Get smart: How artificial intelligence is changing our lives – CNBC

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is a real and growing part of our lives.

From voice-controlled assistants to online ordering to self driving cars in development, AI is the brains behind computer software. As it improves computers, making them faster and smarter, is this technology a threat?

"I wouldn't see it as a threat, necessarily," Recode reporter April Glaser told CNBC's "On the Money" in an interview. laser covers robots, drones and other smart machines for the technology news website.

"But artificial intelligence programs do know more than you or I do, particularly when it comes to specific areas."

One example is in medicine, where AI technology is helping doctors recognize cancerous tumors.

"If something has artificial intelligence in it that means it has software in it that allows the computer program to do something on its own without a human pressing a button the entire time."

Glaser said using AI, companies are "able to anticipate behavior by drawing on your past behavior. They require a tremendous amount of data that they process, these software algorithms, in order to determine what you might want next."

She added that "there are all sorts of ways these predictive algorithms can and have already creeped into our lives."

While shopping on Amazon, the site might suggest you may want a flashlight to go with that tent you've bought. On Netflix, it knows what movies you might enjoy.

"So if you typically go for romantic comedies, then it's going to suggest romantic comedy next based on your behavior," she told CNBC.

Computers continue to improve because, Glaser said, "they are getting smarter because the more data that you feed it the more refined the results will become."

Read more:

Get smart: How artificial intelligence is changing our lives - CNBC