Elon Musk has changed the way we think about transport. Larry Page and Sergey Brin have revolutionized the way we learn. Mark Zuckerberg has reshaped how we communicate. A.I., the simulation of human intelligence processes by computer systems, is used by Telsa's self-driving electric cars. Google's search engine from its beginning has been powered by A.I. Facebook uses A.I. for targeted advertising, photo tagging and curated news feeds.

Research reveals a lack of understanding and trust in fintech that is stalling mainstream adoption of innovative new services which could make millions of people's daily lives simpler and more secure. The success of Amazon Echo and Google Home smart speakers show there is a healthy appetite for AI assistance. Autonomous, self-driving cars are in being tested by the likes of Google and Tesla. AI-powered platforms such as IBM Watson and Wipro Holmes are able to diagnose cancer, analyze retail data, and communicate through ordinary spoken and written language. But even though AI feels like it's going mainstream, consumers don't yet fully trust it.

Over the last year, Google has made ripples in the tech world by publicly and privately deciding to pursue AI-first strategies in place of mobile-first strategies, which the company has prioritized for the better part of a decade. From software to hardware and everything in between, it's clear that the world's tech leader sees infinite potential in artificial intelligence and machine learning. But what does this mean for the marketplace--and are we approaching a point of no return? These are the questions everyone is asking. And while there's a lot to this conversation, the best piece of advice is to grab a seat and buckle up, because AI is the new future.

Don't judge a smart speaker by its sales -- at least that's the story floating around the internet today, as Ad Age has revealed a study showing that Google Home is six times likelier than Amazon Alexa to answer user requests correctly. The research, conducted by New York-based digital agency 360i, backs the search company's voice assistant, despite consumers clearly choosing Amazon's option instead. In March, eMarketer reported that Amazon Alexa has a 70% share of the voice controlled speaker market. Using proprietary software to ask both Google Home and Amazon Alexa some 3,000 questions, Google's voice assistant emerged six times likelier than the competition to answer correctly. The results are surprising but make sense when you consider the companies' disparate approaches to voice assistant technology.

Brands big and small are experimenting with artificial intelligence (AI), with varying levels of success. Amazon uses AI to predict what you want to buy; Spotify leverages it to select music for your playlists; and digital assistants like Apple's Siri are AI tools personified. But among those successes are plenty of missteps. As far as the technology has come, AI isn't foolproof, in part because the humans who design it aren't. But let's not take down the companies that make mistakes: by pushing boundaries in the AI world, they're offering valuable lessons to the rest of us.

With products like the Amazon Echo and the upcoming Apple HomePod, the burgeoning home assistant market has seen a lot of moves recently. In the next year, that market is expected to get even larger. A recent survey from Edison Research and NPR indicated 42 percent of smart speaker owners have more than one home speaker. The report also includes other encouraging signs for smart speaker manufacturers: 70 percent of owners said they are listening to more audio at home and 65 percent of polled users said they wouldn't want to go back to not having a speaker in their homes. In the survey, parents said they were major fans of the devices.

Within the next five years, an app's capacity to work with AI will be more important than its mobile or cloud capabilities. In a recent Gartner report, aptly titled, "Conversational AI to Shake Up Your Technical and Business Worlds" authors Tom Austin, Mark Hung, and Magnus Revang argue that artificial intelligence will be so ingrained in the workforce that AI integration will be essential by 2021. Businesses will rely on conversational artificial intelligence (think virtual personal assistants in the vein of Siri or Amazon Alexa) instead of individual apps. Instead of scores or hundreds of apps (of which individuals typically depend on 4-to-6 in any given day), we expect [business] people to rely on multiple agents that will learn their needs and preferences and do their bidding, providing proactive, context-sensitive support almost everywhere. When I first read this report, I got excited--after all, who wouldn't want a helper that could integrate all of your systems into one, that could provide differing support based on needs and changing contexts?

You would think at least one AI-powered humanoid bot would have a properly nerdy name. Maybe a Poindexter or Hildegarde to add some natural language processing to your customer chat app? Instead, it sounds like the cool kids are in charge at most digital assistant and bot startups. Think short, peppy names that top the popular baby name lists. There's Aiden and Riley putting AI to work for marketers.

Technology is increasingly integrated into our day-to-day activities, from GPS to services like Amazon Alexa and Google Now that delight us with personalized experiences powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). Let's face it, we're coming to expect that kind of service from all our digital providers. Many financial institutions, in contrast with tech companies, have taken a more conservative stance to powering their digital banking experiences. It's understandable--there are greater repercussions to offering wrong financial predictions than getting the wrong topping on the pizza. The challenge for banks is that forward-looking insights and personalized guidance are becoming a prerequisite to conducting digital business with consumers.

Don't like the built-in options that come with Android and iOS? You've got a plethora of third-party reminder apps to pick from. While we can't cover all of them here, we will highlight some of the best ones we've found. Feel free to do your own investigating as well. First up is Microsoft's Cortana digital assistant, available for Android and iOS.