Artificial Intelligence and related fields like deep learning and machine learning have come to dominate discussions about where our society is headed, with debate often polarised between declaring AI to be the savior of society or its potential downfall. The truth lies somewhere in the middle: AI won't destroy our civilization, but we can't cede responsibility for saving it to AI, either. In any case, AI-related technologies are versatile and powerful and can provide the basis for change in our world. We caught up with some leading experts in the field to ask them for their view on the future of AI. Prof. Barry O'Sullivan is Director of the Insight Centre for Data Analytics, Computer Science, at University College Cork, Ireland.

There is currently a lot of talk about automated machine learning. There is also a high level of skepticism. I am here with data scientists Paolo Tamagnini, Simon Schmid and Christian Dietz, to ask a few questions on this topic from their point of view and I found this concept of guided automation quite interesting as well, since it is directly involved in the practice of automated machine learning. Rosaria Silipo: What is automated machine learning? Christian Dietz: Automated machine learning is about building a system, process or application able to automatically create, train and test machine learning models with as little human input as possible.

I was 13 years old when the movie Alien was released. It scared me into a month-long spell of anxiety. The hair on the back of my neck was perpetually up and I had the jittery demeanor of a combat veteran. While the full-grown xenomorph alien was chilling, the larval stage face-hugger was terrifying. Not only did it penetrate the human host's throat, planting the chest-burster in the gut, but it was intrinsically grotesque, an odious, zoological mash-up of scurrying spider and slithering snake. It's easy to interpret our fears of alien predators as nothing more than superficial horror ginned up by the Hollywood fright machine.

This week I'm joined by Yousuf Khan, CIO and VP of Customer Success at Moveworks. Yousuf has served as CIO for multiple companies and shares his perspective on the changing CIO role. CIOs are finding themselves moving beyond operational functions and taking on customer-facing responsibilities. In this episode, we discuss the importance customer experience plays for enterprises and the pillars that enable the CIO to play a significant role. Yousuf outlines three keys to building relationships and the importance that community plays in CIO decision making. Tim Crawford: Hello, and welcome to the CIO In The Know podcast, where I take a provocative but pragmatic look at the intersection between business and technology. Tim Crawford: This week I'm joined by Yousuf Khan, CIO and VP of Customer Success at Moveworks. Yousuf has served as CIO for multiple companies and shares his perspective on the changing CIO role. CIOs are finding themselves moving beyond operational functions and taking on customer-facing responsibilities. In this episode, we discuss the importance customer experience plays for enterprises and the pillars that enable the CIO to play a significant role.

I have a problem when I see the word healthcare next to industry. It seems like we're talking about a basic human right next to a word that means a sellable product. This industry relies heavily on human intervention and subjective opinions. It uses advanced technologies like genome decoding, MRIs, PET scans, and radiotherapy., But it also strongly depends on human interpretations, and humans make mistakes.

It was a rambling discussion in Shanghai last week that brought Artificial Intelligence into focus once again. In this case, it was the clearly jet-lagged Elon Musk, a technology legend and disruptor, and a very composed Jack Ma, the largest purveyor of goods over the internet. While the discussion rambled all over, from Pong to The Matrix to Mars, it was Musk shooting down Ma's optimism by saying that these could be "famous last words", that caught my attention. Musk has been consistently pessimistic about AI. In another famous joust, this time with Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, he tweeted that "his (Zuckerberg's) understanding of the subject is pretty limited".

Spark AI Summit is the premier global event for the data and machine learning community to discuss the latest advances in open-source technologies such as Apache Spark, Delta Lake, MLflow, Koalas and TensorFlow as well as best practices for deploying AI in the real world. In addition to over 100 exciting breakout sessions, this year's Spark AI Summit in Amsterdam 15-17 October will feature keynotes from some of the leading thinkers and innovators in AI. We're pleased to announce Katie Bouman's keynote address at this year's Spark AI Summit Europe. Katie was a postdoctoral fellow in the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and she received her Ph.D. from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in EECS. Currently, she specializes in using emerging computational methods to push the boundaries of imaging.

"When you start looking at connecting points, those intersections across the different siloed data collections and siloed departments, you might just be amazed at what you could discover." Most businesses have siloed departments that are pursuing digital transformation independently, creating "islands of innovation" throughout the enterprise. This episode discusses how to unify these efforts into a cohesive strategy to develop an intelligent enterprise. What could your business do if you had total control over your data? In NASA's case, a data transformation is what made the Hubble telescope and countless other amazing discoveries possible. Our guest this episode, Kirk Borne, was there when it happened. He began his career as an astrophysicist, combining datasets from multiple fields in unprecedented ways. Now Kirk's work is more down to earth. In this episode, he shares how businesses can "democratize data" across the enterprise. And he explains how data transparency plus intelligent analytics can lead to new efficiencies, better customer experiences, even entire new business models. "The key is this concept of the culture of experimentation, that you allow people to experiment with data." Kirk Borne is a Principal Data Scientist and Executive Advisor at Booz Allen Hamilton.

VentureBeat is pleased to announce its first ever Women in AI Awards at Transform 2019, honoring the changemakers in the field of artificial intelligence -- women leaders who are paving the way in rethinking process, policy, technology, and education as AI advances. These are women who demonstrate a commitment to changing the status quo as technology continues to disrupt established norms. This award will honor a woman who demonstrates exemplary leadership and progress in responsible AI. This award (two winners) will honor two women who have started companies that show significant promise in AI. Consideration will include business traction and positive impact of the technology in the AI space.

Auggie takes Her one step further. In the popular 2013 Spike Jonze film, the main character was a lonely man who fell in love with an artificially intelligent voice. In Auggie, the main character has a family and the artificially intelligent being has a physical form. But very similar issues arise. Co-written and directed by Matt Kane, Auggie stars legendary character actor and voice actor Richard Kind as Felix, a man who is given a very special gift at his retirement party.