A new era of applied artificial intelligence and machine learning is being ushered in where the vast benefits of immense networks of information can finally be leveraged.

2014 saw Google purchase DeepMind for $400m, a company whose mission is simple, solve intelligence, whilst the world’s first family robot, JIBO, was successfully crowdfunded and is machine learning capable.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence have been slowly seeping into our lives for a number of years. Google and Facebook algorithms are easily recognisable examples of this trend yet our phones best illustrate this shift. Smartphones have been learning how we type since their introduction, their voice assistants are seen by manufacturers as intelligent assistants and now they can become aware if they have been stolen. Machines are adapting to us everywhere.

The leap forward is in the combined ability to digest huge datasets – seeing trends not always recognisable to human analysis – and then adapt to that information accordingly.

Living in a constantly changing world, this capability will prove a watershed moment for our human relationship with technology and brands in general. The ability to adapt without instruction will become the norm.