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Twenty-four years ago, the surgeon Santiago Horgan performed the first robotically assisted gastric-bypass surgery in the world, a major medical breakthrough. Now Horgan is working with a new tool that he argues could be even more transformative in operating rooms: the Apple Vision Pro. Over the last month, Horgan and other surgeons at the University of California, San Diego have performed more than 20 minimally invasive operations while wearing Apple's mixed-reality headsets. Apple released the headsets to the public in February, and they've largely been a commercial flop. But practitioners in some industries, including architecture and medicine, have been testing how they might serve particular needs.

When I started writing about science decades ago, artificial intelligence seemed ascendant. IEEE Spectrum, the technology magazine for which I worked, produced a special issue on how AI would transform the world. I edited an article in which computer scientist Frederick Hayes-Roth predicted that AI would soon replace experts in law, medicine, finance and other professions. But that year, 1984, ushered in an AI winter, in which innovation stalled and funding dried up. By 1998, problems like non-recurrent engineering had begun to be recognized: "Algorithms that can perform a specialized task, like playing chess, cannot be easily adapted for other purposes."

More than basic machine learning models are becoming automated. Today, software exists that can do more complicated tasks, like natural language processing and generation that does not require coding. In the future, even AI could be automated for enterprises. For example, San Antonio-based USAA is using a natural language tool from Narrative Science that runs machine learning algorithms to automatically generate verbal descriptions of metrics included in business intelligence reports. Luke Horgan, director of digital channel analytics at the insurance company, said this enables his team to answer a broader array of questions than they were previously capable of tackling.

USAA is using NLG to automatically generate descriptions of metrics surfaced in its BI reporting tool. Horgan and his team are responsible for tracking the performance of digital products, such as the opening of new accounts online. USAA uses Adobe Analytics to track and report this data. Then, software from Narrative Science looks at the data included in graphs and develops a one-paragraph description of why the numbers look the way they do. If the number of new accounts opened in a given day is lower than planned, the software can identify trends that might explain why.

Creative Capital is IT World Canada's series that examines the impact digital transformation is having to change the face of communities across Canada. We're doing deep dives looking at the major tech hubs on the leading edge of the 21st-century knowledge economy. Our first five stories will focus on York Regions, exploring the densest ICT hub in Canada, its verticals, startups, and the factors contributing to its success. When the federal government unveils its short-list in contention for the $950 million it has earmarked for innovation superclusters later this year, don't be surprised if a consortium from York Region is on it. Up to five superclusters will share the funding based on the merits of their proposals, with Innovation, Science, and Economic Development (ISED) Minister Navdeep Bains saying the objective is to create Canada's own "Silicon Valley," and create good middle-class jobs.

John Wanamaker, who opened his department store in a Quaker district of the city, introduced price tags for his goods, along with the high-minded slogan: "If everyone was equal before God, then everyone would be equal before price." Up until then high-street retailers had generally operated a market-stall system of haggling on most products. Their best prices might be reserved for their best customers. Or they would weigh up each shopper and make a guess at what they could afford to pay and eventually come to an agreement. Wanamaker's idea was not all about transparency, however.