In 1950, 746 Million people lived in cities but just one hundred years later in 2050, this is anticipated to surpass 6 Billion – some 66% of the world's population. In this increasingly urban, data-driven and hybrid world that integrates the physical and the virtual, the concept of'smartness' comes to the fore. The vision of a'smart city' has been in existence for many years but it is only recently that advances in technology have enabled tangible progress towards its real-world actualization. I believe this is also critical to the successful implementation of the United Nation's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDGS). So, what does a smart city mean to you?

The company's scenario involves fully automated container ships travelling between ports, with minimal personnel requirements and moving all round the clock, monitored from start-to-finish by a control centre. A vessel will slow down when it's approaching its destination and docks itself at the pier. A container loader, equipped with autonomous and electric technology, will automatically unloads the container onto another autonomous vehicle. Volvo Group goes onto demonstrate how the cargo leaves the port through an automatic, secure gate. The autonomous vehicles then form an autonomous connected driving convoy.

The concept of a smart society has been around for a long time, but the progress we have seen towards achieving it in the last decade has really been a giant leap for mankind. For those of us who are unaware, the smart society which looms over us is the future of mankind. We are about to enter a phase where living smart is the baseline, and everything else just falls in the jigsaw to complement that lifestyle. In smart societies, we are blessed with smart cities that run through the application of smart accessories and smart buildings. In smart societies, we have smart cars (also known as self-driven cars or autonomous vehicles).

Huawei is increasingly optimistic about the future of artificial intelligence. At CES Asia 2017, Chief Operating Officer Wan Biao spoke to Digital Trends about the technology's growth, describing three key stages in AI's evolution: "Enable me, Know me, Be me." We're already into the beginnings of the "know me" stage, Biao said. "Be me" is still some time away, but despite its potential, that may be a good thing. Machines are already surpassing human intelligence, Biao said, and we're edging even closer to the prospect of a smart society -- where people and machines are one. This, combined with previous statements made by Huawei about artificial intelligence and the integration of machine learning into its smartphones, gives us a tantalizing glimpse of the smart future.

There are plenty of articles out on the internet talking about how 2017 will be the year of AI and how it will change the way in which we drive our cars, organize our homes with the internet of things (IoT), and live our lives. But much of the progress made in developing AIs could never have been made had it not been for video games spurring developers on. Video game AIs have come a long way from when Nintendo sent Goombas marching at Mario in a set path and are certainly now capable of carrying out complex commands. But AI developers are now trying to create AIs that can actually think, learn and develop their own personalities as opposed to following a script with branching paths. This can not only affect how we interact and play video games, but help create better AI to change how we live our day to day lives. Of course, we have already managed to create AI which can learn.