In some use cases, it is impossible for humans to replicate the performance of artificial intelligence. But businesses will need a lot of data for AI systems to be effective. Maybe you've seen an artificial intelligence (AI) system like Watson at work on "Jeopardy!" or have heard of its successes in medical diagnoses or other fields. Maybe you've only heard about other similar systems working through incredibly complex and large sets of data to produce results that even non-experts can understand, through visualizations or natural language. Either way, AI systems are impressing many on their march toward becoming essential business processes.

Memorably spoken by Alexander Graham Bell, these were the first words ever heard through a telephone. Since then, speech has become the natural format for long-distance communication across the globe. The impact of voice-to-voice communication has meant that even written messages, sent via email and social media, have become increasingly conversational in tone. That Watson was not IBM Watson, of course, or Watson's namesake Thomas J Watson. But IBM Watson, by bringing a cognitive, learning approach to the absorption of data, has made it possible for computer systems to understand spoken language, and the more natural, colloquial way we now express ourselves in text.

Watson, IBM's artificial intelligence computer system, is ridiculously prolific. In the last few years it's written a cookbook, crafted a movie trailer, joined the debate team, and helped in medical education, among many other projects. The latest point on the system's resumé is to help make hospital stays more comfortable for patients and relieve the strain on doctors and nurses through smart speakers that can answer basic questions and grant patients' control over things like room temperature, the lights or the TV.

Bengaluru-based multi-speciality hospital chain Narayana Hrudyalaya (NH), which announced its IPO at the start of 2016, has 54 facilities all across India. At its different hospitals, Narayana carries out 650 to 700 cardiac surgeries each month. Speaking at the sidelines of a conference organised by Microsoft India last month, Kumar KV, Vice President at NH chatted with Gadgets 360 about how technology was changing the field of medicine, with immediate developments in fields such as 3D printing, along with long term projects such as the use of deep learning to improve the predictive capabilities of hospitals. At the same conference, Sriram Rajamani, Managing Director at Microsoft Research, India, explained that we are now beyond the point of just talking about machine learning, as gradual improvements in algorithms, and gradual increases in computing power, along with distributed and data processing via the cloud are making it possible for machines to have a quantifiable impact in the field of medicine. For example, Microsoft Research is currently running a project called 99Dots to improve medication adherence for tuberculosis patients.

IBM is betting big on internet of things and setting aside 200 million for its Watson IoT division's headquarters in Munich. The company says this investment, one of the biggest it's ever made in Europe, is a response to the growing demand for AI technologies and the capability to connect everything to the internet. Part of the money will go to setting up hands-on labs where its clients can work with a thousand researchers, engineers, developers and business experts in the city. In fact, the tech corp has already secured new partnerships with German automotive parts supplier Schaeffler, Netherlands-based dronemaker Aerialtronics and three facilities at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals in Philadelphia. Schaeffler will use the Watson-powered IoT platform to give the various products it manufactures for the wind turbine, train, auto and other industries a way to monitor their own conditions.

Cancer is fast turning into an epidemic in India.According to a study by The National Cancer Institute (NCI), every 13th new cancer patient in the world is an Indian. In 2016, the total number of new cancer cases is anticipated to be around 14.5 lakh and that figure is likely to reach nearly 17.3 lakh in 2020, as per a study by The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Such numbers exacerbate the magnitude of healthcare issues in the country. The first step towards addressing this mammoth task is access to healthcare. The country also needs to integrate technology into the healthcare system.

IBM's famous AI system has accomplished many, many things these past years, from making movie trailers to saving a person's life. Now, it's also helping teachers make lesson plans by powering Teacher Advisor, a program IBM developed with the American Federation of Teachers. If you're thinking "How hard could a grade school lesson plan be?" Well, have you seen Common Core mathematics? It's not the same math from back in the day, and teachers who didn't grow up with it might have a tough time conjuring up a way to make it more understandable.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is launching a new online "chatbot" that will answer customers' questions online and help direct them to the right places. The new online tool, dubbed "Luvo," will begin helping 10% of the bank's customers online from December, according to an emailed statement sent to Business Insider. It will be a web chat tool: as you're browsing, a little chat window will likely pop up and ask if you need any help. The rollout follows a 2-month trial of the tool with the 1,200 RBS staff handling small business inquiries. These staff could direct the SMEs to Luvo to help them with things like lost pins or corporate cards.

World-leading tech company IBM is to acquire risk and compliance business Promontory and combine it with its AI division Watson to form a new offering to the corporate sector via Watson Financial Services. US company Promontory has around 600 staff and advises companies on compliance and risk, much as many large UK and US law firms already do. The combination with Watson and its AI capabilities will allow IBM to provide clients with a more automated approach to risk and compliance review, just as some legal AI companies have already been helping some law firms to develop similar capabilities to provide to their clients. Although the company is not branding this as a move into law firm territory, undoubtedly it will have some impact given the increasing focus from lawyers on helping their clients with risk and regulatory compliance. Moreover, since the financial crisis of 2008 the level of investment from large corporates and banks in risk and compliance has growth massively, something that lawyers were quick to target.

IBM Research and the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have joined forces to further develop the scientific field of machine vision – a core aspect of artificial intelligence. Big Blue and MIT will build the IBM-MIT Laboratory for Brain-inspired Multimedia Machine Comprehension, or BM3C, in Cambridge, Mass. Together they plan to develop cognitive computing systems that mimic the human ability to understand and integrate input from multiple sources for use in a variety of computer applications in industries such as healthcare, education, and entertainment. MIT researchers will collaborate with IBM scientists and engineers who will provide technology expertise and advances from the IBM Watson platform. The BM3C will address technical challenges around both pattern recognition and prediction methods in the field of machine vision that are currently impossible for machines alone to accomplish.