GT caught up with state technology leaders at the recent National Association of State Chief Information Officers Midyear conference. Here's what they had to say about artificial intelligence, chatbots, blockchain and other headline-grabbing technologies. Amanda Crawford, Texas: We use AI today. We certainly use robotic process automation in a variety of applications and projects across the state. One of the exciting areas for us is using AI for security.

GT caught up with state technology leaders at the recent National Association of State Chief Information Officers Midyear conference. Here's what they had to say about artificial intelligence, chatbots, blockchain and other headline-grabbing technologies. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Amanda Crawford, Texas: We use AI today. We certainly use robotic process automation in a variety of applications and projects across the state. One of the exciting areas for us is using AI for security.

It's been a breakout year for AI in healthcare in particular: The pandemic drove AI-assisted disease research and drug discovery, as companies focused on studying Covid-19 or helping to develop a vaccine. Clinical decision support--the use of AI in diagnosing diseases--was the most active category of AI (in terms of number of deals) in Q3 2020, according to PitchBook data. "We think that the success that AI algorithms are having in diagnosing certain diseases is starting to make the adoption of those technologies feasible, which hasn't been the case historically," says Brendan Burke, a senior emerging technology analyst at PitchBook. Demand will likely rise for "equity engineers," or people who can work with AI tools to help remove biases and make the systems "much more representative of the world around them," says Peter Barrett, founder and general partner at venture fund Playground Global. That's led to an even hotter market for last-mile delivery tech: This year, electric vehicle startups Rivian and Arrival partnered with Amazon and UPS, respectively, on future fleets of electric delivery vans.

The AV industry is all about innovation. But for the past year, our creative energies have been devoted not to shaping the future, but solving the problems of the present. But larger trends are nonetheless having incremental influence over the direction we're heading. As the powerful capabilities of things like 5G connectivity, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing direct the technology world as a whole, how is pro AV incorporating them to create a more capable and intuitive future? Related: Tech Trends That WON'T Happen in 2021 We reached out to leading AV manufacturers to find out how prominent emerging trends are playing into their product development roadmaps.

In this episode, we talk about robotic process automation and artificial intelligence in the context of PwC's Intelligent Automation Framework. Ryan Martin and Jennifer Lendler join Bob Clark to discuss some of the exciting uses companies are finding for these technologies and break down the risks and challenges that accompany these emerging technologies in the real world. We discuss the following questions: 0:57 - What are the differences between robotics, artificial intelligence and machine learning that CFOs and clients are hearing?

I am fascinated by new digital technologies and where they are taking us. And the more I dig into the rapidly emerging world of artificial intelligence and blockchain technology, the more convinced I am about their potential to completely transform the world. Of course, I can see the difficulties and challenges. But my overriding feeling is one of frustration: Why aren't we moving faster? Why don't governments take the digital transformation more seriously?

In the Digital Age, we often contemplate which professions today won't exist five or 10 years from now. But, fortunately, innovation is creating new ones to replace them, with many of these positions commanding salaries well into six-figure territory. Even better, a great deal of jobs in emerging tech qualify as "very cool"; they're all about pursuing intriguing discoveries while using the latest versions of IT tools. To find out which seven stand out as the very best, consider this list of the "Hottest Emerging Tech Jobs in 2019" from FitSmallBusiness.com. They include R&D test engineers for self-driving cars, machine learning experts and blockchain developers.

In the Digital Age, we often contemplate which professions today won't exist five or 10 years from now. But, fortunately, innovation is creating new ones to replace them, with many of these positions commanding salaries well into six-figure territory. Even better, a great deal of jobs in emerging tech qualify as "very cool"; they're all about pursuing intriguing discoveries while using the latest versions of IT tools. To find out which seven stand out as the very best, consider this list of the "Hottest Emerging Tech Jobs in 2019" from FitSmallBusiness.com. They include R&D test engineers for self-driving cars, machine learning experts and blockchain developers.

Cognitive technologies like machine learning and AI (artificial intelligence) certainly have proven to be an important part of the IoT (Internet of Things) sector because they can help make products and services smarter and, therefore, more valuable. These technologies can also help support human workers and decisionmakers and, in general, improve business operations. For this column, I am going to take a closer look into these technologies, exploring the current adoption landscape and prospects for the future, as well as discuss their business value. Some new research has come out that gives us some really interesting insight into the cognitive-tech landscape. There are also some cool examples of how companies are leveraging machine learning and AI to create value for people's lives and businesses, and I'll share an example of that as well.

Somewhere in the spare room of a home in the US or overseas, a recent high school grad and soon to be member of the Class of 2022 at a school like Stanford or Georgia Tech is gathering up the clothes, gadgets, and dorm room basics that they will need for freshman year. Four years after that traumatic (for the parents) drop-off day, that skinny but brilliant freshman will graduate and join a six-person start-up company, where he or she will play an integral part in building the game-changing technology that you and your organization will use just a few years later. We can't tell you which freshmen are on the way to cashing out their stock options or which companies they will work for, but we can get a glimpse of key information technologies that might be available in the somewhat shorter term. Some of the companies and technologies that will be in the must-have category are pulling in venture capital investments today. This is the first in an occasional series of roundups of just a few of the noteworthy startup reporting investments.