We're more distracted than ever. Why remember anything when I can just Google it? Why summon the attention to read a book when I can just scroll through Twitter? Some philosophers believe that ChatGPT and its siblings will further diminish our ability to do the kind of "deep work" needed to spark creativity and breed big ideas. What good are the tools if we begin to rely on them so much that we no longer have the capacity to think bigger?

Columbia neuroscientists have revealed that a simple brain region, known for processing basic sensory information, can also guide complex feats of mental activity. The new study involving mice demonstrated that cells in the somatosensory cortex, the brain area responsible for touch, also play a key role in reward learning, the sophisticated type of learning that allows the brain to associate an action with a pleasurable outcome. It is the basis for how we connect our work in the office to that paycheck, or that A to the studying we did in preparation for the test. The new research, published today in Cell Reports, provides evidence that learning and memory are not relegated to a few select regions, but instead may permeate the brain. "Our brains are masterful at making connections, or associations, between seemingly disparate pieces of information, but where those associations are stored has remained an unresolved question," said Randy Bruno, PhD, a principal investigator at Columbia's Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute and the paper's senior author.

AI is also viewed as a way to enhance productivity and efficiencies in a variety of business settings; that's why most current work in AI is focused on direct consumer services or manufacturing, warehousing and fulfillment. Yet AI's its potential applications go well beyond this narrow view. Nearly every industry, in fact, could benefit from utilizing AI, and those possibilities have barely been realized. This untapped potential creates the following wealth of opportunities for entrepreneurs, especially those willing to travel unexpected paths. The use of AI in healthcare has practical applications that range from anticipating health needs to delivering preventive or medical care with unprecedented precision.

Abishur Prakash is a geopolitical futurist focused on how new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, gene editing, virtual reality, and more, will transform geopolitics. He works at Center for Innovating the Future, a strategy innovation lab based in Toronto. Prakash is the author of Next Geopolitics: The Future of World Affairs (Technology) Vols. 1 and 2, and of the forthcoming book, Go.AI (Geopolitics of Artificial Intelligence). He speaks regularly at public and private events on the geopolitics of technology and its implications for countries and companies.