300 million smartphones will have machine learning ability, says Deloitte ZDNet

More than 300 million smartphones, or a fifth of units sold, will have neural network and machine-learning functions in 2017, according to Deloitte. One of today's biggest opportunities for IT to make an impact is by automating business processes, manufacturing, repetitive tasks, and more. This artificial intelligence will be used to for everything from indoor navigation to image classification to augmented reality and speech recognition. In addition, Deloitte said that these tools won't necessarily need to be connected: "On-board machine learning may allow tasks to be done better and faster, or with more privacy," said Deloitte in its Global Predictions 2017 report. Deloitte's report covered a few bases, but the one revolving around machine learning is among the most certain.