Artificial Intelligence: The Time is Now

As an industry observer, I've watched the development of artificial intelligence (AI) with fascination. While the technology itself is developing at a breakneck pace and offers plenty of opportunity for analysis and prediction, it is the evolving industry reaction that I find most interesting. But until very recently it was primarily the purview of theoretical scientists and science fiction writers. It is only within the last few years that AI, in even modest forms, has encroached upon our everyday reality. As it has gone from fantasy to the first inklings of reality -- and that has begun to sink in -- the reaction has been instructive.