Artificial intelligence: Machines that pack a punch

Expedia CEO Mark Okerstrom says the company is able to handle large amounts of data on the fly, servicing 1.6m customers daily. Expedia handles 750m searches a day, and is able to scan 3m hotels in a second for personalised results. When one considers applications of technology that range from voice-powered personal assistants like Amazon's own Alexa to autonomously powered self-driving vehicles with predictive capabilities it becomes easier to see how AI could allow the machines to take over. Computer-aided interpretation of medical images, heart-sound analysis and even the composition of classical music by means of AI are just some of the advances in the field. AWS recently unveiled at least five new machine-learning tools, many of them intended for businesses.