Science fiction has made many of us cautious about artificial intelligence and what it could mean for our future. But AI is already in use in many industries and could soon be prominent in most. That's why IBJ has made AI the focus of its 2019 Innovation Issue, an annual exploration of disrupters across the business world.

In this week's podcast, IBJ Managing Editor Lesley Weidenbener and technology reporter Anthony Schoettle discuss what they learned while researching artificial intelligence, how it could change industries such as transportation and health care and why the technology raises so many ethical questions.

The podcast also explores other stories in the issue—which cover Indiana's role in developing hypersonic weapons, what entrepreneurs learn from failure and how The Heritage Group has developed a culture of innovation by focusing on people. Plus, Weidenbener explains why IBJ publishes an Innovation Issue at all.

Check out the full issue at www.IBJ.com/innovation-2019.

Music in this episode—"Also Sprach Zarathustra," composed by Richard Strauss—is from Kevin MacLeod and licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. A different version of the song was the theme of AI-inspired film "2001: A Space Odyssey."