Universities have been ramping up their data science education initiatives ever since 2012, when Tom Davenport and DJ Patil declared data scientist "the sexiest job of the 21st century" in the Harvard Business Review. According to the website Data Science Programs, there are more than 500 universities across the United States with data science degree programs. All told, there are more than 980 individual programs, with Master of Data Science being the most popular. This number has increased substantially in recent years, according to past numbers shared by this website. While the supply of data scientists emerging from universitites is up, strong demand for data scientists at American companies continues to outstrip supply, according to Martial Hebert, the dean of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning have long been part of PPC -- so why are AI and machine learning all of a sudden such hot topics? It is, in part, because exponential advances have now brought technology to the point where it can legitimately compete with the performance and precision of human account managers. I recently covered the new roles humans should play in PPC as automation takes over. In this post, I'll offer some ideas for what online marketing agencies should consider doing to remain successful in a world of AI-driven PPC management. According to the authors of the book "The Second Machine Age," chess master Garry Kasparov offered an interesting insight into how humans and computers should work together after he became the first chess champion to be defeated by a computer in 1997. The first point is covered in my previous post, and it is the foundation for why smart PPC managers will learn to collaborate with AI rather than compete against it.

Artificial intelligence took center stage at today's #MadeByGoogle launch event. The company unveiled a plethora of products aimed at an AI-focused future, including enhanced voice and visual search features in the Pixel 2 smartphone and Google Home device, as well as a beefed up virtual reality headset, to name a few. In his opening remarks, Google CEO Sundar Pichai highlighted the company's "shift from mobile-first to an AI-first world," and AI and machine learning were weaved throughout the day's announcements as the driving forces behind Google's devices. Google staffers demonstrated daily applications for the voice-activated, AI-powered Google Assistant, including automated driving directions for commuters and "broadcast," a Google Home-powered public address system for streamlining morning routines. "Parents are going to love this feature...kids are going to hate this feature," joked Rishi Chandra, Google's vice president of home products.

Alfred North Whitehead, a noteworthy mathematician and philosopher throughout the industrial revolution once said that "Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them." Interestingly, even though they were made over 200 years ago, Whitehead's comments are as relevant today as they were when they first helped shape the course of modern industrialisation. Today, society is on the precipice of a new era of digital disruption. Powered by artificial intelligence and intelligent automation, the AI-first world promises to bring about powerful opportunities and capabilities to those who embrace it early. However, while new Avanade research shows that 86% of global business leaders believe their organization must successfully deploy intelligent automation solutions in the next five years to be a leader in their field, an overwhelming majority (79%) of these business leaders agree that internal resistance to change is limiting the implementation of AI technologies in their workplace.

"An important shift from a mobile first world to an AI first world," declared Google CEO Sundar Pichai, summarizing the Google I/O 2017 keynote yesterday. His description of the changes underway at his company apply to nearly every business today. Almost all of Google's announcements touched on AI in one way or another. From introducing a second generation of TPU chips to accelerate deep learning for such applications as cancer research and DNA sequencing, to a broad effort to get Google Home on as many screens and devices as possible. The company also shared that it's speech recognition technology was now better than 95 percent accurate.

At last week's Google I/O conference, a few choice terms came up repeatedly. They were mentioned so often that New York Times technology columnist Farhad Manjoo joked that "machine learning" had reached "70 trillion" utterances only a few hours into the conference's first day. I have been counting occurrences of the phrase "now, we use machine learning" here at Google IO and I got to 70 trillion Google is using AI to improve just about every realm of its vast technology empire. On Android, for example, the company announced an update to its virtual assistant with futuristic features like Google Lens, which can "read" photos in real time. It also announced a hyper-fast AI processor built to grow its cloud computing business, and a more "proactive" Google Home product. With Google Lens, your smartphone camera won't just see what you see, but will also understand what you see to help you take action.

Google announced Wednesday it was bringing its digital assistant to Apple iPhones as part of its effort to win the battle with tech rivals on artificial intelligence. At its annual developers conference at an outdoor concert-venue near its main campus in Mountain View, California, Google unveiled its vision for computing centered around artificial intelligence. "We are now witnessing a new shift in computing: the move from a mobile-first to an AI-first world," Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said during an opening presentation. "It is forcing us to reimagine our products for a world that allows a more natural, seamless way of interacting with technology." Those interactions, for Google, include using artificial intelligence to let people engage computers conversationally, have software anticipate needs, and let smartphone cameras "recognize" what they see.

One of the technology terms I have encountered most on my travels of the past couple of years has been artificial intelligence. AI has been around as a concept for a long time, but until recently it seemed always a little out of reach. Today AI is a reality. It is present in our smartphones in the shape of intelligent assistants like Siri, and powers chatbots that deliver real-time customer service. It is my belief that AI will grow to become a mainstream element of digital transformation sooner rather than later.

System integrator Avanade is embracing artificial intelligence (AI) in 2017, and it believes that you should be too. In its Technology Vision 2017, Avanade took a look at an increasingly over-saturated mobile market and turned its gaze towards the next big thing: AI. Over the next three years, the company believes that we are just beginning to see the digital disruption that will be powered by an increase in AI and automation technology. CDN met with Avanade Canada's general manager, Jeff Gilchrist, and technology innovation adviser, Bruno Capuano, to talk more about vision for 2017. The two made sure to emphasize that Avanade is getting ready for what they've penned as the AI-first world.

It is something that companies and businesses have been trying to implement (and something that society has feared) for decades. However, with all the recent advancements to democratize artificial intelligence and use it for good, almost every company started to turn to this technology and technique in 2016. The year started with Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg announcing his plan to build an artificially intelligent assistant to do everything from adjusting the temperature in his house to checking up on his baby girl. He worked throughout the year to bring his plan to life, with an update in August that stated he was almost ready to show off his AI to the world. In November, Facebook announced it was beginning to focus on giving computers the ability to think, learn, plan and reason like humans.