From ATMs and mobile wallets to chatbots and robo-advisors, technology relentlessly transforms how we store, transfer, and manage money. Capital One moves at the forefront of this transformation -- one of the largest and among the first banking institutions in the U.S. to make serious investments in digital technology and artificial intelligence. Several major financial services firms have publicly announced ambitious plans for AI, including consumer-facing chatbots. Months later, they still haven't shipped. Capital One is one of the few exceptions to the rule.

With the appearance of intelligent personal assistants (IPA) supported by machine learning such as Siri on iOS or Alexa for Amazon, the above scene does not sound like science fiction anymore. If we also consider how Cognitoys support the cognitive development of small children with the help of AI in a fun and gentle way, personal health assistants on our phones suddenly become definite responses for certain needs. They can make our lives more comfortable and they could pay attention to our very personal wishes through constant learning – which might also have some downsides. Remember the movie entitled Her? The main protagonist, Joaquin Phoenix falls completely in love with the voice of a digital assistant capable of learning at astonishing pace as well as fulfilling his every need.

From ATMs and mobile wallets to chatbots and robo-advisors, technology relentlessly transforms how we store, transfer, and manage money. Capital One moves at the forefront of this transformation -- one of the largest and among the first banking institutions in the U.S. to make serious investments in digital technology and artificial intelligence. Several major financial services firms have publicly announced ambitious plans for AI, including consumer-facing chatbots. Months later, they still haven't shipped. Capital One is one of the few exceptions to the rule.

A chat with AI instructor Chris Mohritz Christopher Mohritz is a lifelong entrepreneur and technologist with a number of successful businesses under his belt; bringing a unique blend of technology know-how coupled with creative thinking and business acumen to each of his projects. Since 2009, Chris has been building and leveraging artificial intelligence systems to cognify a wide range of business functions -- marketing, sales, customer support and decision automation to name a few. And over the past five years, he has been building and operating a business accelerator for web/mobile startups, helping other entrepreneurs launch exceptional "AI-first" businesses. Chris draws heavily from a deep background in technology -- from operating nuclear reactors in the U.S. Navy to designing datacenters at Lockheed Martin. Complemented by a broad range of business experience -- from technical sales for the Fortune 500 to project management in the public sector.

As the science of artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more advanced and deeply ingrained in our daily lives, society gets closer to some of the iconic examples of AI from science fiction. Star Trek fans will remember the captain using a voice command to engage the ship's mainframe on the Starship Enterprise simply by saying "Computer." Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) recently added a new wake word to its Alexa-enabled Echo and Echo Dot smart speaker system, which amused and delighted fans of the pop-culture phenomenon. Now all those Star Trek fans will be able to engage with the digital assistant by saying "Computer." It's a fitting tribute, as the Star Trek computer was the inspiration for the development of Amazon's voice-controlled digital assistant.

A Canadian start-up has developed a voice imitation programme capable of mimicking a person's voice after just a minute of listening to them speak. Developed by AI firm Lyrebird, the algorithm uses machine learning to synthesise speech based on audio samples and is even able to replicate emotion. Lyrebird's algorithm is capable of generating new voices from scratch as well as replicating those of others. After hearing an audio clip, the programme determines the defining feature or "key" to the person's voice and then uses this to generate words from scratch. It even varies the intonations it applies so that a repeated sentence doesn't sound the same way twice.

Ever been frustrated by the checkout process when buying something on your phone? Is your billing address not the easiest thing to thumb in? Did a hidden AutoFill demon suddenly overwrite what you tapped out, with your address from seven years ago? Can you not find the one required field that's preventing you from submitting? (Spoiler: I often fall victim to all of these.) A solution is on the way. A new interface paradigm -- the conversational AI form -- offers ways of entering data that is dynamic, personally customized, mobile-first, and just more fun to use.

The "Queen of Clean" comedy Chonda Pierce was under fire earlier this year when she agreed to perform at President Donald Trump's inauguration. The comedian is sticking to her decision adding she has found it difficult lately to trust the media's reporting on his presidency. She also spoke to Fox News about her upcoming film "Enough," where she tackles topics like delving into the world of online dating after losing her husband in 2014. Fox News: You received a lot of backlash over performing at President Trump's inauguration. Looking back, would you do it again?

FILE In this Monday Dec. 21, 2009 file photo, Sudan, a northern white rhino, arrives at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. There's just one male northern white rhino left in the world, and he's getting some help from the Tinder dating app. A Kenyan wildlife conservancy is teaming up with Tinder for a campaign called "The Most Eligible Bachelor in the World," focusing on the rhino named Sudan. They are raising money for research to save the species from extinction. Sudan and his last two female companions are unable to breed naturally because of issues that include old age.

Sony's Concept N products have been sneak-peeked as future possibilities. His name is Nigel, but I'm guessing you haven't heard of him. Nigel could be Sony's answer to Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa and Samsung's Bixby, a personal digital assistant that could potentially be a competitive threat and big boost to the company. But Sony has him way under wraps. I recently paid a visit to "Sony City," in Tokyo, where the electronics giant has its corporate headquarters.