With the wave of personal assistants, such as Siri, Cortana and Google Assistant, and new start-ups leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics to build personal companions, it's becoming clear we are moving toward a new voice-controlled relationship with technology. As we have already seen in the consumer market, it is all but a given that these voice-activation systems will eventually make it into the enterprise environment, as the potential benefits of these systems could be tremendous in simplifying and automating activities. Here, Craig Walker, director Cloud Services at Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, explains that, although it may be a long time before we see the full likenesses of "HAL" from "2001: A Space Odyssey", the technology is already here that can improve the ways businesses operate. Think how much easier it would be for a physician to just say "System: update Mary Smith's chart with the following: "Patient experiencing abdominal pain, issue pharmacy order for 200MG of'SuperAntiGas', signed Dr. FeelBetter." Or in a conference room, instead of the struggle to figure out which remote control puts on the projector and the screen, a simple voice request "System: turn on projector, turn on TV and dim lights."

Google is planning to bring Google Assistant to headphones through its new project codenamed "bisto." Now, it looks like Bose's upcoming QuietComfort 35 II will be the very first pair of bisto headphones. Earlier this week, a graphic inside the Google Assistant iOS app was discovered depicting a pair of over-the-ear wireless headphones. The design matches the strings of code found inside the Google app and may be the device that's codenamed "baywolf." It is now believed that this is the Bose QuietComfort 35 II.

HARI SREENIVASAN: But first: Tech giants are increasingly under scrutiny from politicians, regulators and experts on the left and the right. Some are concerned about their growing power, even calling them monopolies. And the tension keeps building, whether over privacy, politics or the displacement of workers by automation. We, too, at the NewsHour have worked and collaborated with Facebook, Google and many other new media businesses. Economics correspondent Paul Solman has a conversation for his weekly series, Making Sense.

"South Park" debuted its 21st season Wednesday and the long-running animated show mostly focused on Confederate flag protests in "White People Renovating Houses." But the show also took the opportunity to needle another group: viewers with smart home speakers. In the episode, Cartman issued various typical -- and slightly less typical -- commands to his on-screen Amazon Echo and Google Homer speakers and, in what was more than likely an intentional move, viewers' speakers followed suit. In other news I have an erroneous alarm set for 7am and a set of hairy balls on my shopping list. Voice home assistants like the Google Home and Amazon Echo have occasionally had problems with accidentally taking commands from TV broadcasts.

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To some, artificial intelligence (AI) sounds like a futuristic possibility. Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa are just two examples of advanced AI embedding themselves into our lives. Please login below to view content or register for a 4 week FREE Trial.

When Samsung unveiled its Galaxy Note 8 smartphone last month, it was widely considered to be one of the most impressive phones ever. But with Apple since announcing the iPhone X, is that still the case? Prospective smartphone buyers are now wondering whether the iPhone X or Samsung's latest alternative, the Galaxy Note 8, is better. Although some may choose an Apple device merely because they're Apple fans--and visa versa for Samsung fans--not everyone is so willing to buy whatever their favored company offers. So, for those people and others who want to know which device is most appealing, Fortune has compiled the following comparison of what's good and bad in both new smartphones.

When Bose accidentally leaked a new pair of headphones in an email newsletter of all places, no one quite knew what the cans' mysterious action button was for. Well, now we do: activating Google Assistant. The upcoming Quiet Comfort 35 II over-ear cans will feature Mountain View's digital assistant and be among the first headphones to do so. Back in May at Google's annual I/O developer show, the company said it was releasing an SDK for Assistant so it'd start showing up in more places. "The new Google Assistant SDK easily allows a manufacturer to build the Google Assistant into any hardware," the company's Scott Huffman said at the time.

South Park viewers were sent scrambling to unplug their Alexa and Google Home devices last night, after the show's 21st season premiere had their smart assistants setting alarms, creating shopping lists, and spewing obscenities. During an episode which saw the characters shouting commands at the cartoon versions of the devices, viewers flocked to Twitter to reveal that their own smart speakers had been triggered, too. Social media has erupted with the hilarious stories of Amazon Alexa and Google Home owners whose assistants were set off by the episode, with many even claiming they'd been left with a shopping list that included'hairy b*lls.' South Park viewers were sent scrambling to unplug their Alexa and Google Home devices last night, after the show's 21st season premiere had their smart assistants setting alarms, creating shopping lists, and spewing obscenities Google Home is continually listening for commands. Google says nothing gets passed back to them until the speakers hear the keywords'Hey Google' or'OK, Google'.

Christian and Sharad have just published their new book on AI. "The next technology to create the biggest and widest impact on all aspects of our lifestyle, industries, and society has arrived. It is Artificial Intelligence (AI) with its newly acquired magic of Machine Learning. AI is the next big thing and will transform all businesses. Its progress and disruptive power is evidenced in a number of areas – like Apple Siri, IBM Watson and Tesla cars. The use of AI for future competitiveness and survival is a must."