Artificially intelligent systems optimized for speech conversation are appearing at a fast pace. Such models are interesting from a healthcare perspective, as these voice-controlled assistants may support the elderly and enable remote health monitoring. The bottleneck for efficacy, however, is how well these devices work in practice and how the elderly experience them, but research on this topic is scant. We review elderly use of voice-controlled AI and highlight various user- and technology-centered issues, that need to be considered before effective speech-controlled AI for elderly care can be realized.

Ambient intelligence is a futuristic concept that makes explicit input and output data collection devices redundant in smart cities. Instead, data capturing and processing tools such as sensors, processors and actuators are embedded in everyday objects encountered by smart city inhabitants. Ambient intelligence, a concept related to pervasive computing, will exist in smart cities to add an added layer of functionality and convenience by adapting to user needs constantly. The embedded sensors and processors will be configured to collect contextual data from users, while AI-based tools will be deployed to draw inferences from the information collected to anticipate their future needs. Ambient intelligence makes pervasive computing more human-centric, a trait that is essential for healthcare.

In other words, it can be said that Artificial Intelligence is an extraordinary content source for the public sector and, above all, it is a great value . Many developed and developing countries are already implementing AI in different activities within the Public Administration. An example of this is what the Government of Finland is doing, which is conducting tests with what is considered, so far, the most ambitious public assistant based on Artificial Intelligence in the world: AuroraAI . The objective of this program is to offer citizens personalized services, and filter them according to the specific needs of each person at different times in their lives. Likewise, work is being done to integrate public and business services into a single platform.

The continuous progress of technology has led to different government organizations having to modify their structures, as well as the way in which they execute their processes. Nowadays, applying tools such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) in government is essential, since AI makes all operations more efficient, allows citizens to listen better, have greater sensitivity about what they are asking for, what they need, and know the general feeling you have. In other words, it can be said that Artificial Intelligence is an extraordinary content source for the public sector and, above all, it is a great value . Many developed and developing countries are already implementing AI in different activities within the Public Administration. An example of this is what the Government of Finland is doing, which is conducting tests with what is considered, so far, the most ambitious public assistant based on Artificial Intelligence in the world: AuroraAI .

Have you interacted with a digital persona yet? At the Museum of Art & Photography in Bangalore, you can have a deep and engaging exchange with one that represents the late artist M.F. Husain -- considered the "Picasso of India" by many. This avatar is eager to talk art. And if you ask him whether he's real, he will look straight at you and say, "As close to real, enough to impress you."

Technology's fine--I definitely like texting, and some of the shows on Netflix are tolerable--but the field's got some serious kinks to work out. Some of these are hardware-related: when, for instance, will quantum computing become practical? Others are of more immediate concern. Is there some way to stop latently homicidal weirdos from getting radicalized online? Can social networks be tweaked in such a way as to not nearly guarantee the outbreak of the second Civil War?

The list of existential threats to mankind on which wealthy philanthropists have focused their attention -- catastrophic climate change, pandemics and the like -- has a new addition: artificially intelligent machines that turn against their human creators. Artificial intelligence (AI) could pose a threat "greater than the danger of nuclear warheads, by a lot", according to Elon Musk, the entrepreneur behind electric car maker Tesla. As the author James Barrat put it, a superhuman intelligence, equipped with the ability to learn but without the ability to empathise, might well be Our Final Invention. Even if the machines are not going to kill us, there are plenty of reasons to worry AI will be used for ill as well as for good, and that advances in the field are coming faster than our ability to think through the consequences. Between facial recognition and autonomous drones, AI's potential impact on warfare is already obvious, stirring employee concern at Google and other pioneers in the field.

With more access to data and growing computing power, artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly powerful. But for it to be effective and meaningful, we must embrace people-first artificial intelligence strategies, according to Soumitra Dutta, professor of operations, technology, and information management at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. "There has to be a human agency-first kind of principle that lets people feel empowered about how to make decisions and how to use AI systems to support their decision-making," notes Dutta. Knowledge@Wharton interviewed him at a recent conference on artificial intelligence and machine learning in the financial industry, organized in New York City by the SWIFT Institute in collaboration with Cornell's SC Johnson College of Business. In this conversation, Dutta discusses some myths around AI, what it means to have a people-first artificial intelligence strategy, why it is important, and how we can overcome the challenges in realizing this vision. An edited transcript of the conversation follows. Knowledge@Wharton: What are some of the biggest myths about AI, especially as they relate to financial services?

A nurse asks a patient to describe her symptoms. A fast-food worker greets a customer and asks for his order. A tourist asks a police officer for directions to a local point of interest. For those with all of their physical faculties intact, each of these scenarios can be viewed as a routine occurrence of everyday life, as they are able to easily and efficiently interact without any assistance. However, each of these interactions are significantly more difficult when a person is deaf, and must rely on the use of sign language to communicate.

"Well, if droids could think, there'd be none of us here, would there?" - Obi-Wan Kenobi Fully autonomous robots with humanlike capabilities might yet be some way away, still the realm largely of science fiction, but lawmakers, legal experts and manufacturers are already engaged in debates about the ethical challenges involved in their production and use, and their legal status, their "legal personality": ultimately, whether it's these machines or human beings who should bear responsibility for their actions. There are questions about whether and how much self-learning machines should be taking independent decisions about moral equivalence involving ethical choices which have traditionally been the preserve of humans. At the extreme, for example, can it be right for a machine to decide to kill an enemy combatant that it has identified without resort to human agency? Or is the robot morally no different from a "brainless" weapon? Is there an inherent difference morally between a "sexbot" and a standard, brainless sex toy?