This story was delivered to BI Intelligence Apps and Platforms Briefing subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here. Using Twitter as a mode of business to consumer (B2C) communication could result in up to 20% more consumer spend in the future, according to a recent joint study from Twitter and Applied Marketing. The survey examined interactions between more than 3,100 Twitter users with a variety of industries like pizza delivery chains and airlines. The glowing results from the study could be an attempt by Twitter to remind businesses of its capability as a customer service channel, which is likely being threatened by the uptick in interest regarding chatbots, according to Marketing Dive.

At Dreamforce this week, Salesforce finally provided details about Einstein, its artificial intelligence technology that it touts as "AI for everyone." For the last couple of weeks, Mark Benioff has been teasing us about Einstein, and yesterday we saw the fruits of that labor. A series of speakers extolled the benefits of Einstein – from being able to predict the sports gear that a consumer might like, to medical uses such as being able quickly diagnose bleeding in the brain. The real impact of Einstein, however, is that it validates the larger trend of Artificial Intelligence or "AI" being applied across a wide variety of both enterprise and consumer tasks. One of my favorite comments from the keynote was that AI is like electricity, and that when it was first incorporated into appliances they were referred to by names such as "the electric toaster."

This creates the false impression that the algorithms already exist for malware detection too. That is not the case. We at Kaspersky Lab have spent more than 10 years developing and patenting a number of technologies. And we continue to carry out research and come up with new ideas because … well, that's where the next myth comes in. There is a conceptual difference between malware detection and facial recognition.

Despite robotics and artificial intelligence being labelled as threats to the profession, the head of digital legal services for a global firm has downplayed concerns. Speaking ahead of the Lawtech Summit, Tae Royle, head of digital legal services for Ashurst, said reports about the robot lawyer takeover have escalated unnecessarily. "The doom and gloom scenarios are a bit overcooked; the majority of the workforce will adapt rapidly and are getting on the front foot," he said. Mr Royle added that these fears are unsubstantiated at present, as the application of AI remains "very narrow". However, Mr Royle also said that opportunities for AI are "progressively widening, and in five years' time the use cases will be broader and the impacts will be very deep", though he noted there is no need for firms to panic over this, and instead they should properly prepare.

From chatbots to smart apps, developments in artificial intelligence are changing the way that banks interact with their customers. Like many people who were young in 1997, I had a Tamagotchi and it meant the world to me. Whenever it was hungry, I hurried to feed my digital pet. If it beeped about being lonely, I'd go give it attention. My parents thought it was a little silly to be that devoted to a toy, but in this day and age it's almost impossible to imagine life without interaction between man and machine.

The Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum published a book in January called "The 4th Industrial Revolution." In his book, Klaus Schwab proposes that we are at the beginning of a fundamental shift in human/technological interaction. Advances in robotics will redefine the workforce. Advances in information technology will deliver meaningful artificial intelligence. And advances in biotechnology will redefine what it means to be human.

Scott Huffman, leader of Google Assistant engineering, is working on a high-profile example of practical AI. Artificial intelligence could be a huge an economic boon, but not if its benefits help only the highest-skilled workers, whose jobs computers can't replace, President Barack Obama believes. With AI research rapidly becoming AI products from Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and other companies, the technology is no longer an academic curiosity. Obama expects great things of AI as it spreads to new industries, he said in an interview with Wired magazine published Wednesday. But his optimism was guarded.

I made a strategic decision Sunday -- to sit out the second round of presidential debates. Instead, I enjoyed a fascinating expose on artificial intelligence (AI) on "60 Minutes." We all have pre-conceived notions about AI. Stephen Hawking has said when machines are smarter than us, it will bring about the end of the world. Specifically, "The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race." Most of us are familiar with the fictitious Terminator film and television franchise, unfolding the saga of John Conner versus Skynet, which follows Hawking's thinking.

Recently, Microsoft took the unusual step of placing its Cortana and Bing product teams inside the same organization as Microsoft Research. The new Microsoft AI and Research Group will be led by computer vision pioneer and executive vice president Harry Shum, whose 20-year Microsoft career involves leading Bing's search efforts from 2007 through 2013 and helping launch Microsoft Research China. We asked Shum how this new organization will benefit Microsoft's digital assistant in the following interview, which has been edited for length and clarity. The language of the blog post announcing the formation of Microsoft's new AI division, together with how Satya Nadella has characterized it, suggests that Microsoft thinks it's in a space race of sorts when it comes to artificial intelligence. I just feel that the timing's right to go big on AI.

In an interview with Wired Magazine, Obama spoke of redesigning the social compact and starting a conversation around fair wages. He cited teachers as being underpaid, and called for a reexamination of what we value, and what we'll pay for. Obama addressed basic income, a proposal for all citizens to receive a government stipend in order to meet their costs of living. The idea has gained recent support among some futurists and economists, given concerns over how technology will eliminate jobs and impact salaries in coming years. "Whether a universal income is the right model -- is it gonna be accepted by a broad base of people? Related: Is Uber's push for self-driving cars a job killer? A 2013 Oxford study concluded that 47% of U.S. jobs are at risk of being handled by machines over perhaps a decade or two. Some experts fear we're headed toward mass unemployment. Truck drivers, cab drivers and deliveryman are the most prominent example of those at risk. The tech and car industries are currently pouring billions into self-driving vehicle technology. Businesses have long embraced automation because it lowers their costs and improves profits. But advances in technology are expected to broadly expand the jobs that automated machines can handle. Of course, most Americans once worked on farms. Our country has survived transitions before. Yet experts caution this revolution in how we work could unfold much quicker, making it more difficult and unpleasant. "Oh, we survived the Industrial Revolution, sure we did.