While studying cancer biology as a health sciences student at McMaster University in 2016, Andrew Leber started to wonder how artificial intelligence might help diagnose and improve cancer treatments. He brought together 10 friends, also science students, for a reading group focused on technical concepts in machine learning. But it turned out many more students were interested. Leber and friends opened the reading group to a wider audience, and within a month it had 50 members. A few months later, Leber launched the McMaster AI Society, which blossomed into one of McMaster University's largest student-run clubs. The group received a sponsorship from Microsoft and has since grown to more than 1,000 members, many of whom are from faculties such as business, the humanities and social sciences.

FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) - What does Artificial Intelligence mean for YOU? AI entrepreneur Bill Inman shares his point of view.

The first question many people ask about artificial intelligence (AI) is, "Will it be good or bad?" The answer is … yes. Canadian company BlueDot used AI technology to detect the novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China, just hours after the first cases were diagnosed. Compiling data from local news reports, social media accounts and government documents, the infectious disease data analytics firm warned of the emerging crisis a week before the World Health Organization made any official announcement. While predictive algorithms could help us stave off pandemics or other global threats as well as manage many of our day-to-day challenges, AI's ultimate impact is impossible to predict.

The first question many people ask about artificial intelligence (AI) is, "Will it be good or bad?" The answer is … yes. Canadian company BlueDot used AI technology to detect the novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China, just hours after the first cases were diagnosed. Compiling data from local news reports, social media accounts and government documents, the infectious disease data analytics firm warned of the emerging crisis a week before the World Health Organization made any official announcement. While predictive algorithms could help us stave off pandemics or other global threats as well as manage many of our day-to-day challenges, AI's ultimate impact is impossible to predict.

The first question many people ask about artificial intelligence (AI) is, "Will it be good or bad?" The answer is … yes. Canadian company BlueDot used AI technology to detect the novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China, just hours after the first cases were diagnosed. Compiling data from local news reports, social media accounts and government documents, the infectious disease data analytics firm warned of the emerging crisis a week before the World Health Organization made any official announcement. While predictive algorithms could help us stave off pandemics or other global threats as well as manage many of our day-to-day challenges, AI's ultimate impact is impossible to predict.

With all these new artificial intelligence use cases comes the daunting question of whether machines will force humans into obsolescence. The jury is still out: Some experts vehemently deny that artificial intelligence will automate so many jobs that millions of people find themselves unemployed, while other experts see it as a pressing problem. "The structure of the workforce is changing, but I don't think artificial intelligence is essentially replacing jobs," Rahnama said. "It allows us to really create a knowledge-based economy and leverage that to create better automation for a better form of life. It might be a little bit theoretical, but I think if you have to worry about artificial intelligence and robots replacing our jobs, it's probably algorithms replacing white-collar jobs such as business analysts, hedge fund managers and lawyers."

Most brands and retailers haven't even approached 1 percent of AI's potential. I agree with Bill's statement "Enhancing your analytics engine with AI can make it possible to optimize individual experiences at scale" but… that is only a first step and will fall short of meaningful personalization in the long run. The biggest blunder I see everywhere AI is employed in a consumer/user-facing scenario is keeping it under the covers away from users. AI is most often employed as a secret analysis mechanism which limits it to being only as good as underlying algorithms and the assumptions driving them. There is a complete fear of using those assumptions as a basis of asking consumers/users if the AI-generated conclusions are correct or if not, where they are wrong or what their preferences are.

Cloud for Good, a Salesforce partner that creates transformational value with technology." Tal Frankfurt is the Founder and CEO of Cloud for Good, a Salesforce partner that creates transformational value with technology. Artificial Intelligence is an area of computer science that trains machines to preform tasks that would normally be done by humans. There has been a lot of buzz -- both positive and negative -- around AI over the last few years. In 2016, Microsoft CEO Staya Nadella declared that "bots are the new apps."

Every year, the OECD Forum brings together experts, academics and thought leaders from the private and public sector to discuss key economic and social challenges on the international agenda. The theme of this year's Forum was "World in EMotion" – a theme that reflects the profound changes brought about by globalisation, shifting politics and digitalisation, and the challenges and opportunities that they present. Nowhere are these changes more rapid – and perhaps far-reaching – than in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), and its implications for values and ethics. I attended a very interesting panel on this subject, alongside Peter Gluckman, Chair of the International Network for Government Science Advice in New Zealand; Geoff Mulgan, Chief Executive of NESTA in the UK; Eric Salobir head of Optic; Pallaw Sharma, Senior Vice President at Johnson & Johnson; and Jess Whittlestone, Research Associate at the Centre for the Future of Intelligence at Cambridge University. As Pallaw explained, technology and AI are not magic powers; they are just extraordinary amplifiers and accelerators that add speed and accuracy.

Real estate is quickly becoming a numbers game. Of course, at its core, our business is about helping clients buy and sell houses -- and it always will be -- but the method we use to find those clients and how we go about pricing their homes or the homes they want to buy involves a whole lot of analytics. Even running a modern real estate brokerage is heavily steeped in numbers. If we take a holistic approach and look at the entire evolution of analytics in business, we see that we've come quite a long way -- but there's still more work to be done. Think back to the early 1990s when basic back-office reporting reigned.