The amazing pace at which AI is advancing is both exciting and scary. I created this podcast to start an open conversation about how AI is transforming the world and how we will need to adapt to survive. In this weekly podcast, we discuss how technology affects economics, medicine, education, our personal interactions and so much more. We work hard to find interesting people to interview to bring all perspectives to the table. We'd love to hear from you so please send us your feedback and suggestions for the show @societywire.

Visitors look at a US company Qualcomm stand announcing '5G' technology at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, 26 February 2018 (Photo: EPA-EFE/ALBERTO ESTEVEZ) Consumers will have a lot of new tech to digest in the new year ahead, in what is shaping up to be a year of transition. Here's what to look forward to in consumer tech in 2019. We've been hearing about the wicked fast next-generation of wireless for a few years now, and tests and early deployments of a relatively very small scale have long begun in earnest. But 2019 is when the commercial rollout of 5G networks starts to become more real in a lot more places, in the U.S. and overseas. In this country, the first available 5G-capable smartphones are expected to arrive by the spring, and you'll also see 5G hotspots and modems by then, if not sooner.

The term hearables refers to a hybrid technology which combines the advantages of wearable technology with the form factor and functionality of a headphone. The term hearables surfaced around April 2014, when Nick Hunn wrote about a new class of wearable devices that are worn as conventional headphones and has a $5 Billion market by 2018. Hearables are more than just smart-headphones that can play music or help consumers have a conversation over Bluetooth. Hearables have additional biometric, movement, or proximity sensors that can help the smart device gather context about the consumer's behavior. Also, they may have voice-enabled virtual assistants build into them, that can provide real-time insights to consumers.

LG sells a lot of TVs, so if you're not into a full, eight-speaker home theater system, it wants to sell you a sound bar to go along with it. The problem is, sound bars are kind of boring, so with CES 2019, LG is trying to sex them up. For its three latest sound bars, it has integrated Google Assistant for voice control, offered Dolby Atmos and DTS:X support, teamed up with Meridian Audio for simulated multi-speaker sound and unveiled an all-new, more modern design. All three models, the SL10YG, SL9YG and SL8YG (which are presumably just different sizes) were developed by LG in conjunction with Meridian, known for its digital signal processing. The idea, said LG, is to "lift the soundstage" (an imaginary 3D space that emits the sound) and "envelop listeners in rich, uncompromising sound and strong bass."

Amazon Echo devices were hit by a major outage on Christmas Day after new owners reported issues with the smart home speaker. Users in the UK and across Europe took to social media to complain of difficulties in setting up the Alexa voice assistant, with some suggesting that the large number of new owners attempting to connect. "Good luck to everyone who was delighted to receive their Amazon Echo this morning," one person wrote on Twitter. "Amazon has been a victim of its own success. Imagine the fun that new owners have been experiencing this morning, unsure as to why their new gadget isn't working."

I love to scream at robots. She lives in the Amazon Echo in my kitchen. I call her terrible names when she plays the wrong Pandora station. I roll my eyes in her general direction when she can't figure out how to turn the light on. Sometimes I roll them so far back they flit over to the actual light switch across the room on the wall, which I can't be bothered to stand and flick myself.

In September of this year, Amazon hosted a press event in the steamy Spheres at its Seattle headquarters, announcing a dizzying array of new hardware products designed to work with the voice assistant Alexa. But at the event, Amazon also debuted some new capabilities for Alexa that showcased the ways in which the company has been trying to give its voice assistant what is essentially a better memory. At one point during the presentation, Amazon executive Dave Limp whispered a command to Alexa to play a lullaby. Voice-controlled virtual assistants like Alexa and the speakers they live inside are no longer a novelty; an estimated 100 million smart speakers were installed homes around the world in 2018. But this year, the companies making voice-controlled products tried to turn them into sentient gadgets.

If chatbots and virtual assistants mean the same thing to you then your understanding of these AI applications requires an upgrade. In reality, there's a significant difference between the two that employees need to know well before an organization introduces chatbots or virtual assistants. AI applications have evolved at an astounding pace and are providing incredible value. Tech-savvy companies are building AI applications to help organizations boost revenue, augment business productivity and innovate business operations. Many organizations are therefore extending efforts to identify more and more areas to leverage and derive maximum value from AI. Chatbots and virtual assistants are ripened fruits of AI, which organizations are actively and significantly utilizing for automating their internal business processes.

Me: "Alexa, tell me what will happen in 2019." Amazon AI: "Do you want to open'this day in history'?" Me: "Alexa, give me a prediction for 2019." Amazon AI: "The crystal ball is clouded, I can't tell." My conversation with Amazon's "smart speaker" or "intelligent voice assistant" just about sums up the present state of "artificial intelligence" (AI) at home, the office, and the factory: Try a few times and sooner or later you will probably get the correct action the human intelligence behind it programmed it to perform. What will be the state of AI in 2019? The following list features 120 senior executives involved with AI, all peering into their not-so-clouded crystal ball, and promising less hype and more practical, precise, and narrow AI. "Self-Driving Finance is a practical implementation of AI that is already used in one form or another by millions of bank customers around the globe and will only get better in the coming years. Based on projects that are currently underway with ...

Me: "Alexa, tell me what will happen in 2019." Amazon AI: "Do you want to open'this day in history'?" Me: "Alexa, give me a prediction for 2019." Amazon AI: "The crystal ball is clouded, I can't tell." My conversation with Amazon's "smart speaker" or "intelligent voice assistant" just about sums up the present state of "artificial intelligence" (AI) at home, the office, and the factory: Try a few times and sooner or later you will probably get the correct action the human intelligence behind it programmed it to perform. What will be the state of AI in 2019? The following list features 120 senior executives involved with AI, all peering into their not-so-clouded crystal ball, and promising less hype and more practical, precise, and narrow AI. "Self-Driving Finance is a practical implementation of AI that is already used in one form or another by millions of bank customers around the globe and will only get better in the coming years. Based on projects that are currently underway with ...