The standard user flows that currently dictate our interactions with computers are still quite limited, and are only a few years away from becoming unrecognizable. The process of changing this dynamic has already begun in the form of conversational interfaces. They will soon revolutionize how humans interact with machines. Just as how during the industrial age, we needed to learn how to interact with machine interfaces for driving cars, washing clothes, and ordering products, it is now time for the machines to start learning how to interact with us. We are all getting used to chatbots in customer service.

As AI bot making continues to take off, bot developers and marketers have been keen on giving their bots names that sound human. However, as intelligent bots or virtual assistants move towards becoming an $11 billion industry by 2024, bots with personalities, which have been programmed from the inside out -- rather than the outside in -- have been behaving badly. Many of these problems have derived from a common issue: While bots understand what a human may be telling them at a baseline level, they fail to understand the intention and personality of the human they are conversing with. From a scientific perspective, some may say that the shortcoming is in natural language processing (NLP) -- the science of extracting intention from the text itself. However, I'd argue that they are failing because of the 7 Percent Rule. The majority of chatbots today are text-based, which means they are unable to analyze the other 93 percent of communication that occurs outside of the A-Zs.

Many retailers are struggling to devise the perfect cross-channel experience for their customers--one that takes advantage of digitalization to provide targeted, just-in-time product or service information in an effective and seamless way. The key internal capabilities needed to ensure a successful digital shopping experience are personalization, automation and the unique identification of the customer across shopping channels. In this report, we discuss how AI and IoT are impacting the retail industry. We explore how these technologies are changing the way retailers operate and provide examples of how major industry players are using AI and IoT to increase operational efficiency and unlock new revenue opportunities. Retailers that aim to remain competitive cannot afford to ignore the potential benefits of these technologies. AI, a technology that enables computers to make autonomous decisions, is a step forward in automation that is changing the retail industry. Retailers are using AI to analyze customer data, adapt how they interact with shoppers and predict demand in order to better manage inventory. Because consumers are bombarded with an unprecedented amount of information, being able to deliver highly personalized content for each individual customer is crucial to staying ahead of the competition. Meanwhile, the use of AI to anticipate demand and estimate when items will be returned should translate into more efficient business operations.

All around us, Siri, Alexa, Google Home and more are incorporating natural language conversations between humans and artificial intelligence (AI) into our everyday interactions. The same digital revolution is happening in today's workplace, with Natural Language Processing (NLP) along with semantic search playing a key role in this transformation. NLP uses computational techniques to extract useful meaning from raw text, while semantic search is enabled by a range of content processing techniques that identify and extract entities, facts, attributes, concepts and events from unstructured content for analysis. Both NLP and semantic search have fueled the rise of enterprise chatbots or digital assistants -- workplace AI that are bringing deeper natural language understanding to not only enhance search but also provide an entirely new way for employees to interact with corporate data and work more productively. So what impact do these technologies have on the future of your enterprise intranets and knowledge sharing?

These days, job hunting looks a lot like online dating: Seemingly infinite scrolling, a few messages that lead to nowhere, and even fewer human interactions that--more often than not--don't turn out the way you thought they would. Recruiting startup WayUp hopes to convince job searchers that it doesn't have to be such "a miserable process," says co-founder and CEO Liz Wessel. WayUp offers a "smart" platform that uses data to match seekers with potential employers. Wessel says that the site collects about 40 data points per applicant and, armed with that information, is able to suggest "the right jobs to the right people" better than job sites like Indeed and Monster, or professional social network LinkedIn. On Thursday, the company announced that it has raised a $18.5 million series B funding round, led by Trinity Ventures, with participation from WayUp's existing investors, including General Catalyst, BoxGroup, Lerer-Hippeau Ventures, Index Ventures, SV Angel, and Female Founders Fund.

The writing has been on the wall for years, at least since Microsoft de-bundled the motion-tracking system from the Xbox One in 2014, knocking $100 off the price tag and making the system more competitive with the PlayStation 4. The Kinect debuted in 2010 with the Xbox 360, and it had a good run, overall: Microsoft sold roughly 35 million devices in total. However, across its iterations and upgrades, the Kinect never quite found its market -- the one application that would turn the hardware into an essential piece of home technology. It wasn't a conversational, connected, voice-activated system like Google Home or Amazon Alexa, and game developers lost interest in the device as virtual and mixed reality rose to the fore. The Kinect was a product out of time. That's not to say it didn't contribute to some truly wild experiences over the years. Developers quickly applied Kinect to surgery, physical therapy and a range of other medical uses.

Customers are more tech savvy than ever. Armed with smartphones, they have the entire Internet at their fingertips, which can be either a hazard or an opportunity for retailers. The last thing a brick-and-mortar store wants is to lose a sale because a customer scans a barcode and finds the item cheaper elsewhere. To combat this, retailers are using computing on the edge and Internet of Things (IoT)-connected devices to turn potential showrooming into sales. When a customer scans a pack of printer ink, connecting through the store's WiFi, the retailer can use this as an opportunity to serve a coupon or make personalized recommendations for complementary products such as printer paper or a computer mouse, upselling and cross-selling additional items.

Every single consumer device that matters is now a trojan horse for the rapid introduction of AI assistants into our lives. Think iPhone, Echo, Pixel, Chromebook, Pixel Buds with Google in your ear. Google's new Chromebook -- the PixelBook -- has a dedicated Google Assistant button. Android phones, of course, particularly those that Google produces itself, respond to "OK Google." Apple's laptops don't have a dedicated button for Siri, but, in High Sierra, the latest version of Mac OS X, you can invoke Siri by pressing two buttons.

Artificial Intelligence is the future of growth. There is sure to be at least one article in the newspaper/internet/blogs daily on the revolutionary advancements made in the field of Artificial Intelligence or its subfield disrupting standard industries like Fintech, Banking, Law, or any other. In banking domain digital banking teams of all modern banks planning to transform the customer experience with their AI based chat-driven intelligent virtual assistant i.e. bots. Amalgamating the latest technology of artificial intelligence, predictive analytics and cognitive messaging to serve millions of customers is now a new winning strategy? AI and regulation are paving the way for Fintech.

Two years after its birth, the device that inspired dozens of copycat smart speakers and spawned thousands of integrations is getting a makeover. Amazon's "all-new" Echo is smaller, cheaper and promises better sound. But, with a pile of new competitors and even more in the pipeline, the second-generation Echo needs to prove it's still worth your money. But it also sounds worse than those devices, delivering somewhat flat audio that emphasizes the high end and vocals at the expense of bass. Still, the second-generation Echo is quick to decipher your commands and Alexa is smart as a whip. Unless you're married to Google Assistant or Siri, this is a decent option for those buying their first smart speaker.