Has AI Become A Utility Function?

It's hard to miss all the attention and hype artificial intelligence (AI) is getting these days. Everywhere you turn there are articles on a myriad of AI-related topics, such as deep learning, machine learning, cognitive computing, computer vision and natural language processing (NLP). These terms are frequently used interchangeably despite meaning very different things -- a sign that many people still don't understand this field. Every conference or event is now an "AI Summit." More startups are now "AI-based."