This week on TechRepublic's Business Technology Weekly podcast, hosts Dan Patterson and Bill Detwiler discuss how swarm AI won the Kentucky derby, and the real world, practical impact of artificial intelligence. We appreciate your feedback and support! Please continue to share show ideas and critiques at: podcast [at] techrepublic [dot] com, and (646) 389-5404. TechRepublic and Tech Pro Research publish a number of free and useful business technology newsletters. The Innovation newsletter features stories about artificial intelligence, big data, and other technologies that can help your business get ahead.

Autodesk is already using this technology on a project with Airbus to reimagine and redesign a new airplane cabin partition that is stronger than the original yet half the weight. And the 3D-printed partition will be flying in the A320 later this year. Meanwhile, something else that machine learning will push forward is robotics. An example here is Autodesk's collaboration with the artist Joris Laarman and his team at MX3D to generatively design and robotically print the world's first autonomously manufactured bridge. This summer, we'll hit a button, and robots will print it--in stainless steel and without human intervention--over a canal in Amsterdam. To explore a more advanced Internet of Things, we've been collaborating with design-and-manufacturing research group Hack Rod and a film studio called Bandito Brothers to build a crazy car with a nervous system.

In the early 1990s, executives and managers welcomed information technology -- databases, PC workstations, and automated systems -- into their offices. They saw the potential for significant business gains. Computers wouldn't just speed up processes or automate certain tasks -- they could upset nearly all business processes and allow executives to rethink operations from the ground up. And so the reengineering movement was born. Powerful machine-learning algorithms that adapt through experience and evolve in intelligence with exposure to data are driving changes in businesses that would have been impossible to imagine just five years ago.

Hundreds of industry specialists were recently introduced to APRIL (Automated Processing Robotic Ingredient Loading) at an event organised by automation solutions provider OAL and the University of Lincoln at the UK's National Centre for Food Manufacturing. The session was held to demonstrate to manufacturers what can be achieved using robots to handle ingredients and cook food, so that food manufacturing can become more efficient and safer. "Consumer demand for greater choice and convenience versus the rising cost of food production due to the introduction of the living wage has led food manufacturers to a crossroads," OAL sales and marketing manager Jake Norman told BakeryandSnacks. "These interlinking factors mean the time is now for robotics and automation to deliver flexible food production at the lowest cost." According to Norman, other industries have embraced technology as an alternative to people to great effect.

There are three main ingredients to creating artificial intelligence: hardware (compute and memory), software (or algorithms), and data. We've heard a lot of late about deep learning algorithms that are achieving superhuman level performance in various tasks, but what if we changed the hardware? Firstly, we can optimise CPU's which are based on the von Neumann architectures that we have been using since the invention of the computer in the 1940's. These include memory improvements, more processors on a chip (a GPU of the type found in a cell phone, might have almost 200 cores), FPGA's and ASIC's. Such is the case with research being done at MIT and Stanford.

Didi Chuxing, the largest ride-hailing service in China, just received a huge boost from Apple. The iPhone maker recently invested a whopping 1 billion into the Chinese company. "Didi exemplifies the innovation taking place in the iOS developer community in China," said Tim Cook, the chief executive of Apple. "We are extremely impressed by the business they've built and their excellent leadership team, and we look forward to supporting them as they grow." The investment by Apple in Didi Chuxing is an interesting and unusual move.

Should Marriott International acquire Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide as is widely expected, it will gain a company whose smartphone check-in, key-less entry and robot bellhops are progressive in the increasingly technology-focused hospitality sector. But Starwood's digital crown jewel is invisible to guests: Its analytics software platform enables the hotelier to automatically recalibrate pricing of its properties using hundreds of variables that influence supply and demand. Starwood spent more than 50 million over three years on this revenue optimization system, or ROS as the company calls it, which has helped the chain improve demand forecasting by 20 percent since 2015, says David Flueck, Starwood's vice president of global revenue. As ROS "learns" it will price rooms more efficiently, ideally boosting revenues and profitability. "What we're trying to do within our industry space is to say: How do we exploit access to data to create a more robust capability?" says Starwood CIO Martha Poulter.

Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your dance-challenged Automaton bloggers. We'll also be posting a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next two months; here's what we have so far (send us your events!): Let us know if you have suggestions for next week, and enjoy today's videos. SNUMAX is a "multi-functional soft robot" developed by Seoul National University's Biorobotics Laboratory, which won the RoboSoft Grand Challenge this year. "Boomf is the noise a marshmallow makes when it falls through your letterbox and lands on your doormat."

Generally, computers are useless at holding a conversation. They just take things a bit too literally. But Google is teaching computers how to make sense of the vagaries of human speech and text. Starting today, Google is opening up those algorithms to outside software developers. The tools released will help programmers build language-based apps and services that are less prone to annoying misunderstandings than many of today's chatbots.

AI is not likely to take over the world, but will probably make major inroads in the enterprise IT space. This will happen as soon as business decision makers can be shown a compelling economic reason to adopt such technology. What is needed are use cases that lay out the expected ROIs for such investments. This paper examines the state of AI business rationalization, and looks at one company, IBM, that is attempting to provide support to business leaders presented with the decision to adopt AI solutions. Artificial intelligence (AI) has been very prevalent in the popular press, and seems to be comprised of equal parts speculation and hyperbole.