Artificial Intelligence has unleashed the power for e-commerce businesses to explore countless opportunities to dramatically improve customer experiences, generate new leads and better understand their customers. Businesses are continuing to evolve and are steadily incorporating Artificial Intelligence into their strategies – a prediction from Business Insider has suggested as much as 85% of customer interactions will be managed without a human by as soon as 2020. There are many innovative ways businesses are exploring the potential of AI – I've spent a little time researching the best uses so far. With the advancement in Natural Language Processing, and a huge improvement in a machines ability to understand human language including words and text, the technology is there for retailers to explore Virtual Agents/Assistants. The two most well-known and obvious examples would be the Amazon Alexa Echo – they have already begun to integrate and partner with SkyScanner for flights, Dominos for pizza delivery, JustEat for takeaway delivery and Uber to ask Alexa to request a taxi ride.

It is the voice-activated device that millions of Britons use to play music, order groceries or check on the weather. Now police are exploring whether an Amazon Echo could be used by victims and witnesses to report crimes without getting off their sofa. They want to use the technology to deliver daily crime bulletins direct to householders about offences being committed in their area, wanted suspects, missing people and even the whereabouts of the force helicopter. Lancashire Police is set to be the first force to launch news briefings through voice-activated smart speakers so local residents can'Ask Alexa' what is happening in their street or ward. The force plans to use the technology for internal'flash briefings' updating officers on anything from a major terrorist attack to reading out a crime log to an officer coming on duty.

Visitors walk past a 5G logo during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, on March 1, 2017. Blistering fast wireless networks, digital assistants that are, well, everywhere, and a coming out bash for augmented reality. These and other technologies mentioned here, some of which are already familiar but really just getting started, are worth keeping an eye on in 2018. You can bet we'll also learn about innovations in the months to come that are for now, completely under the radar. Just about all the freshest developments will exploit advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence, promising to allow the tech we engage in day to day to become that much more useful. We've been hearing about the next generation of speedy wireless or 5G for quite some time now, and 2018 is at least when some of you will begin to get a taste of what 5G potentially means.

Robot," but it seems American consumers stand ready to embrace artificial intelligence. In the U.S., 45 percent of adults describe their feelings towards artificial intelligence as "interested," per a new study, "Sex, Lies and AI: How Americans Feel About Artificial Intelligence and What Marketers Need to Know" released by SYZYGY this past October. Their interest makes sense, as many of us already interact with AI through chatbots and virtual assistants such as Siri and Alexa. "Fear" is an emotion cited by many respondents. Around 43 percent of the public thinks AI could pose a threat to long-term human survival. Many people are simply confused by AI and are having trouble sorting through the benefits and potential drawbacks.

We are now immersed in the digital age, and the integration of technology into our everyday lives is reaching Minority Report levels. Technological ventures such as the life-altering Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, which had once seemed part of the deep future, are now in existence. While there is immense buzz around the real-life applications of virtual reality, augmented reality has recently emerged as the more practical application. With breakthroughs for promising technology on the horizon, pleasant surprises such as the emergence of blockchain are piquing the interest of those interested in the shift to a digital currency. As we cross the threshold into the new year, let's take a look at what the technological terrain will look like in 2018.

When analysts and media write about artificial intelligence (AI), most of them unfortunately only talk about machine learning. In doing so, they mention AI and machine learning in the same breath and thus equal AI with one single technology. This is wrong and a concerning progress. In particular, it is confusing the market during a time when 58 percent of organizations worldwide (according to Forrester) are still researching AI. However, AI is more than just machine learning and consists of several different components that provide intelligent solutions.

Amazon's Alexa is leading the AI assistant pack. Echo devices are dominating smart speaker sales, and that was before Amazon brought the devices to more than 80 nations around the world. To defend its crown, Amazon moved fast this year to outpace competitors like Google Assistant and Microsoft's Cortana. Apple's delayed HomePod is due out next year, while Samsung and Facebook are also reportedly planning to debut smart speakers. It can be challenging to keep up with all the features Alexa has added to stay ahead of some of the largest tech companies on the planet, so here's a rundown of everything Alexa learned to do this year.

Whilst Siri was the first mainstream voice assistant many of us became familiar with, there are many personal AI's coming onto the market to make our lives that little bit easier. Google Assistant which was initially released in 2016 is'your own personal google' - you can ask it questions, tell it to do things, and now it can even identify what song you're listening to on the radio similar to Shazam. The AI, which can be found on Google's Android phones and Google Home, is also one of the only voice assistants that hasn't been given a female name or exclusively a female voice, breaking the gender stereotypes of digital assistants being female helpers. Voice assistants historically have problems understanding users for a variety of reasons including accent, context, background noise and sentence structure, and Yariv Adan, Product Leader at Google Assistant is currently leading a team that's responsible for key pieces of the intelligence of the product, including the ability to understand context, to act proactively, to understand and respond to complex statements in natural language, to "see" using a camera, etc. There is of course an ideal intelligent assistant that everyone has in mind, and Google Assistant are trying to imagine the characteristics of this perfect AI and'come up with the baby steps we can build to get there.'

Artificial intelligence is no longer part of the imaginative minds of sci-fiction. If you were worried about some of the latest AI developments in 2017, 2018 does not look any better. One of the creepier developments has to be the latest progress with Google's voice generating AI. Now if you have used any of the Google products or even simply used the Google translate service, you are familiar with Google's AI voice. Available in both a male or female voice, the robotic voice is a staple in our culture just like Apple's Siri or Microsoft's Cortana.

Forget hunkering down with a hangover and a box set, if you're single New Year's Day is all about looking for love - with today expected to see the largest number of sign-ups ever to online dating apps. Perhaps inspired by the doe-eyed engagement photographs of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, millions are expected to start the search for a 2018 love match. According to new research, the first of January has replaced January 2nd as the day day single people are most likely to sign up for an online dating app. With the majority of the nation off work for the bank holiday, it seems the desire for romance is heightened by the fresh start that a new year promises. That, coupled with easier technology - meeting someone with a few swipes on your phone from the comfort of your sofa - has led to an unprecedented surge of interest in dating apps such as Tinder, Match and Happn.