A study has found that people are inclined to trust chatbots with sensitive information and that they are open to receiving advice from these AI services. The "Humanity in the Machine" report --published by media agency Mindshare UK on Thursday -- urges brands to engage with customers through chatbots, which can be defined as artificial intelligence programmes that conduct conversations with humans through chat interfaces. In conjunction with Goldsmiths University and experts at the likes of IBM, Mindshare UK observed how consumers use chatbots when making a banking transaction. It also surveyed 1,000 UK smartphone users aged 18-65 on their attitudes towards chatbots. The study found that 63% of people would consider messaging an online chatbot to get in touch with a business or brand.

This should not be construed as a negative article. I am myself a keen learner of technology. I contribute regularly to the research in technology projects of MIT, Mckinsey & Co, Harvard University, others, in projects related to Digital Technology, Artificial Intelligence, and Internet of Things. My concern is that in our enthusiasm to create and move technology forward, we are little less serious on creating safeguards and adversity proof environment. They create the temperature for your body according to the weather.

What better way to close out Machine Learning Month than with a list of free, open source books on Machine Learning and related topics like AI, statistics, data-mining and more? Joseph Misiti has compiled such a list and posted it to GitHub. Since this post is about machine learning, here's the Machine Learning portion of the list:

In the dataworld, there is a particular dataset, referred to as "the taxi dataset," that has been getting a disproportionate amount of attention lately. The dataset in question is comprised of staggering detail (full GPS, transaction type, passenger counts, timestamps) on 1.2 billion individual taxi, limo Uber trips from January 2009 through June 2015. Released by the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission, the dataset became a darling of the data science set while also emerging as a popular test of database query speed. One of the leaders on the database performance benchmarking side is Mark Litwintschik, a consultant, blogger and database fanatic from the UK. Mark has tested more than 14 different databases/configurations using the dataset since it was first released in late 2015.

Ever seen a movie where artificially intelligent cyborgs try to wipe out humanity? Today, machines equipped with artificial intelligence are used in real life applications such as self driving cars -- and, surprise, they aren't out to destroy us. Now Kotaku Australia readers can learn all about this exciting, emerging technology with The Complete Machine Learning Bundle, priced at more than 90% off the regular price. The Complete Machine Learning Bundle offers access to ten courses and over 63 hours of content that can teach anyone important skills in statistics and data science, as well as coding languages like Python and Java to design algorithms that function on their own. Best of all, it's priced at just 52.23 AUD [ 39 USD], but only for a limited time.

Classic IVR automation already reduces customer service call costs by more than 90 percent--imagine what sophisticated A.I. can do. Join bot technology experts and A.I. scientists as they explore this and many other business implications of a world where bots join the conversation. "We've got to do something about how we communicate with customers," says Tobias Goebel, director of emerging technology at Aspect Softare. "We don't want to be stuck in the 20th century." He points to the primary market research that shows that the era of the phone call is coming to an end in a time when an entire generation rarely, if ever, makes phone calls, and even baby boomers would prefer to text customer service questions than pick up the phone to talk to a rep.

The first attempts by startups using artificial intelligence to design websites haven't amounted to much. A much-anticipated company called The Grid has failed to deliver on expectations. There is still no AI art hanging in MOMA yet. Instead of building more clever bots, startups like Wix are mining troves of user data to train algorithms that offer sound design advice for business websites. Website building platforms are experimenting with AI as part of the future of design.

The first attempts by startups using artificial intelligence to design websites haven't amounted to much. A much-anticipated company called The Grid has failed to deliver on expectations. There is still no AI art hanging in MOMA yet. Instead of building more clever bots, startups like Wix are mining troves of user data to train algorithms that offer sound design advice for business websites. Website building platforms are experimenting with AI as part of the future of design.

In 1995, Bill Gates ( Trades, Portfolio) wrote the AAAInternet Tidal WaveAAA memo outlining how the Internet would affect Microsoft ( MSFT). Following GatesAAA example, current Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella published an article outlining artificial intelligenceAAAs significance for society on Tuesday. He discussed the opportunities and challenges ahead emphasizing that his vision is for A.I. and humans to work collaboratively and not in opposition to one another. GuruFocus has detected 10 Warning Signs with MSFT. Click here to check it out.