At its London event today, Amazon didn't just announce European availability of the Echo, it also dropped a couple of global announcements too. Perhaps the biggest surprise was the existence of a new white Echo and Echo Dot, which will launch in Europe and the US in the coming weeks. In the case of the Dot, it's not just a color refresh: the product itself has been given a new voice chip that is capable of detecting where you are in a room, and it's also getting that rumored price drop. Amazon's so convinced that you'll want more than one, it's offering Dot bundle packs, which like the Fire tablet, let you to buy six for the price of five but also buy 10 and grab two extra free. If you're interested in adding a white Echo to your home but want to see if it'll fit in, we've got you covered.

AI-enabled messaging programs that respond to text-based requests -- are the latest innovation that startups and corporations are using to serve existing customers and bring in new ones. Companies across a wide variety of industries are building these tools on popular messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, Slack, Kik, and Hipchat, as well as on their own websites and apps. Some are even available by text, to help users do things like fight parking tickets, respond to customer service inquiries, and order tacos. This is by no means an exhaustive list, so if you see we're missing a chatbot that's currently up and running, please share the link with us in the comments section. We'll add new, significant chatbots to the list over time.

Deutsche Bahn is about to begin using a new data analytics service provided by T-Systemsto improve their existing real-time system for projecting arrival and departure times on their rail passenger services. The timetable data for more than two million stops per day for essentially the whole of Deutsche Bahn's scheduled passenger services will be compared minute-by-minute against the current real-world transport situation. This comparison is then used as the basis for forecasting probable arrival times and, at the same time, for predicting the impact of the real-time information on subsequent passenger transfer connections. From T-Systems' data centers, the system analyzes geo-positioning reports received for all trains currently running in a matter of seconds, and produces a projection of expected arrival times up to the trains' final destinations. The algorithm used in these calculations is based on machine learning (artificial intelligence).

Artificial Intelligence has always been a hot topic. The problem of creating a machine that can think, make its own decisions and at the same time lacks human limitations, has always aroused controversies. We all remember what the infamous Skynet has done to our planet in Terminator series, right? We can also recall this nasty feeling of a cold shiver running down our spines when Neo has woken up from the Matrix. After watching such films, we can wonder why our scientists want to build intelligent machines in a first place. One would ask: why putting humanity at risk?

Uber's self-driving cars have been spotted around Pittsburgh for a few months now, but starting today you can actually take a ride in one. The company announced that as of today, Uber's most "loyal" Pittsburgh customers might receive a ride in a self-driving Ford Fusion when they request an Uber X. As predicted, being a test subject in the company's cars will net you a free ride. Uber made the announcement at its Advanced Technologies Center in Pittsburgh, a location founded about 18 months ago specifically to focus on autonomous vehicles. The combination of a local government friendly to some reasonable radical experimentation coupled with the nearby Carnegie Mellon University providing a pipeline of excellent engineerings made Pittsburgh a natural choice for the program, but it's still a little surprising it has cars on the road already.

Specialized dictionaries are used to understand concepts in specific domains, especially where those concepts are not part of the general vocabulary, or having meanings that differ from ordinary languages. The first step in creating a specialized dictionary involves detecting the characteristic vocabulary of the domain in question. Classical methods for detecting this vocabulary involve gathering a domain corpus, calculating statistics on the terms found there, and then comparing these statistics to a background or general language corpus. Terms which are found significantly more often in the specialized corpus than in the background corpus are candidates for the characteristic vocabulary of the domain. Here we present two tools, a directed crawler, and a distributional semantics package, that can be used together, circumventing the need of a background corpus.

Experts discuss the costs and benefits created by developments brought on by Artificial Intelligence. In recent years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has established itself at the forefront of technological innovation. That is precisely why AI is the focus of the Hot Topic at the 4th Heidelberg Laureate Forum (HLF), 'AI: From Lofty Dream to Technology Driver', this September 20 at the New University in Heidelberg. The session is comprised of a panel discussion with leading researchers debating the current scientific trends in AI and its applications. That is followed by a broader discussion that dives into how the developments in AI affect our lives and society.

The unprecedented rise of AI is challenging the competitiveness of every industry across the world, offering to all the leaders the opportunity to make their existing processes and businesses more efficient! Even more, we can now be able to predict that the next decade is going to be mark by an endless wave of disruptions, giving to the AI's companies the potential to become tomorrow's leaders. In order to explore the unlimited potential of AI market and understand how companies are implementing AI in their businesses, the editorial team of AI Europe has been thrilled to interview a major leader of this cognitive industry: Peter Wallqvist, CEO, RAVN Systems! http://bit.ly/2cfr6Rl

Slaughter and May has signed a deal to use a new artificial intelligence (AI) system called Luminance which it helped create with backing from a technology investment company set up by Autonomy co-founder Mike Lynch. The firm worked closely with Luminance Technologies, which has been funded with capital from Invoke Capital, for several months to test and pilot the software Luminance claims will transform the due diligence process on M&A deals. The elite magic circle firm is the only law firm to have piloted Luminance prior to its launch, though several others are also interested in piloting the technology. Its expertise on deals and due diligence was used to help improve the technology. Slaughters has signed a contract to use the technology going forward, though the details around this are not yet clear.

The latest version of Apple's mobile operating system which powers the iPhone and iPad, iOS 10, has suffered issues during its launch on Tuesday night. Millions of users were quick to access the free update when it became available, however there have been mixed reports on social media, with some users reporting their smartphones and tablets crashing, with only a connection to a computer via USB fixing the issue, some have claimed. Apple issued a statement confirming a "brief issue with the software update process affecting a small number of users during the first hour of availability", but this had now been fixed. The free upgrade includes a variety of new features, including an overhauled Messages app with more emojis and animations, a new notification system for the lock screen and virtual assistant Siri being able to integrate into more apps. Users of the iPhone and iPad in the UK with a compatible device - iPhone 5 and newer, or iPad mini 2 and newer - are eligible for the update.