Mark Gongloff is an editor with Bloomberg Opinion. He previously was a managing editor of Fortune.com,

Throughout most of recorded history buying and selling has been part of daily life. Whether it's agricultural products or the latest software, selling is a communication process whereby one side works to fulfill the needs of a second party via their product or service. The ability of the sales person to properly communicate why a prospect should buy or sell is the reason their role exists. Once an account relationship is in place less human interaction may be required (or desired) and automating the ordering process probably makes sense, except for new products or up-selling opportunities requiring human sales interaction. AI sales tools can augment the sales process both today and in the near future in so many time saving ways (if the right technology is applied, the reps are properly trained, buy into it and use it every day).

We sat down with Spiros Margaris, Venture Capitalist at Margaris Ventures and AI Influencer to discuss the state of VC funding of AI and Fintech startups and how crazy thoughts could be the start of an AI business. I have spent most of my professional career in the hedge fund and startup world. I also founded my own startups in New York during the dotcom era, so I know what it means when things don't go as planned, and what it can mean personally, with all the bitter consequences. I have been primarily involved in the fintech, insurtech and AI space as an investor and advisor through my firm Margaris Ventures. I have been a keynote speaker at major technology and banking events, where I have been fortunate to meet very interesting people and exchange thoughts and ideas.

Over the last few years, India has taken significant steps towards adoption of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning(ML), with technology solutions providers, tech leaders, startups and government agencies playing a significant role in shaping the evolution of the technology in the country. According to a recent study, which observed the country-wide AI readiness in the Asia Pacific, India was ranked third in readiness, with its overall readiness score being 50.2 out of100, while Singapore was ranked the first with 63 points and Hong Kong was at the second with 56.5 points. As straightforward as it might sound, AI readiness simply does not refer a country's preparedness in embracing AI, rather, a number of key factors like the ability of its consumers, businesses and government to adopt, deploy and support AI technologies are taken into consideration to better understand the readiness capability of a country in adopting AI. In other words, AI readiness is not a linear process instead, multiple factors shape the outcome. "AI adoption is fragmented and uneven across the region. In some cases, governments' efforts and commitment have yet to be reflected in businesses' or consumers' adoption and usage of AI. In others, business and consumers are taking the lead, showing governments the way forward in terms of change and innovation," Eric Loeb EVP, Global Government Affairs points out in the study.

We grew up watching movies like The Terminator, Star Wars, and The Matrix; weaving our AI dreams since our childhood. The term'Artificial Intelligence' was coined in 1956 by John McCarthy, but it is in the recent years that AI has experienced a resurgence as we are now being introduced to its real-world applications. Today, artificial intelligence is all around us, at times we don't even realize it; all of us at some point have been assisted by Siri or Google Assistant, have heard about a self-driving car, and have definitely received product and movie recommendations from Amazon and Netflix respectively. AI is already a part of our daily lives and its realm is likely to grow in the coming years. Now, terms like'Machine Learning' and'Deep Learning' have also started gaining ground.

All the major economies in the world understand the strategic importance of artificial intelligence in empowering and transforming economic growth in the coming decades. In July 2017, China's State Council laid out an ambitious AI strategic plan to create a domestic 1 trillion yuan (US$147.80 billion) AI industry and make China the world's leading AI innovation centre by 2030. Although too early to say if China will succeed, all the factors seem to be in China's favour, such as market readiness, start-up money, talent, and supportive government policies and budget. Over the past decade, China's vast population has shown great eagerness and willingness to embrace various new technologies. Take the rapid growth of China's smartphone industry as an example: over the past 10 years, it has grown from a single-digit penetration rate to over 50 per cent in 2017.

Artificial intelligence became one of the hottest tech topics in 2017 and is still attracting attention and investments. Although scientists have been working on the technology and heralding its numerous anticipated benefits for more than four decades, it's only in the past few years that society's AI dreams have come to fruition. The impact AI applications stand to have on both consumer and business operations is profound. For example, a New York-based Harley Davidson dealer incorporated the Albert Algorithm AI-driven marketing platform into his marketing mix and saw a 2,930 percent increase in sales leads that helped triple his business over the previous year. Unfortunately, success stories like this aren't as common as the more prevalent failed AI pilot projects.

Steve Irvine is the founder and CEO of integrate.ai, One year ago, I left my executive role at Facebook in Silicon Valley to return to Canada and build integrate.ai, I was convinced that Canada was the best place in the world to build a global-leading AI business and I was ready to prove it. A lot has happened in the past year, and the sheer volume of AI stories has been overwhelming. With so much commentary, it can be difficult to get a clear perspective on how Canada is doing in pursuit of becoming a world leader in AI and where we should focus to win.

Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google parent company Alphabet, on Monday gave a glimpse into his dream of owning an aide de camp powered by artificial intelligence. In Schmidt's vision, there would be co-existence between "Eric" (himself) and "Not-Eric" ("this digital thing that helps me"), Bloomberg reports. Schmidt, who spoke at a conference in New York, follows in the footsteps of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who just last week outlined his next personal challenge: writing the software code for his own AI butler to help him around the house and office. Both Alphabet and Facebook have made no secret of their interest in developing technologies that perform complex thinking tasks. But what we can glean from insights into the desires of their leaders is the extent to which they believe AI will impact our daily lives.

Bill Gates has proclaimed the'AI dream is finally arriving' - despite admitting it could be a major concern for the future of humanity. 'The dream is finally arriving,' Gates said, speaking with wife Melinda Gates on Wednesday at the Code Conference in Southern California. 'The dream is finally arriving,' Gates said, speaking at the Code Conference in Southern California. 'This is what it was all leading up to.' Gates said enough progress has been made to ensure that in the next 10 years there will be robots to do tasks like driving and warehouse work as well as machines that can outpace humans in certain areas of knowledge, according to recode. He also suggested a pair of books that people should read, including Nick Bostrom's book on superintelligence and Pedro Domingos' 'The Master Algorithm.'