Artificial intelligence can read! And now customer service reps must go

An economic boom just dropped on the world -- and most, no doubt, aren't even aware. China's retail and technology conglomerate, Alibaba, developed an artificial intelligence model that beat the humans it competed against in a Stanford University reading and comprehension test. "This is the first time that a machine has outperformed humans on such a test," Alibaba said in a statement. Microsoft Research Asia, shortly after Alibaba's breakthrough, announced its own AI had beaten the humans on the same reading and comp test, as well. The news generated a small media earthquake through the fields of technology and AI.