The potential for machines to rise up against humans was popularized by the 1984 film “the Terminator” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Fast forward 3 decades and there is now a real fear that the advancement of technology is accelerating so rapidly that machines endowed with artificial intelligence (AI), will threaten our existence. Just this week a letter is being signed by cosmologist Stephen Hawking, Tesla founder Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak which will call for a ban on autonomous weapons. At the same time AI has the potential to be extremely beneficial to the human race. IBM’s Watson is an AI super computer capable of evidence-based learning and answering questions posed in natural language. Specifically, since its first commercial application in 2013, Watson has proved to be extremely helpful when it comes to improving healthcare delivery by advising medical professionals. AI’s disruptive potential and silicon computer chip’s worldwide importance are just two examples of fascinating global themes that we follow at Montgomery. (VIEW LINK)