Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant, Hindi says, have trained consumers to think that every voice command must be processed and stored online, even if the task has no inherent connection to the internet. With Snips, he's hoping to prove them wrong. For the past couple of years, Snips has been building an offline voice assistant for individual developers and enterprises that don't want to depend on Big Tech. Now, the startup is working on its own consumer hardware, including a set of smart speakers and a base station for processing voice commands locally. "We're making a very strong bet on people's willingness to trade, basically, a recognized brand for privacy," Hindi says.

Apple Inc. AAPL 0.59% on Monday unveiled new controls to help people curb the amount of time they spend on iPhones and iPads, as well as allow parents to remotely track and limit their children's use of those devices--a response to growing societal concern that adults and children are too focused on phones. The company said a new app it will release in September called "Screen Time" will provide users with weekly reports of the apps they use and allow them to set time limits for their use of those apps. Parents will be able to use the system to remotely monitor the apps their children use and limit their time on devices. The new features played a central role at Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference, a gathering of about 6,000 developers who create the apps for the iPhone, iPad and Mac computers. The event is designed to show off Apple's latest software--including the newest features to further integrate into people's digital lives.

Day 1's keynote was an entirely software-based affair, surprising some who were expecting to see more hardware-related announcements or refreshes of current products. Apple executives took to the stage at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center to announce numerous (if incremental) enhancements to its iOS, tvOS, watchOS and MacOS platforms designed to optimize the overall Apple user experience. From a smart home/home automation perspective, there is no question that one of Apple's key focus areas in 2018 is making Siri more compelling and productive. To that end, Apple announced it is now allowing developers much deeper integration with iOS 12 and MacOS Mojave. Third-party apps can now build "shortcuts" that allow Siri to execute popular quick actions.

Remember pagers, fax machines, VCRs, Floppy Disks, Teletext? Chances are if you're born after a certain date, you won't. Soon enough, smartphones will be part of the catalogue of obsolete tech. We still often behold smartphones as a revolutionary piece of kit and they are, really. But as Apple releases its iPhone8 model and delivers their recent keynote for the iPhone X, we're beginning to see shifts in smartphone capabilities.

Sure, the formerly-cutting-edge virtual assistant has become the butt of many a tech joke, but Apple's Siri problem is only getting bigger. As Amazon and Google develop artificial-intelligence assistants that can do tasks small (set multiple cooking timers) and large (hold conversations with you and others), Siri has been stuck saying, "Here's what I found on the Web for that." At Apple's biggest software event of the year Monday, just four months after HomePod's release, the speaker was mentioned only once. Apple does have some new ideas about what Siri should do for us when iOS 12 launches for iPhones and iPads in the fall: We'll be able to program strings of tasks. A single custom phrase will, say, shut off the lights, turn down the thermostat and launch a podcast. But it feels like the ultimate marketing fake out.

The day I'm scheduled to appear on his show, the television physician and Oprah protege has assembled a cast of victims and villains that includes a college communications major who caught chlamydia from a Tinder date; a 24-year-old woman who was stabbed 21 times by the fiance she met online; and Douglas Hines, a cartoonish engineer donning a white lab coat and outsize bowtie, who claims to have created the world's first sex robot. NSFW Warning: This story may contain links to and descriptions or images of explicit sexual acts. I'm here, presumably, to act as a voice of reason in a segment called "Rise of the sex robots: Why experts are issuing warnings!" My co-panelists, a sex therapist and a psychologist, are well-trained in the art (or is it science?) of near-scripted debate. While one is slightly more optimistic, their arguments are essentially two sides of the same coin: Sex robots either can or will pose a threat to human relationships, or worse. As TV doctors do, they've both developed firmly planted opinions on the subject without any first-hand experience. It's not lost on me that I'm the only one in the room who's actually seen a sex robot IRL. After the doctors deliver their warnings, Oz turns to me, a look of concern written in deep lines across his forehead. He wants to know if people can have real, intimate relationships with robots.

Apple has unveiled all the new features heading to iPhones and iPads at its developer conference in San Francisco on Monday, including speed boost for even older devices, improved privacy and a host of new features. The look of iOS 12 will be very familiar, with the company focusing on improving the experience and the underlying software rather than simply splashing on a new coat of paint. The new iOS 12 will be available for any device running iOS 11 now, which means any Apple smartphone from the iPhone 5S or newer, and any iPad from the iPad mini 2 and iPad Air or newer, plus the sixth generation iPod touch. The developer version is available now, but the first public beta is due later in June, for those eager to test it as soon as possible. A final release will be available in September for everyone else.

Let's face it, the future isn't turning out to be what we were promised in decades past. No flying cars, and the closest thing to robot butlers are Siri and Alexa. Don't get me wrong, they're handy in their ways: suggesting nearby Thai food or tending to virtual shopping carts as we yell our grocery lists across the room. In fact, nothing that's commercially available really is -- at least not yet. In marketing, for example, all kinds of martech come with an AI label.

Asus just showed the world Project Precog at Computex 2018, and I'm drooling all over my keyboard. Imagine a slim laptop with dual touchscreens, one of which can transform into an adaptive keyboard and trackpad combo that can dynamically change the position of keys based on where your fingers are. Imagine a laptop that learns your work routines and can conserve battery life to anticipate an upcoming video conference. Asus' Project PreCog in Stand Mode Asus is also making waves at Computex with their recently announced ROG Phone. Project Precog (likely named after the precognitives from the film Minority Report) will ship with Microsoft Cortana and Amazon Alexa built in, and can function in 4 different configurations: stand mode, book mode, tent mode and flat mode.

Digital assistants have the potential to be the bridge between smart homes, smart cars, smartphones, PCs, wearables and other devices that we use in our personal and professional lives. They could make our lives better organised, and our devices and services much easier to use. What are the promises and challenges of this brave new world of intelligence augmentation? Join us at "A.I. everywhere: How digital assistants will transform our lives" on 5 June 2018 at the Centre for Global Dialogue in Rüschlikon, outside of Zurich. The conference will connect networks of artificial intelligence research and practice with thought leaders and decision makers from society, business and government.