"I had the worst dream," said Professor Einstein. "My vast intellect had been downloaded into a prosthetic body. I was then made to present the world of science to perfect strangers." Within moments of being activated, the 14-inch robotic replica of Albert Einstein made a meta comment about being trapped in a knowledge-dispensing machine. It shook its head from side to side and slowly blinked its eyes as if it were contemplating his situation.

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Amazon Echo, Google Home, Siri and the myriad of other "assistants" that are out there are slowly but surely getting smarter and could, one day, be your doctor if researchers from New York University's Langone Medical Center have their way. According to new research, short voice clips can be used to diagnose a variety of diseases and conditions which means we just might be saving lives and catching diseases way sooner than we are currently. Prevention usually means big money saved and that interests a lot of different parties from billion dollar industries like pharma, fitness, government services and NGOs. Using complex algorithms and machine learning the researchers hope to find vocal patterns that might signal illness and more complex disorders via a five-year study. Researchers at New York University's Langone Medical Center believe post-traumatic stress disorder and even heart disease could be detected in a few years rather than decades.

I'm willing to bet you didn't say "an Android Wear watch." What was supposed to be the year of wearables turned into repeated delays and mounting frustrations, as Android Wear 2.0 missed its launch date and manufacturers bailed on anticipated releases. To put it bluntly, Android Wear is in sad shape. But there is hope for salvation. In February, Android Wear 2.0 will finally drop, bringing a host of improvements such as standalone apps, easier typing, and on-watch purchasing to a reasonably long list of compatible models.

Earlier this month we had CES 2017 in Las Vegas, a techie's mecca of new whiz-bang products set to hit the market, in some cases later this year, but in others in 2018 and beyond. A person tracking the CES trade shows over the years likely remembers the changes in inputs from clunky keyboards and standalone number pads to rollerball driven mice to laser based ones, which gave way to trackpads and touchscreen technology. Among the sea of announcements this year, there were a number that focused on one aspect of our Disruptive Technology investing theme that is shaping up to be the next big change in interface technology -- voice recognition technology. Over the years, there have been a number of fits and starts with voice technology dating all the way back to 1992 when Apple's own "Casper" voice recognition system that then CEO John Sculley debuted on "Good Morning America." As the years have gone by and the technology has been further refined, we've seen more uses for voice recognition technology in a variety of applications and environments ranging from medical offices to interacting with a car's infotainment system.

Will voice and virtual personal assistants (VPAs) become the next big thing? Studies show that the trend is positive. I am using Alexa at home and I caught myself how I was at my parents' house over Christmas and wanted to speak into the room: Alexa, what is the weather going to be? or Alexa, set an alarm for 8am tomorrow. I got so used to it already that I didn't even think about grabbing my phone. I just wanted to speak.

The number of people defrauded in the UK by online dating scams reached a record high in 2016, the Victoria Derbyshire programme has learned. According to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, there were 3,889 victims of so-called romance fraud last year, who handed over a record £39m. Action Fraud, the UK's cyber-crime reporting centre, says it receives more than 350 reports of such scams a month. One woman who lost more than £300,000 says she felt emotionally "brutalised". Nancy - not her real name - is 47, and a single mother from North Yorkshire, who runs her own business.

AI can improve customer personalization, identify patterns and connections that humans can't, and answer questions about banking issues in real-time. Financial institutions are already finding success with AI. However, what may be'amazing' today will be table stakes in the near future. Artificial intelligence (AI) is not new to banking. If we consider that the definition of AI is the ability for machines to interact and learn to do tasks previously done by humans, the history of AI goes back to the 50s in the banking industry.

Why is it that every time humans develop a really clever computer system in the movies, it seems intent on killing every last one of us at its first opportunity? In Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey, HAL 9000 starts off as an attentive, if somewhat creepy, custodian of the astronauts aboard the USS Discovery One, before famously turning homicidal and trying to kill them all. In The Matrix, humanity's invention of AI promptly results in human-machine warfare, leading to humans enslaved as a biological source of energy by the machines. In Daniel H. Wilson's book Robopocalypse, computer scientists finally crack the code on the AI problem, only to have their creation develop a sudden and deep dislike for its creators. Is Siri just a few upgrades away from killing you in your sleep? And you're not an especially sentient being yourself if you haven't heard the story of Skynet (see The Terminator, T2, T3, etc.) The simple answer is that -- movies like Wall-E, Short Circuit, and Chappie, notwithstanding -- Hollywood knows that nothing guarantees box office gold quite like an existential threat to all of humanity. Whether that threat is likely in real life or not is decidedly beside the point. How else can one explain the endless march of zombie flicks, not to mention those pesky, shark-infested tornadoes? The reality of AI is nothing like the movies. Siri, Alexa, Watson, Cortana -- these are our HAL 9000s, and none seems even vaguely murderous. The technology has taken leaps and bounds in the last decade, and seems poised to finally match the vision our artists have depicted in film for decades. Is Siri just a few upgrades away from killing you in your sleep, or is Hollywood running away with a tired idea? Looking back at the last decade of AI research helps to paint a clearer picture of a sometimes frightening, sometimes enlightened future. An increasing number of prominent voices are being raised about the real dangers of humanity's continuing work on so-called artificial intelligence.

Join Entrepreneur's The Goal Standard Challenge and make 2017 yours. From creating personalized shopping experiences to offering virtual buying assistants -- AI is improving the online shopping experience for consumers and retailers. Shoppers will be able to easily find the best price for an item and communicate with chatbots for quick customer service. For retailers, they'll be able to better analyze consumer data to predict future buying patterns, create autonomous replenishing systems and also save money and time on customer service by utilizing chatbots. Related: Has Artificial Intelligence Arrived At The Sales Function Yet?