"AI is the most important issue shaping society," said veteran venture investor Ted Dintersmith. Our new paper on the implications of artificial intelligence concluded, "Code that learns will prove to be humankind's greatest invention." Concerned that the country wasn't mobilizing for the automation economy, Ted left his fund, and produced a movie, Most Likely to Succeed, to name the problem. He visited all 50 states hosting conversations about what's happening, what it means, and how to prepare. "If we don't address the problem, we'll have a lot of angry, alienated people on our hands. It's all related, the pattern of innovation, school, and democracy," said Dintersmith.

An increasingly multi-layered digital mesh and new channels such as chatbots, AR, VR and mixed reality means our data is used in new ways that goes beyond what we now call the internet and digital or mobile influence. Forget the information or digital economy, the automation economy increasingly scales machine learning, algorithms and AI to the point where many of our jobs are affected. As mobile devices continue to replace PCs and secretaries, the device mesh, smarter apps and innovation in IoT and new more powerful wearable devices means sensors in the IoT device mesh become more accessible. Facial recognition, drones, wearables and new kinds of VR, AR and mixed reality mix with video to create new modes of expression and social interaction.

If you think your job is safe, think again. The looming prevalence of automation has the potential to seize anyone's role, no matter how cushy. This is how the foreseeable future in 21st century looks from the vantage point of 2017, and governments and businesses need to be aware of the changes headed their way. Twenty years ago, I described my day to day tasks as an experienced investment banker in London to an optician. For fun, I decided not to disclose the nature of my role, nor the name of my employer.

As an amateur futurist I'm always watching the trends of innovation, here are some technology trends I'm keeping a close eye on as we approach 2017. Now we are entering a period where the convergence of multiple technologies and integrations results in an exponentially increasing potential for disruption in the future of work, commerce, manufacturing, Bigdata and AI. Distributed ledger technology that are decentralized databases that are hacker and fraud proof don't just have the potential to impact Banking and FinTech, but transform how our digital identity and customer reviews work. In an era where trust in at an all-time low between citizens and institutions, the blockchain can give the fallen credibility of various institutions a new measure of legitimacy. You would not have thought Amazon's 9-inch tall cylinder speaker controlled by a cloud-based voice assistant that goes by the name Alexa would change the world, but it's becoming increasingly apparent this product is a deal-breaker that not only tap into chatbots, product search and ecommerce but the future of how apps work together via a personal assistant.