In the fall of 2016, a pop song was released in Japan. "Daddy's Car," derivative of a Beatles tune, had a soothing beat and vaguely uplifting lyrics: "Good day sunshine in the backseat car / I wish that road could never stop." The ditty was distinctive for its authorship. Sony's Computer Science Laboratories in Paris produced the song, which was written by an artificial intelligence (AI) system called Flow Machines. The melody and harmony were composed by AI, and a human musician mixed the sound and wrote lyrics for the track. AI -- the new set of technologies that perform tasks that require human intelligence, such as speech recognition, decision making, and learning -- is rapidly working its way into business operations within many global industries. Some members of the entertainment and media (E&M) industry have downplayed its potential. After all, these are creative industries in which both the germ of the business and the value added to it stem from the contribution of human ingenuity and people exchanging ideas. The most successful E&M products and services rely on connecting creative content, brands, and experiences with audiences.

In the fall of 2016, a pop song was released in Japan. "Daddy's Car," derivative of a Beatles tune, had a soothing beat and vaguely uplifting lyrics: "Good day sunshine in the backseat car / I wish that road could never stop." The ditty was distinctive for its authorship. Sony's Computer Science Laboratories in Paris produced the song, which was written by an artificial intelligence (AI) system called Flow Machines. The melody and harmony were composed by AI, and a human musician mixed the sound and wrote lyrics for the track. AI -- the new set of technologies that perform tasks that require human intelligence, such as speech recognition, decision making, and learning -- is rapidly working its way into business operations within many global industries. Some members of the entertainment and media (E&M) industry have downplayed its potential. After all, these are creative industries in which both the germ of the business and the value added to it stem from the contribution of human ingenuity and people exchanging ideas. The most successful E&M products and services rely on connecting creative content, brands, and experiences with audiences.

Click to comment on this story. Click to comment on this story. Give your dinner party some gravitas by placing this stunning centerpiece among the sides and sauces. The beautiful jewel-toned object has a concave scoop in the center, providing a reflective surface that encourages deep thought--or offers an awesome place to toss your keys. It can control your entire home--commanding 380,000 devices in all, from TVs and game consoles to wireless speakers and streaming devices. Just try not to lose this one, OK?

"In a future with mass unemployment, young people are forced to sell blood." This is the opening line of a short film entered in this year's Sci-Fi London Film Challenge. It's dark, enigmatic, contemporary…and written by a computer. In fact, the film's entire screenplay is the work of a neural net trained on nothing but sci-fi scripts. Once the software completed the screenplay, it was up to the film's director and actors to make it into something someone might actually watch. And they did an admirable job.

"In a future with mass unemployment, young people are forced to sell blood." This is the opening line of a short film entered in this year's Sci-Fi London Film Challenge. It's dark, enigmatic, contemporary…and written by a computer. In fact, the film's entire screenplay is the work of a neural net trained on sci-fi scripts. Once the software completed the screenplay--which you can read in all its unadulterated glory here--it was up to the film's director and actors to make it into something someone might actually watch.