If you've read any sort of science fiction, it's likely you've heard about subvocalization, the practice of silently saying words in your head. It's common when we read (though it does slow you down), but it's only recently begun to be used as a way to interact with our computers and mobile devices. To that end, MIT researchers have created a device you wear on your face that can measure neuromuscular signals that get triggered when you subvocalize. While the white gadget now looks like some weird medical device strapped to your face, it's easy to see future applications getting smaller and less obvious, as well as useful with our mobile lives (including Hey Siri and OK Google situations). The MIT system has electrodes that pick up the signals when you verbalize internally as well as bone-conduction headphones, which use vibrations delivered to the bones of your inner ear without obstructing your ear canal.

Xiaomi is no longer just a smartphone manufacturer. It offers a wide range of products including Mi TV, Mi Box, Mi Air Purifier, Mi Electric Fan, Mi smart lamps you name it. Well, last year Xiaomi introduced the Mi AI Speaker. Xiaomi is now getting serious with the virtual assistants. So, here's everything you need to know about the new assistant.

Due to popularity in texting and messaging, a recent advancement of deep learning technologies, a conversation-based interaction becomes an emerging user interface. While today’s conversation platforms offer basic conversation capabilities such as natural language understanding, entity extraction and simple dialogue management, there are still challenges in developing practical applications to support complex use cases using a dialogue system. In this paper, we highlight such challenges and share practical knowledge learned from our experiences on developing a leisure travel shopping application that combines a personalized recommendation system and a conversation system. Such efforts include a conversation design, extraction of user intents, communication of variables between a dialogue system and analytics engines, and dynamic user interface designs. In particular, we introduce our approach to overcome the unique challenges, understanding user's intent, when dialogue system met personalized recommendation system. Furthermore, we propose a semantic mapping as a novel method to utilize undefined user's preferences when producing recommended items. Finally, examples of recommendations based on natural language conversations are provided in order to exhibit how components in the overall architecture are seamlessly orchestrated. In general, our framework provides guiding principles and best practices on the implementation of task-oriented dialogue system connected with other components in the overall architecture.

This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read their continuously updated list of deals here. If you're looking for a smart speaker and like Google's search ecosystem, this is a good opportunity to save some cash. At $90, it's a nice drop on the Google Home speaker, bringing it within $10 of the deals we saw during Black Friday and other holiday sales.

Amazon has Alexa, Apple has Siri, Microsoft has Cortana, Google has Google Assistant. As a member of the general public, you could ask any of those AI interfaces a question, depending on what device you owned -- iPhone, Echo, PC, or Android -- and most of the time get a coherent answer. These digital assistants have become the emerging user interface. IBM Watson is also an AI platform that can answer questions, but it has always been in a different category. Sure, it's been known to the general public, probably first through its triumph over Jeopardy champ Ken Jennings.

A new mind-reading device means people can silently type on their computer using nothing but thoughts - and it's accurate 90 per cent of the time. Instead of communicating with smart devices by saying'Ok Google' or'Hey Siri', the headset silently interprets what users are thinking, giving them'superpowers', researchers say. When people think about verbalising something, the brain sends signals to facial muscles - even if nothing is said aloud. The device has sensors that pick up seven key areas along the cheek, jaw and chin that can recognise words and can even talk back once it has processed them. Other companies, such as Elon Musk's Neuralink, are also developing'Matrix' style computer-brain interfaces to give people advanced mental abilities.

Apple Inc has hired a prominent artificial intelligence executive who recently left Google in a bid to boost its Siri voice assistant and other offerings powered by the technology. Apple confirmed that John Giannandrea, who previously served as Google's top artificial intelligence executive, will join the company later this month as its chief of machine learning and AI strategy, reporting to Chief Executive Tim Cook. The New York Times reported the move earlier. The hiring of Giannandrea is important because the Cupertino-based company is widely viewed as lagging its rivals in key areas of artificial intelligence. Though Siri made its debut in 2011 well before other voice assistants, Amazon.com

Apple has poached Google's head of artificial intelligence, John Giannandrea, in its effort to keep up with the deluge of AI products being launched by competitors like Google and Amazon. Giannandrea, a 53-year-old Scot, will lead all of AI for the company and report directly to CEO Tim Cook. Unusually, Apple is playing catch-up against other tech companies that have invested far more in AI research and implementation. The race to implement AI is giving the Cupertino, California, computer maker its toughest fight since battling Microsoft and IBM in the 1980s. Giannandrea's background is in search, cataloging information for machines, and the early internet.

John Giannandrea, Google's former head of search and artificial intelligence, is joining Apple. The hire, first reported by The New York Times, comes one day after the executive announced he was stepping down from his role at Google, itself a surprise move amid a broader executive reshuffle that now makes much more sense in hindsight. Giannandrea, a machine learning expert who joined Google back in 2010, is a huge get for Apple, which has struggled for years to make progress in fast-moving and increasingly important AI fields like computer vision and natural language processing. Giannandrea will report directly to CEO Tim Cook as the leader of "machine learning and AI strategy," according to the Times. Both Facebook and Google, and to a lesser extent Amazon and Microsoft, are powerhouses in AI, employing hundreds of researchers working across a number of different domains that routinely publish substantive papers that help inform internal products and the collective AI research community at large.

Tinder has introduced new looping profile videos that repeat and reverse a two-second clip like an Instagram Boomerang. The feature, known as Loops, allows users to replace their static profile photo with a video that'shows more personality', according to Tinder. The popular dating app is currently trialling Loops in Canada and Sweden, and will roll the feature out worldwide if initial tests are successful. Tinder has introduced new looping profile videos that repeat and reverse a two-second clip (right) like an Instagram Boomerang. The feature, known as Loops, allows users to replace their static profile photo with a video that'shows more personality', according to Tinder The company said videos can show more of users' personalities and boost people's chances of getting right-swiped.