This article is based on an episode of the B2B Market Research Podcast. The audio version is available here. Historically, human brilliance, practice, and skill have been essential to specialized professions. Artificial intelligence is about to change all that. Luckily, The Future of the Professions: How Technology Will Transform the Work of Human Experts gives hope for staying relevant after the AI revolution.

Artificial intelligence has captured the rhythm of science fiction. For example, the script of a new science fiction short is the creation of a bot. Although the software provides the order of the word choices, the source material is human. It works by algorithm and it derives its poetic power from the words of human feeling. The results are surprisingly good and even funny, in spite of its mechanized origins.

Salesforce.com Inc. CRM 0.61 % said it would embed artificial intelligence technology into its software for salespeople, making it the latest in a gaggle of companies racing to enhance workplace tools with human-like abilities. The company will demonstrate the new software at its annual user conference next month in San Francisco. Called Einstein, the new offering is a set of online AI services designed to automate tasks, predict behavior and spotlight relevant information. Einstein is the latest in a long line of AI products branded with human-sounding names including Alexa from Amazon.com Inc., Cortana from Microsoft Corp. MSFT -0.57 IBM -1.06 % IBM and Microsoft, in particular, have spearheaded a push to offer AI services aimed at corporate users.

The shift in the startup world from apps to A.I. is, in essence, moving from making tools to making people. An app enabled a user to perform a function; at its heart it is DIY. Therefore, apps can be judged by their utility. Does the app help the user solve their problem? If so, then it is a good app.

Confused about what artificial intelligence is? You're in good company. When Stanford University released its first report for the One Hundred Year Study, a long-term look into the future of artificial intelligence, the panel acknowledged: "there is no clear definition of AI (it isn't any one thing)." And while this ambiguity will make it hard to regulate, the authors contend, those same vagaries might also help the field grow. "The lack of a precise, universally accepted definition of AI," they wrote, "probably has helped the field to grow, blossom, and advance at an ever-accelerating pace." Of course, a definition would be helpful.

Google launched an aggressive challenge to Apple and Samsung on Tuesday, introducing its own new line of smartphones called Pixel, which are designed to showcase a digital helper the company calls "Google Assistant." The new phones represent a big new push by Google to sell its own consumer devices, instead of largely just supplying software for other manufacturers. At a starting price of 649, the new phones are aimed at the same markets as Apple's iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy flagship phones. Google executives touted features such as a powerful camera and long-lasting battery during a product event Tuesday, where they said the phones will be sold in two screen sizes -- 5 inches and 5.5 inches -- and three colors: black, silver and blue. But they're clearly hoping that the new Pixel phones will be distinguished by their use of Google's software.

Google has placed a virtual assistant at the heart of its latest smartphones and first voice-activated speaker. The two Pixel handsets are the first mobiles to trigger Google Assistant by pressing their home buttons, somewhat like Apple's Siri. The Home speaker lets the same artificial intelligence tool be controlled without use of a touchscreen. Google also unveiled new virtual reality kit and a 4K media streamer. However, the US company will have to overcome privacy concerns and convince users that chatting to a virtual assistant has advantages over using individual apps.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The star of Google's splashy launch event in San Francisco was the one with the speaking part: The super-smart digital helper Assistant whose task is to maintain the Internet giant's tight grip on consumers and their wallets as their attention shifts to smartphones and Internet-connected devices. Assistant will create a "two-way conversation between our users and Google," CEO Sundar Pichai said at a splashy launch event in San Francisco. The goal: "a personal Google for each and every user," Pichai said. At Tuesday's coming out party for Assistant, Google introduced two new devices, Amazon Echo competitor Google Home and Pixel smartphones as vessels to show off what Assistant can do and "get Assistant in the hands of our users," Pichai said. Google will now focus on this intersection of hardware and software, Rick Osterloh, chief of the company's new hardware division, told reporters.

Google Home has removable base accessories. NEW YORK--The inevitable showdown between Amazon Alexa and the Google Assistant is getting closer. Google said Tuesday that its voice-activated Google Home speaker, the company's answer to Amazon's popular Echo speaker, will go on sale Nov. 4 for 129. Google Home is coming to the U.S. only at first, and will be sold in the online Google Play Store, as well as at Target, Walmart and Best Buy; Google starts taking preorders today. Home is a showcase for the newly unleashed Google Assistant, an artificial intelligence-infused virtual assistant that wouldn't feel out of place hanging out with other digital assistants, notably Alexa, Apple's Siri, and Microsoft's Cortana.

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display