As the hype around AI continues, building and executing on an AI strategy that supports market competitiveness will be top of mind for executives. The AI pilots are complete, yet executives are still grappling with what AI means for their organisations. As the use cases develop and capabilities emerge, businesses will look to defining an AI strategy for the enterprise to maximise the benefit and impact. Core to this strategy will be the understanding of how data is accessed and integrated, as well as the plan for talent and skills development, infrastructure evolution, auditability requirements and governance requirements. These strategies will ensure organisations are building the capabilities needed to succeed with AI in the long term and transform operational business models.

Are we one of the last generations of homo sapiens -- soon to be supplanted by engineered cyber-beings, with a distant semblance to their creators (us)? On Jan. 24, historian and international best-selling author Yuval Harari presented his view of the future at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Harari wrote Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind and also Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. In a riveting 25-minute presentation, Harari painted a very gloomy -- but possible -- view of the future, based on his thesis that we are now in our third grand revolution, the control of data, following the control of land (Agrarian Revolution) and the control of machinery (Industrial Revolution). The point of no return, Harari contends, will happen when technology will be able to extract high-precision biometric data from people, and report back to a centralized decision-making control system, owned by governments or by corporations -- or both.

By adding the Altocloud solution to its portfolio, Genesys strengthens its capability in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to help organizations deliver a highly responsive, predictive, and fully-contextual experience throughout all stages of the customer journey – from marketing to sales to service. "The acquisition of Altocloud bolsters our ability to optimize and connect the entire customer journey to ensure the best business outcomes," said Paul Segre, chief executive officer of Genesys. "We are particularly excited by applications, like Altocloud, which give organizations a live look into consumer behavior and their potential as customers. By empowering employees with this depth of actionable insight, organizations are better positioned than ever to convert shoppers into buyers, leads into customers, and consumers into brand advocates." With this acquisition, Genesys increases its capability to engage and intervene in a customer's journey at the right moment to drive a desired action, such as buying a product, registering for an event, or booking a trip.

This company is changing the way we see prostheses. Open Bionics is a UK-based start-up tech company. Its mission is to create affordable 3D printed prostheses. They are about 30 times cheaper than other prostheses on the market. They operate using sensors attached to the skin to detect muscle movements.

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology has progressed in virtually every sector in the world. AI has made leaps and businesses have redesigned their models. From law to smartphone manufacturing, every sector has been impacted with emergence and application of AI. Leading tech giants have provided AI assistants in their smartphones. Alexa, Siri, and others have been assisting users by recognizing speech and performing desired actions such as booking a table or searching a place to purchase a nice perfume. Moreover, Russian tech firm Yandex has developed an AI assistant Alice, which gives sassier responses over the polite ones.

Incidents of cryptojacking - the process of hacking bitcoins and other digital currencies - have surged in the UK in recent months by as much as 1,200 per cent, according to one cybersecurity giant. Symantec Threat Intelligence observed a dramatic up-tick in attacks on lucrative cryptocurrency holdings between October and January. The findings coincide with a spike in interest in bitcoin, which was valued at an all-time high of $19,850 (£14,214) in mid-December. Cryptojacking sees hackers commandeering other people's personal computers for use in bitcoin mining, sometimes loading victims' devices with unwanted software but often preferring to go undetected. The practice was once dependant on installing malware on the target's computer but can now be carried out in-browser by hacking a web page's JavaScript.

Russia claims it has developed powerful lasers to fire at enemy satellites in orbit. The plane-mounted lasers form part of an anti-satellite system that also involves both radar and ground-based components, reports claim. The news comes after a US Air Force chief warned yesterday that space warfare could break out between superpower nations'within years'. The system includes a laser mounted onto an aircraft as well as relevant ground control gear and radar that will help the device to find targets. The US Navy is also developing laser weapons, including this anti-drone'active laser' that will be mounted onto warships According to an anonymous source quoted by Russian news agency Interfax, weapons maker Almaz-Antey has'completed work on an anti-satellite complex'.

Many years ago, Maplin was the place to go if you needed a VGA to Scart cable, a weird battery or a new charger for your Samsung flip phone before there were industry standards for that kind of thing. Next to aisles of every cable and converter you could imagine, you'll often find random delights such as a smoke machines and soldering stations. In more recent years, Maplin started stocking products with a broader appeal, like Nest thermostats, Amazon Fire TV sticks and Google Home speakers. It even launched a smart home consultation service late last year, but the change in tack hasn't rescued the retailer from going broke. Maplin's CEO today announced the company has gone into administration after failing to find a buyer to inject cash into the beleaguered business.

How are we making computers do the things we used to associated only with humans? Have we made a breakthrough in understanding human intelligence? While recent achievements might give the sense that the answer is yes, the short answer is that we are nowhere near. All we've achieved for the moment is a breakthrough in emulating intelligence. A more recent example comes from the middle of the last century. A hundred years ago computers were human beings, often female, who conducted repetitive mathematical tasks for the creation of mathematical tables such as logarithms. Our modern digital computers were originally called automatic computers to reflect the fact that the intelligence of these human operators had been automated. But despite the efficiency with which they perform these tasks, very few think of their mobile phones or computers as intelligent. Norbert Wiener launched last century's first wave of interest in emulation of intelligence with his book "Cybernetics".

As was also clearly stated by Vladimir Putin on September 4, 2017: "whichever country leads the way in Artificial Intelligence research will be the ruler of the world". According to Thomas Kuhn's old, but still useful, epistemological model, every change of the scientific paradigm – rather than the emergence of new material discoveries – radically changes the visions of the world and hence strategic equilibria. Hence, first of all, what is Artificial Intelligence? It consists of a series of mathematical tools, but also of psychology, electronic technology, information technology and computer science tools, through which a machine is taught to think as if it were a human being, but with the speed and security of a computer. The automatic machine must representman's knowledge, namely show it, thus enabling an external operator to change the process and understand its results within the natural language.