We Google things we're too lazy to remember or ask another human. We've become accustomed to asking Siri and Cortana about the weather. The current generation of artificial intelligence can pull facts from the web, keep track of your appointments and even crack jokes. What if there were a virtual assistant to help you make real-life decisions, like whether you should start a brewery or go to business school? Project Sapphire, a collaboration between IBM and the University of Michigan, is aimed at building an artificially intelligent academic advisor that guides undergraduate students through their course options, helps pick extracurricular activities and eventually dishes out advice on their careers.

IN THE early days of computing, information was put into computers by flipping switches. After this came the relative sophistication of loading programs and data by means of punched cards or punched paper-tape. These were followed in their turn by such devices as the keyboard, the mouse, the trackball, the joystick, the touchpad and the touch-sensitive screen. Throughout all this, speech--the most natural, and perhaps the most effective, interface between people and computers--has remained largely neglected. Apart from some modest developments in software for desktop dictation in the 1990s, the only time most people have talked to their computers has been when cursing them.

Personalized recommendation of products, documents, and collaborators has become an important way of meeting user needs in commerce, information provision, and community services, whether on the web, through mobile interfaces, or through traditional desktop interfaces. This tutorial first reviews the types of personalized recommendation that are being used commercially and in research systems. It then systematically presents and compares the underlying AI techniques, including recent variants and extensions of collaborative filtering, demographic and case-based approaches, and decision-theoretic methods. The properties of the various techniques will be compared within a general framework, so that participants learn how to match recommendation techniques to applications and how to combine complementary techniques.

Thirty-five years ago the TV series Knight Rider envisioned an artificially intelligent car that could develop a friendly rapport with its driver. That 1982 Pontiac Trans Am--also known as the Knight Industries Two Thousand (KITT)--dutifully served as Michael Knight's crime-fighting partner, monitored his health through sensors in the seat and even used voice analysis to respond to the sarcasm in Knight's cornball quips. Your next car won't reach KITT's level of awareness, wit or empathy--but Honda, Toyota and several other companies really are planning to make AI standard in all the vehicles they produce. Honda unveiled one of the more ambitious--and fanciful--visions for AI in the cockpit at last week's U.S. Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Its New Electric Urban Vehicle (NeuV) is a self-driving concept car that uses Honda's talking Automated Network Assistant, or HANA, to analyze and respond to data the vehicle collects about driver and passenger preferences and behavior.

Smart homes may soon be equipped with an AI concierge to help you manage all of your connected devices. San Francisco firm Thington has revealed a free iPhone app that pairs with smart lights, cameras, and other devices in the growing Internet of Things to provide centralized control, which can be securely shared with select people. The Thington Concierge chatbot will ask about your preferences and even help you set up your smart appliances so they work with each other, making for a safer and more efficient network. The app can communicate with users through text messages, allowing it to find out specific preferences on the setup of each device by simply asking you a question. To adjust the brightness of your smart lights, for example, you could command it to'Change the settings,' 'stop doing this,' or'leave it as it is.'

Amazon wants Alexa to boldly go where no AI has gone before. The e-commerce giant envisions its voice assistant functioning like the'Star Trek computer', in that it will answer users no matter where they are in their home with instant feedback. And, more than 10,000 developers have registered to add the virtual assistant to products, bringing this dream closer to a reality. Amazon wants Alexa to boldly go where no AI has gone before. David Limp, Amazon's senior vice president for devices, envisions the voice assistant functioning like the'Star Trek computer', in that it will answer users no matter where they are in their home and right away David Limp, Amazon's senior vice president for devices, envisions the voice assistant functioning like the'Star Trek computer', in that it will answer users no matter where they are in their home and right away.

Earlier this year, Mark Zuckerberg reveal he is dedicating his year to making a home AI butler. Now, he has revealed the project is already coming to fruition - and promised to reveal it soon. He told The Verge it can already control his home, and even makes his breakfast. Earlier this year, Mark Zuckerberg reveal he is dedicating his year to making a home AI butler. Now, he has revealed the project is already coming to fruition - and promised to reveal it soon. 'It's going well, and I'm planning on doing a demo soon,' he said.

Artificial intelligence that can understand and answer any work-related question it is asked has been made available in the UK for the first time. The computer software, called Starmind, uses machine learning to understand queries, then source answers from previous staff conversations on a subject or track down experts within the company who are able to help. Its creators refer to it as'brain technology', adding its aim is to become a central knowledge bank within any company, an instant database of information that can be accessed by anyone. AI software which understands and answers work-related questions has been made available in the UK. Starmind is an artificial intelligence software for the workplace, designed in Switzerland.

Siri and Cortana are helpful with answering questions and searching the web, but fall short when it comes to recognizing and anticipating someone's needs. Now researches have unveiled a new application that could be deemed a true virtual assistant for your smartphone. Called RedEye, this technology uses machine learning to see and hear what users are experiencing in order to provide them with specific information - like people they've seen or places they've been. Rice has unveiled a new application that could be deemed a true virtual assistant. Called RedEye, this technology uses machine learning to see and hear what users are experiencing to provide them with specific information -- like people they've seen or places they've been RedEye assists mobile CPU/GPU systems by replacing the image sensor, nearly halving the system energy consumption by moving convolutional processing from the digital domain in the analog domain.

Microsoft is adding its Cortana smart assistant to millions of Xbox One game consoles in a bid to take on Apple, Google and Amazon in the smart assistant market. The firm today launched the first test version of the smart assistant for beta users of its Xbox One, ahead of a full launch for it later this summer. It will allow users to talk to the assistant using either Kinect or a headset. The update, coming to all Xbox One consoles this summer, will allow users to access Microaoft's smart assistant simply by saying'Hey, Cortana'. Microsoft boss Satya Nadella touted the power of'conversational' computing at the company's annual Build conference for software developers in San Francisco earlier this year.