Germany asleep at the wheel? – twentybn

While researchers have been working on AI for many decades, the technology is finally making the transition into the commercial world. Recent developments in AI are mainly driven by the convergence of powerful computing infrastructure, an explosion in data availability and the development of large-scale deep learning algorithms. The pace of innovation in AI is truly breathtaking. According to the McKinsey Global Institute, AI is catalyzing change at a ten times quicker rate than mechanization during the industrial revolution and at roughly 3,000 times the impact. It is therefore not unreasonable to hear industry experts call AI "the new electricity" (Andrew Ng) and machine learning "the most powerful advance in engineering since the Scientific Method" (Steve Jurvetson).