Computer vision is essentially an arm of artificial intelligence that lets machines analyze and understand images by breaking them down and processing them on a pixel-by-pixel basis, rather than by meta data (such as keywords and descriptions that rely not only on human actions, but on human accuracy too). Predictive typing keyboard company SwiftKey was recently snapped up by Microsoft -- not because it has a popular little app for Androids and iPhones, but because it's building a sophisticated back end built on artificial intelligence and machine learning. This includes artificial neural networks (ANNs) that are more directly based on the structure and workings of the human brain. From enterprise software and drug discovery through to predictive typing and now stock photography searches, machine learning is less of an abstract research field now and more of a reality.

Shutterstock is flexing its AI muscles with the news that the stock photo giant is introducing new computer-vision search smarts to its platform. The company, which is headquartered in New York's Empire State Building, went public back in 2012 and now offers more than 70 million images for bloggers and media outlets -- which can make searching for specific assets challenging. Of course, the trusty old keyword search tool is effective to an extent, but what if you want to find images that are similar to one you have in your possession? Or what if you want alternative images based on color schemes, mood, or shapes? This is where Shutterstock's new reverse image search comes into play.

Writers fret about many things. In fact, agonizing over something, anything, is a writer's natural state, a condition that can feed the muse but also kill inspiration. Writers worry about writing, of course -- the quality and the quantity, the rhythm of the words and the structure of the piece. We worry about the publishing industry. And now we have to worry about automation.

An Iranian-born video-game designer wants players to relive history with a new game that gives users a first-person perspective on the 1979 Iranian revolution. "1979 Revolution: Black Friday" lets gamers experience the tumultuous events through the eyes of a photojournalist who is watching his country unravel. Released Tuesday by indie game designer iNK Stories, the game has garned acclaim for its accurate depiction of the revolution. The lead on the project, Navid Khonsari -- a former Rockstar Games designer who helped developed the popular "Grand Theft Auto" series – says he wanted to create a game that is not only historically accurate but could also lead to a new genre of video games. The game offers multiple scenarios based on the revolution, but does not include the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

Like innumerable children with imaginations fired by animated films, Hong Kong product and graphic designer Ricky Ma grew up watching cartoons featuring the adventures of robots, and dreamt of building his own one day. Unlike most of the others, however, Ma has realized his childhood dream at the age of 42, by successfully constructing a life-sized robot from scratch on the balcony of his home. The fruit of his labors of a year-and-a-half, and a budget of more than 50,000, is a female robot prototype he calls the Mark 1, modeled after a Hollywood star whose name he wants to keep under wraps. It responds to a set of programmed verbal commands spoken into a microphone. "I figured I should just do it when the timing is right and realize my dream. If I realize my dream, I will have no regrets in life," said Ma, who had to learn about fields completely new to him before he could build the complex gadget.

It's more than fitting that the first posthumous video for a David Bowie song would depict a psychedelic shot through the cosmos. "I Can't Give Everything Away," a standout track from his final album, "Blackstar," gets a gentle lyric video that recalls vintage animation and science fiction, and alludes to death while embracing its mystery. The video, directed by Jonathan Barnbrook, uses cosmic imagery from the album juxtaposed against snippets of the song's lyrics. And with every day since Bowie's death, its message seems more weighty. "I know something's very wrong / The post returns for prodigal songs," he opens.

Channel Mark Ventures announced today that it will be launching Inteladesk through their technology development and sales company CenturySoft Ltd. This next generation customer helpdesk management solution is powered by a revolutionary artificial intelligence (AI) platform. "Inteladesk's AI-based engagement solution is the ideal complement to our insight-driven approach of sales acceleration for our clients at their specific domain level," said Dan O'Shea, CEO at Channel Mark Ventures. In discussing their Inteladesk product O'Shea explained that "Inteladesk essentially drives a personalized sales experience. Inteladesk helps companies perfect their knowledge base by explaining misstep queries or missed opportunities to improve FAQs. Combined with the technology, Inteladesk users will have the ability to reduce incoming customer service emails and calls. With Inteladesk at work, new processes will emerge as the technology helps companies introduce new service enriching CRM processes not previously possible or financially feasible. In turn, employees can take on higher-level roles to formulate new ways to enrich customer service. We are beyond thrilled at the prospects here. There is nothing like it available on the market today. The Live Agent learns as it works and provides high-quality responses consistently, every day of the year, in every language your customers speak. Cognitive Code's technology is truly game-changing."

Recruiting has become the digital equivalent of looking for an elusive needle in a very, very large haystack. Artificial intelligence (AI) is fast becoming an invaluable tool for recruiters and hiring managers in sifting through that haystack, scouring applicant pools and matching the right talent to the right jobs. Consider the Palo Alto–based startup Connectifier, which is used by companies like PayPal and Netflix. It aggregates publicly available information about potential job candidates--think professional networking profiles and social media interactions--and gathers the data in its own search index. The company's AI algorithm then creates personal profiles of candidates and extracts insights about whether they would be a good match for a job, even if they're not actively searching for a new one.

Ruth Toner Data Scientist Twitch Insight Fellow 2016 Physics Postdoc Harvard University Ruth Toner was a Fellow in our most recent Data Science session in Silicon Valley. She's since joined the Community team at Twitch as a Data Scientist. In this post she describes Fanguard, the tool she built at Insight to protect Tumblr readers from spoilers for blockbuster movies and popular TV shows. Before attending Insight Data Science, I spent eight years of my life in the field of particle physics. Like many postdocs and grad students, when I wasn't trying to discover the basic laws of matter (i.e., debugging my code), I spent a lot of time surfing the Internet.

When different disciplines such as music and technology come together, they can spark remarkably interesting ideas. Thus, it's no surprise to see that--for those of you who are aspiring musicians, avid guitar players, or anything in-between--there's a new program out there that promises to help you master the guitar. Allen Van Wert, who is known as one of the fastest guitar pickers in the world, developed an artificial intelligence program called the Ultimate Picking Program. Van Wert created the program to cut costs associated with private teachers and to customize lessons based on the user's skills. The first time you use the program, you complete a test that assesses your strengths and weaknesses.