Tech product launches in 2023 have become predictable: Everything now comes with generative AI features that will serve up chatty but knowledgeable text or mind-blowing images. The rollout of the iPhone 15 this week shows Apple opting to Think Different. The new device comes with the A17 Pro processor, an Apple-designed chip to put more power behind machine-learning algorithms. But the features highlighted at the launch event yesterday were generally subtle, not mind expanding. The company appears focused on AI that is intuitive not generative, making artificial intelligence a part of your life that smoothes over glitches or offers helpful predictions without being intrusive.

Can this paper packaging go into the recycle bin? Where should this bubble wrap go? A robot at YVR can now answer these questions for you. Most people try their best to recycle and it can often be a confusing process, which is why Vancouver International Airport recently introduced an artificial intelligence (AI) sensor that oversees a cluster of smart waste bins at a central location within the terminal building. This AI, called Oscar, has an artificial intelligence powered camera that automatically identifies recycling from trash and instructs users on whether it belongs in the compost bin, paper bin, or landfill stream bin.

Oscar is a trash-sorting system with a 32-inch display and AI-powered camera that recognizes the items in your hand and tells you how to properly dispose of them. Approach with a Thai noodle box, for example, and it will tell you to throw the remaining food into compost and put the box in the trash. Succeed in sorting your garbage and Oscar can say "Good job!," shower the screen with confetti, and share a QR code for some sort of perk, like a movie ticket or food discount. Get it wrong and Oscar can be a real grouch, making sounds of disapproval and displaying a dark red screen with a sign that calls you out for the mistake. Oscar was created by Intuitive AI, a startup with plans to sell its solution to corporate social responsibility teams and property managers in busy settings such as airports, universities, and large corporate campuses.

AI is moving from analysis AI, to AI doing creativity activities (such as art), to intuitive AI. Every company is becoming a software company. An example is car companies. Vehicles are transforming from a piece of hardware to an app on wheels (updates every 1–2 weeks). Ask someone with a Tesla if you don't believe me.

What do you get when you give a design tool a digital nervous system? Computers that improve our ability to think and imagine, and robotic systems that come up with (and build) radical new designs for bridges, cars, drones and much more -- all by themselves. Take a tour of the Augmented Age with futurist Maurice Conti and preview a time when robots and humans will work side-by-side to accomplish things neither could do alone. Maurice Conti explores new partnerships between technology, nature and humanity. Maurice Conti explores new partnerships between technology, nature and humanity.

Two weeks ago, I wrote in a column headlined "Please stop saying I'll be replaced by a robot" that fears over machines making humans redundant were often overblown and might well be self-defeating, and that it was better to focus instead on what robots could help people do better. Some readers welcomed what I had to say, others disagreed. One thoughtful rejoinder by Ms Ethel Tan Hui Yan was published in The Straits Times Forum under the headline "Let's not take AI lightly". Ms Tan wrote: "At present, robots have attained the level of intelligence where they help more than harm... But when intuitive AI (artificial intelligence) robots with a learning capacity that far exceeds that of man's are developed, they could very well make humans redundant in many jobs. "It is essential to talk about the augmented economy and the necessary industrial restructuring and educational reforms that need to be made, which will equip our workforce and prepare our younger generation for the challenge ahead." Mr Frederick Wong said in an e-mail that "AI will impact us deeply in the coming decade and not the next century as some might think.

What do you get when you give a design tool a digital nervous system? Computers that improve our ability to think and imagine, and robotic systems that come up with (and build) radical new designs for bridges, cars, drones and much more -- all by themselves. Take a tour of the Augmented Age with futurist Maurice Conti and preview a time when robots and humans will work side-by-side to accomplish things neither could do alone. The forces transforming tomorrow are profound, powerful and accelerating. The Internet, social networks, crowd-sourcing, gaming dynamics, new information and communication technologies, robotics, biotechnology and nanotechnology are all converging to transform everything from agriculture, energy, education and law enforcement to healthcare, manufacturing, retail and transportation.

What do you get when you give a design tool a digital nervous system? Computers that improve our ability to think and imagine, and robotic systems that come up with (and build) radical new designs for bridges, cars, drones and much more -- all by themselves. Take a tour of the Augmented Age with futurist Maurice Conti and preview a time when robots and humans will work side-by-side to accomplish things neither could do alone.