The field Artificial Intelligence is really starting to hit it's stride. Our developers were sitting around the office today thinking about some of the older AI app – Siri, Cortana, and so on. Obviously, both Virtual Personal Assistants or VPAs as they are often called, are still around and going strong. But all three of the big VPAs (the two previously mentioned and Google Now) today are far more advanced than what they were even 5 years ago. Even more noticeable, we now have AI devices like Echo that connect to the Internet of Things to bring your whole world online.

The blockchain space is full of projects without a clear use case and clear value, but, as we'll see, there are also projects which are quite the opposite. Nebula-AI (NBAI) is creating a decentralized AI computing platform which will make AI DAPPS (which they call DAI Apps) a reality. The first product and demo that they released is Quant-AI: A cutting-edge trading price prediction tool. In this article, we'll dive into the specifics of this project and take a look at Quant AI and the broader concept of DAI Apps. Thanks to the use of GPUs and parallel computing for algorithms like machine learning (ML) AI has finally become widely viable.

Housed in a tall plastic cylinder, Amazon's Alexa is far from physically resembling a woman. Yet when asked about its gender, the system curiously responds it is "female in character." A closer look at recent developments in artificial intelligence shows Alexa is the rule rather than the exception. From Apple's Siri to Hanson Robotics' humanoid robot Sophia, it seems that the future is female indeed -- but not in the way we intended. Artificial intelligence and robotics may intend to free us from many human limitations, but it seems that gender stereotypes are not one of them.

AI is all about adding intelligence to machines to supplement and streamline the things that humans are trying to accomplish. It allows us to understand and make decisions based on massive amounts of data. In fact, you're probably already using AI in ways you're not even aware of, such as speech recognition when you ask Cortana for the latest news or the chatbot that you interfaced with the other day for technical support. Below I've called out some of the key AI terms for marketers, to give you a foundation for finding ways to harness the vast potential of AI. AI is great at helping brands to engage directly with consumers at their time of need.

Automated platforms which support users in finding a mutually beneficial match, such as online dating and job recruitment sites, are becoming increasingly popular. These platforms often include recommender systems that assist users in finding a suitable match. While recommender systems which provide explanations for their recommendations have shown many benefits, explanation methods have yet to be adapted and tested in recommending suitable matches. In this paper, we introduce and extensively evaluate the use of "reciprocal explanations" -- explanations which provide reasoning as to why both parties are expected to benefit from the match. Through an extensive empirical evaluation, in both simulated and real-world dating platforms with 287 human participants, we find that when the acceptance of a recommendation involves a significant cost (e.g., monetary or emotional), reciprocal explanations outperform standard explanation methods which consider the recommendation receiver alone. However, contrary to what one may expect, when the cost of accepting a recommendation is negligible, reciprocal explanations are shown to be less effective than the traditional explanation methods.

Lighting might be the easiest way to start a smart home, but upgrading all of your bulbs can quickly add up, especially if you want to add color to your rooms. Today's the day to stock up: Amazon is selling Philips' most popular Hue White and Color Ambiance smart bulbs, the A19 standard LED and BR30 flood light, for $40 each, a savings of 20 percent. It's not quite the lowest price we've ever seen, but it's a great deal. Philips Hue bulbs are leaders in smart home lighting for a reason: They're longer lasting, more versatile, and more expandable than most of their competitors. With support for all three voice assistants--Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa--as well as a recently updated app that lets you easily set up scenes, location awareness, and timers for your entire system, the Hue bulbs are tough to beat at any price.

How good is the level of general knowledge possessed by Alexa and other digital assistants? For the second time, U.S. digital agency Stone Temple analyzed the issue by making a selection of assistants answer 5,000 general questions. The best performance was recorded by Google Assistant on smartphones which had an answering share of 77.2 percent, of which just over 95 percent were correct. By comparison, Apple's Siri answered 40 percent, of which 80 percent were correct. In comparison with the previous year, the learning curve for all assistants is on an upward trend.

Most how-to articles on a given subject walk you through a series of steps, perhaps with a video attached. Windows 10's new free help feature, Cortana Show Me, is different: It actually performs basic Windows tasks for you on your PC while you follow along. Even better, Cortana Show Me strikes a nice balance between showing you what to do, actually performing those steps, and providing an "escape hatch" if you need to slow down. All you need to do is wiggle your mouse, and Cortana Show Me will stop. Microsoft's free app is part of the Windows 10 April 2018 Update, and includes walkthroughs for many basic tasks--we have a full list below.

A Vancouver Island professor is trying to find a whole new way to help people experiencing memory loss. University of Victoria associate professor Debra Sheets is seeking volunteers for her study which explores how artificial intelligence software -- like Amazon's Alexa -- can help people with memory loss and dementia, as well as their family caregivers. "I'm really excited by the possibilities for people with dementia," said Sheets. "For someone with dementia, voice is a really easy way to access things." Sheets, who specializes in nursing, said the benefit of new voice technology is that it can simplify someone's everyday routine if they struggle with remembering specifics.

Aeronautics company Airbus has successfully launched an AI assistant called CIMON into space. The artificial intelligence system is the first to arrive on the International Space Station (ISS) and is powered by IBM's Watson supercomputer and overseen by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in cooperation with Airbus. CIMON stands for "Crew Interactive Mobile CompanioN" and is a mobile and autonomous system designed to help astronauts with everyday tasks on the ISS, while also providing companionship. CIMON was created using 3D printing and made of plastic and metal. "We are the first company in Europe to carry a free flyer, a kind of flying brain, to the ISS and to develop artificial intelligence for the crew on board the space station," said Manfred Jaumann of Airbus.