AI in service: What happens when 1 1 3?

It was an epic date to witness--Wednesday, October 21st, 2015--Marty McFly and Emmett "Doc" Brown arriving in a time-traveling DeLorean from 1985. At least, that's what happens in Back to the Future: Part II, which debuted in theaters 26 years ago. In the movie, Michael J. Fox's iconic character, Marty, steps out of the time machine and into a futuristic 2015 filled with flying cars, hoverboards, self-drying jackets, and power-lacing Nikes. From the perspective of the real 2015, most of the things depicted in the movie's fanciful future still seem delightfully implausible. But one thing the film did get right is the use of artificial intelligence (A.I.) in 2015 as a customer service tool.