Two months after rolling out its digital assistant, Google is opening its doors to outside developers to help the company chase rivals, particularly Amazon.com On Thursday, the Alphabet Inc. unit launched a system for developers to build chatbots that work with Google Assistant, its voice-based virtual helper. The tools, called Conversation Actions, will let companies and other third parties interact with Google users by building bots that answer questions and, eventually, sell and book things through voice controls. Developers can seek approval for phrases that come after "Ok, Google" (the words that summon the Assistant) to launch the interactive bots. So, in the future if someone says, "Ok, Google, talk to Target," a chatbot for the retailer might appear and help the person buy things through a conversation, for example.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing everything from marketing to healthcare. And this holiday season is the beginning of the future for how marketers will leverage AI to better understand, connect with, and create superior experiences for consumers. To better appreciate the impact that AI is having on retailers, I connected with IBM's first CMO, Michelle Peluso. Peluso has a strong background in retail, having served at the CEO of Gilt as well as the Global Consumer Chief Marketing and Internet Officer at Citigroup. Peluso provides her thoughts below on how Watson's AI capability is changing the way retailers impact the consumer shopping experience.

EBay opened a two-day pop-up in London last week with the claim that it was the first store to use facial recognition to help shoppers decide on holiday gifts. Shoppers in private booths were told to think of someone they wanted to buy a gift for as they were then shown a series of 12 product images for about 10 seconds each in two cycles. Cameras then measured facial expressions and how long individuals looked at each gift to determine which ones they had the strongest feelings for. The process took around five minutes. Shoppers later received via email a list of products they "emotionally resonated" with the most.

Enough with the robots, and the magic mirrors and the virtual reality headsets, already. Now in the thick of this nail-biting holiday season when stores generate a massive chunk of their annual sales, it's become all too clear that retailers have fallen prey to bright-shiny-object syndrome when it comes to digital innovations. Instead, they should be tapping technology to fix shoppers' longtime pain points, like that dreaded wait in line, and the archaic fitting-room experience, or the agony of roaming through aisles like a lost puppy trying to find the whole-wheat cous cous. Putting an end to these iconic shopping-torture rituals would go a long way in boosting good will with consumers while also fattening stores' bottom lines. Shelling out money on those, perhaps scary to some, talking robots to "help" consumers in the aisle?

See New York's Christmas windows without leaving home: Google reveals interactive virtual tour of Manhattan's stunning festive storefronts Window Wonderland is an app that takes users on a virtual tour to 18 storefronts in New York City Users will see clothing stores like Macy's, jewelers like Cartier and high-end brands like Fendi The app can also be paired with a VR headset to give users the full experience of the Big Apple The series was create by stitching multiple high-resolution images together to create a panorama Users will see clothing stores like Macy's, jewelers like Cartier and high-end brands like Fendi Brain study from Google AI lab... Watch the Earth change before your eyes: Google unveils a... Face tuning selfie app and Pokémon Go top Google's Play... Google reveals ALL of its power for everything from massive... Brain study from Google AI lab... Watch the Earth change before your eyes: Google unveils a... Face tuning selfie app and Pokémon Go top Google's Play... ...

US consumers appear to be warming up to the idea of using of chatbots as a customer relationship management (CRM) tool, according to new research from Aspect Software Research. In its online survey of more than 1,000 18- to 65-year-old US consumers, 44% said that if a company could get the experience right, they would prefer to use a chatbot or automated experience for CRM. That's up four percentage points from the share of respondents who noted the same response in 2015. Chatbots can best be thought of as software programs that use messaging as the interface to carry out various tasks for users. They're generally integrated into messaging apps to capitalize on these apps' vast reach and the conversational interaction they promote.

And in ecommerce in particular, brands who want to stay relevant and ahead of the curve are embracing AI as a way to enhance the customer experience, making it more personalised, efficient and intuitive. Here are three ways that we are already seeing artificial intelligence in action across various sectors, which when applied to ecommerce, have the potential to take customer experience to the next level. We've all experienced the frustrations of trying to search with keywords – a constant process of trial and error which results in many of us giving up in frustration. Wouldn't it be better if we could just talk to our computers in full sentences, explain the exact parameters of our search, and have them understand? Artificial intelligence, combined with the power of natural language processing – which allows machines to understand the nuances of human language – is making this possible.

During his campaign for president, Donald Trump claimed Amazon was a monopoly he would go after for anti-trust violations if elected. Sure, Trump didn't like the coverage he was receiving in the Washington Post, which Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos owns. But even just judging by the latest holiday sales numbers, Amazon so decisively dominates online shopping that other retail giants can barely compete. If Trump decided to make good on his promise, should Bezos be worried? Amazon's dominance is just that: a company outdoing the competition in capitalism's grand tradition. If success alone were against the law, then yes.

And in ecommerce in particular, brands who want to stay relevant and ahead of the curve are embracing AI as a way to enhance the customer experience, making it more personalised, efficient and intuitive. Here are three ways that we are already seeing artificial intelligence in action across various sectors, which when applied to ecommerce, have the potential to take customer experience to the next level. We've all experienced the frustrations of trying to search with keywords – a constant process of trial and error which results in many of us giving up in frustration. Wouldn't it be better if we could just talk to our computers in full sentences, explain the exact parameters of our search, and have them understand? Artificial intelligence, combined with the power of natural language processing – which allows machines to understand the nuances of human language – is making this possible.

Amazon wants customers to be able to leave their wallets at home and still go shopping, as long as they have their smartphones on hand. The online retail giant is opening up a brick-and-mortar store in Seattle called Amazon Go, and the store uses a mix of sensors and computer learning to track what items customers pick up and to automatically add them to their Amazon accounts. Amazon identifies each customer using a QR code, which individuals scan before entering the store. The store offers groceries, ready-made food, and Amazon meal kits. Currently, Amazon Go is only accessible to the company's employees, but Amazon says it will open its doors to the public in early 2017.