Imagine: Humans waging an epic battle against technology, with human intelligence inevitably subjugated by artificial overlords. Plenty of folks would line up with front-row tickets and popcorn in hand. But it’s also the very real manifestation of a universal fear — jobs relegated to machines, livelihoods handed over to bots.

But when we take a closer look at bots and other forms of artificial intelligence, our worst fears are a far cry from the truth. We’ve built bots to help us succeed. And instead of viewing them as our grand reckoning, we should view AI and bots as tools to exponentially expand our human capabilities in and out of the workplace. Yes, bots can make us more human in our daily lives.

Those who use bots as superhuman digital assistants will find the most success. It’ll be humans to the bot-th power, rather than humans versus bots.

The AI revolution is here (we just don’t know it)

Much of our understanding of AI and the future is rooted in misconception. We’re trepidatious toward the future. It’s a valid and human response that shouldn’t go ignored. But the truth is, the future is already here.

Anyone who’s tagged a photo of a friend on Facebook has used AI. But do people think that way? While 86 percent of people say they’re interested in trying AI tools, 63 percent don’t realize they’re already using AI.

Machines are much better at quickly surfacing the most relevant information the internet holds. It’s on us humans to take that knowledge and make the most informed decisions. But finding information not all our bot friends can help us with — they can do much more than just answer direct questions.

Soon, bots will work in the background on our behalf and initiate a conversation when something interesting has happened. We’ll be prompted with a notable result, and then we’ll make the choice to move forward.

It’s simple, but so powerful. As technology should be.

Businesses should bet on bots

Computers now have the ability to do what we once thought only human intelligence could handle. In the near future, AI is going to feel less artificial and more intelligent.

Humans learn from example and experience. So do machines. Machine learning allows you tell a system what you want, not how to do it.

Once something a few PhDs wrote about, machine learning is now something millions of people benefit from. Everything from predictive learning and lead scoring to content recommendations and email optimization will get much easier for marketers and salespeople alike.

Already, 40 percent of people don’t care if they’re served by an AI tool or a human — so long as the question gets answered. Only 26 percent say the same for more complicated customer requests. But how those humans will best serve their customers will take (you guessed it) bots.

If you want your employees and business to benefit from all this machine learning, you’ll need to invest in getting the data in one centralized place. After all, the data is what gives machine learning the learning part. There’s no learning without the data.

Not only is AI the future of marketing and sales, it’s the future of the inbound movement. AI and bots allow you to provide highly personalized, helpful, and human experiences for your customers. It may not be a summer blockbuster fit for theaters, but AI and bots sure feel like they’re fit for businesses.