Science fiction has shaped the aesthetics and sounds of tech today. So, here's a question: what if Apple's Siri talked to 2001: A Space Odyssey's HAL 9000? The subject: why Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant have feminine voices and why HAL - not to mention, IBM's Watson - talk like guys.

Jefferson Graham demonstrates that Apple's Siri actually does have a sense of humor. Watch what happens when he says, "Hey Siri, I'm a little silhouette of a man," on TalkingTech. A link has been sent to your friend's email address. A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. Jefferson Graham demonstrates that Apple's Siri actually does have a sense of humor.

Benchmarked by industry forerunners and expanding explosively by its own methodology, the best customer experiences in natural language processing (NLP) are found through continued and correct application: a surprisingly difficult task, given the subtleties of human expression. In the late '90s, the Internet first emerged as a vast, unknowable expanse. The first companies to address this digital mass – Google, Yahoo, eBay – built broad-based search engines to identify and isolate monetizable elements of this new medium, and to provide a clear map of what was worth seeing and experiencing on the web, based on each search engine's proprietary means of scoring content relevance. Upon analyzing the mass of unstructured data that makes up 80 percent of the user posts, email, messaging and other documented assets that comprise the Internet, businesses are challenged to understand what's relevant. Natural language processing, along with machine learning, have developed into fast-growing fields that businesses are using to make more efficient decisions.

According to police, Guy told Berman she needed money for a dress-making business. She promised to pay him back, but always made excuses, including that she had cancer. Eventually Berman's son found out and intervened.

Americans' high-tech appetite is even more voracious than anticipated as sales of digital assistants, drones, VR headsets and 4K Ultra HD TVs expected to surpass forecasts. The total 2017 consumer bill for tech products -- from Amazon Echo voice-activated speakers to virtual headsets from HTC, Oculus, Samsung and Sony -- is expected to hit $321 billion, up 3.2% over 2016, according to the Consumer Technology Association's mid-year sales forecast. "Driven by consumer demand for the products we already know and love, as well as new, innovative technologies, revenue growth in the consumer technology industry is exceeding expectations," said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of CTA, which released the forecast earlier this week. Drones, OLED TVs and VR are all expected to surpass $1 billion in sales for the first time. Still, the categories grabbing the biggest share of sales remain smartphones, expected to increase 2% to $55.6 billion, laptops ($28 billion, down 1%), televisions ($18 billion, -2%), and tablets ($16 billion, -8%).

In 2017, we're already seeing a growing list of insurers leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to transform their customer- and distributor-facing channels, including the use of robo-advisors to support customers in their purchasing decisions. In some cases, insurers are choosing to partner with emerging players like Motif or Betterment, and in others, they are developing their own capabilities. Consider the Allstate Business Insurance Expert (ABIe)--known as Abby. This virtual assistant with an on-screen personality helps agents quote and issue commercial insurance products. It finds answers through a combination of contextual knowledge and intelligent content.

"If you say things that are particularly assholeish to Cortana, she will get mad," Deborah Harrison says. As a writer for Windows' female-voiced virtual assistant, she should know. At a 2015 tech conference, Harrison told delegates that "a good chunk" of user inquiries were about Cortana's sex life, something Microsoft was working to curb. Siri, Alexa, x.ai's meeting-schedule bot "Amy" and even traffic update assistant Robin have all been subjected to the sexual advances of their male users. That there's a market for virtual sex is unsurprising.

The previously unreported acquisition of Graphiq Inc. and its more than 100 employees has given Amazon a new Southern California outpost. It recently began looking to hire additional software developers and data associates in Santa Barbara to work on Alexa. Investors in Graphiq made out with more than they put in, according to a source, suggesting the deal was worth at least tens of millions of dollars. Another source estimated the deal's value at $50 million. Amazon and Graphiq declined to comment.

Artificial Intelligence – the word conjures up the Hollywood sanctioned image of terminators taking over our world. Most people think of AI as something a bit scary that might occur in the future. But the truth is that we are surrounded by Artificial Intelligence even now! Every time you see an advertisement pop up selling exactly what you want – that's AI! From movie recommendations and Facebook feeds to Virtual PAs like Siri and Alexa – AI is already here and is set to become more and more enmeshed in our daily lives. There is no doubt about the benefits Artificial Intelligence can bring to our lives – it makes things smarter, faster and cheaper – and in areas like healthcare, it can even save lives.

This month we're chatting with Arte Merritt, CEO and Cofounder of Dashbot, a bot analytics platform that enables publishers and developers to increase engagement, acquisition, and monetization. In conversation with Arte, we get the low-down on the future of conversational analytics, how voice-controlled bots like Alexa and Google Home are changing the game, and the surprising stats around people sending scandalous selfies to bots (yes, really). Check out the full conversation below. Give us a quick primer on Dashbot. Dashbot is a bot analytics platform with additional tools to take action on the data.