Imagine a reality where computers can visualize what you are thinking. In late December, Guohua Shen, Tomoyasu Horikawa, Kei Majima and Yukiyasu Kamitani released the results of their recent research on using artificial intelligence to decode thoughts on the scientific platform, BioRxiv. Machine learning has previously been used to study brain scans (MRIs, or magnetic resonance imaging) and generate visualizations of what a person is thinking when referring to simple, binary images like black and white letters or simple geographic shapes (as shown in Figure 2 here). But the scientists from Kyoto developed new techniques of "decoding" thoughts using deep neural networks (artificial intelligence). The new technique allows the scientists to decode more sophisticated "hierarchical" images, which have multiple layers of color and structure, like a picture of a bird or a man wearing a cowboy hat, for example.

China aims to implement artificial intelligence technology in at least half of all its new cars by 2020 and cover 90 percent of its big cities and highways with a wireless network so the cars can talk to each other and the roads, its top state planner said on Friday. These goals are part of a draft for a national smart car strategy that the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) wants to seek public feedback for, it said in a statement. China is aiming to become a world leader in artificial intelligence by 2025, and intends to grow its core AI industries to over 150 billion yuan ($22.15 billion) by 2020. Smart cars are a key part of the project. The NDRC said it wanted to build a national team with officials from the State Council to guide smart car innovation and planned to encourage the launch of preferential policies for related businesses which could include tax cuts.

This could create security nightmares. Worse still, it could strip away from each of us a part of our uniqueness. But companies, universities and governments are already working furiously to decode the human voice for many applications. Technologically adept nation states (the US, China and Estonia) have waded into this space and tech giants such as Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook also have special projects on voice. It's not that hard to develop an artificial voice, then model and reproduce spoken words and phrases.

The number of startups using AI technology has nearly tripled in size since 2014, and based on a three year average growth rate, 95 new AI startups are founded each year in Israel. Almost 300 startups were founded between 2014 and today, representing over 60% of all Israeli AI startups.

Whether you fear it or embrace it, the A.I. revolution is coming--and it promises to have an enormous impact on the world economy. PwC estimates that artificial intelligence could add $15.7 trillion to global GDP by 2030. To identify which private companies are set to make the most of it, research firm CB Insights recently released its 2018 "A.I. 100," a list of the most promising A.I. startups globally (grouped by sector in the graphic above). They were chosen, from a pool of over 1,000 candidates, by CB Insights' Mosaic algorithm, based on factors like investor quality and momentum. China's Bytedance leads in funding with $3.1 billion, but 76 of the 100 startups are U.S.-based.

Data is invaluable to all companies, from budding startups to global enterprises. This growing commodity is triggering organizations to deploy BI solutions that will elevate and accelerate data-driven decisions. Successful organizations are prioritizing a modern BI approach, and in turn, priming their workforce to be the most analytically savvy generation ever seen. For a competitive edge in 2018, organizations must recognize the strategies, technologies, and business roles that can enhance their approach to business intelligence. Here are some of the most critical trends to bear in mind looking ahead to a new year, and even beyond.

It looks like there's another reason to believe that Microsoft has been secretly working on the long-rumored Surface Phone. An engineer for the company who is based in China apparently slipped recently and dropped a hint at the highly anticipated device. Over the weekend, a Microsoft engineer took the time to respond to a complaint raised on a Chinese Q&A site called Zhihu about the poor integration of the Cortana digital assistant on Android. The engineer used the Microsoft Asia Research Institute's Cortana support account to reply to the complaint and initially made a mistake of mentioning the better implementation of Cortana on the Surface Phone. In the engineer's statement, he said that the problem with the integration of Cortana on Android was the lack of permissions on the operating system.

Unlike big corporations, SMBs do not have the budget to create their own tools. This is where already available tools and platforms in the market can help your business. At YourStory we have a saying that if you preserve your history, which is your company's data, then building an engine to understand the future is very easy. These days, cloud computing has allowed your data to be relevant, and the computational speed to generate insights is readily available. Then, why does everybody from the government to large corporations, sound so dazed when speaking about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data sciences?

The Nvidia Drive Xavier, available this quarter, is the autonomous machine processor at the heart of this system. The SoC is capable of performing 30 deep learning TOPS (trillions of operations per second), using only 30 watts of power. According to the developer, Xavier also enables rich, diverse I/O connections to many different types of sensors. Germany-based ZF brings expertise for system integration of the car computer and the sensors. ZF's new Xavier-based ProAI will process inputs from multiple cameras, plus lidar and radar, paint a 360-degree view around the vehicle, locate it on an HD map, and find a safe path through traffic.

Total Access Communication Public Company Limited (or DTAC) is the third-largest mobile phone provider in Thailand (AIS and True are the biggest). DTAC has some 23.2 million subscribers and a market share of 30 percent. DTAC has won the "Best Mobile Operator of Thailand" award three times. With its focus on being a customer friendly telecom company, DTAC has a program of continuous improvement in place and this includes digital transformation initiatives. This includes artificial intelligence and Internet of Things devices.