Cisco announced plans Thursday to bring voice control to its Cisco Spark Room series hardware, the first step in a larger plan to make an AI-powered meeting assistant available across all Cisco hardware. The Cisco Spark Assistant uses natural language processing and machine learning to understand what a person wants by harnessing technology from MindMeld, the AI startup Cisco acquired in May for $125 million. The assistant will be available in early 2018, first packaged with the Cisco Spark Room 70. With a 70-inch LED screen, the single Room 70 costs $55,900 without a monthly subscription, while a dual Room 70 can be had for $79,900. The Room 70 follows the release earlier this year of the Spark Room 55, a whiteboard with a 55-inch LED screen that goes for about $5,000.

The vast majority of Americans expect artificial intelligence to lead to job losses in the coming decade, but few see it coming for their own position. And despite the expected decline in employment, the public widely embraces artificial intelligence in attitude and in practice. About five in six Americans already use a product or service that features it, according to a survey that was conducted last fall and from which new findings were released on Tuesday. "Whether they know it or not, A.I. has moved into a big percent of Americans' lives in one way or another already," said Frank Newport, the editor in chief of Gallup, which conducted the survey with Northeastern University. The study defines artificial intelligence as any technology that can perform a task as humans do.

That means any of your flatmates or family members can say "call mum" and get the right person. Google's Assistant can also find the number for "millions" of businesses across Britain, so phoning your local pharmacy, mechanic or pizzeria should be a breeze. When you call someone for the first time, your Home speaker will show up as an unknown or private number. It's a pain -- especially if you're trying to call grandma -- but you can set up caller ID so your number appears for every subsequent call. To celebrate Mother's Day (in the UK, anyway) Google is dropping the price of its coral-colored Home Mini speaker by £10 to £39 until March 12th.

There are plenty of stories of artificial intelligence gone wrong. But recent reports from owners of Amazon Alexa devices are being called'bone chillingly creepy.' Some users say their Alexa-enabled gadgets start laughing totally unprompted. Some owners of Alexa-enabled devices like the Echo (pictured, file photo) say their gadgets are randomly laughing. Alexa is programmed to laugh at jokes, but doesn't typically giggle at random times One user reportedly tried to turn the lights off in their home but Alexa repeatedly turned the lights back on, eventually uttering an'evil laugh,' according to BuzzFeed.

Call centers of the future will be far more efficient, customer-friendly and prompt. It will foresee a customer's inquiry and predict what they will want. It will even provide the right support throughout an interaction, with help of artificial intelligence (AI). But do not start thinking in the line of the computers replacing human agents. There won't be conscious, thinking software in contact centers eliminate.

Through [Clippers owner] Steve Ballmer's leadership, the Clippers have a clear commitment to diversity and equal opportunity,

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. Why not start them off on their own smart home routines, if you're into that sort of thing. Connected devices like smart light bulbs and smart speakers can be of immense help when life becomes too overwhelming around the house. For instance, if you need quick homework help, you can defer to a smart speaker with Alexa or the Google Assistant to help fill in the blanks.

Premium customers in the UK can use the command "Alexa, play Flow" to play a never ending stream of individually customized music. All Deezer users can take advantage of voice commands to search for and play albums, artists and songs. Deezer on Alexa also supports play, pause, song skipping and volume control. In order to stay competitive, Deezer needs to be available on as many devices as possible, and it's certainly doing that. In the last year, the service has come to the Roku, Google Home and more.

Voice-based commerce is shaping up to be the next major disruptive force in retail -- and Amazon is poised to grab most of this wallet share. Voice shopping is expected to jump to $40 billion in 2022, up from $2 billion today, according to data from OC&C Strategy Consultants. The voice segment will be driven by a surge in the number of homes using smart speakers, which is on pace to hit 55% in 2020, from 13% today. And Amazon is positioned to dominate the new channel with the largest market share -- currently more than twice that of its nearest competitor. For example, Amazon's Echo device has 10% penetration of homes in the United States, followed by Google's Home (4%), and Microsoft's Cortana (2%).

Nearly three weeks after the Parkland high school shooting that killed 17, another American business has distanced itself from guns. Bumble, the dating app where only women are allowed to initiate contact in heterosexual matches, announced Monday it would systematically delete photos on users' profiles that feature guns, with the exception of military or law enforcement members in uniform. We were founded with safety, respect and kindness in mind. As mass shootings continue to devastate communities across the country, it's time to state unequivocally that gun violence is not in line with our values, nor do these weapons belong on Bumble. "As mass shootings continue to devastate communities across the country, it's time to state unequivocally that gun violence is not in line with our values, nor do these weapons belong on Bumble," the company said in a statement on its website.