The adoption and application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to accelerate at an exponential rate in modern businesses. As referenced in the 2017 Tech Trend Report, AI is nearing completion of the next layer in technological advancement, integrated into everything individuals and organizations do. This trajectory is predicted to drive cumulative worldwide spending of $40.6 billion on AI projects by 2024 – according to Raconteur. This is expected to create mass opportunity for the pioneering businesses currently investing in AI development. Moving beyond the hype in existing media coverage, this post will uncover the reality behind what AI means for businesses today, in the near future, and beyond 2017.

From helping you take care of email to creating personalized online shopping experiences, AI promises to transform the way we live and work. But with all the hype out there, how do we know which benefits we'll actually see? Gary Vaynerchuk was so impressed with TNW Conference 2016 he paused mid-talk to applaud us. What is the top benefit you predict emerging from AI, and do you think the overall benefits will live up to the hype? The greatest benefit of AI -- which is already emerging -- is the elimination of repetitive tasks.

Countersurveillance fashion designs are being spotlighted at this year's South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, by a group of young women of color who started a company called Hyphen-Labs. Carmen Aguilar y Wedge is the co-founder and director of creative technology for Hyphen-Labs. She modeled the company's ScatterViz visor at the Sundance Film Festival in January. Carmen Aguilar y Wedge is the co-founder and director of creative technology for Hyphen-Labs. She modeled the company's ScatterViz visor at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

Cloud accounting software provider Xero announced a new product that it says will bring machine learning and AI to the process of small business invoicing. The machine learning automation technology is currently without an official title, but Xero says it's designed to simplify and improve the way invoices are filed. More specifically, the technology will automatically suggest the appropriate account codes for an invoice based on past invoicing behavior of the business owner and their advisor. While the use case is indeed specific, Xero posits that small businesses frequently mislabel invoices, which in turn creates more work for themselves and their accountants down the road. "Before we work with a client, we always review their balance sheet to see if items are correctly allocated," said Andrew Erkins, director of technology at Xero Partner Digit Books.

Whether you know it or not, your life is impacted everyday by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning. In fact, if you asked Alexa about the weather or traffic while enjoying your morning cup of coffee, you leveraged AI. This voice recognition is part of the growing field of technology that is changing the lives of consumers and our interaction with technology. The government is no exception. AI is also becoming involved in every aspect of how our country runs--national security, economics, healthcare, and other domains.

Wikileaks caught the CIA with its pants down this week when they released a massive collection of information about cyberattack techniques the agency uses to hack iPhones and major communication services. It's alleged that Wikileaks was given the the documents courtesy of Russia, who hacked into American systems to find them. If they prove to be real, it's a major blow to the US. You can bet that governments like Iran and China are loving the fact that they can use the documents to better defend themselves against future American attacks. In a recent interview, Alphabet's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, claimed "that big data is so powerful that nation states will fight wars over data."

In the past years, a collection of hardware, software and online service have managed to bring changes and reforms to classrooms and teaching methods. But the true disruption of education is yet to arrive. Artificial Intelligence has proven its role as a game changing factor in an increasing number of fields, causing transformations unimaginable in the past. It's now showing glimmers of how it might forever change the learning process, one of the oldest skills that mankind has mastered. We're inviting 250 to exhibit at TNW Conference and pitch on stage!

As artificial intelligence grows smarter, the debate rages on about if--or when--its abilities will eventually surpass us. At least one person in the tech world isn't worried about the prospect of robot overlords: Adam Cheyer, co-founder of Siri, the voice assistant company that Apple acquired in 2010. Speaking at South by Southwest on March 11, Cheyer summarized Google Brain founder Andrew Ng: Worrying about A.I. becoming too smart right now is like worrying about overpopulation on Mars. "We're barely at the beginning of A.I.," Cheyer said. "There's nothing to even be done yet."

Traffic jams that clog up roads and slow down travel are the biggest problems many cities face. Rising incomes and growing aspirations convince many middle-income households to yearn for cars, which adds to the problem. Hangzhou, one of the most connected cities in China, intends to solve traffic woes with the help of artificial intelligence. The city is teaming up with Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group, to install a new smart-traffic management system. Using its AI and big data analytics capabilities, Alibaba Cloud is able to provide real-time traffic recommendations and travel routes based on video and image recognition technologies.

Through massive investments in artificial intelligence (AI) startups, the world's leading tech firms are racing to create markets to transform the economic landscape. According to a report by CB Insights, since 2011 mergers and acquisition activity in the sector has increased sevenfold, with most startups being acquired in the first four years of their initial financing round. In 2016, AI startups drew significant attention, with $1.05 billion pouring in during the third quarter. Here is a look at some of the many tech firms that are investing in AI research in order to capitalize on the shifting digital market. One of the most active tech investors since 2011 is Alphabet.