Syphilis might be more commonly associated with centuries past. But it's been on the rise for the past decade in England, with more cases last year than in any year since 1949. The disease was, in effect, eradicated in the UK in the mid-80s only to re-emerge around 1999. BBC Reality Check wanted to know why this ancient disease is rearing its head in England in the 21st Century. Syphilis is a bacterial infection that can be treated with antibiotics.

AI for customer service tools allow mega corporations to use all the data they collect to better understand consumer behavior and derive predictive insights to boost sales, while theoretically improving the customer experience by delivering personalized recommendations. The irony, of course, is that these hyper-personalization tools also serve to prevent customers from having personal interactions with the people at those companies. We're so accustomed to getting what we need from automated systems -- be it our preference to use the ticketing kiosk at the airport instead of speaking with an agent at the counter or the ATM at the bank we rely on in lieu of a teller -- that many of us only seek out a person when automation fails. I, for one, will pick up the phone and talk to a customer service agent only as a last resort. I prefer to find solutions to product problems using self-service platforms or instant messaging chats, and I don't really care whether the agent on the other end of that platform is live or virtual as long as they resolve the issue quickly.

The key is a new feature called shortcuts, akin to the "routines" in Google's Assistant and Amazon's Alexa. Shortcuts will let you set up Siri to perform an action or series of actions when it hears you speak a particular command. These actions will be able to dig into the functionality of a third-party app: Apple's examples included a shortcut that lets you use a Tile locator gizmo to find your keys, and another that allows you to pull up travel information from within the Kayak app. Shortcuts will be available across the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and HomePod. Their importance to the iOS platform will go beyond Siri itself; power users have begged Apple for more automation features within iOS for years, and that's exactly what shortcuts offer.

Here are 21 commands that even seasoned Echo users may not know. Many of them are useful, some are fun, and others give the illusion that Alexa is as cognizant as we are. Ask Alexa how to treat cuts, burns, fevers and more. More than any other device, Alexa has become our closest approximation of artificial intelligence. Amazon's voice assistant has a voice and personality, and if you ask the right question, it'll even get sassy with you.

AI has the ability to gather tons of data and learn from it. Creating the more predictive models AI is booming the stakes. All of this ability of AI has the potential of changing the healthcare industry. Big data and well trained AI system can improve the patient diagnosis, precision medicine, patient data security, clinical decision support and many more. When it comes to AI, we always talk about the rise of intelligent robots and taking our jobs.

More than any other device, Alexa has become our closest approximation of artificial intelligence. She has a voice and personality, and if you ask the right question, she'll even get sassy with you. Users even refer to Alexa as "she." We usually prefer to say her name, rather than the name of the device itself, Amazon Echo. Recently, Alexa has made the news as it was reported that a Portland, Oregon couple's Echo recorded their conversation and sent it to a friend on their contact list.

In its new report on data and artificial intelligence trends, Gartner explains that "our 2018 predictions for AI are cued to the way it is diffusing. First, recent AI technology breakthroughs, coupled with APIs and cloud architectures, make still-nascent AI capabilities and services more widely available. Second, the success of vendors in applying AI technologies and conversational interfaces in smartphones and smart home virtual assistants creates higher end-user expectations for these capabilities."

It sounds like a simple phone call… but it's anything but. An assistant calls a hair salon to schedule an appointment. After a bit of back and forth with the person at the salon, a time is decided on and an appointment is made. It's a transaction that happens every single day. Crypto expert Tama Churchouse just released an update to his crypto market predictions.

This "new AI iPhone" -- which, to be clear, is your same ol' iPhone running a new mobile OS -- will understand where you are, what you're doing and what you need to know right then and there. The question now is will users embrace the usefulness of Siri's forthcoming smarts, or will they find its sudden insights creepy and invasive? After the installation of iOS 12, Siri's Suggestions will be everywhere. In the same place on the iPhone Search screen where you today see those Siri suggested apps to launch, you'll begin to see other things Siri thinks you may need to know, too.

AI has the potential to empower us all to accomplish more, drive better business outcomes and achieve breakthroughs that redefine what's possible. From changing the transportation landscape to discovering new ways of protecting the planet, from reinventing healthcare to connecting with customers, the opportunities are endless.