Dealer Eddie Stivers owes a debt of gratitude to an Internet sales associate known only as "Eva." Her efforts to engage leads on behalf of Stivers Ford-Lincoln, of Montgomery, Ala., have boosted sales 36 percent on the new-vehicle side and 25 percent on the used-vehicle lot since January 2015. Moreover, Eva never calls in sick, and she is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every single week of the year. In reality, she is an "it" -- a sophisticated piece of technology. Eva is merely the name of the virtual persona Stivers and his team have integrated into their sales process using an artificial intelligence-based sales program known as the Conversica Automated Sales Assistant.

Scientists have developed a new artificial intelligence system that can detect early forms of Alzheimer's disease by combining machine learning methods with a special MRI technique. Machine learning is a type of artificial intelligence that allows computer programmes to learn when exposed to new data without being programmed. Researchers coupled machine learning methods with a special magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique that measures the perfusion, or tissue absorption rate, of blood throughout the brain to detect early forms of dementia, such as mild cognitive impairment (MCI). "MRI can help with the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. However, the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease is problematic," said Alle Meije Wink, from the VU University Medical Centre in Amsterdam.

It's no secret that the healthcare system in this country has had a few hiccups in recent years. Whether it be the long lines at emergency rooms or the expensive bills that hit you where it hurts, getting sick is one of the most costly and unpleasant experiences in the US. And with rising medication prices, the problem is only getting worse. Fortunately, one company has taken matters into their own hands by utilizing artificial intelligence to expedite the medication distribution process. And it seems to be working.

Elon Musk, owner of SpaceX, Tesla, and the only guy more Ironman than Rob Downey Jr, worries about smart computers taking over the world. Maybe he's right, but AI (or Artificial Intelligence for those of you acronym fatigued), is already a lot closer to home. I see it every day in my digital marketing life, exposed to machine learning that both scares and comforts me. Here are 5 ways I see AI racking up big wins in the digital marketing space and why you should be worried if you're on the sidelines: Win 1: AI decisioning Know what computers do really well? In a world of real time, always on marketing, the ability to constantly learn what content, campaigns, offers, channels, you name it, a customer is engaging with, and conversely not engaging with (read: the Fail Fast bit), means that AI gets smarter and smarter about decisions like what NOT to talk to individual customers about and how NOT to deliver the message.

It's impossible to talk about artificial intelligence without mentioning IBM's Watson. A pioneer in cognitive computing, the American computer giant has found multiple health applications for Watson. Pascal Sempé, senior sales consultant for Watson Health Solutions in France, explained how Watson functions and what's at stake. Pascal Sempé: Watson is a tool that helps the doctor, certainly not one that tells the doctor what to do. Using Watson doesn't mean the doctor won't examine patients or ask questions.

The complex passenger flows, demanding identification challenges and pressure-filled security conditions that are inherent in border control make the arena appear an interesting prospect for artificial intelligence-based solutions that can revolutionise critical processes. Machine-learning technologies being developed could identify risk patterns at speeds way beyond humans' capacity, and when tied with the powerful security offered by biometrics, AI's potential to disrupt the world of borders expands even further. What then is the future for the border guard? Will their decades of document security expertise and nuanced instincts be made rendered obsolete by a'border bot'? Planet Biometrics caught up with Cyrille Bataller, Artificial Intelligence lead at Accenture, to learn about his team's AI initiatives for borders and about his views on the importance of a "people-first" approach.

Satya Nadella bounded into the conference room, eager to talk about intelligence. I was at Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, WA, and the company's CEO was touting the company's progress in building more intelligent apps and services. Each morning, he told me, he puts on a HoloLens, which enables him to look at a virtual, interactive calendar projected on a wall of his house. Nadella appeared giddy as he described it. The system was intelligent, productive, and futuristic: everything he hopes Microsoft will be under his leadership.

Some very intelligent people – including Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk and Bill Gates – seem to have been seduced by the idea that because computers are becoming ever faster calculating devices that at some point relatively soon we will reach and pass a "singularity" at which computers will become "more intelligent" than humans. Some are terrified that a society of intelligent computers will (perhaps violently) replace the human race, echoing films such as the Terminator; others – very controversially – see the development of such technologies as an opportunity to evolve into a "post-human" species. Already, some prominent technologists including Tim O'Reilly are arguing that we should replace current models of public services, not just in infrastructure but in human services such as social care and education, with "algorithmic regulation". Algorithmic regulation proposes that the role of human decision-makers and policy-makers should be replaced by automated systems that compare the outcomes of public services to desired objectives through the measurement of data, and make automatic adjustments to address any discrepancies. Not only does that approach cede far too much control over people's lives to technology; it fundamentally misunderstands what technology is capable of doing. For both ethical and scientific reasons, in human domains technology should support us taking decisions about our lives, it should not take them for us. At the MIT Sloan Initiative on the Digital Economy last week I got a chance to discuss some of these issues with Andy McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson, authors of "The Second Machine Age", recently highlighted by Bloomberg as one of the top books of 2014. Andy and Erik compare the current transformation of our world by digital technology to the last great transformation, the Industrial Revolution.

The second AI ZA meetup was held on 21 June 2016 at Entelect's headquarters in Melrose Arch, Johannesburg. The event was packed with over 50 attendees eager to learn about artificial intelligence and machine learning. The goal of this meetup was to continue with a more in depth classification problem as well as run through the introductory concepts for all those that were new to the meetup. Rishal Hurbans and Hennie Brink gave a short talk on classification algorithms. The uses, advantages, and disadvantages of classification algorithms were covered.

The tech paradigm has been changing, or at least, we are made to believe so. We are slowly yet steadily moving towards bots, and that doesn't necessarily mean away from apps, not yet at least. Leading tech companies who usually decide tech trends have made it clear at their respective annual tech events that bots are coming! Chatbots can be described as automated programs to help communicate with businesses, and also make purchases online. With tech businesses' increasing interest in artificial intelligence and machine learning, bots are believed to take the centre stage when it comes to users communicating with said businesses.