Using Artificial intelligence concept in mobile app development, as well as Augmented or Virtual Reality and the Internet of Things, brings to developers tens or even hundreds of thousands of downloads in just a few months. AI allows you to create not only entertainment software but smart and advanced enterprise applications. Building an AI assistant implies the use of software tools. In fact, they are identical in structure to neurons in the CNS. Also, these tools are able to remember and process previously received data, and then - analyze and apply it in future practice.

For long, insurance firms have been relying on traditional virtual assistants. But with the advent of improved analytics, insurance technology startups (better known as Insurtech)are paving way for smarter and more innovative platforms. With strong data analytics, Insurtech startups seem to have no lack of funding. According to a report by KPMG, since 2015 the interest in Insurtech has increased dramatically. The report shows that Insurtech startups attracted more than $1.7 billion worldwide in 2016.

According to a recent press release, "Verint Systems Inc. today announced that it has acquired all of the outstanding equity interests in Next IT Corporation and its affiliate Next IT Innovation Labs, LLC (collectively, "Next IT"), a developer of conversational artificial intelligence-powered intelligent virtual assistants. The purchase price consisted of close to $30 million of cash paid at closing, plus potential additional future cash payments. 'We continue to execute our innovation strategy, including making acquisitions that expand our self-service portfolio, accelerate Verint's cloud and automation capabilities, and are accretive to earnings. We believe that Verint's ongoing innovation in artificial intelligence technologies--such as machine learning, robotics and natural language processing--positions us for accelerated growth by helping organizations modernize their customer engagement operations with greater automation,' says Dan Bodner, CEO, Verint."

"Things usually get worse before they get better." Whether it's the valley of the shadow of death in the 23rd Psalm or the Dangerous Trench on the way to Shell City in the Sponge Bob movie, we're used to the concept of feeling that things are getting worse, even though we know we're headed in the right direction. This experience can be represented by a U-shaped curve, literally forming the shape of a valley between two peaks. In technical terms, the curve represents a nonlinear relationship between two variables. A specific example is the uncanny valley -- the hypothesis of the unease, frustration, or even revulsion we feel as something approaches the behavior and appearance of a human without getting all the way there.

"I have FOMO for the future", says Sam Lessin. That's why his startup Fin is working backwards from a far-off tech utopia. One day, computers with some human help will answer our every beck and call. Today, Lessin is teaming them up. Every day, Fin gets smarter.

Amazon's Alexa team is beginning to analyze the sound of users' voices to recognize their mood or emotional state, Alexa chief scientist Rohit Prasad told VentureBeat. Doing so could let Amazon personalize and improve customer experiences, lead to lengthier conversations with the AI assistant, and even open the door to Alexa one day responding to queries based on your emotional state or scanning voice recordings to diagnose disease. Tell Alexa that you're happy or sad today and she can deliver a pre-programmed response. In the future, Alexa may be able to pick up your mood without being told. The voice analysis effort will begin by teaching Alexa to recognize when a user is frustrated.

"AI is like the Wild West right now," Tim Leland, Qualcomm's head of graphics, told me earlier this month when the company unveiled its latest premium mobile chipset. The Snapdragon 845 was designed to handle AI computing tasks better. No company wants to be left behind, and whether it's by optimizing their hardware for AI processing or using machine learning to speed up tasks, every major brand has invested heavily in artificial intelligence. But even though AI permeated all aspects of our lives in 2017, the revolution is only just beginning. This might be a helpful time to clarify that AI is often a catch-all term for an assortment of different technologies.

Now that frenetic Black Friday and crazy Cyber Monday are behind us, I've decided to complete my Christmas shopping. And this year, I'll be doing it with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). With the tech giants, such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, and IBM, increasing their investments in AI and news of Alibaba's $15bn investment in it, I wanted to find out what the customer experience is really like. And, most importantly, does it live up to all the hype? The term AI was first used back in the 50s and was based on the principle that'every aspect of learning or any other features of intelligence can in principle be so precisely described that a machine can be made to simulate it.'

Finish strong and make everyone happy on Christmas with these 10 Amazon deals. If you make a purchase by clicking one of our links, we may earn a small share of the revenue. However, our picks and opinions are independent from USA TODAY's newsroom and any business incentives. Christmas is three days away, but that means you can still take advantage of free two-day shipping for Amazon Prime members to get the last of your holiday shopping done and have everything you need by Christmas Eve. There are even some great deals still going strong to help you make the most of your remaining Christmas present budget, so long as you have Amazon Prime (or want to sign up for the free 30-day trial).

USA TODAY's Jefferson Graham gives his list of what he thinks are the coolest tech innovations of 2017. LOS ANGELES -- When you can get a drone to respond to your commands by waving your hands, it's hard to top that as one of the most fascinating tech innovations of the year. You don't have to know much about operating the DJI Spark Drone. Want to go up or to the side? This is fun stuff that takes a lot of the learning curve out of flying a drone.