To stay in front of the opposition, to stay relevant and useful for searchers and advertisers, Google and Microsoft invest heavily in machine learning technologies. It helps to analyze annd understand searcher intent. Artificial intelligence is not something that most web content writers concern themselves with, but they need to start. As people are more familiar with Google Search algorithm updates, mostly because Google announces them with a fanfare while others just go about their business, let's talk about them. It should be noted however that the finer points also apply to Microsoft and Bing.

This week, a video surfaced of a Harvard professor, Steven Pinker, which appeared to show him lauding members of a racist movement. The clip, which was pulled from a November event at Harvard put on by Spiked magazine, showed Mr. Pinker referring to "the often highly literate, highly intelligent people who gravitate to the alt-right" and calling them "internet savvy" and "media savvy." The neo-Nazi Daily Stormer website ran an article headlined, in part, "Harvard Jew Professor Admits the Alt-Right Is Right About Everything." A tweet of the video published by the self-described "Right-Wing Rabble-Rouser" Alex Witoslawski got hundreds of retweets, including one from the white-nationalist leader Richard Spencer. "Steven Pinker has long been a darling of the white supremacist'alt-right,'" noted the lefty journalist Ben Norton.

In May of last year, Misty Robotics raised US $11.5 million and spun itself out of parent company Sphero. From the sound of things, Sphero cofounder Ian Bernstein had been working on an idea for a new kind of robot inside Sphero for a while, and Misty is the manifestation of that. Misty Robotics' vision is to put a personal robot in every home and office. These robots will be seen and treated as our friends, our teammates, and a part of our families--performing helpful tasks, providing safety, and interacting with humans in entertaining and friendly ways that have only been seen before in science fiction. Misty will begin its mission with the release of its first robot and a collaborative ecosystem for robotic development. That's quite a vision, especially in the context of the sky-high expectations that Jibo isn't (yet) living up to, and that Kuri may struggle to meet.

Gary Marcus has recently published a detailed, rather extensive critique of Deep Learning. While many of Dr. Marcus's points are well-known among those deeply familiar with the field and have been somewhat well-publicized for years, these discussions haven't yet reached many who are newly involved in decision-making in this space. Overall, the discussion the critique has generated seems clarifying and useful. I have decided to write up my thoughts because, while I think Dr. Marcus' critique is thoughtful, necessary and often justified, I disagree with some of the conclusions. To start, Dr. Marcus' assessment that Deep Learning, as originally defined, is merely a statistical technique for classifying patterns is spot on in my opinion.

Our editors have been on the ground for the better part of this week scouring every nook and cranny in Las Vegas to bring you the latest and greatest from CES 2018. And now we're ready to announce our finalists for the official Best of CES awards. Below you'll find our selections for all 16 categories, which range from best wearables to the most innovative tech we've seen at the show. We'll announce our category winners tomorrow, which is also when we'll reveal our Best of the Best award recipient, the most coveted prize of all. That special award is selected from our pool of category winners. If you want your voice heard too, no worries! There's an additional category for the People's Choice, where you can vote for your favorite entry from our compilation of finalists. Just head on over to our poll right here to vote and the one with the most votes will win our special People's Choice award. All award winners will be announced at a special ceremony tomorrow at our CES stage, so be sure to come back right here on Engadget around 5PM PST Thursday afternoon to watch it all unfold.

Jennifer Jolly's coolest gadgets from CES you'll actually see in your home this year. Ford CEO James Hackett smiles while getting ready for an interview next to a self-driving delivery vehicle at CES International (Photo: Jae C. Hong, AP) LAS VEGAS -- Ford CEO Jim Hackett offered an ambitious vision for the automaker's self-driving vehicle business strategy Tuesday, depicting a future that will be as much as about networks of cars and traffic signals as any particular models. Ford will build these networked systems, he said, as well as the vehicles on the streets of this "City of Tomorrow." "The car and the system will be talking to each other," Hackett said at the CES tech trade show going on here. "The car obviously is going to learn to drive itself, but the city's transportation grid will mutate around what the cars need."

The idea of artificial intelligence can be a bit scary. It may conjure up thoughts of science fiction stories, robots and futuristic gadgets. But the future is here, and artificial intelligence is already being used by many sales organizations - and making a huge impact. Artificial intelligence is the next great technological revolution, and sales professionals shouldn't hide from it; they must embrace it. In an interview with Reply, Mark Hunter of The Sales Hunter says, "Just as the telephone a century ago changed business, and the personal computer and the internet have done so more recently, we don't need to think AI is the end all."

Just months after she made history by becoming the first robot to be granted legal citizenship, Sophia has been given legs. The humanoid robot, which is capable of holding a conversation with humans, can now move forward in a series of clunky steps. Sophia represents a remarkable'rise of the machines' that promises – or threatens – to revolutionise man's relationship with technology. The talking humanoid robot, which is modelled after Audrey Hepburn, was designed by Hong Kong firm Hanson Robotics, which claims Sophia can hold a conversation with humans. Sophia first emerged two years ago as a super-intelligent human-like head with a realistic face that was able to blink, look from side to side and talk.

After getting his bachelor and master degrees in Tsinghua University in 1995 and 1998, Steve Deng went to Carnegie Mellon University in 2006 to pursue his Ph.D in Computer Science. Before he got his Doctor degree, Steve Deng had already been hired as a counseling engineer in American Incentia Design Automation company. In January 2006, Steve Deng joined American Magma Design Automation company and became a counseling researcher. In March 2008, he came back to China acting as the assistant professor in the Institute of Microelectronics of Tsinghua University. Steve Deng's major research direction is Al, the automation of electrical design, parallel algorithm and image processing machine structure.

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich speaks during a keynote address at the Monte Carlo Park Theater during CES 2018 in Las Vegas on January 8, 2018. LAS VEGAS -- Before unleashing a futuristic spectacle during his CES keynote here Monday night, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich addressed the recent security flaws in processors made by it and other chip makers. Krzanich said that more than 90% of Intel's chips deployed in consumer devices in the last five years will be updated to combat the intrusion flaw within a week and the remaining will be updated by the end of January. Last week, Intel and other chip makers acknowledged that potentially-exploitable flaws had been found in its chips that could let hackers access the most private areas of a user's computer or device. There have been no reports of breached consumer data from the weakness.