Amazon has announced a new program designed to help hotels deploy Alexa's voice-enabled smarts across their properties. Though Amazon's Alexa-powered Echo speakers are growing in popularity across the domestic realm -- helping users control their doors, lights, and search the web using nothing but their voice -- the internet giant has been targeting the hospitality sector for a while already. High-end hotel firm Wynn Resorts has been placing thousands of Amazon Echo speakers in its hotels since last summer, for example. And as of April, Alexa has been able to make phone calls in hotel rooms. Put simply, Amazon recognizes that hotels are a perfect showcase for its automated AI technologies.

Pune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/19/2018 -- The Artificial Intelligence is used in the creation of construction plans. Autonomous equipment is considered as AI as it is aware of its surroundings and is capable of navigation without human input. In the planning stages, AI machinery can survey a proposed construction site and gather enough information to create 3D maps, blueprints and construction plans. Before this advancement, these processes would take weeks – now they can be done in one day. This helps to save firms both time and money in the form of labor.

Kraken Robotics, Inc. (OTCQB: KRKNF) (TSXV: PNG) is engaged as a marine technology company that develops underwater robotic systems and software-centric sensors. Shares of the underwater robotics company are rallying 35%, through early trading on Wednesday, June 20, 2018. Over the past month, Kraken Robotics, Inc. has seen average daily volume of 78,235 shares. However, volume of 155,625 shares or dollar volume of $24,121, has already exchanged hands on the day. Shares of Kraken Robotics, Inc. are climbing today after the company announced that it has received a non-brokered private placement offering with Ocean Infinity, Ltd., an offshore ocean survey and ocean exploration company.

Today, New America and the Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence Initiative (AI Initiative), a project of MIT's Media Lab and Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center, formed a new partnership to strengthen international understanding of Chinese artificial intelligence policies and developments. The AI Initiative will contribute $250,000 to support the work of New America's DigiChina project, a collaborative effort to translate, analyze, and contextualize Chinese digital policy developments. DigiChina, which published its first work in July 2017, emerged organically from a group of scholars and analysts on technology in China and has so far published translations and analysis by 12 scholars from 10 different organizations. In 2017, DigiChina published the first complete English-language translation of China's New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan, which lays out ambitions for AI development and policy stretching to 2030. See below for links to other work so far on AI-related issues.

Today, the European Commission hosted a high-level meeting with 12 representatives from philosophical and non-confessional organisations from across Europe, as part of the regular dialogue with churches, religions, philosophical and non-confessional organisations foreseen by Article 17 of the Lisbon Treaty. This ninth annual high-level meeting discussed the topic "Artificial Intelligence: addressing ethical and social challenges". First Vice-President Frans Timmermans, responsible for the Article 17 Dialogue said: "Our societies are in the midst of an unprecedented digital revolution which will impact every person living on the planet. This revolution brings new promises, and new risks of disruption. We have seen recently that the digital world moved faster than the ethical discussion about what could and should be allowed online. We need to be in control of this transformation, and make sure that it is used to foster our values and defend our social model".

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is in the middle of a massive transition right now, but you may not have noticed. That's because the company is moving effortlessly into the burgeoning artificial intelligence (AI) market -- and it's bringing its legacy products and services along with it. Over the past few years, Microsoft has successfully been building new features into its Office products and launching new AI-powered tools through its Azure cloud-computing service as the company looks beyond its Windows products to the fast-growing AI market. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said recently that AI is the "defining technology of our times," and he's probably right. AI has the capability to alter how we drive our cars, it will help automate our factories, it will both create and kill jobs, it can be used in warfare, and it's already being used to help improve our healthcare.

As market trends shift away from physical video game sales in favor of direct downloads, the biggest remaining dedicated gaming retailer is up for sale. GameStop announced Tuesday that the Texas-based company is in "exploratory discussions" with possible buyers. GameStop announced the news in a press release on its website. The release is only three sentences long and gets straight to the point. "GameStop Corp.(NYSE:GME) today confirmed it is in exploratory discussions with third parties regarding a potential transaction. There can be no assurance any agreement will result from these discussions. GameStop does not intend to make any additional comments regarding these discussions unless and until it is appropriate to do so."

Clients across all industry sectors will be served by a new specialty practice in Artificial Intelligence (AI) at Heidrick & Struggles (Nasdaq: HSII), a premier provider of executive search, leadership assessment and development, organization and team effectiveness, and culture shaping services globally. Machine learning and other advanced forms of AI can help companies in every sector move beyond process automation that has helped drive efficiency and growth. Integrating and optimizing adaptive changes made possible by AI can provide massive competitive advantage. But there is a critical shortage of leaders with the ability to apply a deep understanding of AI to completely rethink and transform an organization's business model. Led by Ryan Bulkoski, a San Francisco-based partner, Heidrick & Struggles' AI Specialty Practice will help clients identify and develop senior talent needed to bring the power of emerging technologies to their business.

The first Stakeholder Summit on Artificial Intelligence, organised by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the European Commission, stressed that the EU must ensure that artificial intelligence is safe, unbiased and in line with European values. The event, which aimed to discuss the next steps to advance the EU strategy on artificial intelligence, took place on 18 June in Brussels. The key EU policy-makers on artificial intelligence and European stakeholders who gathered for the first stakeholder summit agreed that artificial intelligence held great promise in terms of addressing societal issues, but also raised a number of challenges with regard to privacy, security, labour, education and ethics. "Artificial intelligence is a technology which does not have to overcome and overwhelm us," said Catelijne Muller, President of the EESC Thematic Study Group on Artificial Intelligence, adding that humans should stay in command of artificial intelligence and be able to determine "if, when and how we want to use these technologies in our daily lives." Artificial intelligence is one of the main political priorities of the EESC's current presidency.

SoftBank Group Corp. CEO Masayoshi Son said Wednesday that the company will bolster its investment business in a shift in the telecommunications giant's growth strategy. "I have used 97 percent of my brain to consider the telecom businesses, but will shift that to investments," Son said at a meeting with more than 2,300 shareholders in Tokyo. Son, one of most influential investors in the technology industry, said his company will strengthen its focus on investments in startup ventures possessing artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge technologies through its $100 billion Vision Fund, which was set up last year with partners such as Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund. "We are the unicorn hunter," Son said, referring to unlisted startups valued at more than $1 billion. Among its recent investment projects, SoftBank has taken a stake in ride-hailing service provider Uber Technologies Inc. and has also bought U.S.-based robotics company Boston Dynamics.