Get the big picture of how machine learning works, its relationship to artificial intelligence, and where companies are putting it to work. Machine learning brings humans and machines closer together by enabling humans to "teach" machines. Machines learn by processing a training data set, which tunes an algorithm. A valid training set contains the features necessary to tune the algorithm. The algorithm allows machines to execute a task, such as classifying email.

Software's immersion within businesses, process and objects has expanded the scope of what could be automated. When you add in rapid advances in artificial intelligence, you start seeing a lot more interest in technologies that are increasing how well machine sense, learn and act. Investors are taking notice--investments in artificial intelligence start-ups by venture capitalists have increased roughly 20x in the last four years. What's your Intelligent Automation play?

By 2030, technology will have made banks and banking invisible to customers, hidden by Siri-like personal assistants that cull data from our connected lives to fulfil daily personal and financial obligations, claims KPMG.

But what if you are not one of these? I received the following job ad in my mailbox (see below in italics), from a third-party recruiter, and it's probably for a data science position at Nike near Portland, Oregon (my guess). Basically, it's a 6-month gig to build an A/B platform. I discuss here a few aspects that make this job ad unlikely to attract talent, as well as remedies. This skills mix is not found in typical employees.

There is much hype over big data and new analytical technologies, some of it justified, much of it not. In this article, we explore the possibilities and the limitations of technology, and discuss how it can practically improve your business strategy. We believe man's ability to think and formulate hypotheses is an art that is difficult for machines to replace. Analytics cannot yet do your strategizing for you. Nor can artificial intelligence (AI) and cognitive computing engage creatively and emotionally with employees and stakeholders.

Succeeding in today's fast-paced business economy requires companies to harness data quickly and at scale. As the volume, velocity, and variety of data increase, it's becoming necessary to use machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to sift through all the incoming information, make sense of it, and accurately predict future business direction. It takes the right expertise, the right tools, and the right data to achieve the promise of machine learning. Even with all of those factors in place, it's still easy to get it wrong. "Machine learning gives us a very powerful set of techniques for making predictions, but it can also lead to disastrous results if you don't understand what your machine learning algorithm is doing," said Spencer Greenberg, a mathematician and founder of decision-making website ClearerThinking.org, in an interview.

The University of New South Wales has announced a partnership with outsourcing giant Tata Consultancy Services that will see the pair undertake joint research in areas such as machine learning, virtual reality (VR), robotics, data analytics, and cloud computing. Under the memorandum of understanding, UNSW said the organisations will work together on ideas which stem from pure technology research and give them real-world applications, with the agreement also opening up the prospect of exchanges of scholars and internships for UNSW students at Tata Consultancy's global research facilities. The memorandum was signed by Tata Consultancy's CTO Ananth Krishnan and UNSW's deputy vice-chancellor enterprise professor Brian Boyle at the consultancy firm's Asia-Pacific Summit in Sydney. "There is a lot that UNSW and Tata Consultancy Services can offer each other," Boyle said. "UNSW excels in taking our research breakthroughs and partnering with industry to make a significant global impact. Working with TCS will build on UNSW's strong international links and help accelerate innovation by opening up new opportunities around the world."

Deloitte's award-winning artificial intelligence platform continues to innovate financial statement audits by using advanced machine learning and natural language processing to extract key information from large volumes of audit evidence. FEI Daily spoke with Will Bible, an audit partner at Deloitte & Touche LLP, on innovating financial statement audits with artificial intelligence and how it will impact the world of finance, accounting and auditing. Will is presenting at this year's Current Financial Reporting Issues Conference, November 14-15, 2016 in New York City on the topic. Will Bible: To achieve automation and ubiquitous data analytics, you need data standardization. There's been a lot of progress on digitizing information, and automating processes around that digitized information.

Artificial Intelligence is not a vision of the future. It has become an indispensable prerequisite for a modern and value-added customer management. We have responded already in the past to the new requirements that companies are facing in the course of digitalization – through transitioning from Customer Relationship Management to Customer Journey Management Consulting. Our success proves us right: today, we are one of the market-leading consulting firms in the field of customer management in Central Europe. With the acquisition of Insight Dimensions GmbH (to press release), a German company located in Böblingen we take the next logical step towards the future by linking Artificial Intelligence and Customer Journey Management. We are delighted about the addition of this successful company and wish our new colleagues a heartfelt welcome.