Google has long said that it wants to open up its Assistant to a broader ecosystem of hardware companies and developers. Today it's taking a major step in this direction with the launch of the Google Assistant SDK, which allows developers to build the Assistant's smarts into their own hardware prototypes. Those could be smart mirrors, Google Home-like appliances or a teetotaler's favorite robot bartender -- the world is your oyster. It's worth stressing that Google is only making the API freely available for building prototypes for now. If you want to commercialize a project, you still need written permission from Google.

Soon enough, Amazon's Alexa will shout out your grocery list. That's assuming developers take advantage of the new language framework that Amazon has added to its digital assistant. The idea is that the Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) will hopefully give Alexa more natural speaking patterns. Specifically, now Alexa is capable of whispering, bleeping out swear words and adding emphasis to a phrase in addition to changing volume, speed and pitch of its voice. The Amazon Developers page has sample code available too, so you can hear what Alexa is supposed to sound like before adding the SSML to your project. This is a pretty big step toward actually getting a digital assistant that sounds like a human in addition to it being another move from Bezos and Co. that opens the platform up to outsiders.

If you have seen the movie'Iron Man', you might remember Tony Stark's home computing system J.A.R.V.I.S; an artificially intelligent home computing system that took care of everything from the home's heating and cooling systems to Stark's hot rod in the garage. It looked pretty great on screen, but unlike to AI technologies today, Stark's AI assistant: Recently, Mark Zuckerberg created a code for another virtual assistant (also named Jarvis) to automate his home. While Mark's tool (controlled via iOS app) has a long way to go before it can emulate movie's J.A.R.V.I.S, it does come close and in the process, acknowledges the challenges that app developers face trying to integrate AI capabilities in their projects. In this post, we will discuss what these challenges are while taking the development of Mark's AI- powered digital assistant in context. Current machine learning software uses natural language processing (NLP) to convert text into data.

You probably have food that's been in your freezer longer than David Foster (nope, still not the composer) stayed at Google after leaving Amazon. After six months, Foster is vacating his position as vice president of Google's vice president of hardware product development, according to Bloomberg. In case you forgot, he played a role in the launch the Pixel phone and Google Home speaker's launches. Prior to that, he led hardware development on Amazon's Echo speakers, the Kindle Paperwhite and Voyage e-readers. Looking at his resume on LinkedIn, his short stay is something of an anomaly.

With work comes unavoidable tedium, burning an inordinate amount of time. For some, the time lost is enough to justify hiring an assistant–an expensive solution that can be difficult to scale. But some tasks once coordinated by costly humans are becoming automated. With advances in AI, a new, tech-based breed of assistants, often referred to as virtual assistants, are entering the market of support. If startups have it their way, my people won't get in touch with your people; instead, your bots will get in touch with my bots.

This is the first post in an intended series on what is the current state of Artificial Intelligence capabilities, and what we can expect in the relative short term. I will be at odds with the more outlandish claims that are circulating in the press, and amongst what I consider an alarmist group that includes people in the AI field and outside of it. In this post I start to introduce some of the key components of my future arguments, as well as show how different any AI system might be from us humans. Some may recognize the title of this post as an homage to the 1974 paper by Thomas Nagel, "What Is It Like to Be a Bat?". Two more recent books, one from 2009 by Alexandra Horowitz on dogs, and one from 2016 by Peter Godfrey-Smith on octopuses also pay homage to Nagel's paper each with a section of a chapter titled "What it is like", and "What It's Like", respectively, giving affirmative responses to their own questions about what is it like to be a dog, or an octopus.

The outfit evaluations consider fit, color, and personal preference, which Amazon could easily use to recommend you items from its growing apparel shop. That's not to say that it can't notice other stuff about users, like changes in body shape, complexion, and any number of other physical traits. The specific AI recipe driving the algorithm remains a secret, so one wonders how whether Amazon might use the Echo Look to undercut its e-commerce competition. If Alexa can recognize clothes from Target, for example, could it recommend instead that you swap it out for something from its own service? From a security standpoint, Echo Look users will have to make peace with putting a camera and a microphone in their bedrooms, connecting it to the internet, and giving Amazon the ability to get some data from it.

Amazon.com Inc., seeking a bigger slice of the clothing market, is casting itself as a style adviser. The Seattle-based online retailer on Wednesday introduced the Echo Look, a new version of its artificial-intelligence powered speakers that includes a camera. The company said the $200 device, which is only available via an invitation for now, will enable consumers to take videos and photos of their outfits and compare them via algorithms. But Amazon's plans are likely much broader than offering fashion advice, experts say. Potential applications range from becoming a virtual home-fitting room to a communications and security system for companies -- all ways to more deeply integrate the company into consumers' lives.

Amazon revealed Wednesday its latest Alexa device, the Echo Look, which wants to be your "style assistant" by judging your outfits. The Echo Look, is a hands-free camera which receives your commands through Alexa. The device takes full length photos and short videos of you with a built-in LED lighting, depth-sensing camera. The images taken by the Echo Look are focused on what you're wearing by blurring out the background so your outfits stand out. Read: Amazon Launches'Amazon Cash', A Credit-Free Way To Make Purchases: Here's How To Use It The Echo Look, which works kind of like a smart mirror, comes with an app for iOS and Android devices.

Amazon's New Echo Aims to Answer Age-Old Question: Does This Look Good on Me?