This article is by Mark-Hans Richer, founder and president, Richer Inc., and former CMO of Harley-Davidson. It's post-CES season and naturally all the buzz is about cool, futuristic things that will change the world as we know it. And nothing is more buzzy than AI and Machine Learning (VR and AR are so 2016...). Most of those who strolled the wide alleys of Las Vegas' convention halls earlier this month--and especially the creative marketing community--buzzed about what they saw as cutting-edge cool, the zeitgeist that every creative person wants to be on the edge of. But what if the tech that is so attractive suddenly turned on its acolytes?

A week hasn't even passed since the inauguration, but television news is saturated with the flurry of activity from President Donald Trump's administration. Trump, via Twitter, promised to launch an investigation into illegal voting and threatened to "send in the Feds" if Chicago police can't fix the "carnage." And that was just between Tuesday and Wednesday. This heightened scrutiny compelled the Internet Archive, a repository of everything posted on the web, to launch its Trump Archive in early January. You, perhaps, digitally time-traveled with the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, or checked out free books, movies and software.

Medical diagnosis has been identified as one of the areas where artificial intelligence and machine learning could have most impact – but how should the NHS proceed? The likes of University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Royal Free NHS Trust and Moorfields Eye Hospital have teamed up with Google DeepMind to work on better patient outcomes for those suffering from certain cancers, or for those who have had sight loss. According to Orlando Agrippa, deputy CIO at Barts Health NHS Trust, the NHS could benefit tenfold if it leveraged AI. "It could be used to increase accuracy over things like prescriptions, interventions and early diagnosis," he told BusinessCloud. The Commons Science and Technology Committee suggested last year that supercomputers assisting doctors with medical diagnoses could be one of the key impact areas of AI, but that government leadership in the fields of robotics and AI had been lacking.

An illustrated artificial neural network (ANN) (CC BY SA 4.0 LearnDataSci via Wikimedia Commons) The system's'neural network' is advanced, but its abilities are being exaggerated by observers I have a fascination with translation, primarily because I have an interest in languages. I'm what I like to call "an aspiring polyglot," with the implication that I don't have time to practice (and reach complete fluency in) the few foreign languages I have some knowledge of, yet I give myself plenty of time to learn about said languages, how they are all different and by extension how they all work. As a technology- and startups-focused journalist, that makes the evermore popular topic of machine translation (MT) and "translation memory" fascinating, giving me the chance to cover companies like Austrian startup LingoHub (an essential service for apps) or Portuguese startup Unbabel (the next-level stuff they're doing is very cool). I can ask people how they communicate with lovers from other countries and report on developments like Google Translate's upgrade from "phrase-based machine translation" (PMT) with a "neural machine translation" (NMT). "Google Translate invented its own language to help it translate more effectively," wrote UX developer Gil Fewster on Medium, with the bold emphasis his own.

The study entailed consumer-led research conducted by the University of Goldsmiths, and the report provides guidelines for brands developing their own customer-facing bots in preparation for an AI first world. Its recommendations are informed by a thought-provoking set of findings: not least that people prefer to confide in a bot when it comes to finance and medical issues, but still like to know when a bot is a bot. In other words, bots should never be too humanoid. As one participant in the research commented: "I would prefer the interaction with the AI over the human for things like budgeting and managing my money. I think it would be quite intrusive if an actual person was trying to advise you on your spending, but if you could set an AI goals to manage your money better, and you could get advice and tips, that would be a really nice feature."

How can I increase the retention in my chatbot? Alan Greenspan coined the perfect phrase "Irrational Exuberance." Websites like ChatBot Magazine are brought to you by the same people who brought you ZapChain (ridding the Bitcoin wave). Headlines about how everyone should build a bot are all the rage; it is the perfect environment for playing buzzword bingo. At the start of Q1 in 2017, the bot industry finds itself in phase three of Gartner's Hype Cycle, the "Through of Disillusionment."

This March, a Japanese company called Fukoku will fire 34 employees. They're planning to replace them with an artificial intelligent alternative that will never have to eat, sleep or complain. But more importantly: Fukoku's estimates indicate it will be 30% more productive. Wow, hate to be in their place! Fortunately, my job is too complicated and specific to be done by AI.

Apple is preparing to join the Partnership on AI, a group researching the uses of artificial intelligence, according to a Bloomberg News report late Wednesday. Apple's admission to the nonprofit group could be announced later this week, the report said. The Partnership's members are a Who's Who of tech heavyweights that includes Amazon, Google, Facebook and Microsoft. It also includes IBM, the creator of the Watson supercomputer system that won the TV game show "Jeopardy!" The Partnership's mission is "to study and formulate best practices on AI technologies, to advance the public's understanding of AI, and to serve as an open platform for discussion and engagement about AI and its influences on people and society."

Driverless cars could be dangerous because of the time it takes for drivers to retake control if something goes wrong, scientists have warned. A new study found it could take 25 seconds for drivers to take the wheel in a non-emergency situation. It is feared this lag could cause driverless cars to swerve, make sudden lane changes or brake harshly if people do react fast enough. Research by the University of Southampton found drivers took up to 25.7 seconds when distracted to respond to a command to take over from the car's computer. Professor Neville Stanton, lead author, shown in Southampton's driving simulator But initial models are not expected to drive themselves for a full journey.