Chatbots are exploding in the finance industry, and it's no surprise why. With the ability to automate operations, reach more customers, and provide a more friction-free banking experience, chatbots are streamlining and optimizing many banks' digital services. Here's how the world's biggest banks are using chatbots to boost their business. As one of the largest U.S. banks, Bank of America (BofA) is leading the charge for artificially intelligent chatbots in financial services. Last year, the company announced Erica, a voice- and text-enabled chatbot for BofA customers.

Artificial intelligence is the fodder of much science fiction. It's in the medical world where Artificial Intelligence (AI) went from an imaginary idea to real-world use. Developments are moving faster than expected. Its first iterations weren't powerful enough to be clinically useful; AI started out with simple pattern recognition by computers. Programmers would "teach" algorithms to generate certain output variables as functions of input variables that were fed to them.

For many firms transforming business operations via technology means improving how they interact with -- and meet -- customer needs. In fact, customer experience represents the single best opportunity financial services firms have to deliver on their priorities, according to a survey by Econsultancy. What's more, 45% of respondents indicated that making the customer experience as personalised and relevant as possible is their key focus. CEOs around the world are not asking if digital disruption will occur, but instead, what it means for their business. So the questioned asked in this article, is how can financial institutions leverage digital transformation to advance their competitive position, strengthen customer engagement and improve performance?

When 27-year old Mayank Ranka is looking for love, he turns to a chatbot. "It instantly finds me a match which is all I need at the end of the day. The even better part is I can end the conversation anytime I want and not chat ever again," says Mumbai-resident Mayank, who works with an event company in Mumbai. Tech-savvy singles like Mayank don't blink before using a speed-dating chatbot like Neargroup which helps them zoom into the right date. The chatbot's in-built AI helps the user to find the right match based on nearby locations, interests and also conversations.

"I was determined to do it precisely because I was told it was impossible." So says Yasuo Kuniyoshi, professor at the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, in a quiet tone. However, the sharp glint in his eye betrays his grand ambition of developing a truly clever artificial intelligence to benefit humankind. Some current forms of artificial intelligence (AI), such as speech recognition and automated driving, are just as competent as humans--if not better--at carrying out their given tasks.However, just as AI developed for speech recognition cannot play chess, and chess-playing AI cannot drive a car, existing forms of AI are incapable of any actions beyond those intended by their creators. Because AI does not "think" the same way humans do, it cannot adapt to conditions besides the preconceived context it was programmed for in advance.For AI to be truly intelligent and highly adaptable, it must be able to think in the same way as humans.

You're awake, you're sentient, you might even be upright. You're not comatose or dead, and it's reasonable to assume that if you were on some kind of powerful mind-altering drug then you wouldn't be reading this. The point is, you're here, and you're alive, so therefore you're conscious. OK then, since you're conscious and I'm conscious and everyone else is conscious, go ahead. Does it belong to the mind or the body, or does it exist outside both? Is consciousness part of our souls, or does it live in the things we create – our art, our music, our cities and wars? Could it be mechanical or electronic, and, if so, what makes it operate? Most pressingly of all, is it possible we have now made for ourselves a new kind of consciousness, one which exists independently? If so, then what the hell have we got ourselves into? The search for a definition of consciousness must lay claim to be the world's longest-running detective story. We've had our best minds on it ever since we developed brains big enough to ask questions and, still, we seem to be stumped. Plato and Aristotle couldn't fix it; Kant, Hume and Locke tried different angles; Schroedinger, Heisenberg and Einstein remained in awe before it. None of them came up with the final formula, the definitive, nailed-it for ever, silences-all-critics answer. Lately though, the hunt seems to have changed gear. Despite big differences about how best to conduct the search and where to look, several of the most persistent sleuths have found themselves disconcertingly close to agreement. No-one is yet at the stage when they are ready to call a press conference and announce to the world they have finally apprehended the suspect, but they have at least begun to converge on these two leads: the Omega Point and the Singularity. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin is an improbable prophet, partly because he's dead, and partly because he's still associated with a famous palaeontological fraud.

A superhuman skill once the preserve of comic book heroes could soon become a reality. Scientists have used a combination of brain scanning and artificial intelligence to read the minds of'criminals' to determine whether they are guilty of knowingly committing a crime. This is the first time that neurobiological readings alone have been used to determine guilt, according to the study, and the findings could impact how we judge criminal responsibility in the future. A 2013 study found that researchers could predict how likely prisoners were to re-offend through brain scans. A team of neuroscientists at the Mind Research Network in Albuquerque studied a group of 96 male prisoners shortly before they were due to be released.

Historically, some banking activities such as trading have been relying heavily on analytics and cutting edge algorithmic tools. The coming of age of powerful data analytics solutions combined with the development of intelligent algorithms have created new opportunities for financial institutions. In his session at 20th Cloud Expo, Sebastien Meunier, Head of Digital for North America at Chappuis Halder & Co., will discuss how these tools can be leveraged to develop a lasting competitive advantage in priority areas: customer analytics, financial crime prevention, regulatory compliance and risk management. Speaker Bio Sebastien Meunier is an expert in Innovation in Finance, with 14 years of experience in managing business and technology transformations in Financial Services, and among the top 10 Fintech influencers on social media. He is the Head of Digital for North America at the consulting firm Chappuis Halder & Co.

In terms of revolutionary potential, the latest'big tech' wave is getting many in the healthcare industry excited about things to come. With resurgent technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality being joined by new platforms like instant messaging chatbots and voice-activated assistants, healthcare seems on the brink of a new, digital dawn. Ben Greenberg, vice president of mobile products and user experience at Medscape and WebMD, is one who believes that the new era of technology will change the face of healthcare forever. "We are clearly in the midst of a technological revolution," says Greenberg, "but what can we do about it?" Having spent the past nine-and-a-half years building software that promotes patient wellness and provides decision support to physicians at the point of care, Greenberg has witnessed the growing role of technology in health.