In H. G. Wells's classic The War of the Worlds, the narrator pauses a moment to rue the fact that he didn't react sooner to the arrival of an "intelligence greater than man's"--in his case, Martians landing on earth. Comparing himself to a comfortable dodo in its nest, he imagined those ill-fated birds also dithering as hungry sailors invaded their island: "We will peck them to death tomorrow, my dear." As intelligent technologies take over more and more of the decision-making territory once occupied by humans, are you taking any action? Are you sufficiently aware of the signs that you should? To help you get the head start you may need, here are the signs that it's time to fly the nest.

Whether they are assisting your doctor in surgery, driving your car, analyzing crime patterns, or cleaning and providing the security system for your home, artificial intelligence (AI) will play a big role in urban living in by 2030. But to maximize the benefits of an AI-wired city tomorrow, expert and the public need to have a frank conversation today, according to the first report from Stanford University's 100-year study on AI, which was released last week. "As a society, we are now at a crucial juncture in determining how to deploy AI-based technologies in ways that promote, not hinder, democratic values such as freedom, equality, and transparency," the panel states in its report, which analyzes the role AI will play in the typical North American city in 2030, focusing on eight domains: transportation, home robots, healthcare, education, entertainment, low-resource communities, public safety and security, and employment and the workplace. "Policies should be evaluated as to whether they foster democratic values and equitable sharing of AI's benefits, or concentrate power and benefits in the hands of a fortunate few." The report outlines not only the ways AI could potentially be used throughout everyday life, but also how public opinion surrounding the implementation of AI has changed, and will continue to.

IBM says machine learning necessary to process vast quantities of data produced by sensors. Artificial intelligence and machine learning will be an essential part of IoT systems as organisations struggle to make sense of the enormous amounts of data produced by the Internet of Things. In a keynote speech at the IFA trade show in Berlin, Germany, Harriet Green, global head of IBM Watson IoT said that "millions of sensors are giving appliances and devices eyes and ears, increasing their inbuilt intelligence and enabling them to interact with us better." "The challenge is that over next few years, the Internet of Things will become the biggest source of data on the planet," she said. "That's where IBM's Watson cognitive computing system comes in. Watson uses machine learning and other techniques to understand this data and turn it into insight, which can help automate tasks, enable manufacturers to design better products, innovate new services and enhance our overall quality of life – especially in the home. And with cognitive technologies, interactions with'things' through natural language and voice commands will dramatically improve."

A panel of academic and industrial thinkers has looked ahead to 2030 to forecast how advances in artificial intelligence (AI) might affect life in a typical North American city – in areas as diverse as transportation, health care and education - and to spur discussion about how to ensure the safe, fair and beneficial development of these rapidly emerging technologies. Titled "Artificial Intelligence and Life in 2030," this year-long investigation is the first product of the One Hundred Year Study on Artificial Intelligence (AI100), an ongoing project hosted by Stanford to inform societal deliberation and provide guidance on the ethical development of smart software, sensors and machines. "We believe specialized AI applications will become both increasingly common and more useful by 2030, improving our economy and quality of life," said Peter Stone, a computer scientist at the University of Texas at Austin and chair of the 17-member panel of international experts. "But this technology will also create profound challenges, affecting jobs and incomes and other issues that we should begin addressing now to ensure that the benefits of AI are broadly shared." The new report traces its roots to a 2009 study that brought AI scientists together in a process of introspection that became ongoing in 2014, when Eric and Mary Horvitz created the AI100 endowment through Stanford.

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Fintech Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here. Chatbots are software programs that use messaging to carry out simple tasks. Most can interpret and respond to plain text and voice questions with contextual and actionable information. We recently outlined what banks should consider before launching such services -- including concerns and opportunities.

Berlin - 03 Sep 2016: at IFA Berlin – one of the world's leading trade shows for consumer electronics – IBM (NYSE: IBM) was joined by some of the biggest names in the industry to highlight how Watson IoT technologies are poised to drive a new wave of innovation in the home and play a key role in one of the biggest technological transformations in the history of the world. According to Harriet Green, Global Head of IBM Watson IoT: "millions of sensors are giving appliances and devices eyes and ears, increasing their inbuilt intelligence and enabling them to interact with us better." "The challenge is that over next few years, the Internet of Things will become the biggest source of data on the planet. That's where IBM's Watson cognitive computing system comes in. Watson uses machine learning and other techniques to understand this data and turn it into insight, which can help automate tasks, enable manufacturers to design better products, innovate new services and enhance our overall quality of life – especially in the home. And with cognitive technologies, interactions with'things' through natural language and voice commands will dramatically improve," added Green during her keynote at IFA. Examples of companies tapping IBM's Watson IoT platform include: Whirlpool is using Watson technologies to help deliver superior customer service and enhance people's lives at home by enabling its home appliances to connect with and interact with one another and their users.

Americans have a pressing problem: Nobody is saving money. Consider this: One out of every three people has a grand total of zero dollars saved, and 63 percent of Americans do not have enough money saved to cover an unexpected 500 expense. That s bad enough, but these folks are also going to live a lot longer than prior generations all these people drinking kombucha and eating kale chips aren t saving anywhere near enough to pay for the long, long lives they have ahead of them. So, what should we do? Should we put more pressure on employers to nudge their employees into retirement accounts?

Neuroeconomics use all kinds of research methods and experimentations to understand human behavior in different situations. One of these situations is making decisions under risk and uncertainty, where multiple areas of the brain become involved. Neuroscientific research suggests that we humans are not rational beings. Much of our decision making is driven by emotion. Do we want our emotion to play a part? More and more, technologies like SPIXII are using neuroeconomics findings to help us.

NEW YORK: Tech giant Microsoft and large equipment manufacturer Liebherr are collaborating on a new generation of smart refrigerators that would help in shopping and planning meals with intelligent food management. "As part of the Liebherr household appliances division's digital initiative, the duo would develop'SmartDeviceBox' -- a communication module which fits into refrigerators and freezers -- connecting them to the internet," T.J Hazen, Principal Data Scientist Manager at Microsoft, wrote. The system, which would utilise the same machine learning technology used in Microsoft's artificial intelligence (AI) assistant Cortana, is designed to have a long lifecycle. Microsoft gets big support in its fight for digital privacy with US Technology, media, pharmaceutical and other companies, along with major corporate lobbying groups, filed legal briefs on Friday in support of a Microsoft Corp lawsuit that aims to strike down a law preventing companies from telling customers the government is seeking their data. With this technology, modular units can be integrated and upgraded at any time in existing SmartDevice-ready appliances to create value and comfort for customers through new digital features and solutions, the post on Microsoft blog said.

It's clear that Messenger is one of the main places where consumers want to communicate and this provides an incredible opportunity to deliver unique experiences to a captive audience and bots are a great way to accomplish this. While it's easy to find great use cases in most verticals, this post will focus on healthcare, specifically medication adherence. Here's a definition of medication adherence: Adherence to, or compliance with, a medication regimen is generally defined as the extent to which a person takes medications as prescribed by their healthcare providers. There's been a big investment in medication adherence and there's good reasons. According to a World Health Organization report (and countless other sources) available in print only "adherence to long-term therapy for chronic illnesses in developed countries averages 50%" and "removing barriers to adherence must become a central component of efforts to improve population health worldwide."