The United States dominates the world of Artificial Intelligence, although China and India have been closing the gap in the last years. Private organizations are the ones bringing out more records, with Microsoft, Google, and IBM on the lead. If there is a technology trend that is in everybody's mouths (and startup pitches) that would be Artificial Intelligence (AI). From job loss & government control controversies to Zuck vs. Musk beef, AI's debate is hotter than ever. Since 2010, there have been 124K records issued from 32K different organizations.

As wise speakers go, Apple's HomePod is late to the birthday party. The company has made a addiction out of no longer letting the competition pressure it into dashing to market with an unfinished product. The iPod, iPhone, and Apple Watch are just just a few examples of Apple's tried-and-true approach of now not being first. With the $ 350 HomePod, Apple positions it as a superior speaker first, with the delivered bonus of Siri. And, from that point of view, HomePod is a clear winner.

Of course, it is very satisfying to have a statement understood and a task completed by AI (thanks, Siri/Alexa/cyber-bot, for saying good morning, turning on my lamp, and scheduling my appointment). But this is a known-needs-met satisfaction. After initial delight, it will take on the shallow comfort of a latte on repeat order every morning. These functional conversations don't inspire us in the way unusual conversations might. The unexpected, illumed speech of poetry, literature, these otherworldly universes, bring us an unknown-needs-met satisfaction. And an unknown-needs-met satisfaction is the miracle of art at its best.

Cortana lags behind some of its peers in this field, too: Google Assistant added IFTTT functionality in October 2016, while Amazon's Alexa included an IFTTT channel the year before. But if you've committed to Microsoft's voice assistant, at least you can set up your own interactions -- and create your own'applets' for free now given IFTTT's free'maker' tier.

The key weakness of the Microsoft Cortana-powered Harman/Kardon Invoke smart speaker was that it just wasn't a great smart-home controller, lacking many of the services and IFTTT support of its rivals. Today, Microsoft said, that changes. Microsoft said Friday that it has added support for IFTTT, the conditional platform that triggers various connected services, to Cortana. And those services have expanded, too: Cortana can now control products from Ecobee, Honeywell Lyric, Honeywell Total Connect Comfort, LIFX, TP-Link Kasa, and Geeni. Because Cortana offers essentially the same capabilities across various platforms, that means the new smart-home controls are available from the Invoke, but also from your Windows 10 PC or even the Cortana apps for Android and iOS.

Tinder's new update will allow female users to take the lead in conversations with matches in a setting dubbed "women-talk-first." The dating app's new feature is optional for female users. By entering the app's settings, women will soon be able to change it so that they are required to initiate dialogue before men. Therefore, this feature would allow for women to not be on the receiving end of an assortment of messages from every person they'd ever matched with. Match Group, a company that operates Tinder alongside other dating websites, claimed the change is great for women if they don't mind the "pressure" of initiating a conversation with a new match.

I joined the Star Wars fandom late in the game. I grew up in India, where Star Wars is less of a thing, but in 2015 I watched "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and set out on a quest to watch everything. They can move and talk (though mostly in gibberish) and act intelligently. As we all know, technology is often inspired by movies. Just look at how speech technologies are evolving and inspired by movies like Star Wars.

First things first: what is AI? AI is trendy nowadays but not new. Back in 1997, Deep Blue, a chess-playing computer developed by IBM defeated Garry Kasparov who is still considered as one of the greatest chess players in the world. But what has changed since? The proliferation of data and the rapidity of computing power have accelerated the development of algorithms. Machine learning emerged as a branch of Artificial Intelligence and allows computers to learn from datasets without being programmed explicitly.

We've been promised so much over the years, but now AI is ready to deliver. From connected cars and smart homes, through to improved ambient assisted living (AAL), AI is the common thread that unites them all. Analysts predicted that worldwide revenues for cognitive and artificial intelligence (AI) systems will reach $12.5 billion in 2017, an increase of 59.3% over 2016, and that investment will continue that trajectory, achieving a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 54.4% through 2020 when revenues will be more than $46 billion. The analysts might just be right this time too, as the supporting base of technology has caught up with the demands and opportunities offered by improved AI. A clear example was at CES 2018, one of the biggest annual showcases of technology, which lit up Las Vegas in early January, and much of the major noise this year was around AI and associated devices.

Artificial intelligence is here to stay. It has proven itself as a valuable and effective way to perform routine tasks in a variety of industries. While AI may not have poked its head around the corner of your office door yet, it doesn't mean that it is not on the horizon as a tool to help unload some of your most arduous responsibilities. AI has the ability to free up your times and provide accurate completion of routine skills. This year is expected to be the year that the technology heats up and hits desks, making it a possibility at your workplace in the near future.