David Cearley, vice president and Gartner Fellow, wrote that promises of artificial intelligence (AI) magically performing intellectual tasks that humans do and dynamically learning as much as humans is "speculative at best." However with 2018 rapidly approaching, AI is clearly on the minds of many businesses. Where are businesses practically applying AI in their digital workplaces? In October 2017, Cearley noted at the Gartner 2017 Symposium/ITxpo in Orlando, FL that Narrow AI currently holds the most promise. Narrow AI is composed of "highly scoped machine-learning solutions that target a specific task (such as understanding language or driving a vehicle in a controlled environment) with algorithms chosen that are optimized for that task," he says.

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. In the age of digital assistants like Amazon Echo and Google Home, turning on a light is as easy as saying "turn on the living room." Plenty of smart robot vacuums have picked up on this ease of use and are being built with Alexa connectivity, allowing you to bring an extra dose of laziness to the dreaded chore--and you can get a great one today at an amazing price. We spotted a discount on the EcoVacs Deebot N79S smart robot vacuum that you won't want to miss.

Microsoft is reportedly testing an integration of Cortana and Outlook mobile. Sources told The Verge that the company is working on a version of Outlook for iOS and Android that has Cortana built right in and would allow users to ask Microsoft's virtual assistant to read and reply to emails for them. With such an integration, you could, for example, ask Cortana to read you your emails or ask her to just read messages from specific people -- all of which would be very useful for people on the go.

In my first blog in this series, I stated my case that adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) platforms will be the number-one technology trend of 2018. However, there are other important developments going on that are very close behind. Containers enable movement to the next level of virtualization. Container-based virtualization is the latest virtualization technology that will gain wider acceptance in 2018. Considered a new generation of virtual machines (VMs), which abstracted an entire device including the operating system (OS), containers consist only of the application and all the dependencies that the application needs.

If you have to deal with transcribing interviews as part of your daily work (like we do), you'll find a welcome partner in the new Otter app. Developed by former employees from Google and a speech-recognition veteran Nuance, Otter is a free service that transcribes speech on the go through the power of artificial intelligence (AI). There are a number of apps available out there, sure, but none seem to work like Otter -- and we're not even talking about the AI aspect yet. Most voice-transcription apps that are free aren't very accurate, and those that work really well are often too expensive. Additionally, none transcribe in "real-time" as Otter does.

Apple Inc.'s AirPods earphones have been a surprise hit. Now, the company is planning a push into the high end of the market. The Cupertino, California-based technology giant is working on noise-canceling, over-ear headphones that rival headsets from market leaders like Bose and even the company's own Beats by Dre brand, according to people familiar with the product's development. The company plans to launch the headphones as early as the end of this year, but has faced development challenges that might push back the release, the people said. Work on the Apple headset has been on-and-off over the past year.

We have been talking about artificial intelligence (AI) for quite a while now but, so far, it has failed to really make its mark. It is showing a great deal of potential but has not yet lived up to the hype. Anyone who uses Siri or Alexa quickly discovers the limitations when they try to step out of a strict set of rules. However, there is no denying that it is only a matter of time before AI starts to make a big difference in multiple industries and in a number of areas. Healthcare is arguably one of the industries likely to see the biggest growth in the use and application of AI in the next few years, and this is backed up by the huge amount of investment in this industry. There are a number of areas in the healthcare industry where AI is already gaining a lot of ground.

According to several close sources, as reported by Yahoo Finance, Amazon is "seriously exploring" real-time translation abilities for Alexa. The intelligent personal assistant is currently capable of deciphering single words and phrases, but with these improvements, Amazon hopes that Alexa will work seamlessly in conversations as a real-time translator. Beyond language itself, the company wants Alexa to gain a well-rounded knowledge of the cultures in which the translated languages are spoken. By incorporating this knowledge into translation, the device could help users to communicate more respectfully and effectively. "The cross-culture, cross-language piece is going to be big for Amazon and Alexa, and it has a lot of potential," an anonymous source told Yahoo Finance.

Marketers have been talking about artificial intelligence (AI) marketing for some time now. But many are still wondering, what exactly can AI marketing do for us right now? To find out, Econsultancy recently held a gathering of over 400 marketers for Digital Outlook 2018 in Singapore and invited subject matter experts to speak on AI marketing and other topics trending in digital. In his talk, Chandra Kumar, CEO WiselyWise, stated that, despite many setbacks over its long history, AI marketing may now be ready for mass adoption. He proceeded to describe four concrete things that marketers can use AI for right now.

Automation technology is moving into the workplace with unstoppable momentum. As bots and robots take on more kinds of tasks, will they eliminate jobs? Or will they instead generate opportunity for workers to leverage their own strengths and manage their tireless mechanical colleagues? In today's workforce a factory line worker, a university professor, and a customer service rep are guaranteed to have one thing in common: a job that will be transformed by the presence of robots and AI in the coming decade. Will that worker be able to change along with it?