For corporate finance advisers, AI presents many exciting opportunities to increase efficiency, reduce costs and create new services. But given corporate deal-making's complexity and economic importance, careful thought is needed about how best to combine human expertise with this transformative new technology. The Corporate Finance Faculty convened an expert group to investigate how the sector can ready itself for the Age of AI. The impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on finance and business will be profound. The Corporate Finance Faculty has been tracking the application of AI to'big data' in corporate transactions.

After an up-and-down start to the year, Chinese search giant Baidu issued earnings last week that outperformed on a host of key indicators. As we've come to expect from Baidu, revenue growth remained brisk, increasing at a healthy 31% year-over-year pace to total 2.5 billion. In keeping with its recent quarters, increased spending crimped Baidu's operating profits, which grew only 2.6% compared with the first quarter of 2015. Either way, Baidu's earnings exceeded expectations on the top and bottom line. What's more, Baidu's guidance for second-quarter sales proved better than analysts anticipated, sending the company's shares up in after-hours trading the day of the announcement.

After an up-and-down start to the year, Chinese search giant Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) issued earnings last week that outperformed on a host of key indicators. As we've come to expect from Baidu, revenue growth remained brisk, increasing at a healthy 31% year-over-year pace to total 2.5 billion. In keeping with its recent quarters, increased spending crimped Baidu's operating profits, which grew only 2.6% compared with the first quarter of 2015. Either way, Baidu's earnings exceeded expectations on the top and bottom line. What's more, Baidu's guidance for second-quarter sales proved better than analysts anticipated, sending the company's shares up in after-hours trading the day of the announcement.