With the start of each year come predictions, plans, and surveys from consulting firms. When it comes to artificial intelligence, multiple recent surveys indicate that companies aren't just planning on spending serious money on AI in 2022 -- they are already making good money from the technology. A bit of context might be helpful. Despite some AI successes, one of the challenges in recent years has been that projects involving the technology have frequently lacked sufficient economic returns. In a 2019 MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group AI survey, for example, 7 out of 10 companies reported minimal or no value from their AI investments.

JournalismAI is a global initiative that aims to create opportunities for journalists and media organisations to come together and explore solutions to improve the future of journalism with AI. We are on a mission to inform media organisations about the potential offered by AI-powered technologies and to foster debate about the ethical, editorial, and social impact on AI for journalism. The work of JournalismAI is informed by the global survey that led to the publication of our report in November 2019: New powers, new responsibilities. The report suggests that AI is giving journalists significant new powers, but with those come editorial and ethical responsibilities. We see JournalismAI as a service to the news industry and everyone who's working in and around it.

When asked about their willingness to allow robots powered by AI technology to operate on their young children (ages eight and younger), Millennial parents in a 2018 IEEE global survey were likely to allow it, particularly in Asia: 82 percent in China and 78 percent in India said they would be "very likely". Meanwhile, 45 percent in both the U.S. and U.K. say they would be "very likely". Compared to a recent 2020 global survey, a majority of Millennial parents are 29 percent extremely or 31 percent very likely to allow robots powered by AI to conduct surgery on their child. Though parents in China are 63 percent very and 26 percent extremely likely to allow robotic surgery on their child, 41 percent of American parents say they are not likely at all to allow it.

It's hard to believe, but a year in which the unprecedented seemed to happen every day is just weeks from being over. In AI circles, the end of the calendar year means the rollout of annual reports aimed at defining progress, impact, and areas for improvement. The AI Index is due out in the coming weeks, as is CB Insights' assessment of global AI startup activity, but two reports -- both called The State of AI -- have already been released. Last week, McKinsey released its global survey on the state of AI, a report now in its third year. Interviews with executives and a survey of business respondents found a potential widening of the gap between businesses that apply AI and those that do not.

And here is a brief response to the report from Johannes Klingebiel of Süddeutsche Zeitung. A strategy for #AI adoption will vary depending on the nature of the news organisation. However, the #JournalismAI survey shows there are a few key key elements everyone should consider.

A new report published this week (18 November 2019) looking at the intersection of AI and journalism has issued a warning to global newsrooms: collaborate with your competitors or face extinction. A global survey of journalism and artificial intelligence' is a joint project between Polis, the international journalism think-tank at London School of Economics and Political Science, and the Google News Initiative, who has funded the research. It surveyed 71 international news organisations on their on use of artificial intelligence for editorial purposes across a seven-month period, showing that just 37 per cent of them have a dedicated AI strategy. Charlie Beckett, director, Polis, London School of Economics and Political Science, said that newsrooms have between two and five years to develop a meaningful strategy, or risk fading out of the digital landscape. "This is a marathon, not a sprint - but they've got to start running now," he said.

The Journalism AI report is based on a survey of 71 news organisations in 32 different countries regarding artificial intelligence and associated technologies. A wide range of journalists working with AI answered questions about their understanding of AI, how it was used in their newsrooms, and their views on the wider potential and risks for the news industry. What emerges from this research is that artificial intelligence (AI) is a significant part of journalism already but it is unevenly distributed. AI is giving journalists more power, but with that comes editorial and ethical responsibilities. The future impact of AI is uncertain but it has the potential for wide-ranging and profound influence on how journalism is made and consumed.

The Human Resources (HR) function has seldom been known for its rapid adoption of new technology. Things are changing in this regard, however. HR now has lots of data about employees from internal HR information systems, and there are increasing volumes of data about potential job candidates from external sources like LinkedIn. This data availability, and the general trend toward data- and analytics-based decisions in organizations, set the tone for HR use of advanced analytics and AI. Some HR organizations embraced analytics almost a decade ago; I and a couple of co-authors found enough examples to write about them as early as 2010. The obvious next step for HR is to adopt artificial intelligence, and that is definitely happening.

Canada has a rich history of innovation, but in the next few decades, powerful technological forces will transform the global economy. Large multinational companies have jumped out to a headstart in the race to succeed, and Canada runs the risk of falling behind. At stake is nothing less than our prosperity and economic well-being. The Financial Post set out explore what is needed for businesses to flourish and grow. You can find all of our coverage here. The race is on for global industry leaders to take advantage of artificial intelligence (AI) and the wide variety of improvements it brings to virtually every business function.

The next wave of IT innovation will be powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning. We look at the ways companies can take advantage of it and how to get started. In the movie "Her," a man falls in love with his operating system, and romance ensues. In reality, people may or may not expect to build romantic relationships with AI systems in the future. They do, however, expect that humans will one day love and trust AI systems enough to depend on them for their well being.