Editor's note: The following is an interview with Columbia University Professor Andrew Gelman conducted by Marketing scientist Kevin Gray, in which Gelman spells out the ABCs of Bayesian statistics. Kevin Gray: Most marketing researchers have heard of Bayesian statistics but know little about it. Can you briefly explain in layperson's terms what it is and how it differs from the'ordinary' statistics most of us learned in college? Andrew Gelman: Bayesian statistics uses the mathematical rules of probability to combines data with "prior information" to give inferences which (if the model being used is correct) are more precise than would be obtained by either source of information alone. Classical statistical methods avoid prior distributions.

Come join us at Dev Bootcamp for a social learning mixer infused with co-founders and leaders in the VR/AR/AI space! Our guest speakers will share more on how they are helping to build the future of VR/AR/AI. Take advantage of this opportunity to network, collaborate and innovate with our amazing community! We'll have demo equipment onsite for you to try out these new realities and really experience how transformational this technology is and can be! Goretti Campbell is the founder of SF Women in Tech has been immersed in the technology field for the last 3 years under the guidance of Dave Martinez Ventures.

As artificial intelligence proliferates, companies and governments are aggregating enormous data sets to feed their AI initiatives. Although privacy is not a new concept in computing, the growth of aggregated data magnifies privacy challenges and leads to extreme ethical risks such as unintentionally building biased AI systems, among many others. Privacy and artificial intelligence are both complex topics. There are no easy or simple answers because solutions lie at the shifting and conflicted intersection of technology, commercial profit, public policy, and even individual and cultural attitudes. Given this complexity, I invited two brilliant people to share their thoughts in a CXOTALK conversation on privacy and AI.

Recently, I had the honor of speaking with a number of the world's most influential thought-leaders in the fields of data science, data analytics, machine learning and digital transformation. This group of prominent data technologists was more than happy to answer a wide variety of question on topics ranging from the fast-evolving area of unified governance and preparing for General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) to transformative hybrid data management technologies, and of course, data science and machine learning. You'll learn more about all of the topics discussed here during the main event, breakout sessions and demos, plus have the opportunity to join in the conversation and connect with these renowned data pioneers who can help you understand how to build a data-driven strategy to outsmart your competition. There will be an additional opportunity to chat with a number of these thought-leaders, as well as fellow data enthusiasts, at the Fast Track Your Data CrowdChat on Tuesday, June 20th, 2017 at 1:00 PM (EDT). Now let's meet our panel of experts: His latest book is Leading Innovation: Building a Scalable, Innovative Organization. She is also on the faculty of the Data Science Graduate Program at UC Berkeley, the Data Analytics MS Advisory Board at CUNY SPS, and the Data Science Committee for the Grace Hopper Conference. Ronald Van Loon, Director Adversitement, where he is helping data-driven companies generate business value as a globally recognized Top 10 Big Data, Data Science, IoT, and BI Influencer. Aylee Nielsen: Thank you all so much for joining me today, I'd like to start off with questions on a subject matter that I know you are all very familiar with – Data Science and Machine Learning.

We'll be discussing Watson, of course, but also artificial intelligence, machine learning, and--most importantly--how businesses use these tools to better understand their customers, partners, and how they operate their businesses. Read or watch our full discussion below. Dan Costa: A lot of people have seen the IBM Watson commercials on TV, and they know that Bob Dylan had something to do with this in some vague way, but how would you define Watson as a product? Mark Simpson: Watson's a cognitive computing product, which can learn like humans. It learns, it understands, it reasons in the same way that humans do and can be taught over time. So that computing can be applied into many different areas ... Essentially it is a trusted advisor that we can give to humans that can take in masses of data and help them in the decisions that they make, augmenting their intelligence. I think that's the phrase that has stuck with a variety of people.

Apple just had its annual developer's conference or WWDC on June 5, and as usual, CEO Tim Cook gave a keynote where he announced the tech giant's latest improvements in its MacOS and iOS systems. But perhaps the greatest of these software developments wasn't revealed on the WWDC stage. Instead, in an interview with Bloomberg Television, Cook discussed one of Apple's most intriguing work -- the so-called Project Titan, its secret car project. Well, it isn't exactly going to be a car just yet -- or maybe never? What we do know is that Apple is working on its own autonomous driving software, which Cook revealed in the interview with Bloomberg.

Following on from my interview with Avi Ben Ezra about AI and the future of Chatbots, I took the opportunity to ask Henri Ben Ezra about the more practical side of the use of chatbots, with a focus on where we are now. Henri is the CEO of Snatchbot, a company that facilitates you in creating your own chatbot for free. Firstly, chatbots have become a cost-effective way for businesses to connect with prospective customers. If you are a business and have online sales, you really must have a chatbot. Conversational commerce is going to completely automate the online sales process.

Genevera I. Allen (left) is professor in the Departments of Statistics, and the Electrical and Computer Engineering, at Rice University. Corinne Cath (right) is a doctoral student at the Alan Turing Institute, the national institute for data science in UK. Below are extracts of recent interviews that are most relevant to our audience. Links to full interviews are provided. Genevera, what do you think of the shift from "Statistics" to "Statistical Learning and Data Science" in the statistics community (The "Data vs Math" Question?)

Apple CEO Tim Cook has for the first time confirmed that the company is working on autonomous driving technology, Bloomberg reports. When asked about the tech giant's intentions in the automotive field during a recent Bloomberg Television interview, Cook said that the company is "focusing on autonomous systems." Cook hinted that there are applications for Apple's technology besides powering self-driving cars: "Clearly one purpose of autonomous systems is self-driving cars," he said. The revelation comes after rumors have circulated for years about Apple's plans to expand more deeply into the car market. The initiative, said to be called Project Titan, was reportedly launched in 2014.

How would you describe Inbest.ai in a few words? Inbest.ai is an enterprise bot builder platform for financial institutions to build, manage and optimize chatbots for customer engagement. Chatbots are transforming investment services from static websites and apps to intelligent personal conversations in messaging applications. Our platform allows financial institutions to access this new channel. What inspired you to create the chatbot builder?