In the near term, Defense Information Systems Agency officials plan to strategically employ artificial intelligence capabilities for defensive cyber operations. "First of all, the threat has never been higher. It's also been commoditized: Malware has become commercialized as essentially organized crime on an international scale," Deputy Commander of the Joint Force Headquarters-Department of Defense Information Network Rear Adm. William Chase III, told reporters during a media roundtable last week. "So, one of the first questions we have to ask ourselves is: 'What are we actually vulnerable to?'" The press event was associated with DISA's Forecast to Industry and the release of its strategic plan for 2022 through 2024.

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) is fast moving beyond the realms of science fiction and entering the workplace, and this will have implications for the corporate IT infrastructure of the future. Facebook's announcement that it will enable businesses to deliver automated customer support, online shopping guidance, content and interactive experiences to its users through ChatBots is just the beginning. Whilst some Bots, like the Microsoft's recent Tay experiment, aren't foolproof yet, Messenger Bots represent the new and acceptable face of Artificial Intelligence. ChatBots use deep learning and neural networks to allow them to learn from data sets in the same way a human brain does. Whilst still in development phase, they are fast becoming increasingly popular with developers and platforms.