Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence –the next foundational technology

When the US Library of Congress ranked history's most important innovations, it gave a foremost place to the printing press. While the mechanics behind the printing press weren't far more sophisticated than the other machines of its era, the consequences of its invention were world changing; finally, mankind had a means for the mass distribution of information, improving literacy and changing every industry in the world. Technologies such as these are known as foundational technologies, inventions that can be applied to solve a multitude of problems across a vast number of industries. More contemporary examples include the internet which is now used nearly constantly in all industries and in our personal lives and smartphones, which are so completely integrated with our lives it seems impossible to live without them. As we peer into the near future, we can already see some of the next great potential foundational technologies arising.