In China, Alibaba's data-hungry AI is controlling (and watching) cities

In the future, our cities could be controlled by artificial intelligence. At least, this is what Chinese retail giant Alibaba is hoping. Getting around is becoming easier, thanks to the hordes of data produced by each of us every day. When you share your location with Google Maps, for example, the application uses that data in real-time to monitor the traffic flow, which it then feeds back to its users about the best route to take. It may be difficult to imagine a future where every city is smart, where all of the infrastructure is linked to some kind of software, but it's happening.