When you think of artificial intelligence these days, it's easy to think of the chat bots that the tech industry seems obsessed with.And chat bots as they exist today are pretty underwhelming.ButSalesforce CEO Marc Benioff says that AI is way bigger than that, and is really the next big thing after mobile and social changed the tech world over the past five years.Smart computers that can think, talk, reason, and predict will be able to do more than just search Google for us or order a pizza. They will eventually do stuff we haven't even imagined yet.Benioff, talking to analysts during Salesforce's quarterly conference call, called this the "AI-first world."Right now, Salesforce is trying to hit a milestone of $10 billion in sales. It promises that itscurrent fiscal year will end with over$8 billion in revenue. He believes that artificial intelligence is howSalesforce will keep growing."We are introducing this AI wrapper," he said. "Artificial intelligence is becoming part of Sales Cloud" and it will eventually be part of all of the company's apps.For now, the company's shining example is theSalesforceIQ Inbox app, a product that came from Salesforce's $390 million acquisition ofRelateIQ in 2014. It'san email inbox that takes a salesperson's email and calendar info and the customer data in Salesforce's cloud to help salespeople prioritize their work.He'snot alone with this vision. IBM CEO Ginni Rometty has been preaching this concept for a while. She calls it cognitive computing and believes that smart computers are going to be part of every decision humans make and eventually change who you are.IBM's AI tech is called Watson, and it's already being used for everything from personalized health to powering human-like robots.Google chairman Eric Schmidt predicts that AI and machine learningi.e., computers that can teach themselves stuffwill be what drives all the next huge successful startupsand IPOsin the next five years.Hecompares AI to the mobile revolution thatgave usUber, Snapchat, and others.The prime exampleof Google'sAI engine isGoogle Now and Google Photos. Photos can recognize your picturesso you can search for a picture without tagging itlike looking for photos of your dogby typing "puppy," or your kid by typing "daughter."Now has even been known to recognize when you are searching for a photo of a loved one who died and offer condolences.Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also thinks that bots are the next big thing after apps. Cortana is its flagship exampleyou don't count Tay, the Twitter bot that quickly turned racist and was unplugged. But Microsoft also has a photo-captioning service.IBM, Microsoft, andGoogleand, we expect, one day Salesforceare all also making artificial intelligence available as variouscloud services that developers can bake into their own apps.So whether you think bots are a joke or for real, the stars of the tech worldallseeAIas the next big thing.SEE ALSO:12 amazing projects from companies like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft that will truly change your worldJoin the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: HENRY BLODGET: This is where digital media is headed next
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