The "2017 STEM Workplace Trends" survey illustrates that after years of hype AI will have a profound impact on the domestic economy and workforce, says Trent Beekman, president of recruitment solutions at Modis. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of tech professionals believe AI will have the biggest impact on their industry, followed by drones, 3-D printing and augmented reality. This comes as reassuring news to Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL), Amazon.com Recent research suggests that AI is poised to find its way into autonomous vehicles, image and speech recognition, and data analysis. By 2030, up to a third of the American workforce will have to switch to new occupations, based largely on AI adoption, according to a report published by McKinsey Global Institute in November.

Amazon.com Inc. has triggered a race to the bottom in smart speakers. Amazon slashed prices on its new lineup of six Echo devices as part of its Black Friday promotions last month. The price drop for its entry-level Dot, to $30 from $50, helped make it the No. 1-selling product on the online retail giant's website over the Thanksgiving weekend. The new version of Amazon's original Echo speaker now sells for $100, roughly half the price of the first-generation device when it launched three years ago. That has forced rivals to react.

What can we learn from last year's performance? Last year's holiday sale season was a good one for e-tailers, but a bit more mixed for traditional retailers. Now that AI is becoming more popular -- and much more available, thanks to AI platforms and AI-based products -- how can retailers utilize it? Specifically, how can AI make seasonal sales more successful? First, let's discuss a trend in data analytics: the movement towards intelligent analysis rather than simple data collection.

New advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning promise to make some jobs obsolete through automation and change our world forever, experts say. It's hard to put into words what AI is -- many of the terms people use are very technical -- but Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos just summed up everything most people need to know about artificial intelligence in his latest shareholder letter. "Over the past decades computers have broadly automated tasks that programmers could describe with clear rules and algorithms. Modern machine learning techniques now allow us to do the same for tasks where describing the precise rules is much harder." This is a great way to describe the promise of AI. Computers were able to simplify and automate jobs with clear rules, tasks such as taxes or other paperwork.

A little more than a year ago, Amazon announced a new grocery store concept that promised customers a human-less shopping experience. Customers would simply walk in, grab the items they need, and leave without waiting in a line or going through a checkout--letting sensors, computer vision, and machine learning quietly do all the work to capture, calculate, and charge you for your purchases. With much fanfare, Amazon opened a trial store in Seattle. Then, headlines went quiet as the company hit unexpected technical challenges, according to the Wall Street Journal (paywall). Last month, speculation of Amazon Go's rollout reignited when the company began hiring store-related personnel. But Amazon's rival JD.com, the second biggest online retailer in China after Alibaba, has already beaten it to the punch.

Artificial intelligence will play an important role in reshaping an array of major industries such as retail, manufacturing and healthcare. Leading senior executives told the 4th World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, eastern China, that rapid technological changes will transform companies and society. Robin Li, chief executive of Baidu, felt that in comparison with mobile internet technology, which revolutionised consumer services, artificial intelligence (AI) would have a far bigger influence on how companies ran their businesses. "For instance, Baidu is leveraging AI to help supermarkets better manage their supply of fresh food, by analysing and predicting which products are most popular," said Li, who runs China's largest search engine. He pointed out that such solutions had effectively reduced food waste and boosted profit growth at pilot stores.

With Christmas approaching, online retailers are facing an onslaught of fraudsters, and machine learning could prove vital to pattern detection. Stripe has revealed insights from its data to help online businesses fight online fraud this Christmas, and has recommended that retailers add machine learning tools to their respective arsenals. Stripe examined transaction data from hundreds of thousands of its customers across 25 countries. 'We recommend using anti-fraud tools based on machine learning trained on large amounts of data, to ensure businesses are making the right trade-offs between battling fraud and maximising profits' – MICHAEL MANAPAT While chip-enabled credit cards have made bricks-and-mortar shopping safer, fraudsters are increasingly targeting online stores. However, unlike physical stores, online businesses are unfortunately responsible for paying the associated costs.

Walmart has submitted a patent application for a drone delivery system that focuses on how packages will be received. Instead of just delivering goods to your doorstep, drones would drop packages into secure boxes (lockers) that communicate with the drone. The application describes a smorgasbord of technology that could be used to ensure secure drop-off, including geofencing and a blockchain for package tracking and identification. Just like most patent applications, Walmart's "Unmanned Aerial Delivery to Secure Location" is jam-packed with redundant language, ambiguous line drawings, buzz words, and ample legal jargon. Still, the basic premise is clear: a delivery system that includes a robotic vehicle that communicates with a secure locker.

Email marketing is in for a complete overhaul. With AI, email marketing isn't limited to rule-based triggers but has evolved into a means of more in-the-moment personalization. AI has filled in the missing gap between traditional shopping and online shopping with 1:1 personalization. Here are four of the ways AI has changed email marketing for better. You have three seconds to seize the shopper's attention.

Very well written and easy to follow. The jupyter notebook code files available on the publisher's site make it very easy to work alongside the author as he presents the material. Arguably, one of the best introductory books on the subject if you want to dive right in with only minimal programming experience.