What will be the biggest and most disruptive technology trends of 2018? We talk to industry experts to find out. We expect 2018 to be a big year for the development and roll-out of second generation hardware for VR/AR such as the Oculus Go and Magic Leap's Mixed Reality headset – set to be better, lighter and cheaper than ever before," says Aurelien Simon, Head of Immersive, Digital Catapult. Just as importantly, however, there will also be increased buy-in from the creative industries in terms of immersive content production: "We've seen huge strides in creative content over 2017 and I expect this push for quality over quantity to continue next year. Big production studios are likely to increase their interest and presence in the VR space, while VR games production looks to take a step forward with hotly anticipated games like Doom and Fallout 4 released in VR." Trisa Thompson, Chief Responsibility Officer at Dell Technologies also believes that we'll be donning our AR headsets in 2018 as the technology becomes ubiquitous and increasingly integrates with our daily routines. But over the next year, VR and AR will cogently bring world issues into our personal reality. Time, money, and geography will no longer be inhibitors to experiencing a different environment, community or perspective."

April 12, 2017 was the first time I was accused of machine learning. It was mid-morning, mid-class at Stanford University's d.school. Nine graduate students were taking shifts in front of a white board, moving and clustering sticky notes, scanning for connections amongst lessons scribbled upon each. Zoom in, circle a group of like ideas, and write a headline about how they're related. Zoom out, read the headlines, zoom in, erase and explode a grouping that isn't working, make a new one. We had a nice flow going. And then, one of my students said, "This is just like machine learning."

December was a big month for advocates of regulating artificial intelligence. First, a bipartisan group of senators and representatives introduced the Future of A.I. Act, the first federal bill solely focused on A.I. It would create an advisory committee to make recommendations about A.I. -- on topics including the technology's effect on the American work force and strategies to protect the privacy rights of those it impacts. Then the New York City Council approved a first-of-its-kind bill that once signed into law will create a task force to examine its own use of automated decision systems, with the ultimate goal of making its use of algorithms fairer and more transparent. Perhaps not coincidentally, these efforts also overlap with increasing calls to regulate artificial intelligence along with claims by the likes of Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking that it poses a threat to humanity's literal survival.

Law students in the United States usually get a healthy dose of legal technology infused into their educations to prepare them for the future of law practice. Since most legal technology education, research, and innovation tends to happen here, students studying law in foreign countries may be at a disadvantage. One elite law school is trying to make sure its students don't get left behind. China's Peking University Law School has partnered with Gridsum, a cloud-based analytics platform, to create a research center that will focus on how artificial intelligence could be used in China's legal system. Gridsum will provide the technical and research backbone to the center as part of the partnership, drawing in part from AI technology developed for the company's "Faxin Wei Su" tool, a litigation service operating on Chinese communication platform WeChat's micro application platform.

December was a big month for advocates of regulating artificial intelligence. First, a bipartisan group of senators and representatives introduced the Future of A.I. Act, the first federal bill solely focused on A.I. It would create an advisory committee to make recommendations about A.I. -- on topics including the technology's effect on the American work force and strategies to protect the privacy rights of those it impacts. Then the New York City Council approved a first-of-its-kind bill that once signed into law will create a task force to examine its own use of automated decision systems, with the ultimate goal of making its use of algorithms fairer and more transparent. Perhaps not coincidentally, these efforts also overlap with increasing calls to regulate artificial intelligence along with claims by the likes of Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking that it poses a threat to humanity's literal survival.

There is a lot of smoke and mirrors when it comes to artificial intelligence. Don't get me wrong -- AI and machine learning are real, and we use them to solve mission-critical business problems on a massive scale, unlike anything we've seen in the past. For instance, companies apply the technology to solve important matters of data ownership, regulatory compliance, and intellectual property. But too many people and companies these days peddle hype around what they describe as applications of ML or AI that are, in fact, not AI-driven at all. One example of this "faux AI" I spotted recently was a company that described mechanical turks as AI, claiming the system would auto-generate the information via AI processes.

Sophia the robot has been on a roll lately. Earlier in the year, its creator David Hanson told Jimmy Fallon that the bot is "basically alive." At the beginning of October, it showed up at the United Nations, announcing to delegates: "I am here to help humanity create the future." And just last week, Sophia was awarded an honorary citizenship by Saudi Arabia. "Sophia the robot becomes first humanoid Saudi citizen."

Announcing its plan to broaden the AI for Earth programme, Microsoft has pledged $50 million over the next five years to put artificial intelligence technology in the hands of those who are working to mitigate climate change. Microsoft rolled out the AI for Earth programme six months ago with an aim to put the power of artificial intelligence towards tackling environmental challenges. "At Microsoft, we believe artificial intelligence is a game changer. Our approach as a company is focused on democratising AI so its features and capabilities can be put to use by individuals and organisations around the world to improve real-world outcomes," Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith wrote in a blog post on Monday. The announcement came on the eve of the second anniversary of the Paris Agreement.

Universal basic income (UBI), an unconditional allowance afforded to all citizens for the bare essentials of life, is an old idea that's garnered support from members of both the left and right. Notable supporters have been as disparate as civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. and libertarian economist Milton Friedman. The Nixon Administration even attempted to pass a basic income guarantee through Congress and failed only narrowly due to a disagreement as to how much the stipend should be. Now, the debate over universal basic income is being renewed by industry leaders and billionaires who include Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Branson and Elon Musk, among others. As automation approaches, the world is faced with the problem of displacement.

We made it to the end of a tumultuous year of political turmoil, technological change and legislative upheaval. The fact we made it to New Year's Eve without starting a nuclear war with North Korea is all the more reason to celebrate. Many of this year's biggest events, like GDPR, developments in AI and the disjointed launch of the iPhone X, took place at the very epicentre of marketing, with repercussions that are still making headlines to this day. So with the start of a new year, it's time to look back as well as forwards and ask: what will the last twelve months mean for marketing in 2018? Nobody knows how last year's referendum will affect the UK, and as a result, uncertainty continues to hover over business, with some firms making the move to the continent.