2017 promises to be the year that artificial intelligence (AI) moves out of film and fiction and into the workplace. While automation has become commonplace in retail and services, from the ubiquitous uptake of automatic tills to the growing influence intelligent service agents, anxiety about the impact of AI on professional roles has been gradually increasing in popular discourse. Writing in the Guardian in December 2016 theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking warned that "the rise of artificial intelligence is likely to extend this job destruction deep into the middle classes, with only the most caring, creative or supervisory roles remaining" (Hawking, 2016). A report in the Telegraph has warned that "many middle-class professionals will be outsourced to machines within the next few decades" (Knapton, 2016). Automation-once the preserve of manufacturing-is threating to overtake the professional and managerial classes. Anxieties about the impact of AI on professional jobs are not new. Half a century ago the father of modern computing Alan Turing predicted "great opposition from the intellectuals who were afraid of being put out of a job" and added that "once the machine thinking method had started, it would not take long to outstrip our feeble powers (1951: 475). At some stage, Turing argued, "we should have expect the machines to take control" (1951: 475). Although we are not yet at that stage, it seems inevitable that AI will have a significant impact on professional jobs over the next few decades, and may even perhaps threaten the very existence of numerous professional fields. This coming social and economic transformation has become known as the fourth industrial revolution; following on from the ages of steam, electricity, and information technology, the age of automation, machine learning, and artificial intelligence is almost upon us. But what is artificial intelligence, in what kinds of areas is it currently being exploited, and what is coming in the near future? This special edition of Out-of-the-Box explores the emerging area of Artificial Intelligence, automation and machine learning in business and professional contexts. It will review the current state of play of intelligent systems, how they are making their way into commercial contexts Artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is a general term that currently refers to a cluster of technologies and approaches to computing focussed on the ability of computers to make flexible rational decisions in response to often unpredictable environmental conditions. These strands of AI include natural language processing, machine learning, intelligent agents and rational decision making. Representations from popular culture, such as for example in Kubrik's 2001 a Space Odyssey, or Chanel 4's Humans, have often focussed on general machine intelligence: the ability of computers to respond to their environments with the same kind of flexibility and creativity as humans. While this may be a long term goal of AI research, most current practice is focusse...

Explores the application of Web 2.0 technologies to business intranets, and their potential use in managing and developing business information and knowledge assets. Considers how Web 2.0 approaches on the public web are subtly reshaping the relationship between users and information. Argues that Web 2.0 is not a technological innovation, but is changing the understanding of the status of information, knowledge and the role of the user in information applications. Suggests that, as information proliferates, control is being gradually ceded to users, opening up the possibility of a new, more democratic, and more evaluative phase in the exploitation of information within organizations.

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Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to explore the application of post-structuralist theory to understanding hypertext and the World Wide Web, and the challenge posed by digital information technology to the practices of the information profession. Design/methodology/approach -The method adopted is that of a critical study. Findings -The paper argues for the importance of post-structuralism for an understanding of the implications of digital information for the information management profession. Originality/value -Focuses on an epistemological gap between the traditional practices of the information profession, and the structure of the World Wide Web.

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