Very informative post @creativeblue! Since I deal in AI and Machine Learning, I know what you are talking about.
Did you know that AI has advanced enough to remove IVR? I mean IVR is still a human punching in information through the phone, but AI assistant can actually take information based on our voice interaction or make a call for you. Take a look at this:
Google duplex.. Natural Language understanding. Cool, isn't it?