This article was originally published at Stratfor.com. In the world of espionage, developing and exploiting access to vital sources of information are the primary objectives. And these days, finding a way into information systems seems easier than ever amid the growing number of "smart" devices connected to our homes and businesses. Voice-controlled and hands-free microphones and speakers -- Amazon's Echo and Alexa, Google's Home Assistant, Apple's Siri and Microsoft's Cortana, to name a few -- welcome technology into our lives and trumpet the dawn of a new era: the age of artificial intelligence (AI) and the internet of things. According to their makers, virtual home assistants are "always ready, connected and fast," "work across your devices, and integrate with hundreds of apps," and when you "tell it to do things … it's your own personal Google!"

The iPhone has been my primary smartphone for well over a decade, and therefore I've had Siri on my phone ever since its introduction in 2011. But I never really found a reason to use it. I've always felt self-conscious when talking to my phone -- I find people who use voice commands in public really annoying -- so I wanted to avoid doing it myself. I have Bluetooth in my car so I don't have to use my phone while driving, and when I'm at home, I have my trusty fingers instead. So I imagined that being forced to use Siri for a whole week was going to be a nightmare.

When Amazon first coined the strapline "Ask Alexa" for its virtual assistant, it couldn't have predicted the X-rated nature of some of the requests. "She" may boast an encyclopaedic knowledge, but research by consumer behaviour analysts Canvas8 reveals that some users are more interested in a virtual hook-up than fact finding. And she's not the only target: the equally smooth voice of Microsoft's Cortana is getting customers just as hot under the collar apparently. From perma-smiling avatars in traditionally female support roles, to hyper-sexualised "fembots" pandering to male fantasies, the female form is everywhere in techno-world - attractive, servile and at your command. A little more conservative, but just as eager to please, is virtual personal assistant Amy Ingram, the brainchild of New York start-up X.ai.

The prospect of lower costs and bigger markets is driving the adoption of AI in retail banking and wealth management, writes Aggie Anthimidou. It doesn't take a super computer to work out that artificial intelligence is going to make banking more effective. Banks have been using basic customer data to sell more products to the right people for decades. The ability to crunch more data, in real time, and learn from customer behaviour means they can refine this process to the nth degree. According to research group Forrester, AI will be one of the 15 fintech technologies to watch over the next four years.

Alexa skills, Google Home actions, FB messenger bots, intelligent assistants – the world of conversational interfaces is booming. Enterprises want in, but a lack of skills and knowledge in this dynamic market makes it almost impossible for businesses to embrace this new trend. To solve this problem, a new platform named CONVERSATION.ONE helps enterprises to develop their conversational apps seamlessly in 3 simple steps. The platform also leverages machine learning to constantly improve conversational dictionaries and build an enriched, fluent and natural correspondence with any device whilst maximizing the user's communication. We sat with Rachel Batish, co-founder and CRO to learn more about the market and the solution that Conversation.One is offering.

Finance is integrating artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and predictive analytics at a striking rate for both customer-facing and back-end operations. As PWC has noted, 81% of banking CEOs are concerned about the rate of technological evolution in their industry – and Forbes reports more than $4 billion in newly funded ventures focused on financial services AI applications in the last two years. In one study, 32% of financial services executives were already using AI, and that number will only increase as technologies become more sophisticated. Accenture found that 76% of banking executives intend to deploy AI within the next three years to improve their customer interface. Every day, new technologies are emerging that help companies be more efficient with their operations and deliver a better customer experience.

This originally appeared on x.ai by Josh Catone. In the classic 1980s dystopian sci-fi movie RoboCop, mortally wounded Detroit police officer Alex Murphy is reborn as a cyborg when his brain is implanted in a fully mechanical body. He comes back better and stronger than ever, so good at his job that later in the film, his fellow human officers go on strike to protest robots taking their jobs. RoboCop presents that classic image of a cyborg as a machine-augmented human. Being part man and part machine, Murphy melds the street smarts and instincts of a human officer with the strength, stamina, and durability of a machine to become a more effective cop.

Facebook is preparing to launch a new range of hardware including a big screen chat device and a smart speaker. The laptop-sized touchscreen and smart camera technology, codenamed Aloha, is said to make it so people connecting digitally through the device feel like they're actually in the same room. The secretive team is also working on an Amazon Echo-like smart speaker, 360-degree camera, and futuristic wearables. The laptop-sized touchscreen and smart camera technology, codenamed Aloha, is said to make it so people connecting digitally through the device feel like they're actually in the same room, and will compete with Amazon's Echo Show (pictured) The firm has put veteran executive Andrew Bosworth in charge of the secretive'building 8' team according to Business Insider, which is also developing a 360-degree camera and futuristic wearables such as Facebook's augmented reality glasses and the Oculus VR headsets. 'We are excited about our long-term investments in virtual reality, augmented reality, and consumer hardware,' a Facebook spokesperson told Business Insider.

Development on the Vega speaker was reportedly held up by delays in Samsung's proprietary Bixby virtual assistant, which is expected to power the device. Issues for Bixby included the difficulty translating Bixby into languages besides English and the program's lack of accumulated user experience compared to older assistant programs like Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant. While Bixby suffered a delayed rollout and only formally launched earlier this summer, the assistant is slated to roll out globally soon. The Vega speaker has yet to get a set release date, but with companies and consumers becoming increasingly familiar with smart home technology, Samsung likely wants to get a presence within this growing market.

It's hard to overstate Amazon's online retail dominance. With 76 percent market share of online retail, it's as if the 95-96 Chicago Bulls entered your local rec league. No one can challenge Amazon today, but a newly announced partnership between Google and Walmart--allowing you to order groceries with from the latter with Google Assistant, or online via Google Express, starting late September--may ultimately present a threat. In Walmart, Google adds a retail behemoth to its Google Express service, an online shopping bazaar in need of an anchor. In Google, Walmart gains a foothold in the voice-enabled future of commerce.