LVMH-owned beauty retailer Sephora is doubling down on augmented reality and artificial intelligence sales tactics by enabling shoppers to virtually try on false lashes, watch tutorials using their own image and engage via a chatbot to trial and purchase lip color. With Sephora's customers virtually trying on more than 70 million lip shades using the Virtual Artist in-app functionality that was introduced earlier this year, false lashes are being added to expand the program. Users of the Sephora application can also now experience live step-by-step makeup application tutorials using their own uploaded images and augmented reality technology. "This is a significant expansion because we are adding elements that we know will help empower and educate our clients' purchase making decisions, and they're done in a way that is fun and engaging," said Bridget Dolan, vice president of Sephora Innovation Lab. "The new Live Tutorials especially are a game changer for our users," she said.

There's a new web app that uses advanced "deep learning" research to magically auto-colorize black-and-white photos. The app uses the Colorful Image Colorization algorithm that's being developed by a team at UC Berkeley led by PhD student Richard Zhang. We first reported on the technology back in March 2016, and now there's an online demo that anyone can try on any photograph. Simply paste a URL to a photo into the website and press the purple "Colorize It" button. After some processing and a short wait, the page displays a side-by-side comparison of the B&W and colorized photos that you can switch between.

Algorithms have become a ubiquitous and essential part of business operations. Uber uses algorithms to determine customer demand and set pricing accordingly, while Amazon and Netflix use algorithms to nudge their customers to purchase a product or stream a new video they might like. And these examples are just the tip of the iceberg. Interestingly, the use of these algorithms can not only increase an enterprise's internal efficiency, but often algorithmic software or machine learning algorithms can also be used to deepen consumer loyalty and trust. Viewers on Netflix trust algorithms to deliver content they'll enjoy, just as customers trust Amazon to offer only useful products for purchase.

When Liz Jurcik of Seattle felt a sharp pain in her side and back in January of 2013, she didn't think much about it. Jurcik, a 31-year-old human resources professional at Boeing, ran regularly and was in good shape. She thought it was probably a strained muscle from a workout. But the pain got worse, and by early February she could barely stand up. "I had the absolutely worst pain in my life," she said.

It's been called the'sexiest job of the 21st century', the'hottest job of the decade', and is the fastest-growing field in tech at the moment – the impact of Data Science in today's world cannot be overstated. As a discipline, data science involves the collection and study of data – both structured and unstructured – to gain insights and information that can be used by organizations to devise effective strategies. By collating data over a period of time, patterns can be identified that enable companies to find new market opportunities, enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and place themselves at a competitive advantage in their industry. Due to rapid technological advances, especially in areas like mobile advertising, social media, and website personalization, a massive amount of data is being generated on a daily basis. These data volumes have resulted in industries having to become data-savvy & adapt to the new landscape – or risk falling behind the competition.

For more than a decade, Silicon Valley's technology investors and entrepreneurs obsessed over social media and mobile apps that helped people do things like find new friends, fetch a ride home or crowdsource a review of a product or a movie. Now Silicon Valley has found its next shiny new thing. And it does not have a "Like" button. The new era in Silicon Valley centers on artificial intelligence and robots, a transformation that many believe will have a payoff on the scale of the personal computing industry or the commercial internet, two previous generations that spread computing globally. Computers have begun to speak, listen and see, as well as sprout legs, wings and wheels to move unfettered in the world.

At this year's Annual Meeting of the New Champions, hosted by the World Economic Forum in Tianjin, China, the Meta-Council on Emerging Technologies choose the top ten technologies of 2016, based on their potential to transform industry and society. A diverse range of breakthrough technologies, including autonomous vehicles, natural language artificial intelligence, and next generation batteries, were examined in collaboration with Scientific American, highlighting advances that have the power to improve lives, transform industries, and safeguard the planet. The report also provides an opportunity to debate human, societal, economic, or environmental risks and concerns that the technologies may pose prior to widespread adoption. "The global community needs to come together and agree on common principles if our society is to reap the benefits and hedge the risks of these technologies," said Dr. Bernard Meyerson, Chief Innovation Officer of IBM, and Chairman of the Meta-Council. In raising awareness about these technologies, moreover, the Council aims to address challenges in investment and regulation.

Deep learning algorithms could potentially learn to avoid the rules they where taught, so we won't understand their choices. So should we trust them like other humans? "Software governs much of our daily lives from behind the scenes, from which sorts of information we consume, to who we date. For some, secretive algorithms decide whether they are at risk of committing a future crime. It's only natural to want to understand how these black boxes accomplish all this, especially when it impacts us so directly.

Though deals to private artificial intelligence companies -- excluding incubator/accelerator rounds -- fell 10% in Q2'16, dollar funding reached an all-time high. Q2'16 saw 3 100M mega-rounds by companies using AI: a 154M Series A round to China-based healthcare startup iCarbonX (backed by Tencent, Vcanbio), a 100M growth equity round raised by New Jersey-based Fractal Analytics (backed by Khazanah Nasional Berhad) and a 100M Series D round raised by California-based cybersecurity unicorn Cylance (backed by investors including Blackstone Group, Insight Venture Partners, and Khosla Ventures). Our AI category includes companies applying AI solutions to verticals like healthcare, security, advertising, and finance as well as those developing general-purpose AI tech. Nearly 70% of the deals went to startups in the United States in Q2'16. A majority of the startups raising funds were still in their early-stages: Nearly 60% of the deals went to startups raising seed/angel and Series A rounds, while mid-stage startups (Series B and C) received 12% of the deals.

Frank Tobe is the owner and publisher of The Robot Report. After selling his business and retiring from 25 years as a provider of computer direct marketing and consulting to the Democratic National Committee, major presidential and other campaigns and initiatives, he has energetically pursued a new career in researching and investing in robotics. In 2013 he co-founded Robo-stox LLC (renamed to ROBO Global) which developed a tracking index for the robotics industry: the ROBO Global Robotics & Automation Index.