Since the dawn of the first industrial revolution, machines have largely been used to improve efficiency. We've now entered the Fourth Industrial Revolution – an era in which machines will become smart, self-optimizing themselves and the systems in which they operate. It's a shift that's shaping many of the megatrends we've identified that are in turn changing how the world works. Some have seen this as the rise of the robots – a dystopian future of mass unemployment and dehumanization as intelligent machines do away with the need for people. But history suggests that while new technologies may end the need for human involvement in some tasks, it will usually also enable the creation of entirely new jobs – even entirely new industries. The challenge isn't the technology – it's to be creative in reimagining how to use it to generate fresh opportunities, value and growth.

It takes a lot of work to create a good movie or TV character, and apparently much of the same work is now going into creating the characters behind AI assistants like Siri, Cortana, and Alexa. As this piece in the Washington Post points out, creative workers like poets, fiction writers, and comedians are fast becoming the ones responsible for making these assistants seem human--coming up with everything from human-sounding filler words to jokes to a background story and small personality details. It makes sense: if you want to get people to use these software-based assistants, they should be approachable, dynamic, and have consistent personalities. Throwing in some party tricks--such as Siri's ability to beat box--doesn't hurt, either. But just because your AI assistant has a carefully curated personality doesn't mean it's going to be useful. Making AI conversational interfaces is still very, very hard (though Baidu seems to be doing pretty well with it in China), as it can misunderstand what you're requesting, or may only be able to help in specific situations.