Artificial intelligence, machine intelligence, cognitive computing -- whatever you want to call machines that are capable of understanding and acting upon their environment -- is no longer solely the purview of highly credentialed lab directors and deep-thinking computer scientists. It has entered mainstream consciousness, and the public expects IT to play a leadership role as machine learning enters our workplaces, our living spaces and our lives. Chances are that you are not. Most executives, in the opinion of New York Timestechnology columnist John Markoff, are "ill prepared for this new world in the making." People have been thinking about automated work forever.

The more data you have, the more likely you are to hallucinate patterns. Supposedly, the more phone records the NSA looks at, the more likely it is to flag an innocent as a potential terrorist because he accidentally matched a terrorist detection rule. Mining more attributes of the same entities can indeed increase the risk of hallucination, but machine learning experts are very good at keeping it to a minimum. On the other hand, mining more entities with the same set of attributes decreases the risk, because the rules learned from them will have stronger support. And some learning algorithms can find patterns involving multiple entities, which makes them even more robust: a person videotaping the New York City Hall may not be suspicious, and another buying large quantities of ammonium nitrate may not be either; but if the two are in close phone contact, perhaps the FBI should take a look, just to make sure it's not a bomb plot.

Many scientists and futurists agree that the effects of artificial intelligence and automation on society are difficult to predict. While many predicted that the tip of the spear for such technology would play out in areas such as medicine or general computer system markets, the AI revolution is already underway in the financial markets. Nearly all market-making is presently dominated by machines that employ AI techniques, including advanced pattern recognition. The markets evolution from the primordial ooze of computers, networks and massive storage systems to a complex, intelligent and somewhat singular market entity will impact society well beyond finance.

Automation and artificial intelligence are profoundly transforming trading and markets. Many scientists and futurists agree that the effects of artificial intelligence and automation on society are difficult to predict. While many predicted that the tip of the spear for such technology would play out in areas such as medicine or general computer system markets, the AI revolution is already underway in the financial markets. Many of the predicted challenges and solutions are occurring now -- in real time. Financial technology becoming possibly the first major component of society to be completely AI enabled is not surprising if you consider that financial markets are inherently big-data intensive, attract bright minds and high-quality capital, and often have a short investment-to-profit time horizon.

When it comes to artificial intelligence (AI) has made its way into many aspects of our lives, even into toys for kids like Anki's Cozmo which resembles a roboticized Ewok. But as things go, AI isn't just for devices, it's made and continues to make it's way into eCommerce and is out there working to determine what to sell to you, how you shop and ensure you have a good shopping experience. According to Gartner by 2020, 85% of customer interactions will be managed without a human and at the close of 2018, customer digital assistants will recognize customers by face and voice across channels. Investment-wise, in 2014 there were more than 300 million in venture capital invested in AI startups according to Bloomberg. Brands are on board and are using AI to build smarter platforms they hope will create a better online shopping experience for the consumer.

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence Apps and Platforms Briefing subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here. Amazon appears to be building up its bot development team with its hiring of Angel.ai Amazon is apparently pursuing a number of other key employees from the chatbot enabling startup, as well. And it is also gaining Angel.ai's

The trifecta of IoT, Cloud and Analytics have been transforming many aspects of our lives and business. Cities, healthcare, transportation, farming, fitness, home, manufacturing and utilities have been the key beneficiaries of this fast-emerging paradigm. While consumer devices like Fitbit and Amazon Alexa get lot of attention from the media, the commercial buildings have been quietly turning into Software Defined Buildings (SDB). By doing so they are not only lowering the operational cost of the building, but also foster smarter cities, better safety, and occupant comfort. As such they have become an important market segment in the IoT space.

Researchers from Facebook have built a highly efficient piece of artificial intelligence (AI), programmed to slaughter anything in its path. A team from the social network blasted its way to glory this week in a contest to build programs capable of autonomously playing the classic first-person shooter game. Called VizDoom, it's an irreverent test of skill for AI researchers, focused on eight-player deathmatches. Think your software is smart? AI, of wildly varying levels of sophistication, has been in games since the earliest days of the medium.

As an example, Mediatrix Capital makes complex and profitable decisions based on nine algorithms that have specific hedging and correlated counter positions to track changes in market direction. Multiple strategies maximize returns and are completely unbiased to market direction. Stansberry Research is one of the leading independent financial research firms in the world, delivering unbiased investment intelligence to self-directed investors seeking an edge in a wide variety of sectors. Stansberry Research employs over 12 analysts and researchers, including former hedge fund managers and buy-side analysts who publish proprietary insights to over 500,000 paying subscribers in over 120 countries worldwide.

Self-aware computers that turn on their human masters, such as Skynet in Terminator and HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey, are a classic science fiction theme. With great strides being made in artificial intelligence, the gap between such far-fetched scenarios and reality is closing.