When Aparna Pappu, vice president and general manager of Google Workspace, spoke at Google I/O on May 10, she laid out a vision for artificial intelligence that helps users wade through their inbox. Pappu showed how generative AI can whisper summaries of long email threads in your ear, pull in relevant data from local files as you salsa together through unread messages, and dip you low to the ground as it suggests insertable text. Welcome to the inbox of the future. While the specifics of how it'll arrive remain unclear, generative AI is poised to fundamentally alter how people communicate over email. A broader subset of AI, called machine learning, already performs a kind of safety dance long after you've logged off.

For some, the spread of artificial intelligence and robotics poses a threat to our privacy, our jobs – even our safety, as more and more tasks are handed over to silicon-based brains. But even the most vocal critics highlight the potential good that AI and automated systems could do for humanity. As part of BBC Future Now's Grand Challenges, a panel of experts recently described how they saw our world changing as the machines we use grow smarter. Now, in our Grand Ideas series, BBC Future Now has sought out projects where advanced AI and automation is already beginning to tackle some of the world's knottiest, and dangerous, problems, from illnesses to violence. "We should view AI not as something competing with us, but as something that can amplify our own capabilities," says Takeo Kanade, a professor of robotics at Carnegie Mellon University.

Microsoft has touted how artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are solving many problems. Now Redmond and IT security providers are applying AI in cyberthreat detection. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning have existed in computer science for decades, but in 2017 they were the hottest things in IT. Touted to address everything from helping diagnose and cure major diseases to translating live Skype sessions on the fly and enabling smart chatbots, applying AI and machine learning's highest calling may come in the effort to protect PCs, devices and critical infrastructure. Adding deep learning, automation and predictive analytics has become a key imperative by virtually every provider of software this year amid an exponential rise in cyberattacks.

For some, the spread of artificial intelligence and robotics poses a threat to our privacy, our jobs – even our safety, as more and more tasks are handed over to silicon-based brains. The 21st Century is continually throwing us new challenges and expecting us to adapt – but for every earth-shattering megatrend, there are dozens of genius solutions. Follow them all in BBC Future's special series, Grand Ideas. But even the most vocal critics highlight the potential good that AI and automated systems could do for humanity. As part of BBC Future Now's Grand Challenges, a panel of experts recently described how they saw our world changing as the machines we use grow smarter.