The artificial intelligence boom is here. Here's how it could change the world around us.

A future with highways full of self-driving cars or robot friends that can actually hold a decent conversation may not be far away. That's because we're living in the middle of an "artificial intelligence boom" -- a time when machines are becoming more and more like the human brain. That's partly because of an emerging subcategory of AI called "deep learning." It's a process that's often trying to mimic the human brain's neocortex, which helps humans with language processing, sensory perception and other functions. Essentially, deep learning is when machines figure out how to recognize objects.