Artificial intelligence is increasingly being used as an unbiased judge, for matters ranging from insurance to economic efficiency. But can it ever truly be unbiased? When Remy Descartes first wrote the phrase cogito ergo sum –'I think therefore I am'– in the 1600s, he could not have been aware of the philosophical questioning that would erupt with the onset of artificial intelligence (AI) in the 20th and 21st century. Every Google search, every video suggested on YouTube and every Siri recommendation is built on machine learning algorithms designed to learn everything about your online habits, in a bid to offer targeted content that you might like. Even outside of consumer-level decisions, AI and algorithms are increasingly being used to root out hidden meanings in billions of lines of genetic code, in the hope of finding a cure to a disease or building machines that can talk for themselves.

Chia-Chiunn Ho was eating lunch inside Facebook headquarters, at the Full Circle Cafe, when he saw the notice on his phone: Larry Zitnick, one of the leading figures at the Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research lab, was teaching another class on deep learning. Ho is a 34-year-old Facebook digital graphics engineer known to everyone as "Solti," after his favorite conductor. He couldn't see a way of signing up for the class right there in the app. So he stood up from his half-eaten lunch and sprinted across MPK 20, the Facebook building that's longer than a football field but feels like a single room. "My desk is all the way at the other end," he says.

What kind of existential problems does AI bring about? The medium-term challenge of AI is not killer robots, it's job replacement. This dynamic is already underway and the literature suggests it's a more powerful driver of job loss than trade, though trade receives much more attention. True AI has not arrived, and automation is not AI, but robots and human-written code are a reasonable preview of what employment challenges genuine AI will bring. Computers already manage warehouses, can drive reasonably well, and are making meaningful progress into areas like basic lawyering and radiology that we long considered to be immune to change.

Genpact (NYSE:G), a global professional services firm focused on delivering digital transformation for clients, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Rage Frameworks, a leader in knowledge-based automation technology and services providing Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the Enterprise. Terms of the deal are not disclosed. As part of its strategy to drive both digital-led innovation and digital-enabled intelligent operations for its clients, Genpact is investing in leading technologies, such as AI, that are transforming the way companies in many industries compete. Genpact will embed Rage's AI in business operations and apply it to complex enterprise issues to allow clients to generate insights and drive decisions and action, at a scale and speed that humans alone could not achieve. "As advanced technologies such as AI fundamentally change the definition of work, the ability for CXOs to find and leverage new solutions that combine the best elements of human expertise and machine intelligence, will be critical to their ability to gain and sustain competitive advantage," said NV'Tiger' Tyagarajan, president and CEO, Genpact.

How do you ensure a smooth hand-off between data science and engineering on ML projects? How do you ensure a smooth hand-off between data science and engineering on ML projects? Excellent question, and one that I've been thinking a lot. At Quora, my data science team works closely with machine learning engineers. Joe Isaacson already provided a great answer to this question, and I will add some of my learnings.

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In terms of sales, the iPhone is clearly Apple's most important product. But a relatively unsung hero for the company is Siri, its voice-activated digital assistant. While Siri is primarily available on iPhones, it has also made its way to Macs, the Apple TV and automobiles via Apple's CarPlay platform. Taken together, these steps all mean that if you're a heavy Apple user, Siri is probably always at your beck and call. That's important for Apple as Silicon Valley's battle over voice-activated artificial intelligence apps continues heating up: Microsoft has Cortana, Google has Google Now, and Amazon has Alexa.

Algorithms are instructions for solving a problem or completing a task. Recipes are algorithms, as are math equations. The internet runs on algorithms and all online searching is accomplished through them. Email knows where to go thanks to algorithms. Smartphone apps are nothing but algorithms. Computer and video games are algorithmic storytelling. Online dating and book-recommendation and travel websites would not function without algorithms. GPS mapping systems get people from point A to point B via algorithms. Artificial intelligence (AI) is naught but algorithms. The material people see on social media is brought to them by algorithms. In fact, everything people see and do on the web is a product of algorithms. Every time someone sorts a column in a spreadsheet, algorithms are at play, and most financial transactions today are accomplished by algorithms. Algorithms help gadgets respond to voice commands, recognize faces, sort photos and build and drive cars. Hacking, cyberattacks and cryptographic code-breaking exploit algorithms.

Tim Cook had indicated a lot of developments from Apple in his quarterly earnings call last week. He indicated that the company's flagship smartphone, the iPhone still had much more technological evolution to go for. Here is the range of products that the Apple CEO talked about and based on how they are expected to develop in 2017. "I think the smartphone is still in the early innings of the game," Cook said about the iPhone. Could this be an indication of some new technological changes coming to the device so as to keep it in "the game?" Apple generally launches just one phone per year compared to its competitors such as Samsung and LG, which have devices at various price ranges and have round the year launches.