By 2020, approximately 20.4 billion devices are estimated to be connected to the internet. These IoT devices are getting smarter, connecting to intelligent applications, such as Amazon's Alexa or Apple's Siri, and helping consumers make transactions and complete tasks. However, they are also sparking conversational AI, and it stands to change customer service. Conversational AI consists of an advanced technology that uses natural language processing (NLP) so that computers can comprehend human language. Conversational AI includes a variety of technologies, such as chatbots, advanced notifications and personal assistants. Conversational AI is not without its challenges.

I will use {ordinal} clm() (and other cool R packages such as {text2vec} as well) here to develop a hybrid content-based, collaborative filtering, and (obivously) model-based approach to solve the recommendation problem on the MovieLens 100K dataset in R. All R code used in this project can be obtained from the respective GitHub repository; the chunks of code present in the body of the post illustrate the essential steps only. The MovieLens 100K dataset can be obtained from the GroupLens research laboratory of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota. The first part of the study introduces the new approach and refers to the feature engineering steps that are performed by the OrdinalRecommenders_1.R script (found on GitHub). The second part, to be published soon, relies on the R code in OrdinalRecommenders_3.R and presents the model training, cross-validation, and analyses steps. The OrdinalRecommenders_2.R script encompasses some tireless for-looping in R (a bad habbit indeed) across the dataset only in order to place the information from the dataset in the format needed for the modeling phase.

Artificial Intelligence is already changing the face of banking on a global scale. Long before chatbots popped up as interesting business-use cases, long before mobile banking applications offered military-grade secure transactions, and much before focused analytics tools for banking made themselves known, AI apps for banks augmented by machine learning and deep learning began creating an impact in the world of banking. The question is natural, and when you think of it, this hardly comes as a surprise. Artificial intelligence is already playing a role in critical finance and banking functions such as loan approvals, asset management, portfolio design, and risk management. However, the true potential of AI apps for banks extends much beyond these often talked about areas of work.

A pet owner was stunned after her parrot managed to shop online using Amazon's Alexa voice recognition software. Corienne Pretorius, 39, was baffled after a £10 order for gift boxes, which she had not ordered, arrived at her house. The mother-of-one questioned her husband Jan, 45, a civil engineer, and son Jaden, eight, but quickly realised the culprit was Buddy - their African Grey parrot. Ms Pretorius, from Greenwich, south east London, says the cheeky bird mimics her voice, and must have activated her smart Amazon Echo device to place the strange order. Pet owner Corienne Pretorius, of Greenwich, south-east London, was stunned after her parrot (pictured) managed to shop online using Amazon's Alexa voice recognition software She said: 'I couldn't believe it when I realised that it was Buddy who had used Alexa to make an Amazon order.

Amazon is reportedly working on a wearable device that will allow users to access its Alexa voice assistant on the move. The smart glasses will appear to be a regular pair of specs, with high tech additions discretely built in, according to a new report. If they prove popular, they could allow the shopping firm to take on rivals Siri and Google Assistant, which are already both available in mobile voice activated form. Amazon is reportedly working on a wearable device that will allow users to access its Alexa voice assistant on the move. The smart glasses will appear to be a regular pair of specs, with high tech additions discretely built in, according to a new report (artist's impression) This is not the first time in recent days that Amazon's plans to make Alexa more mobile have been revealed.

People ask me if I use Siri / Cortana / Alexa / Bixby / Google Now (At first, it was Majel, honouring Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, then the sole and only voice of the computer in Star Trek), and the answer is no. It is not uncommon for me to have to repeat my query multiple times, and try to sound like a non-accented English-speaking American (and fails 75% of the time). And after 2–3 try, I just give-up (and use the keyboard in the case I was dictating). After 2–3 months of that repeating scenario, I just stopped using it altogether. I never even tried it on my Mac… I'm faster with my keyboard in 99% of the scenarios!

Microsoft's first mission statement envisioned a computer on every desk and in every home, but Bill Gates also had another goal: that computers would someday be able to see, hear, communicate and understand humans and their environment. More than 25 years and two CEOs later, Microsoft is betting its future on it. "We truly believe AI is this disruptive force, even though it's not new," said Harry Shum, the executive vice president in charge of Microsoft's AI and Research group, in an interview with GeekWire. "The recent progress is just enormous. We certainly have seen that through our own products and engagement with customers. We also feel we have a very strong point of view about how we take AI to the next step."

Two million years ago, when the first homo erectus shared his newfound discovery with his hominid peers, they likely ran for the hills. But once they realized everything they could achieve with fire--from seeing in the dark and keeping warm to cooking food and fashioning tools--they quickly came around. People have always feared the unknown. But if a tool proves sound and benefits individuals in some tangible way, they'll eagerly embrace it. One technology that people are currently on the fence about--particularly in the enterprise space--is conversational artificial intelligence (AI).

The crowded pack of voice-controlled digital assistants -- Apple's Siri, Google Assistant, Amazon's Alexa and Microsoft's Cortana -- are good at numerous things. They can help people play music, set up calendar appointments and check the weather. They can even get two rival tech executives, Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Satya Nadella of Microsoft, to join hands in a rare partnership. For the past year, the two companies have been coordinating behind the scenes to make Alexa and Cortana communicate with each other. The partnership, which the companies plan to announce early Wednesday, will allow people to summon Cortana using Alexa, and vice versa, by the end of the year.

This September, financial institutions, venture capitalists, well established businesses, and startups alike joined together in New York City for 4 days of demos, panels, keynotes and roundtable discussions navigating the financial technology landscape. Of the 70 companies that demoed, AI dominated the discussion; with over 15% of companies insisting that "AI" is the driving force behind their tech. As the demos continued, it became increasingly clear that the disparities between those AIs are immense, and the extent to which their functionalities vary should not be overlooked. While Finovate 2016 outlined banks' need to implement AI into their platforms, Finovate 2017 identified several key factors that matter most when choosing a virtual banking assistant. In financial services, an industry overwhelmingly saturated with competition, customer service is the one true differentiator.