The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), approved at the end of April and scheduled to enter into force in 2018, does not only deal with EU citizens' privacy. That means that all EU citizens will be able to ask to know the rationale governing companies' algorithmic decisions. As an Oxford paper explains, this is theoretically a good thing: exposing the workings and criteria behind algorithmic behaviors can help to ensure that such criteria are fair and not, for instance, informed by discriminatory ideas. However, a little bit of hand-wringing on the techie's part is understandable: explaining why an AI algorithm acts the way it does is not only an industrial secret, it is also very hard, given the intrinsic complexity of machine-learning technology.

With consumers now shopping and managing their services online, retailers are racing to find ways to improve their customer service and shopping experiences while transforming how they communicate with their customers. Also, as of mid-April, Facebook opened Messenger platform to chatbot services. Rogers Communications is also wading into the bot game by using Facebook Messenger for customers to chat with service representatives to change account information, add a phone line or deal with other service information, and are on the cusp of implementing a bot. In many ways it makes sense for retailers to incorporate bots in areas they can be controlled, like automating everyday customer service tasks (imagine never sitting on hold again).

Key players in machine learning include big cloud players like Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), and IBM. A recent study by AI language company Narrative Science found that 80% of executives believed that AI solutions boosted worker performance and created new jobs. Nuance developed the technology that powers Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) Siri, which preceded other voice assistants like Alphabet's (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google Now, Microsoft's Cortana, and Amazon's Alexa. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), Amazon.com, The Motley Fool owns shares of Microsoft and has the following options: long January 2018 90 calls on Apple and short January 2018 95 calls on Apple.

Automation and artificial intelligence (AI) is a growing necessity and benefit in the business world. As we enter the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the technological advances at the centre of this great business change will differ greatly from past industrial leaps forward. People experience constant changes and refinement in their understanding, and their ability to respond to situations. With advances and the growth of Big Data, organisations now have a rich feed of business, customer and decision-making data to feed into platforms powered by machine-learning algorithms.

Our culture and tools change, but the base stuff of human nature in all our ignorance, corruption and short-term frame of reference of the individual, family, tribal and national unit remains the same. In many fields, there are such cases of artificial intelligence impacting human society and contributing to creativity in ways we did not anticipate. In the process of being served by a chat-bot, perhaps better than a human being ever could, I'm experiencing a social landmark of artificial intelligence given a social role that can scale to nearly any service, sales or customer service situation. With Amazon Echo and Google Home, this will also change our home environments and family situations.

The hitch reflects a much bigger technological challenge facing China's manufacturers today. Wages in Shanghai have more than doubled in the past seven years, and the company that owns the factory, Cambridge Industries Group, faces fierce competition from increasingly high-tech operations in Germany, Japan, and the United States. Last year the government of Guangdong, a province that contains many large manufacturing operations, promised to spend 150 billion equipping factories with industrial robots and creating two new centers dedicated to advanced automation. Despite the challenges, Day Chia-peng, general manager of Foxconn's automation technology development committee, says the company is automating a growing number of tasks on its lines.

Google is internally building two Android Wear smartwatches, according to Android Police, and they could be Nexus-branded. The report says one of the smartwatches will be larger, with a diameter of 43.5mm, and features LTE, GPS, and a heart-rate monitor. The smaller Android Wear smartwatch will not include LTE nor GPS, and it has a diameter of 42mm. Android Police, citing multiple sources, adds the two smartwatches could feature Google Assistant integration -- the platform Google unveiled at Google I/O 2016 -- as a way of users gaining contextual information through "an ongoing two-way dialogue".

Plus, bots live in mobile messaging apps -- the fastest-growing online sector within the social landscape over the past five years. And like any advertising campaign, branded chat campaigns perform best when rooted in strategy -- specifically, a mobile messaging strategy. This means ensuring everything from the objectives, key performance indicators (KPIs), key messages, and creative content are aligned and working cohesively. Like any other branding, marketing, or advertising campaign, chatbot campaigns perform best when wrapped with other engagement experiences.