Nuance Nina named Best Intelligent Assistant Innovation during September 27 AIconics Awards ceremony at The AI Summit, the world's largest conference to showcase AI solutions that are transforming organizations. The AIconics Awards are the only independently-judged awards that celebrate AI for businesses and Nuance Nina was selected as part of a competitive analysis of more than 300 entries. Nuance Nina and customers win Intelligent Assistant Awards during September 18 ceremony at the Opus Research IA Conference. Nuance was honored alongside customers FedEx and IP Australia, with partner Datacom, for delivering notable customer experiences through natural language understanding, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. The Opus Research Intelligent Assistant Awards recognize leading brands who are utilizing virtual assistants to redefine digital commerce and customer care.

If you're playing around with Google's new Home Max or Mini smart speakers, or if you're just using an Android phone such as the new Pixel 2, you may be familiar with the Google Assistant virtual helper. And if you've done so in the last couple days, you may have noticed that the virtual assistant's voice is sounding more realistic than before. That's because Alphabet's Google has started using a cutting-edge piece of technology called WaveNet--developed by its DeepMind "artificial intelligence" division--in Google Assistant. WaveNet represents a different approach that uses recordings of real speech to train a neural network--a computer model that simulates a brain of sorts.

If you're playing around with Google's new Home Max or Mini smart speakers, or if you're just using an Android phone such as the new Pixel 2, you may be familiar with the Google Assistant virtual helper. And if you've done so in the last couple days, you may have noticed that the virtual assistant's voice is sounding more realistic than before. That's because Alphabet's Google has started using a cutting-edge piece of technology called WaveNet--developed by its DeepMind "artificial intelligence" division--in Google Assistant. Synthesized speech is traditionally created by gluing together bits of recorded speech, in a technique known as "concatenative text-to-speech." The result does not sound natural, although some versions of the technique are better than others.

An upgraded virtual reality headset. A pair of wireless earbuds that can translate a conversation in real-time, like a Babel Fish. Most of them seem to exist for one simple reason: If you want something done right, do it yourself. That something, in this case, is Google Assistant. The company's pragmatically named AI helper already lives on Google Home, last year's Pixels, and lots of other smartphones--including the iPhone.

Google's AlphaGo may have unseated Ke Jie as the Go world champion but it's no smarter than a kindergartner. A study published Saturday showed Google's artificial intelligence technology scored best out of 50 systems that Chinese researchers tested against an AI scale they created, although it's still no smarter than a six year old, CNBC reported Monday. AI systems have developed so quickly that it's been able to act as an assistant, take an exam and even outperform us at strategy games.

Jefferson Graham is in the hands-on room at the Made by Google event in San Francisco, showing off new phones, speakers, computer and a camera with a built-in "Google Assistant." Google introduced the Mini and the Max at an event in San Francisco. All you're hearing out of the voice activated "smart speaker" market is static. You wish you could ask Alexa or the Google Assistant to help you sort out this burgeoning business, a space in which the biggest names in tech are all crowding around to grab your attention. You wonder how much to spend. Whether to choose a speaker with a screen?

Your holiday wish list just got one item longer. Google held its annual hardware event Wednesday, at which it unveiled its newest Pixel and Google Home, among other products. But, it was an item revealed late in the presentation that might have been the most mind-blowing. Google's Pixel Buds are essentially the company's answer to Apple's AirPods. They're earbuds that connect to a smartphone--in this case, the Pixel--via Bluetooth.

Mattel disclosed Thursday that it has cancelled its Mattel Aristotle, a Microsoft-powered smart speaker that was designed as a sort of digital nanny. In the end, the fact that the Aristotle could stand in for a normal, flesh-and-blood parent led government officials to ask Mattel to not bring the toy to market, according to a report by The Washington Post. For its part, Mattel told the Post that it had decided to cancel the toy in July, after its new chief technology officer had canned plans for the product "as part of an ongoing effort to deliver the best possible connected-product experience to the consumer." According to a demonstration at the Consumer Electronics Show this past January, Aristotle consisted of two components: a webcam/baby monitor, and a cylindrical speaker that chatted back and forth with kids. Evoking the design of Google Home, the speaker also had colored LEDs embedded deep within.

This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter, reviews for the real world. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read their continuously updated list of deals here. You may have already seen Engadget posting reviews from our friends at Wirecutter. Now, from time to time, we'll also be publishing their recommended deals on some of their top picks.

The firms have revealed that Invoke will have premium 360 sound, play your favorite music, manage calendars and activities, set reminders, check traffic, and deliver the latest news and much more. The device uses Cortana's natural language recognition and deep integration, combined with Microsoft's suite of knowledge and productivity tools in a bid to take on Amazon's Alexa. Called Invoke, the device uses Cortana's natural language recognition and deep integration, combined with Microsoft's suite of knowledge and productivity tools in a bid to take on Amazon's Alexa Users will have a choice between Pearl Silver and Graphite, however the device will only be available in the US sometime this fall. The firms have revealed that Invoke will play your favorite music, manage calendars and activities, set reminders, check traffic, and deliver the latest news and much more.