The importance of training has long been recognized, but the link between training and performance is often hard to quantify. Typically, training and learning at work have taken place away from the workplace. Training has been the preserve of the classroom. Recently, classroom training may have been replaced or augmented by the digital content in a Learning Management System (LMS). In theory, the LMS makes learning more accessible and available.

There is a lot you can do with Alexa. Here's how you can add skills. We spent some time at our local Best Buy store this week, checking out TVs, looking for models that talk. But just wait a few months. You'll be seeing them all over the showroom floor.

Amazon just made a smart play in the virtual assistant war. To complement the wealth of Alexa's built-in functions and third-party skills made by developers, Echo device owners can now build their own skills. Amazon calls the new capability "Alexa Blueprints." One of the hallmarks of good personal assistants--and failing points of lesser ones--is their level of personalization and customizability. We use our digital assistants in different ways, and while some features and responses are useful for most, the ability for such an assistant to learn and adapt to the way you do things is paramount for it to be useful in your life.

Three of the fastest-growing applications of artificial intelligence (AI) today are a manifestation of patriarchal stereotypes -- the booming sexbots industry, the proliferation of autonomous weapon systems, and the increasing popularity of mostly female-voiced virtual assistants and carers. The machines of tomorrow are likely to be either misogynistic, violent or servile. Sophia, the first robot to be granted citizenship, has called for women's rights in Saudi Arabia and declared her desire to have a child all in the span of one month. Other robots are mere receptacles for abuse. The Guardian in 2017 reported that the sex tech industry, including smart sex toys and virtual-reality porn, is estimated to be worth a whopping $30 billion.

OCBC Bank is the first in Singapore to launch artificial intelligence (AI) powered voice banking in collaboration with Google. With Google Home and Google Home Mini launched in Singapore today, anyone can now speak to the Google Assistant – on a smartphone or a Google Home device – to initiate a conversation about OCBC Bank's services. These services range from planning for retirement or a new home to saving for a child's education, getting the latest financial market updates, and more. The proliferation of digital voice assistants is tipped to impact the consumer technology market this year. A 2018 Digital Consumer Survey by Accenture of 21,000 online consumers in 19 countries, including Singapore, indicates year-on-year growth of stand-alone digital voice assistants will increase 50 per cent in 2018, suggesting consumers are increasingly comfortable talking to digital voice assistants and smart home devices.

When Amazon first introduced developer tools that let people build stuff for Alexa, the company made a conscious decision to call these functions "skills" rather than apps. It was a subtle way of making Alexa seem capable, and also, suggesting to developers that building these skills would be a low lift. With just a "few lines of code," Amazon promised, "you can build entirely new experiences designed around voice." Amazon says most Echo users in the US have tried these third-party skills at least once, but getting them to work can be tricky. Alexa's voice skills often require super specific queries, and until Amazon started paying attention to the discovery process, taking the time to find new skills felt like a non-essential burden. Now, Amazon has decided to make Alexa's skills all about you: your dad jokes, your homework, your birthday.

The kindergarten students who entered the school gate for the first time in 2017 will be graduating by 2030. These students and the young people to finish school over the next two decades will be the workers of 2040. Developments in AI are one of a number of interrelated --megatrends-- changing the nature of the labour markets across the world. The profound changes ahead demand an education approach that will provide young people with enduring capabilities and skills to harness the opportunities of technological change. There is significant uncertainty about the full impact of artificial intelligence and automation on employment but the effects are already starting to be felt.

LG is expected to unveil its next flagship smartphone, the G7 ThinQ, at a New York event on May 2nd. Aside from the ThinQ artificial intelligence, the phone will get another new feature: A dedicated button for Google Assistant. According to a CNET report, it's located on the left side of the phone opposite a power button on the right, with the fingerprint reader staying on the back. Like the recent AI-equipped V30S, the G7 ThinQ will supposedly get custom LG commands to ask Google Assistant. It's not the first Android to get a button devoted to a voice assistant.

Chinese tech company Huawei wants to change the way people talk to their artificially intelligent voice assistants. The firm plans to make those conversations more emotionally interactive, according to senior executives. Voice-powered virtual assistants currently serve a functional role, by giving information -- "What's the weather like?" -- or completing small tasks like turning on a playlist. Huawei wants to take that a step further and create a voice companion to fulfill some of its users' emotional needs. "We want to provide emotional interactions," Felix Zhang, vice president of software engineering at Huawei's consumer business group, told CNBC at the company's annual global analyst summit in Shenzhen, China.

Chinese tech company Huawei wants to change the way people talk to their artificially intelligent voice assistants. The firm plans to make those conversations more emotionally interactive, according to senior executives. Voice-powered virtual assistants currently serve a functional role, by giving information -- "What's the weather like?" -- or completing small tasks like turning on a playlist. Huawei wants to take that a step further and create a voice companion to fulfill some of its users' emotional needs. "We want to provide emotional interactions," Felix Zhang, vice president of software engineering at Huawei's consumer business group, told CNBC at the company's annual global analyst summit in Shenzhen, China.