More than a decade ago, Nicholas Carr, in his work Does IT Matter, suggested that the widespread availability and low prices of technology made it more of a utility like electricity or water, versus a competitive differentiator. This may be happening with artificial intelligence to some degree. "It appears that AI's early adopter phase is ending; the market is now moving into the'early majority' chapter of this maturing set of technologies," write Beena Ammanath, David Jarvis and Susanne Hupfer, all with Deloitte, in their most recent analysis of the enterprise AI space. "Early-mover advantage may fade soon. As adoption becomes ubiquitous, AI-powered organizations may have to work harder to maintain an edge over their industry peers."

Lee Se-dol, the 33-year-old South Korean who is the 18 time world champion of Go, finally beat Google's artificial intelligence program. It marks his first win in the ongoing challenge. Since the AI already won three games in the five-game series, a series which is taking place in Seoul, the victory is already secured; however, the final matches are still being played out. It is hoped that these games will help the Google team get some valuable insights into how well the program functions. And it seems that people like knowing that humanity can put up a good show in the face of artificial intelligence. Indeed, Lee's win was met with uncharacteristically enthusiastic applause.