Mathias Imbach told Bloomberg, explaining the motivation for establishing a crypto bank. Sygnum, which is also headquartered in Singapore, now plans to apply for a banking license in the island nation as well.

“Being awarded the banking and securities dealer license from FINMA is a significant milestone, and an important step towards the institutionalization of the digital asset economy,” Manuel Krieger, CEO of Sygnum Switzerland said, as cited by Swissinfo.

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In a separate move, FINMA, which oversees Switzerland’s financial system, this week issued new guidance on anti-money laundering (AML) requirements for blockchain-based companies, banning FINMA-supervised companies from dealing with unverified clients. In the guidance published on its website, the regulator stated that: “…Institutions supervised by FINMA […] send cryptocurrencies or other tokens to external wallets belonging to their own customers whose identity has already been verified and are only allowed to receive cryptocurrencies or tokens from such customers. [They] are thus not permitted to receive tokens from customers of other institutions or to send tokens to such customers.”

FINMA added that it will not allow the passing of tokens from unregulated wallets and will demand AML information for all parties.

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The companies signed a letter warning that the new tariffs could cost US consumers an additional $4 billion a year and increase the chances of an economic downturn.

“Imposing tariffs in September on the majority of all footwear products from China — including nearly every type of leather shoe — will make it impossible for hardworking American individuals and families to escape the harm that comes from these tax increases,” the companies told Trump in a letter seen by Reuters.

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According to the letter, “There is no doubt that tariffs act as hidden taxes paid by American individuals and families.”

Around 160 other trade groups, including software and electronics manufacturers, as well as retailers, liquor producers, and others, have also warned Trump of higher prices and damaged consumer confidence.

“We’ve been telling the White House since the beginning that tariffs will be paid by Americans in the form of higher prices, and that due to our already high import taxes, this will be a job killer,” Matt Priest, president of the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America, said in a statement.

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The Information Technology Industry Council, which has agreed that China needs to change its unfair trade practices, said in a statement Wednesday that “the current tool of tariffs has simply not worked, and we’re continuing to see the negative results.”

On Wednesday, the US Trade Representative’s Office reaffirmed Trump’s plans to impose an additional five-percent tariff on a $300-billion list of Chinese imports starting September 1 and December 15. Washington previously planned to impose a 10-percent tariff on these imports.

According to the footwear companies, an added 15-percent tariff will come on top of tariffs that already average 11 percent and reach 67 percent on some shoes.

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The agreement was signed at the biannual MAKS 2019 airshow. As reported by TASS, the developers plan to create an entire city-wide air mobility system within the Russian capital, which will include manned and unmanned aerial vehicles, air traffic control infrastructure, and smartphone applications. Currently, flights over Moscow are forbidden with the exception of special flights of government officials, military, and federal security services.

Test flights of the air taxis will begin in 2020 in the suburbs and along the Moscow Ring Road, Alexander Okhonko, the CEO of VR-Technologies LLC, the innovation design branch of Russian Helicopters, told the press after the signing ceremony.

“Next year, we will start the test flights. If the safety concepts and operational profitability are confirmed, then we will set up air routes connecting the city to Moscow’s [three] international airports. We see this as the most profitable segment,” he stated.

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The prototype of the VRT-500 helicopter unveiled at MAKS 2019 is planned to be used as the main vehicle for the air taxi network.

According to Yandex, which operates one of Russia’s largest mobile taxi services, air taxis will be available for order through the existing Yandex.Taxi smartphone application. The service will include an additional option: passengers will be able to choose a helicopter instead of a car at certain sections of the route. The company also plans to make air taxi flights regular, which will significantly reduce the cost.

Urban helicopter transport is not an exotic idea these days. It is widely used in a number of megacities, like New York, Toronto, Sydney, and Rio de Janeiro. In April, Austria showcased Europe’s first self-flying taxi, which made its maiden test flight at a stadium in Vienna.

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“This project is one of the largest for the next five years [and] I’m not talking merely about money, I’m talking about the scale of the project. It is easy to see: at the moment, three federal highways converge in the city, which makes it impossible to live in,” Russian presidential aide Igor Levitin told reporters.

The Volgograd bypass project is largely aimed at redirecting Volgograd’s huge traffic flow, especially cargo transportation, and moving it outside the city, which is located half-way between Moscow and Russia’s southern regions. The project is also seen as an opportunity to develop the Volgograd territory as a whole, drawing in new businesses and investors.

The cost of it is estimated at 19 billion rubles (€260 million or $290 million), the construction agreement states. Work on the first stage of the road has already started in the Svetloyarsky district of the Volgograd region.

“Preparatory work is currently carried out on a section of the future road, workers are removing the vegetation layer,” head of the Federal Road Agency Andrei Kostyuk told the press.

The first stage of the bypass, according to Rosavtodor, is set to be completed in 2024. It is to include construction of three motorway interchanges and a bridge across the Volga-Don Shipping Canal. According to authorities, the bridge over the canal is the most complex part of the entire project, as they “can only carry out the superstructure sliding during the inter-navigation period,” which starts in December.

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The decree for the construction of the Volgograd bypass was signed at the end of 2017. The new transport artery will facilitate the movement of transit traffic coming from Moscow to the Astrakhan Region, Kalmykia, Stavropol Territory, Dagestan, and the ports of the Caspian sea through Volgograd territory. According to Rosavtodor, the new road project will contribute to the development of freight traffic and trade cooperation between Russia and Iran, India, Pakistan and the Persian Gulf states.

The bypass is only a section of a larger highway with a total length of 71.4 kilometers. The highway is to include six road junctions, 25 bridges and overpasses. The construction is planned to be carried out in three stages on different sections of the road, which will allow them to be commissioned immediately after work on each is completed.

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