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.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a fast-evolving technology and definitively a hot conversation topic. For some, AI is super scary, while for others, it is truly fascinating. Portraying AI as something evil that will destroy humanity might sell in Hollywood. I, however, think AI will be as moral as we build it. That is why creating a thinking machine that will use its intelligence to learn our human values will be critically important to preserve our safety. So how can AI impact the future of digital marketing? Hopefully, the following words will help you think about how the role of artificial intelligence will play in the future of digital marketing. Most importantly it should help you start navigating through the a.i.

Google today announced that its Lens AI is being rolled out for Google Assistant in Pixel and Pixel 2 smartphones. Lens uses computer vision to do things like detect landmarks or extract phone numbers, email addresses, and text from real-world objects like billboards or marquees. Lens can also scan barcodes and recognize video games, movies, books, and other works of art. In the weeks ahead, Lens will roll out in Google Assistant for English speakers in Canada, India, Singapore, the U.K. and the United States, Google assistant product manager Ibrahim Badr said today in a blog post. Lens with Google Assistant was pointed out by Android Police in recent days.

I'll just come out and say it: Amazon's newest Echo hits the sweet spot. The Echo Spot fills a hole in Amazon's Alexa lineup that I didn't even know was there. With no less than six smart speakers, plus a variety of tablets and apps, I thought Amazon had its bases more than covered. There are Alexa options to handle every room, budget, and situation in need of a smart speaker. And if you can't find something in Amazon's stable, you can choose from a bevy of third-party Alexa-compatible devices.

Balazs Horanyi is an engineer and data scientist at Stream. These days, when it comes to capturing and holding an audience's attention you must deliver the most relevant content possible. Whether searching for jobs or something more important, like looking at cat memes, your reader expects to see content relevant to them – personalized content. However, getting your users to optimal digital consumption nirvana (coin new term – check!) can be unexpectedly difficult. While it isn't rocket science, it does involve some brain power… Companies like Netflix and Pinterest have tackled this issue and pioneered personalization for their audiences.

Stories predicting that robots will one day take over your job are probably clogging your newsfeed and filling you with dread. But today's reality includes a lot of good news when it comes to AI: There are AI apps and tools available now that could make your job much easier and could improve your small business. Intuitive personal assistants, messengers, and data filters eliminate some of the grunt work that has been holding you back from advancing your organization - and your career. At CreditDonkey, we compare the latest products and services for companies so that they can decide which ones are right for them - and spend wisely on their choice. With the latest AI innovations, companies may find they can save money in the long run by working more efficiently and getting closer to the information they need to run more smoothly. With so many new AI products, though, you can fall down a rabbit hole of options - and not know which ones would be worth investing in. The AI innovations on our list are worth considering; they're the best of the best. See which AI tools on this list could be a fit for your business. Jibo is an AI-powered robot that learns something new with every experience, recognizing faces, telling jokes, and more.