Artificial intelligence (AI) is widely discussed, but narrowly understood. While the majority of businesses are aware of it as a concept, they don't necessarily know exactly how it can help them – and many believe that, by forcing change to existing working models, it may well be a threat. But while this fear is misplaced, it's becoming quite pervasive. It's looking increasingly likely that AI will be as transformative for the business of the future as big data, automation, and the Internet of Things already have been for the business of the present. Research from Forrester indicates that, over the course of 2017, overall investment in the field will rise by 300%.

Perhaps more importantly, the buy would give Amazon control over a platform that many people believe could be the next big thing in computing. Over the years, Amazon's cloud business, Amazon Web Services, has grown to power everything from consumer services like Netflix to corporate and governmental applications for the likes of General Electric and The CIA. Instead, "conversational interfaces" may dominate, powered by voice-controlled systems like the Echo or chat programs like Facebook Messenger and Slack. Perhaps more importantly in the long term, Amazon could give Slack access to its artificial intelligence research and development.

Human thinking is beyond imagination. Can a computer develop such ability to think and reason without human intervention? This is something programming experts at IBM Watson are trying to achieve. Their goal is to simulate human thought process in a computerized model. The result is cognitive computing – a combination of cognitive science and computer science.

Conversational commerce has been a hot topic recently. For quite some time it was linked to virtual assistants, but it has really only gained traction as messaging platforms have spread like wildfire. In 2015, the shift from social to messaging ultimately created the perfect environment for the bot and automation ecosystem to emerge. While the bot market still has some maturation to do, we're already seeing an outgrowth of conversational commerce that I call "conversational care." This is when that same conversational intelligence is used to engage and support customers during, and long after, a transaction is completed.

It won't be long before "skilled in machine learning" becomes the new "proficient in Excel" as a standard bullet point on your resume. What you bring to table will be more valuable than a pivot tables or color-coded pie charts. The day when any average Joe can train an algorithm along with his morning coffee is well within reach. The experience of using artificial intelligence is becoming more accessible, and choosing an algorithm to create an end-of-year report will soon be as simple as selecting a template in Microsoft Word. New hires will see promotions come quicker, startups will see faster growth, and the traditional enterprise businesses will see efficiency integrated into their corporate culture, whether they like it or not.

One in three U.S. consumers are interested in buying Apple's new HomePod speaker, a new survey found. Morning Consult polled 2,200 adults in the U.S. between June 8-12, a few days after the HomePod was revealed at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference. The iPhone company pitched the device as a hybrid high-end music speaker and home assistant, which can control smart home devices with Apple's HomeKit. Users will also be able to use the HomePod for basic reminders, ask questions about the news and will also control music and audio playback. The survey shows people are interested in buying the iPhone maker's high-end speaker, with 33 percent of respondents saying they were interested in purchasing the device.

We knew Japanese messaging giant Line was working on an AI assistant called Clova, and that it would first inhabit a clever-looking smart speaker called the Wave. What we only just discovered, however, is that Clova's next physical avatars would include an unamused duck and a bear that always looks just a little disappointed. In case you mostly chat on other platforms, these characters are based on a slew of stickers Line users can hurl at each other inside the app. Line hasn't confirmed whether these Clova-powered speakers -- collectively known as the Champ series -- would embody their characters in different ways. Still, the laundry list of features Clova brings to the table is considerable, especially since Amazon's Alexa doesn't work in Japan yet.

It won't be long before "skilled in machine learning" becomes the new "proficient in Excel" as a standard bullet point on your resume. What you bring to table will be more valuable than a pivot tables or color-coded pie charts. The day when any average Joe can train an algorithm along with his morning coffee is well within reach. The experience of using artificial intelligence is becoming more accessible, and choosing an algorithm to create an end-of-year report will soon be as simple as selecting a template in Microsoft Word. New hires will see promotions come quicker, startups will see faster growth, and the traditional enterprise businesses will see efficiency integrated into their corporate culture, whether they like it or not.

I said as I woke up from a good night sleep ready to start off my day. Siri responded promptly with the temperature range that'she' probably drew from the Apple Weather app. A seemingly basic interaction that came...

Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed to Bloomberg Businessweek why the HomePod wasn't positioned as a competitor to Amazon's Echo devices and his experience with President Donald Trump. Cook sat down with Businessweek on June 5 during Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference. The full interview will be released in the June 19 edition of the magazine. On Thursday, Businessweek released some snippets of the conversation. Read: Alexa, Siri, Apple TV: Are Amazon And Apple Putting Their Rivalry Aside?