The sale of artificial intelligence-based platforms to business started off as a multi-million dollar pitch targeted toward the CEO, according to Nova Spivack, the founder and CEO of Bottlenose. The Los Angeles-based startup is looking to automate the application of AI to business intelligence, as well as much of the work of data scientists, currently in scarce supply. That should lower the price, a lot. In recent years, AI-driven applications have been targeted toward the CIO. In the future, Mr. Spivack says, they well may be sold directly to business leaders, and the price will drop to thousands or even hundreds of dollars per user, he told CIO Journal.

Baidu Inc. has established an early stage investment unit named Baidu Venture to back artificial intelligence, virtual reality and augmented reality projects. The fund will initially seek to raise US 200 million in capital for the effort. Robin Li, chairman and CEO of Baidu, will lead the venture unit as chairman and participate in project evaluation and investment decisions, Chinese media reported. The new venture unit will be independently run from Baidu's existing investment teams, allowing it to make fast decisions without having to go through complicated internal approval process. Baidu established a deep learning research institute as early as 2013, making artificial intelligence a key strategic focuse to shape the company's future.

San Francisco, CA -- September 14, 2016 -- Absolutdata, a leading data analytics firm, today announced the release of its groundbreaking NAVIK SalesAI solution, an add-on tool designed to work seamlessly with popular CRM platforms. NAVIK SalesAI is proven to increase sales by providing predictive data on buyers, identifying the most promising prospects and aligning purchaser needs with products and communication channels. Data driven recommendations help sales professionals close more deals more quickly by providing a customized weekly game plan of prioritized leads and actions. "We tested NAVIK SalesAI in a pilot program with a Fortune 500 industrial products company, and the results were incredible," said Dr. Anil Kaul, CEO of Absolutdata. "Using an A/B approach, we found that a group comprising 50 salespeople in six territories that used NAVIK SalesAI experienced a 4% sales uptick within just seven weeks. NAVIK SalesAI identifies more intelligent pathways to the sale, adding science to the art of selling."

U.S. stocks were slightly higher Wednesday morning as utility companies climbed. Energy companies were trading lower as the price of oil continued to slip. Stocks are at their lowest levels in two months after large losses in two of the last three days. The Dow Jones industrial average advanced 31 points, or 0.2%, to 18,097 as of 10:05 a.m. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 5 points, or 0.2%, to 2,132.

AI and machine learning are all the rage across a range of technology and industrial sectors. Now, the U.S. military is gauging the prospects for leveraging machine learning and other tools in autonomous weapons via emerging human-machine interfaces. In describing the latest version of the Pentagon's "offset strategy," senior U.S. defense officials have in recent months highlighted the military's desire to leverage AI to develop autonomous weapons. That, Robert Work, deputy U.S. defense secretary, noted in a recent address, "is going to lead to a new era of human-machine collaboration and combat teaming. Added Work: "Collaboration is using the tactical acuity of a computer to help a human make better decisions and human-machine combat teaming is using manned and unmanned platforms." DoD's "offset strategy" refers to a blueprint designed to maintain technological superiority.

BEIJING China's quality watchdog said on Wednesday Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's local unit will recall 1,858 units of its Galaxy Note 7 phones, after the Korean firm's product was found to have fire-prone batteries.

At the recent VentureBeat MobileBeat conference on July 13, a panel of executives assembled to discuss the impact of emerging technologies on the future of commerce. Three executives from high-profile companies - Holger Luedorf, senior vice president of Business Development at Postmates; Nichele Lindstrom, director of Digital Marketing at Whole Foods Market; and Eric Moujaes, senior director of Global Digital Product at McDonald's - chimed in and gave their insights on what they believe to be the most overhyped and promising technologies that will impact commerce in the near term. Their perspectives fell on the spectrum of the slightly surprising (drones will not be the future delivery vehicle of choice) as well as in alignment with current'hot' trends (chat bots look to be in like flynn). All three executives' opinions shed light on the potential future of our role as consumers and on businesses as providers in a'brave new world'. With companies like Amazon and Google forecasting the use of drones for delivery (any day now), people may be expecting these unmanned aerial vehicles to be a serious part of the future of commerce, but McDonald's Eric Moujaes believes differently.

If you ordered it from Silicon Valley's Zume Pizza, the answer is yes. The startup, which began delivery in April, is using intelligent machines to grab a slice of the multibillion-dollar pizza delivery market. Zume is one of a growing number of food-tech firms seeking to disrupt the restaurant industry with software and robots. Silicon Valley's Zume Pizza, which began delivery in April, is using intelligent machines to grab a slice of the multibillion-dollar pizza delivery market. The startup will soon add robots to prep the dough, add cheese and toppings, take pizzas out of the oven, cut them into slices and box them for delivery.

Sony (NYSE:SNE) launched its PS4 Slim this week with the PS4 Pro set to debut in November. These new models are set to dominate for the Christmas season and reinforce the company's lead over Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Nintendo (OTCPK:NTDOY). Their Virtual Reality product will also be there to tempt the consumer for the holiday season. In particular this will appeal to the youth dynamic, the holy grail for marketing departments. The PS4 is a terrific profit center for Sony but it is not the only ace in the pack for the company.

It is used to disguise a person's identity, cover explicit areas of an image or to render vehicle number plates unreadable. But deliberate pixilation of photographs could soon be rendered useless by artificial intelligence that can peer through the blurring to see what is hidden beneath. Software engineers have used machine learning to teach a piece of software to adapt image recognition techniques to recognise objects, faces and words in obscured images. Artificial intelligence could be used to defeat attempts to protect people's identity (stock image) or hide certain information in videos and photographs posted online. The software could mean that people who appear on Google Street View, for example, could be identified despite attempts by the search company to hide their identity with image blurring. It is a bizarre disappearing act that only the most affluent seem to be able to afford.