Silicon Valley looks to next big thing

San Francisco

AS the oracles of Silicon Valley debate whether the latest tech boom is sliding towards bust, there is talk about what will drive the industry's next growth spurt.

The way we use computing is changing, towards a boom (and, if history is any guide, a bubble) in collecting oceans of data in so-called cloud computing centres, then analysing the information to build new businesses. The terms most often associated with this are "machine learning" and "artificial intelligence", or AI. And the creations spawned by this market could affect things ranging from globe-spanning computer systems to how you pay at the cafeteria.