Looking ahead to 2017, we've identified four distinct areas where we see new and continuing opportunities. Bots is an area where we see significant growth and opportunity in creating a much more personalized content experience for end users. As AI and cognitive technologies mature, integration into the basic fabric of the Bot will enable the delivery of personalized and informative content and when combined with cognitive communications, the conversation can easily escalate and move from'automation' to'live support,' and enhance the end user experience to deliver/route the conversation via the best and most appropriate channel (text, voice, video, etc.). "Carriers will also have to add new features and services, such as EVS (Enhanced Voices Services), to keep their customer base from switching" Cognitive technology is another area where we see growth and significant developments. On the back of Unified Communications and Collaboration (UC&C) rapidly entering the business/enterprise environment, employees are now utilizing tools to ensure they have instant access to their content, co-workers and customers.

The active investments of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the artificial intelligence market, the growth rate of which over the next decade will be four times higher than that of the digital advertising market, increase the long-term investment attractiveness of the company. To begin, let's take a look at the current growth forecasts for the global Artificial Intelligence (AI) market in the coming decade. For a better clarity, I've slightly modified these data and projected the trend until the year 2030. Here is what I've got: over the next 15 years, this market will be growing at the CAGR of 40%, and in the next 10 years, it will be increasing by an average of 50% each year: Tractica forecast (a market intelligence firm that focuses on human interaction with technology) is a bit more modest, but it still suggests that the annual worldwide AI revenue will grow from $643.7 million in 2016 to $36.8 billion by 2025, demonstrating a CAGR of 49.88%: So, the growth in the next decade at an average annual rate of 50% - is really a lot? It depends on what to compare with, but given that I'm performing this analysis through the prism of perspectives for Alphabet, it probably makes sense to compare AI with digital advertising market, which is accountable for 87% of Google's revenue.

Researchers often call 2017 the year of the conversational computer in China. Leveraging recent advances in voice recognition and natural-language processing, e-commerce giant Alibaba and search giant Baidu have both been developing technology to crack voice-based communication. Now voice-operated products derived from Baidu and Alibaba's technology are coming to the Chinese market. The Tmall Genie, which has Alibaba's voice assistant, AliGenie, built in, is akin to the Amazon Echo. It can place online orders, check the weather, play your favorite music, and control other smart devices in your home through voice commands.

The Internet of Things, or IoT, is a fast-growing and seemingly all-encompassing field. At least 8.4 billion connected devices will be in use worldwide by the end of this year--and that number is expected to reach 20.4 billion by 2020, according to Gartner, which predicts total spending on IoT endpoints and services to reach $2 trillion this year. IoT is an umbrella term for various unrelated devices such as wearables and connected appliances. IoT marketing strategists can help their organizations cut through the noise with specialized skills in retail sensors, radio frequency technology, digital signage, smartphones, wearables, automobiles and virtually anything that transmits data. Those who want to enter the field ought to have a predilection for embracing a world where humans and machines seamlessly interact. For instance, says IBM vp of marketing analytics Ari Sheinkin, TVs and couch potatoes will soon be regularly chatting it up. "We really want to make the insights ubiquitous," he adds, "so it's not contained in a laptop or database."

While modern Bluetooth earpieces are more compact than ever, chances are you'll still need to leave at least one stuck in your ear. This can get uncomfortable over time, not to mention the dorkiness that's been haunting this form factor since day one. Hong Kong startup Origami Labs thinks it has an alternative solution to this problem: why not repackage the Bluetooth earpiece as a ring, and then use bone conduction to transmit audio to the fingertip? Using bone conduction for audio transmission is hardly a new idea. It's a commonly used technology in the hearing aid market, as this transmits sound directly to the inner ear, thus bypassing hearing issues caused by the middle or outer ear.

You should never, ever, under any circumstances, underestimate how much Dwayne Johnson can get done in a day with Siri. Follow the world's busiest actor and Siri as they dominate the day.

Amazon's Alexa just got a new job. In addition to her other 15,000 skills like playing music and telling knock-knock jokes, she can now also answer economic questions for clients of the Swiss global financial services company, UBS Group AG. According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), a new partnership between UBS Wealth Management and Amazon allows some of UBS's European wealth-management clients to ask Alexa certain financial and economic questions. Alexa will then answer their queries with the information provided by UBS's chief investment office without even having to pick up the phone or visit a website. And this is likely just Alexa's first step into offering business services.

Angie Harmon is ready to date again, but don't expect to find this single mom online anytime soon. The 44-year-old actress and her husband of 13 years, former pro football player Jason Sehorn, announced their separation in 2014. "I don't think I'd do [online dating]," Harmon admitted to Closer Weekly. "I need to suss it out a lot before I go on a date." While Harmon is taking it slow in the dating department, she's finding joy in her work.

What do you get when you combine the world's most valuable tech company and the self proclaimed "hardest working man in show business?" ENORMOUS ASTEROID DUBBED'THE ROCK' WILL MAKE ITS CLOSEST APPROACH TO EARTH YET Apple and Dwayne Johnson – better known as The Rock – have joined together to create an advertisment to teach people how to use Siri every day. Known as "The Rock x Siri Dominate The Day," the ad sees Johnson call up a Lyft car, fly a plane to Rome, appear at a fashion show and more, all using the iPhone 7. Johnson, who notoriously has a busy schedule, enlists Siri to help him with these tasks as Apple attempts to push the voice assistant to be a more active part of people's daily lives. "You should never, ever, under any circumstances, underestimate how much Dwayne Johnson can get done in a day with Siri," Apple put in a caption under the ad on its YouTube page. At its developer conference in June, Apple said Siri was being used on more than 375 million iOS devices each month.

Aditya Challa, IMImobile: choose the right technology and use AI wisely! Aditya Challa of IMImobile takes a look at some current and future applications of artificial intelligence (AI) for customer experience in the financial and banking sector, as well as the challenges that still need to be overcome. Beyond the current race to build chatbots, he predicts that voice-driven AI services will ultimately become the main interface between banks and their customers. When four out of five bankers agree on something it's worth taking notice. According to Accenture's Banking Technology Vision 2017 report, that's how many think AI will revolutionise how they interact with their clients and collect information.