At CES 2017, plenty of car makers were showing off the latest tech. One of the most interesting developments is that popular digital assistants are making their way onto infotainment systems, with Nissan and BMW demonstrating Cortana. Cortana will be familiar to Windows users as it's built into Windows 10 as well as Windows phones. Although there's no firm date yet when you'll be able to buy a car with Cortana, both Nissan and BMW unveiled their plans at CES to bring the digital assistant to some models in their ranges. Nissan's demo showed the most advanced integration, with Cortana able to tailor preferences and settings based on who's driving, which suggests user profiles will be involved.

The coming year could see the rise of consumer-focused machine learning, and the beginning of the end for corporate omniscience about user data. That's one of the implications of the latest batch of influential predictions from financial firm Deloitte, which projects that more than 300 million machine learning-tailored smartphones will be sold this year. Right now, the most important machine learning algorithms -- the ones that let us control our phones with a voice command and get predictive directions to our next destination -- use mostly out-board computing power to do their jobs. They run primarily on remote data servers operated by companies like Google, and while these companies incur huge costs for running all that computation, they make it up through the increased insight into users' lives. Sure, they have to pay for the power to parse a command to set a calendar event for 9 p.m. Eastern on Friday.

A survey of business leaders has found Australian companies are the worst prepared for the arrival of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies among selected major economies, despite spending the second-largest amount of money on automation. Independent research agency Vanson Bourne was commissioned by IT company Infosys (which as a seller of an AI platform has a vested interest in promoting such technology) to poll 1,600 business leaders of companies with more than 1,000 staff and at least US$500m in annual revenue across Australia, China, the United States, Germany, France, India and the UK. According to the survey, released at the World Economic Forum last week, major Australian businesses invested an average of $7.9m last year in AI, behind only the US, but placed last in both the skills required for AI takeup and in plans to integrate AI. The Infosys Australia regional head, Andrew Groth, told the Guardian the survey demonstrates that Australia risks becoming uncompetitive. "The challenge is the skills situation," he said.

Last year, the first season of HBO's Westworld concluded as most stories about robots do: with the machine eliminating its maker. This shouldn't have been surprising. Across Hollywood, from Terminator to Ex Machina, the first thing artificially intelligent robots seem to do once they gain consciousness is go rogue. It makes for a cool ending, but if the writers of Westworld's season 2 want to aim for more science and less fiction, they might consider having their "hosts" not eliminate humans, but help them to prevent cyberattacks or improve cancer treatments. And what if the show's humans didn't live in fear of robots, but instead set some ground rules for how AI technology can be used meaningfully, for the benefit of all?

Descartes Labs has built a supercomputer in the cloud that currently ingests 5 terabytes of near real-time geospatial data per day. As we grow our team, we need experienced technical leaders to help us coordinate efforts as we build our forecasting platform. An ideal candidate will be both an active individual contributor to the team but also experienced in managing complex technical projects.

Machine Learning is no longer a thing of the future. It's here now, and SAP is putting it in your hands. SAP Clea is a revolutionary new machine learning-enabled intelligence that allows new levels of automation and new ways of doing business. SAP systems touch more than 70 percent of the world's business transactions. Incorporating Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning into enterprise software opens the opportunity to simplify employees' everyday lives and to grow your business.

Automation in the workplace has been one of the looming existential threats to American workers for years now. And with each new study published, the fear of robots, machines, and artificial intelligence coming to take our jobs ticks higher. But a new report from McKinsey finds that the future of work and automation isn't quite the zero-sum game when it comes to jobs as some perceive. Right now, 51% of job activities could be automated with "currently demonstrated" technology, the McKinsey report says. The distinction is noteworthy: McKinsey isn't saying half of all jobs can be automated with existing technology, but rather job tasks.

Now that many executives are finding measurable results from their Big Data initiatives, they are looking ahead and making decisions about investments in emerging capabilities such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. Executives of the nation's biggest corporations fear that major disruption is on the horizon. This is a central finding of the 2017 Big Data Executive Survey from NewVantage Partners, which tracks the views of senior corporate executives on disruptive capabilities, ranging from Big Data to artificial intelligence. According to the fifth annual survey, which was released this month, nearly half of senior executives surveyed -- a remarkable 46.6% -- see disruptive change coming fast, with many fearing that their companies are at significant risk of disruption or displacement. Survey respondents consisted of corporate business leaders (CEO/president), data leaders (chief data officer), technology leaders (chief information officer), analytics leaders (chief analytics officer), and marketing leaders (chief marketing officer).

Artificial Intelligence" Texas Hold'em Poker tournament, and a machine named Libratus is trouncing a quartet of professional human players. Should the machine maintain its substantial lead--currently at $701,242--it will be considered a major milestone in the history of AI. Given the early results, it appears that we'll soon be able to add Heads-Up, No-Limit Texas Hold'em poker (HUNL) to the list of games where AI has surpassed the best humans--a growing list that includes Othello, chess, checkers, Jeopardy!, and as we witnessed last year, Go. Unlike chess and Go, however, this popular version of poker involves bluffing, hidden cards, and imperfect information, which machines find notoriously difficult to handle. Computer scientists say HUNL represents the "last frontier" of game solving, signifying a milestone in the development of AI--and an achievement that would represent a major step towards more human-like intelligence. Google's AlphaGo has stomped to victory for a fourth time against Go world champion Lee Sedol. Artificial Intelligence" tournament began on January 11th at Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh.