The other day, I was sending an email, and in the text of the email I mentioned to the recipient that I would be sending an attachment which I forgot to attach. I know this because when I hit “Send,” Microsoft Office informed me that I forgot the attachment. Perhaps you’ve experienced something like this, but, for me, it was the first time that I can recall Microsoft reminding me to attach a document.

Unlike Clippy, the Microsoft Paperclick, I found this feature to be quite useful, even though it is a little creepy to me. To think that an Artificial Intelligence (AI) program (i.e. bot) is reading my emails makes me uncomfortable. But the upside is not having to go through the ritual of sending the email, getting a response from the recipient saying there was no attachment, and then…well you know the rest.

Technology is changing our lives for the better, no doubt about it. The example above shows a practical use for AI entering into our lives. Before you know it, there will be chat bots that respond to your inquiries while simultaneously responding to thousands of other inquiries. You may think that a human is answering your email, but, in fact, it will be a piece of code that is answering your question and many others a thousand times over. How’s that for efficiency?