Did you noticed anything interesting the last time you uploaded a picture to Facebook? Perhaps you picked up on the fact that, sometimes, Facebook tries to tag your friends and family for you. Welcome to DeepFace, Facebook's facial recognition system. If you're wondering why it's called DeepFace, it's because at its core, the system is based on a type of Artificial Intelligence (AI) called Deep Learning. AI is here, and it's changing the way that we interact with technology on a daily basis.

There is little doubt that artificial intelligence (AI) is shaping the future of the retail market. Recently, Macy's announced it was testing an AI-powered in-store app that enables shoppers to get answers based on the store they are physically shopping in, rather than having to find a sales associate. Sephora also jumped on the AI bandwagon when it launched a chatbot on messaging app Kik earlier this year, aimed at providing customers with personalised makeup tips and reviews. Whether it's AI chatbots becoming in-store and online customer sales assistants, or AI powering the future of retail personalisation, it's clear that AI is having a dramatic impact on the way we do business. However, as with any new technology, the embrace of AI comes with concerns, especially when it comes to consumer data privacy.

The Chinese tech giant Baidu has recently been investing in pretty much every branch of the tech industry, from smartwatch operating systems to self-driving cars and artificial intelligence. Regarding the latter, the company has just announced the immediate launch of Melody, an AI conversational bot app designed to help doctors collect information from patients regarding their various medical conditions. More specifically, Melody's main purpose is to chat with patients who are experiencing health issues then relaying that information to doctors in a way that's that's more convenient to use for the purposes of diagnosing specific conditions. It's convenient to use, it saves time, and it's free, so Chinese industry experts are predicting that this app will have a bright future ahead of it. In addition to all of the features mentioned above, it's worth noting that Melody isn't just an AI chatbot, it's an AI chatbot connected to neural networks which means that it's capable of deep learning and gradually becoming better at providing useful medical information to doctors.

As the skills gap widens for software developers, machine-learning specialists are stepping in with collaboration platforms designed to streamline time-consuming tasks such as tracking down technical solutions when working with new technologies. Collokia, a New York-based startup, announced the beta launch of a machine-learning platform last month that uses artificial intelligence to promote greater collaboration in software development. The other goal is reducing the "technical debt" of development teams by using AI to track down relevant information about a technology project, including information that already resides in company systems. The platform edits and updates search results as a way to disseminate information more widely among development teams. Automation tools that leverage AI promise to address the growing shortfall of qualified software engineers.

The artificial intelligence (AI) component in these programs aims to make create a world in which everyone can have a virtual aide that gets to know them better with each interaction. Google is making a high-profile push into AI, with the internet titan's chief referring to it as a force for change as powerful as powerful as smartphones. Google Assistant software is being built into new Pixel handsets - aiming to outdo Apple's Siri - enabling users to organise and use information on the devices and in the cloud - to check emails, stay up to date on calendar appointments, news or ask for traffic and weather data. Google also offers AI through its Allo messaging application which can be installed on smartphones, and its Google Home hub, a standalone device similar to Amazon's Echo which responds to voice commands to manage tasks and fetch information where people live. The South Korean electronics giant moved to jumpstart its AI efforts by purchasing the US startup Viv Labs, launched by the creators of Apple's Siri.

Google just debuted a digital assistant, which it hopes to place inside smartphones, watches, cars and every other imaginable internet-connected device. It's already hit a snag. The Alphabet Inc. division launched new smartphones last week with the artificially intelligent assistant deeply embedded. It also rolled out a speaker with the feature at its core and announced plans to let other companies tie their apps and services to the assistant. A day later, Samsung Electronics Co., one of the largest manufacturers of smartphones and other consumer devices, said it was acquiring Viv Labs, a startup building its own AI voice-based assistant.

Entrepreneurs need little convincing that technology is important, rapidly evolving, and likely to have a profound impact on their businesses. But keeping track of developments, and knowing where to focus one's attention, is anything but straightforward. Analysts at PricewaterhouseCoopers (pdf) say the impact of constant technological breakthroughs represent a "megatrend" – a change so big that "every business should develop an emerging technology strategy". They have highlighted eight key areas that all businesses should pay attention to. The artificial intelligence market is growing rapidly and forecast to be worth 36bn by 2025.

A BOT is the most basic example of a weak AI that can do automated tasks on your behalf. Chat bots were one of the first automated programs to be called as'bots'. Web crawlers used by Search Engines like Google are a perfect example of sophisticated and advanced BOT.

Intel has introduced a company-branded commercial drone, the Falcon 8, for North American markets, with the aim to lead in the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market, particularly in the commercial segment. The chip maker has been looking at new opportunities for its silicon and other technologies outside its traditional markets like PCs, more so after its lackluster performance in the smartphone market. It has already dabbled in the consumer drone market through Yuneec's Typhoon H, which uses Intel's RealSense computer vision platform for intelligent obstacle navigation. Intel has also introduced the Intel Aero Platform for developers to build their own drones. The opportunity for Intel is that many countries including the U.S. are slowly liberalizing rules for the use of commercial and consumer drones.

When a lot of us think about Data Science and Machine Learning, we might shy away and think - 'that's only for the clever boffins' ... 'I didn't do advanced maths in school, I'll avoid that...', or'I only do basic coding and SQL, it's no use to me...'. Like a lot of areas, the thing is that, if we don't at least take a look at it, we are doing ourselves a disservice. Sure, I will be the first to admit that Data Science and Machine Learning can be hard, but guess what, that's only a small part of the domain. The majority of it is quite accessible to most developers and is not that difficult to either learn, or use. In addition, the Data Science and Machine Learning tools given to use by Microsoft in Azure, make it super easy to get started.