Understanding how Google's search works is a key to figuring out why so many companies find it nearly impossible to compete and, in fact, go out of their way to cater to its needs. Every search request provides Google with more data to make its search algorithm smarter. Google has performed so many more searches than any other search engine that it has established a huge advantage over rivals in understanding what consumers are looking for. That lead only continues to widen, since Google has a market share of about 90 percent. Google directs billions of users to locations across the internet, and websites, hungry for that traffic, create a different set of rules for the company.

The world as we know it will change profoundly over the next ten years. With a projected global population of over 8.4 billion by 2028, businesses across all industries are investing billions of dollars in technology and innovation in order to be successful in a future where everyone is connected and information is instant. By 2025, it is estimated that nearly 8 billion people will be "hyper-connected" (instant access to information) through telecommunication and the internet, a huge increase over the current 3 billion.Shutterstock With countries imposing bans on fossil fuels, the continued looming threat of cyber-attacks, and many professions being forever reshaped due to improvements in technology; change is inevitable. Our society is advancing faster than ever before, and businesses across the globe are implementing strategies today to fulfill the needs of the future.

Artificial intelligence offers limitless potential for the financial industry, but at Fortune's MPW International Summit on Tuesday Mastercard vice chairman Ann Cairns also called attention to some of its existential risks. Cairns had recently been in China, where she said it was clear to her that AI was taking off there in a big way--just as it has in Silicon Valley. The question, she says, is whether we will "perpetuate an East-West divide by having different philosophical views as we teach the computers how to think." This human element of AI is also why it's important to get more women into STEM, she said. Cairns, who became vice chairman of Mastercard (ma) earlier this month, noted that if we don't have a diverse group of people working on AI, "we're going to get computers that think like some bro culture on the West Coast."

Artificial intelligence offers limitless potential for the financial industry, but at Fortune's MPW International Summit on Tuesday Mastercard vice chairman Ann Cairns also called attention to some of its existential risks. Cairns had recently been in China, where she said it was clear to her that AI was taking off there in a big way--just as it has in Silicon Valley. The question, she says, is whether we will "perpetuate an East-West divide by having different philosophical views as we teach the computers how to think." This human element of AI is also why it's important to get more women into STEM, she said. Cairns, who became vice chairman of Mastercard (ma) earlier this month, noted that if we don't have a diverse group of people working on AI, "we're going to get computers that think like some bro culture on the West Coast."