In 1597 English philosopher Sir Francis Bacon wrote in Meditationes Sacrae "ipsa scientia potestas est," which is Latin for "knowledge itself is power." However, IQ alone is not sufficient; having a genius IQ does not guarantee success. Similar to human intelligence, having superior capabilities in AI does not necessarily equate to societal success. What matters is what AI technology is used for and how it is applied. Startup Lyrebird claims to have created AI technology that can synthetically mimic a person's voice from just a 60-second sample [1].

When Avnet pulled together its predictions for what 2017 would hold machine to machine learning was one of the areas the distributor expected to see some growth. The channel player viewed advance machine learning as the next stage in the Internet of Things story as users looked to try and exploit the intelligence that could be gained from connected devices. "Leveraging machine learning and cognitive computing with connected smart devices allows humans to interact with technology and their surroundings in ways which will drive innovation forward at an unprecedented pace," said Marcus Adae, vice president strategic suppliers at Avnet Technology Solutions EMEA. "As the gap narrows between the physical and digital world, the door opens wider for companies to explore new and innovative products and services both in the commercial and consumer sectors, which will ultimately enrich the way we interact with our world day to day," he added. Avnet is expecting machine learning to have more of an impact in the tech sector because it has the prospect of uncovering hidden insights and ushering in new business models.