What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the term “artificial intelligence? I am reminded of 1999 famous movie Matrix in which the dialogue “Never send a human to do a machine’s job” became famous.

The movie, Wachowski brothers’ cyberpunk action classic was set in a grim future where intelligent machines had enslaved mankind, keeping us subdued with a simulated reality called the Matrix.

Dark-suited, sunglasses-sporting “agents” actually powerful, sentient artificial intelligence programmes patrolled the Matrix, led by Hugo Weaving’s snarling villainous Agent Smith.

They suppressed human rebellion by dodging bullets and punching through concrete. But in reality, artificial intelligence already plays an active role in our everyday lives.

By now most of us are aware of phone assistants like “Siri” or “Google Now” that is artificial intelligence or you may have identified AI when playing Chess against a virtual opponent, or when playing more sophisticated motion-tracking games with the Kinect. But did you know that artificial intelligence is also present in Google Translate and spam blockers?

This is the science of using computers to do things that traditionally required the human mind. It is a technology that will accelerate the digital transformation of industry and will prove essential to the success the economy in what is an increasingly connected world.

For AI to deliver on its promise, however, it will require predictability and trust.These two are interrelated. Predictable treatment of the complex issues AI will throw up, such as accountability and permitted data uses, will encourage investment in and use of AI.

Similarly, progress with AI requires consumers to trust the technology and the fairness of how they are affected by it and how their data is used; predictable and transparent treatment facilitates this trust.

A better understanding of artificial intelligence is necessary for students to make a career in this field. Studying artificial intelligence opens a world of opportunities. At a basic level, you’ll better understand the systems and tools that you interact with on a daily basis. And if you stick with the subject and study more, you can help create cutting edge AI applications, like the Google Self Driving Car, or IBM’s Watson.

In the field of artificial intelligence, the potentials are truly never-ending. It seems the news is frequently filled with stories like Google’s plan to build quantum processors or crowd-funding efforts for robotic assistants like Jibo.

Studying AI now can prepare you for a job as a software engineer researching neural networks, human-machine interfaces, and quantum artificial intelligence.

Or you could work as a software engineer in industry working for companies like Amazon to shopping list recommendation engines or Facebook analysing and processing big data. You could also work as a hardware engineer developing electronic parking assistants or home assistant robots.

And the truly exciting thing is that the jobs for these types of projects didn’t exist 10 years ago. AI is a field that keeps growing and changing, and the jobs you’re studying for now may evolve into something beyond your imagination.

The writer is skilled training and development coach, and visiting faculty at leading institutes