The world's largest pest control group is piloting the use of facial recognition software as a way to exterminate rats in people's homes. Rentokil said it had been developing the technology alongside Vodafone for 18 months. The surveillance technology, which is already being tested in real homes, tracks the rodents' habits and streams real-time analysis using artificial intelligence. A central command centre can then help to decide where and how to kill the rats caught on camera. Rentokil's chief executive, Andy Ransom, told the Financial Times: "With facial recognition technology you can see that rat number one behaved differently from rat number three.

Many of the most important senior executives I speak to, ask how can I their company so it embraces digital? Companies of the future are going to be reliant upon new digital services built on rapidly accelerating technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR) and robotics process automation (RPA). Top executives at world class companies know this. But they have valid questions regarding how to transform their corporate culture, reskill their staff and make the leap to the new world order. And they have valid questions about the technology itself. They are asking: What's real about artificial intelligence?

In a departure from using AI and machine learning tools for tasks such as automating customer service, some companies are applying the technologies to grow better corn crops and exterminate bugs and vermin. Artificial intelligence (AI) is rising in prominence with the proliferation of chatbots, virtual assistants and other conversational tools that companies are using to improve customer service, productivity and operational efficiency. But AI is also helping to automate and streamline tasks in data-intensive industries traditionally ruled by rigorous science and good old-fashioned human analysis. Seed retailers, for example, are using AI products to churn through terabytes of precision agricultural data to create the best corn crops, while pest control companies are using AI-based image-recognition technology to identify and treat various types of bugs and vermin. Such markedly different scenarios underscore how AI has evolved from science fiction to practical solutions that can potentially help companies get a leg up on their competition.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rising in prominence with the proliferation of chatbots, virtual assistants and other conversational tools that companies are using to improve customer service, productivity and operational efficiency. But AI is also helping to automate and streamline tasks in data-intensive industries traditionally ruled by rigorous science and good old-fashioned human analysis. Seed retailers, for example, are using AI products to churn through terabytes of precision agricultural data to create the best corn crops, while pest control companies are using AI-based image-recognition technology to identify and treat various types of bugs and vermin. Such markedly different scenarios underscore how AI has evolved from science fiction to practical solutions that can potentially help companies get a leg up on their competition. AI is any technology that emulates human performance by learning, reaching conclusions, understanding complex content, engaging in natural dialogs with people or replacing people for non-routine tasks, according to Gartner.