When it comes to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Automation, there is no debate that advances in these areas will engender profound changes in our world. Rather, the debate centers on what these changes might look like. There are many who express concern or even outright fear about the impact of AI on our future, and with good reason. A recent report from Forrester predicts that by 2021, intelligent agents and related robots will have eliminated 6% of a net jobs. A widely noted study, "The Future of Employment: How susceptible are jobs to computerisation?", estimates that 47% of all US jobs are at risk. The Luddites were textiles workers who protested automation, eventually attacking and burning factories because, "they feared that unskilled machine operators were robbing them of their livelihood".

Testosterone has long been associated with aggression and competition in men. But the versatile sex hormone can also impact a range of emotional states including empathy, generosity, of corruption, and risk taking. Experts speculate that there may be more to the hormone than first thought, and that testosterone could be just as useful for cooperation as competition. Testosterone has long been associated with aggression and competition in men. It seems that for every question scientists answer on testosterone, more are raised in its place.

The gold rush for artificial intelligence (AI) is officially in full swing. Big players like Google and Facebook and small teams alike are in an all-out sprint toward the goal of creating the next generation of AI assistants that will fundamentally change how we live and work. I am in awe at the pace of progress, because every week it feels like a new barrier is breached, a tool grows more robust, or a new startup is launched with the ability to transform an industry. However, the most surprising observation continues to be people's underestimation of AI. Specifically how the general population seems so unable, or unwilling, to imagine that a machine could ever match a human's ability in any job -- particularly their own.

A year ago, a researcher tested Samsung's S Voice digital assistant by telling it he was depressed. "Maybe it's time for you to take a break and get a change of scenery." Researchers found Apple's Siri and Microsoft's Cortana couldn't understand queries involving abuse or sexual assault, according to a study published in March in JAMA Internal Medicine. Next week's Consumer Electronics Show will show off digital assistants' abilities to make our lives a little easier by adding more voice-powered smarts into our lights, appliances and door locks. While these smart-home ideas are likely to gain plenty of attention at CES, the JAMA study highlights the need to improve digital helpers' responses to more critical health and wellness issues, as well.

At the Amazon re:Invent conference, Amazon announced Lex, a deep learning service that is based upon the technology used by Alexa in Amazon's portable Bluetooth and Wi-Fi enabled Echo speaker. Shortly after Amazon's announcement, Google introduced Actions on Google which allow developers to build Google Assistant-based conversational apps, including integration with the Google Home device. You as a developer to integrate your services with the Google Assistant. Conversation actions which enable you to fulfill a user request action through a two-way dialog. When users request an action, the Google Assistant processes this request, determines the best action to invoke, and invokes your Conversation Action if relevant.

This has been the year of artificial intelligence (AI). From the buzz around workplace automation at this year's World Economic Forum to Stephen Hawking's recent discourse on the potential windfalls and risks of AI, the future of machine learning is on everyone's minds. My recent attendance at a Shared Services Forum event only confirmed the fact. You couldn't walk five steps without hearing someone discussing the role that robotics and AI will play in the future of HR. These advanced technologies have been in use for some time, but their application in the field of HR is still in its early days. There is really only one aspect of HR where robotics and AI have begun to make a real impact--shared services.

The company has been a leader when it comes to digital technology, and it plans to keep pushing the bar higher. Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) has led the way for not just fast-casual restaurants, but all of retail when it comes to using customer-facing technology in its stores. The company was the first major chain to integrate digital payment into its app, making it a common sight to see people pay by holding up their phones to a scanner. That happened well before payment via phone become a relatively common thing, and it forced other chains to follow. Starbucks also led the way with Mobile Order & Pay.

Artificial carries a negative connotation. Artificial somehow imitates, is fake, or is subpar. It is negative, dare I say: icky. When we think of olestra vs. pressed organic olive oil, we think artificial vs. natural. One will have you running to the bathroom, the other promotes healthy levels of cholesterol.

After three years of almost single-handedly juicing up the slow-growing economy, Janet L. Yellen and the Federal Reserve should be looking at easier days ahead. Yellen, in what will probably be her last full year as Fed chair, may finally get help from somewhere else in Washington. Tax cuts and infrastructure spending planned by President-elect Donald Trump, if backed by the Republican-controlled Congress, would lighten the load for a Fed whose easy-money policies have been the primary economic support for the nation. She is already breathing easier on the Fed's employment mandate; the jobless rate has fallen to a nine-year low of 4.6%. Inflation, too, is under control and, by all accounts, creeping toward the central bank's optimal level of 2%.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: This work was supported by FCT (INESC-ID multiannual funding) through the PIDDAC Program funds and under project PEst-OE/EEI/LA0021/2011 and the FP7 Cooperation Work Programme: Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Biotechnologies, KBBE-227258 (BIOHYPO project). Quotient Bioresearch received part-funding from the European Union in the scope of BIOHYPO project. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing interests: During the elaboration of this manuscript, Ian Morrissey and Daniel Knight were employed by Quotient Bioresearch and belonged to the BIOHYPO European project.