Microsoft exec: 'AI is the most important technology that anybody on the planet is working on today'

A big claim was made at a conference in London on Thursday. Dave Coplin, chief envisioning officer at Microsoft UK, told an audience of business leaders at an AI conference that AI is "the most important technology that anybody on the planet is working on today." Before we go any further, it's worth putting that claim into perspective. There are a number of consumer-facing AI products already out there on the market that are getting better all the time -- Microsoft's Cortana, Amazon's Alexa, and Apple's Siri. But AI also has the potential to support crucial scientific research into everything from autonomous cars to cancer research.