Your own business is likely living in what I'll call Scenario 1: Every customer inquiry and request has to be handled personally by your capable, well-trained human agents–even when the floodgates have opened due to a product glitch or similar event. Frankly, some of these inquiries aren't worthy of your agents and, anyway, in the floodgate situation, personnel constraints will make a timely human response quite literally impossible. So imagine a Scenario 2: In this scenario, the simple stuff, the 20% of inquiries that are straightforward, known issues or conform to fully learnable business rules or policies ("customer has requested a refund; customer deserves the refund because X conditions have been met") can be handled completely and nearly instantly (in less than a minute) and at a cost of under a dollar a ticket. Your well-trained, accomplished human beings agents never have to be troubled with these irritants, freeing them to work on more interesting issues, challenges more worthy of their time, attention and training. Enter Seattle-based AnswerIQ, an AI solution for customer support that promises to reduce ticket volume by 20% while significantly increasing first contact resolutions (FCR).

The big picture: Robot food runners may seem like a gimmick to get diners through the door. But if they become commonplace, it will be because high labor costs make them more cost-efficient than living, breathing waiters. The context: In some cities around the world, waitstaff are expensive enough that they've been done away with, turning even nicer restaurants into Chipotle-style cafeterias where diners order at a counter, grab utensils, and bus their own table. But, but, but: In most cases, humans are still part of the equation. The automated Hema experience, for instance, still includes frail mortals welcoming customers, explaining the ordering system, taking payment, and -- crucially -- cooking the food.

WHEN TAY MADE HER DEBUT in March 2016, Microsoft had high hopes for the artificial intelligence–powered "social chatbot." Like the automated, text-based chat programs that many people had already encountered on e-commerce sites and in customer service conversations, Tay could answer written questions; by doing so on Twitter and other social media, she could engage with the masses. But rather than simply doling out facts, Tay was engineered to converse in a more sophisticated way--one that had an emotional dimension. She would be able to show a sense of humor, to banter with people like a friend. Her creators had even engineered her to talk like a wisecracking teenage girl. When Twitter users asked Tay who her parents were, she might respond, "Oh a team of scientists in a Microsoft lab. They're what u would call my parents." If someone asked her how her day had been, she could quip, "omg totes exhausted."

WASHINGTON – Hey, did my congressman really say that? Is that really President Donald Trump on that video, or am I being duped? New technology on the internet lets anyone make videos of real people appearing to say things they've never said. Republicans and Democrats predict this high-tech way of putting words in someone's mouth will become the latest weapon in disinformation wars against the United States and other Western democracies. This technology uses facial mapping and artificial intelligence to produce videos that appear so genuine it's hard to spot the phonies.

Hey, did my congressman really say that? Is that really President Donald Trump on that video, or am I being duped? New technology on the internet lets anyone make videos of real people appearing to say things they've never said. Republicans and Democrats predict this high-tech way of putting words in someone's mouth will become the latest weapon in disinformation wars against the United States and other Western democracies. This technology uses facial mapping and artificial intelligence to produce videos that appear so genuine it's hard to spot the phonies.

Hey, did my congressman really say that? Is that really President Donald Trump on that video, or am I being duped? New technology on the internet lets anyone make videos of real people appearing to say things they've never said. Republicans and Democrats predict this high-tech way of putting words in someone's mouth will become the latest weapon in disinformation wars against the United States and other Western democracies. This technology uses facial mapping and artificial intelligence to produce videos that appear so genuine it's hard to spot the phonies.

A Tencent engineer (left) demonstrates the company's AI product that helps patients with an early and accurate diagnosis. Before 2017, gastroenterologist Cheng Chunsheng had to inspect over 1,000 gastroscopy pictures to search for possible esophageal cancer symptoms, a cancer which appears in the food pipe. However, this painstaking process is no longer needed since the People's Hospital of Nanshan District in Shenzhen where Cheng works introduced "Tencent AIMIS", an artificial intelligence or AI-enabled imaging software released in August last year. "The AI system screens through each report and notifies the doctor if further inspection is needed," said Cheng. The system has significantly boosted his efficiency.

In a recent discussion paper, NITI Aayog has chalked out an ambitious strategy for India to become an artificial intelligence (AI) powerhouse. AI is the use of computers to make decisions that are normally made by humans. Many forms of AI surround Indians already, including chatbots on retail websites and programs that flag fraudulent bank activity. But NITI Aayog envisions AI solutions for India on a scale not seen anywhere in the world today, especially in five key sectors -- agriculture, healthcare, education, smart cities and infrastructure, and transport. In agriculture, for example, machines will provide information to farmers on the quality of soil, when to sow, where to spray herbicide, and when to expect pest infestations.

Sophia, the social humanoid robot with artificial intelligence (AI) developed by Hanson Robotics of Hong Kong, will be a guest speaker at an international forum in Hanoi next month. The famous android will discuss and debate directly with the scholars on the matter and give some short speeches on the new issues of Industry 4.0, as well as challenges on development. The robot will attend the international exhibition of Industry 4.0 as well as forum on vision and strategy breakthrough in industrial revolution 4.0 forum on July 12 and 13. This year's forum marks the first collaboration between Central Economy Commission and the government. It will comprise five conferences that focus on specific topics like smart cities, smart manufacturing, high tech agriculture, innovative finance and banking.

As Yuval Harari concludes in his book "Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow," mankind has managed to control famine, plague, and war in the 20th century. Now, we have new challenges to worry creative minds. The author believes that the first major project of the 21st century will be immortality, or at least the ability to cure all known diseases and extend people's lives for as long as possible. This may sound too ambitious. Technology still has a long way to go to build this futuristic picture.