Consider this anecdote recently published in The Economist 1843 Magazine.

In the 1770s, a Hungarian inventor Wolfgang von Kempelen build a “Mechanical Turk” or simply “The Turk” to impress the empress. It was a life-size wooden figure dressed in Turkish clothing, seated behind a cabinet with a chessboard on top, designed to beat even the finest players at the game.

The Turk evoked much speculation about whether a machine could really think and how it worked. With the Industrial Revolution in the offing, many speculated the possibility of a machine replacing humans (sounds familiar!?).

It was later revealed that the Turk operated via a concealed player, who controlled each movement from inside the cabinet.

Over two centuries later, a similar concept is being used to drive Artificial Intelligence systems. Pretty much everything you do online creates a trail of data that can be used to make AI and Deep Learning algorithms smarter.

Without realising it, we are helping out as well. The results of the numerous CAPTCHA tasks which include transcribing distorted texts, or identifying images within a grid containing street signs or vehicles are used by Google and others to transcribe old books, label images for self-driving vehicles or to improve mapping services.

Now as you take a moment to let that sink in, let’s Move on to Today’s Top 6 Business Stories through our End Of Day Wrap Up:

The What: The development comes after the recent spat between the government and the RBI on issues including lending norms for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector, RBI surplus reserves and more.

Zoom Out: Patel is the first governor since 1990 to step down before the end of his term. Read his resignation statement here.

Perspective: The development comes after the Supreme Court in September barred private entities from using Aadhaar-linked biometrics for customer verification.

Zoom Out: Alternative eKYC methods including QR code-based authentication linked to the Aadhaar database are also under consideration.

Up Close: As Myntra CEO Ananth Narayanan quits, Flipkart Executive Amar Nagaram to take charge. Other key Myntra leaders such as Chief Revenue Officer Mithun Sundar and Human Resources Head Manpreet Ratia have also resigned.

And: About 150-200 people have already been laid off across Myntra and Jabong following news of Jabong being completely integrated with Myntra. Another fresh round of lay-offs is expected over the coming weeks.

What else: Walmart to tap Flipkart’s expertise in progressive web applications and data analytics. Flipkart was among the first in the world to work on progressive web apps to tap consumers in small towns.

You also said Ola?: Ola co-founder Ankit Bhati would be responsible for reorganising and boosting the leadership team, while Bhavish Aggarwal, the incumbent CEO will focus on fundraising and scaling up Foodpanda, likely to be named Group CEO.

HOSPITALITY

The What: The food carnival will be a part of the online food ordering and restaurant reservation platform’s attempt to break through the events space. The Events vertical, globally, will be led by Chaitanya Mathur, formerly a co-founder of Grub Fest.

US/International

FRAUD

Up Close: Prosecutors said Mr. Ghosn’s compensation for the four years from April 2011 through March 2015, Ghosn’s actual compensation was ¥8bn but Nissan reported only ¥4bn.

The What: As per a WSJ report, the UK government can unilaterally reverse its earlier decision to leave the EU and remain in the bloc without needing the approval of its EU counterparts.

What Does This Mean: The UK can technically reverse Brexit prior to the March 29 deadline.

The Big Picture: The news comes when the British parliament is set to vote on the deal tomorrow.

What about Huawei?: As per a WSJ report, HSBC Holdings and Standard Chartered were among the institutions which were misled by Huawei in into believing that it wasn’t doing business in Iran through a Hong Kong company called Skycom Tech.

Last Word