Artificial intelligence (AI) is not only transforming the future of credit unions, but it is making a real difference today. It can be challenging to understand what AI is and how it can work for you and your members, but once you navigate through how this technology can help to optimize your marketing efforts – its capabilities are endless. Financial marketers have access to seemingly vast amounts of data. AI or computerized thought can help to leverage this information as it is much more effective than a human at analyzing data, recognizing patterns and understanding how it can be utilized. The result: Data-driven insights that can be used to predict member behavior.

For some, artificial intelligence may conjure sci-fi movie plots and fears of sentient robots challenging humanity. The greatest threat to the future of AI, he believes, is ignorance. Duncan discussed his concern as he sat only a few feet away from Bina48, a humanoid robot he helped create that can analyze and respond to hundreds of conversation starters. AI algorithms allow her to act, think and respond like a human. Although she's just a head and torso, sitting atop a desk in the living room of a house at the end of a winding dirt road, she can concoct facial expressions with human vulnerability, as her brown eyes track the room around her. You'll never miss a story with our daily headlines in your inbox.

In a famous scene in the 1967 movie The Graduate, a family friend takes aside Dustin Hoffman's character, Benjamin Braddock, and whispers in a conspiratorial tone, "Plastics….There's a great future in plastics." It seems quaint today, but back then plastics really were new and exciting. If the movie had been set in another age, the advice to young Braddock would have been different. He might have been counseled to go into railroads or electronics or simply to "Go West, young man!" Every age has things that seem novel and wonderful at the time, but tepid and banal to future generations. Today digital technology is all the rage because after decades of development it has become incredibly useful.

Faraday Future's FF 91 prototype electric crossover vehicle is unveiled during a press event for CES 2017 at The Pavilions at Las Vegas Market on January 3, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Backed by Chinese tech billionaire Jia Yueting, FF started hiring engineers from BMW, Tesla and other rivals, rolled out a sleek if puzzling race car prototype at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show, and announced it would spend a billion to build a sprawling factory in Las Vegas. "How do we get FF 91 to market by 2018 – that is the lens through which we have to view all of our management decisions," Krause told USA TODAY in a statement. "When you think of a company like Waymo (Google's self-driving car venture, which is aiming for full autonomy), they have unlimited funds and we are a start-up, so we need to be more realistic," said Hong Bae, FF's head of Advanced Drive Assisted Systems, who keeps a model of David Hasselhoff's self-driving and talking Knight Rider KITT car on his desk.

Self-driving car startup Faraday Future will back away from plans to build a $1 billion assembly factory in Las Vegas amid continuing financial problems for the company. In a statement via the Nevada Independent, Faraday Future chief financial officer Stefan Krause said the startup will focus on other quicker ways to reach its production goals. "We have decided to put a hold on our factory at the Apex site in North Las Vegas," Krause said. "We remain committed to the Apex site in Las Vegas for long-term vehicle manufacturing." For Faraday, the shift in plans for one of its flagship initiatives is a significant step back for the company.

Here it is, finally: the highly connected, ultra-luxury Faraday Future FF91 electric car. It's not just a car but "the first of a new species" that combines green transportation, autonomous mobility and top-flight digital entertainment, the company announced at an unveiling event in Las Vegas on Tuesday night. It features three electric motors, facial recognition software that will open the doors for you, seats that massage your body and outlets that provide aromatherapy for the harried commuter. The car looks like something out of science fiction. Faraday's finances carry a whiff of fiction too.

CES 2017, is expected to feature the latest auto technology, including self-driving and concept cars. The show will run from Jan. 5-8 in Las Vegas with Jan. 3 and Jan. 4 being press days. Here's what you can expect to see from automakers at one of technology's biggest events: Ford will reveal its next generation Fusion Hybrid autonomous development car at CES 2017, after giving the public a glimpse of the car in a video before the show. The new vehicle comes with new electrical controls and two 360-degree view LiDAR sensors. The car's updates are focused on its virtual driver system, with the vehicle's brain located in the trunk, the company says.