There is no doubt that the artificial intelligence (AI) phenomenon will have a profound impact on businesses large and small this year; that part is easy to predict. What impact it will have, and whether this is a good or a bad thing, is harder to tell. Let's start with the basics of AI. "In our broad definition, AI is a collective term for computer systems that can sense their environment, think, learn, and take action in response to what they're sensing and their objectives. Forms of AI in use today include, among others, digital assistants, chatbots and machine learning. AI is already at work in industry (from sport and manufacturing to investing and healthcare). Here, we take a closer look at the AI trends and predictions for the coming year. There's always a tendency to think of AI as represented by emotionless robots. But humans are, well, humans, and we will continue to interact with AI in our very human way. Facial recognition software might have been developed with ...

Amazon's Alexa has infiltrated our homes, offices, bathrooms, and cars. It was only a matter of time before it expanded to other places we spend time, too--like our hotel rooms. While some enterprising chains and establishments had begun introducing Echos and Echo Dots into their guest quarters, Amazon on Tuesday announced Alexa for Hospitality, a hotel-specific version of its assistant software. The announcement included a partnership with Marriott Hotels, where Alexa for Hospitality will debut at select Marriott, Aloft, Westin, Autograph Collection, and St. Regis hotels and resorts this summer. It'll come to other hotels and vacation rental facilities on an invite-only basis.

We've got some simple tips you can take to keep Amazon's Alexa from eavesdropping into your conversations and potentially sharing them. The new Amazon Echo is on display on Sept. 27, 2017, in Seattle. Beginning this summer, Amazon will make a new version of the Echo available to some Marriott International hotels. SAN FRANCISCO -- Alexa, what time is checkout? This summer, guests staying in some Marriott International hotel rooms will have access to a new virtual concierge.

A security researcher found a potential privacy leak in the two devices. Google is preparing to plug a potential privacy leak with its Google Home smart speakers and Chromecast television devices that could reveal your location. The vulnerability was discovered by the Tripwire security firm. Researcher Craig Young blogged that the problem stems from fundamental design choices that he says are prevalent among Internet of Things devices. One such issue, Young writes, is that such "devices rarely require authentication for connections received on a local network."

Before now, smart-home-as-a-service provider Vivint was happy to sell you a smart speaker--either an Amazon Echo or a Google Home--on top of its other offerings. Today, the company announced that it has partnered with Google to include two Google Home Minis in all its starter packages. Amazon had a long head start with Vivint, a Utah-based company that sells and services custom-installed smart home systems. Customers could use Amazon's Alexa digital assistant and Echo devices with Vivint Smart Home for months and months before they were able to do the same with Google Assistant and Google Home hardware. I know, because there's a Vivint system in my own home.

In the early days of Android, Google launched a podcast app called Listen. However, it quickly fell into disrepair and was killed off in 2012. For most of the intervening time, Google pretended podcasts didn't exist. Then, it added podcasts to Play Music and Google Assistant over the last year. Google was still missing a straightforward podcast app, though.

Amazon's plan to put Alexa everywhere is extending from homes to hotels and, soon, the Mediterranean. It will bring Alexa and the various Echo devices to Spain and Italy later this year. Sonos and Bose will also start selling their Alexa-enabled devices in those countries before the year's out. In the meantime, Amazon is encouraging developers to start creating skills in Italian and Spanish. There's no use having a smart voice assistant on hand if it can't do a whole lot, after all.

Podcasts may have started on Apple devices, but millions of Android users listen to them on their phones every day. And now Google is finally getting in on the act with its own standalone podcast player, aptly called Google Podcasts. While podcasts have always been available for listening inside the Google Play Music app or via searching inside the Google app, Google Podcasts represents the first real default presence for podcasts on the platform. But if Google wants Podcasts to become as synonymous with podcasts as YouTube is to video, it has a long way to go. The impact on you at home: Google Podcasts would have been a better app in 2016 than 2018, but it's not a terrible first start.

It may sound like a stalkers dream come true, but dating app Happn is adding a new'creepy' feature that will let potential love matches revisit your past movements. Starting next month, if you remember crossing paths with someone that took your fancy, you will be able to retrace your steps to try and find them again. If they are also a user of the popular dating app, which matches people through their device's geolocation, their profile will appear on the new map tool at that spot. Budding romantics may find the feature appealing, giving them the chance to tap locations they've visited over the past week to track down lost connections. However, some may find the idea of strangers tracing their movements more than a little creepy.

Alexa has a new job: hotel concierge. Amazon has launched a version of Alexa for hotels that lets guests order room service through the voice assistant, ask for more towels or get restaurant recommendations without having to pick up the phone and call the front desk. Marriott has signed up for the service, and will place Amazon Echo smart speakers in 10 hotels this summer, including its Westin and St. Regis brands. It is another way for Amazon to sell its voice assistant and devices to businesses and get Alexa in front of more customers. Several media reports had said that Marriott had tested both Apple Inc's Siri and Amazon's Alexa to select what was best suited for its hotels.