Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the branch of computer sciences that emphasizes the development of intelligence machines, thinking and working like humans. Today, Artificial Intelligence is a very popular subject that is widely discussed in the technology and business circles. Many experts and industry analysts argue that AI or machine learning is the future -- but if we look around, we are convinced that it's not the future -- it is the present. With the advancement in technology, we are already connected to AI in one way or the other -- whether it is Siri, Watson or Alexa. Yes, the technology is in its initial phase and more and more companies are investing resources in machine learning, indicating a robust growth in AI products and apps in the near future.

In the year 2016 bots, AI, and machine learning seemed to be all the rage, with all of these topics getting mixed into one big bundle. Many people seemed to forget that they are not the same but only related to each other. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an umbrella term that describes the part of computer science that deals with making computers emulate human intelligence. Machine learning is the part of AI that makes a computer appear intelligent. Bots are an application -- an application being most helpful if it is based upon a minimal level of (artificial) intelligence, and that particularly serves interaction purposes.

Key sectors of interest include Internet of Things, FinTech, Future of Work, Logis-cs/Transporta-on, eHealth, Security and others. BootstrapLabs is a Venture Capital firm based in Silicon Valley and focused on Applied Ar:ficial Intelligence About Us 3. Community of Founders, Intrapreneurs, AI/ML Experts, Execu-ves, Professors, Researchers, Investors focused on Innova-on, Technology and Entrepreneurship 30K PEOPLE Our Community 200K FOLLOWERS 1K ATTENDEES Our online community between BootstrapLabs core team and its closer advisors has over 200K followers. We see traffic on our website and deal flow referral coming from over 60 countries BootstrapLabs brought together over 1,000 people during 2016. Our community is a key pillar of our success and we organize many exclusive private and public AI centric events each year 4. Applied AI Digest #1 2016 Google's DeepMind Beats a Top Player at the Game of Go Zucks to create AI-Powered Jarvis JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC IBM Watson Head on the Future of AI Read Full Articles 5. Applied AI Digest #2 Artificial Intelligence Deals on the RiseCould AI Solve the World's Biggest Problems? Harvard is building an AI Engine as fast as the Brain Read Full Articles 6. Applied AI Digest #3 Is Big Data Still a Thing?

Samsung is not launching the Galaxy S8 this month, but tidbits about the flagship phone's specs and features are already spreading online like wildfire. This week, a new report is claiming that the Galaxy S7 successor's camera will come with Bixby support. Bixby is Samsung's upcoming AI assistant that is rumored to match Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa in more ways than one. The intelligent assistant is rumored to launch with the ability to control all of Samsung's native apps and even conduct mobile payments. Interestingly, there is new information claiming that a Bixby search tool will be integrated into the software that controls the Galaxy S8 camera. This Thursday, SamMobile ran an exclusive story about the S8's standard camera having a visual search and optical character recognition (OCR) tool powered by Bixby.

It's looking increasingly likely that Samsung's upcoming AI-powered digital assistant will be more than capable of giving Siri a run for its money. Samsung's Bixby, the assistant reportedly set to debut with the Galaxy S8, will be able to search for items based on what you point the camera at. SEE ALSO: Hey, Siri: How'd you and every other digital assistant get its name? You'll be able to access the feature with a dedicated "Bixby" button on the phone, according to Sam Mobile. You may be wondering why you would need such a feature, but Bixby's image recognition capabilities will reportedly have a few different applications.

One thing was clear at CES 2017: virtual assistants from Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and IBM showed up in a broad range of robots, speakers, appliances and even vehicles. Amazon's Alexa was the clear winner with an entourage of companies demonstrating new Skills that control their services and devices through Alexa commands. IBM demonstrated partnerships with JBL, Harman and Panasonic where Watson is exposed in intelligent hotel mirrors, speakers, and vehicles. Alexa wasn't the only virtual assistant on display in vehicles: FCA and Ford had IBM Watson demos showing off similar capabilities. Now that connectivity is nearly ubiquitous with virtual assistants in cars and autonomous vehicles are on the horizon, automakers are envisioning an entirely different experience in the car.

Siri has been in the hot seat for a little while now, thanks to other companies out there seemingly outpacing Apple in the digital personal assistant front. Honestly, it's good that Apple's effort is seeing so much attention, even if it is all positive. One of the reasons why I think Apple has done so well for itself is because it traditionally takes its time before doing something. What I mean by that, is we see companies launch something, and then Apple eventually gets around to doing it, and, hopefully, doing it better. It's one of the reasons why the iPhone took off like it did. Apple's Siri was the digital personal assistant to start it all, so perhaps we shouldn't be all that surprised that we're seeing the opposite outcome.

This vendor-written piece has been edited by Executive Networks Media to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favour the submitter's approach. Information technologies are accelerating at an exponential rate, ushering in the fourth industrial revolution. This is a digital revolution and the pace of change is unprecedented. This revolution incorporates machine learning (think parallel processing and neural networks) and the concept of self-assembly or self-programmability. As technologies continue to advance, they accelerate the progress of other technologies, and so on, and so on.

But how do you separate hype from reality? How can your company apply AI to solve real business problems in 2017? In September 2016, Luminary Labs convened 30 executives in healthcare, machine learning, and analytics for a grounded discussion on these questions with machine learning expert Hilary Mason, founder and CEO of Fast Forward Labs, and Sandy Allerheiligen, VP of data science and predictive and economic modeling at Merck. Here's a synopsis of what we discussed, and what AI learnings your business should keep in mind for 2017. AI and the Near Term 3 We've all seen the sensational headlines: The robots are coming, and they'll take our jobs! AI can do your job faster and more accurately than you can!

Editor's note: This is the first chapter of a book I'm working on called Demystifying Artificial Intelligence. The goal of the book is to demystify what modern AI is and does for a general audience. So something to smooth the transition between AI fiction and highly mathematical descriptions of deep learning. I'm developing the book over time - so if you buy the book on Leanpub know that there is only one chaper in there so far, but I'll be adding more over the next few weeks and you get free updates. The cover of the book was inspired by this amazing tweet by Twitter user @notajf. Feedback is welcome and encouraged!