Analysts are saying that Apple's upcoming updates to its Siri voice assistant should help the company address criticisms that it can't compete on artificial intelligence. Apple is now opening Siri to apps made by other companies, and like Google and Microsoft, it's bringing the digital assistant to desktop and laptop computers. It's also making Siri smarter by using what Apple calls differential privacy. Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy explains it as Apple using non-personal information in aggregate to teach Siri new tricks, then having all the personalization take place on the individual device. It's in contrast to Google's approach of doing everything over the internet -- that is, in the "cloud."

A 1969 McKinsey article claimed that computers were so dumb that they were not capable of making any decisions. In fact they said, it was human intelligence that drives the dumb machine. Alas, this claim has become a bit of a "joke" over the years, as the modern computers are gradually replacing skilled practitioners in fields across many industries such as architecture, medicine, geology, and education. Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Science, and Deep Learning are pushing these changes in ways that are only just being understood. In the current scenario, many buzzwords are being employed in the evolving IT industry, especially in the various research areas around and within Data Science.

Google announced in a blog post on Thursday that it has set up a new AI research group in Europe to focus on machine learning (ML). Machine learning is a field of computer science that gives computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed. Google Research, Europe -- as the group is known -- is based out of Google's office in Zurich, Switzerland, which is home to Google's largest engineering office outside the US. Google said the group, which is expected to grow to over 100 people in the coming years, will focus on three key areas: machine intelligence, natural language processing and understanding, and machine perception. Companies like Amazon, Facebook, and Microsoft are all investing heavily in these areas as they look to make their platforms and services more intelligent.

FILE - In this Dec. 2, 2015 file photo, Germany's Kuka Robotics Co.'s robot LBR iiwa demonstrates a flower arrangement at the International Robot exhibition in Tokyo. Chinese appliance maker Midea has promised that German industrial robot maker Kuka will remain independent, as it seeks to allay fears about its takeover bid for the company. Midea's chairman said Thursday, June 16, 2016 that it doesn't intend to "dominate Kuka or delist the business" as it released more details about the share offer announced last month.

As new technologies and creativity emerges, heralding the beginning of the fourth industrial revolution, what does this new era mean for the future of making things and our lives in a world of finite resources, and will progress be interpreted as a good or bad thing? Previous revolutions have had the most profound effect on'blue collar' workers. Now computers herald industrial revolution 4.0. What will be the impact on the'white collar' workers of today? This session explains what this new era means for the future of making things and our lives in a world of finite resources.

In April I made one of my regular visits to the Oxford Martin School, where I am a Senior Visiting Fellow with an emphasis in human-machine collaboration and interdisciplinary teamwork. This visit I was honored and delighted to meet with over a dozen of the world's top experts in these matters and in artificial intelligence from Oxford's Future of Humanity Institute, including its director, Nick Bostrom. I was fascinated by the part of Professor Bostrom's recent book, "Superintelligence," about instilling human values into machines. As another of my current titles is chairman of the Human Rights Foundation, based in New York, this is an interesting disciplinary intersection for me! To take it a step further, do you see ways artificial intelligence and related technologies can impact the human rights of humans?

Meet the future face of healthcare assistance - a friendly faced robot named Pepper. Its diction is still a little odd, and his movements sometimes a bit hesitant, but the robot is all geared up to help patients at two Belgian hospitals. The humanoid assistant, who has a screen on his chest and a round head, is the first robot in the world to be used to greet people in a medical setting, its software creators said. Two of Belgium's hospitals have installed Pepper robots in their receptions for trials. The robots will help patients in Ostend and Liege. In Liege, at the Centre Hospitalier Regional La Citadelle, the robot helper will remain in the hospital's reception area.

Part II Learning data – You are the pie for a machine learning API Learning any data? In the previous blog I ended with the question "Are you moving away from data and focusing on growing up by creating some learning awareness? You yourself, are a growing business that share's intelligence or learns? This is the second blog in a series of three. Click here to read the first blog on pie eating at Start-Fest Europe.

Drawing an accurate sketch of a person's face is an art that is hard for most people to master. But it turns out to be relatively easy for computers. Various programs exist for converting images into line drawings. That often produces a decent start, although these systems can have difficulty with shadows and high contrast. A more promising approach is to use machine-vision algorithms that rely on neural networks to extract features from an image and use these to produce a sketch.

A new office manager has been hired on a trial basis at the Transport Systems Catapult in Milton Keyenes in an attempt to determine if artificial intelligence can do the job better than a human can. Betty the Robot will be on staff for a two-month trial period as she acclimates to the office environment and carries out tasks that are normally handled by a human counterpart. Some of the duties that Betty the Robot will be carrying out include regular patrols of the office spaces, keeping track of the number of employees that work after hours, collecting data regarding clutter, regulating the temperature in the office, measuring the noise and humidity levels, as well as ensuring doors are closed and desks are clean of clutter in the absence of workers, according to the Mirror. Betty the Robot may actually be doing more work than her human counterparts, in less time. She will not complain about the workload and she will eagerly work beyond the normal 9-5 shift without worry of being impacted by stress, sickness, or other unexpected personal issues.