What comes to mind when you think of Artificial Intelligence (AI)? Chances are, the first thing that pops in your head is a group of robots that take over the planet and rule over humans. Thanks to the reoccurring themes in Hollywood and the media, AI has gotten a bad rap as something that is created by evil corporations but wreaks havoc on all of humanity in the future. However, you might be forgetting that AI is already embedded in your day-to-day routine. Autocorrect, self-driving cars, robo advisors, and of course--Siri and Alexa--are all under the umbrella of AI.

"Looker?" asked the sales consultant over the roar of 5,000 entrepreneurs and engineers frantically canvassing the vendor hall at The Indus Entrepreneurs 2018 Inflect conference in Santa Clara. Pivoting in front of his company's neural-net mandala logo, he shrugged. In a way, the comment was to be expected. Ever since Gartner included it in the IT consultancy's Magic Quadrant of 20 top business-analytics providers, Looker has become a target. Recent entrants trying to catch up with the market leaders, moreover, are hyping their use of machine learning as the new killer app of business intelligence.