In a recent study by Gartner Reports, the analyst estimated that by 2020 the average person will have more conversations with bots than with their spouse. The report failed to clarify if this was attributed solely to increasing dependence on AI technology, or if deteriorating spousal relations played a role as well. I suppose it could be a blend of both. What is clear is that there is an inevitable trend moving from screen interfaces to chat interfaces that has all major tech companies scrambling to ensure they have a place at the table in this AI assistant future. It is no exaggeration to say that the business models of most major tech companies rely heavily on users looking at a screen.

Artificial intelligence will have a significant and lasting impact on the ways we live and work. As the AI era continues to unfold, the idea of a future driven by artificial intelligence can evoke mixed emotions. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) co-founder and Chairman Bill Gates referred to AI as the "holy grail" in computer science. On the other hand, and taking a far more apocalyptic perspective, Tesla CEO Elon Musk likened the development of artificial intelligence technologies to "summoning the demon ." Regardless of our feelings on the matter, artificial intelligence is set to play an increasingly prominent role in our day-to-day lives.

As the AI era continues to unfold, the idea of a future driven by artificial intelligence can evoke mixed emotions.Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) co-founder and Chairman Bill Gates referred to AI as the "holy grail" in computer science. On the other hand, and taking a far more apocalyptic perspective, Tesla CEO Elon Musk likened the development of artificial intelligence technologies to "summoning the demon." Regardless of our feelings on the matter, artificial intelligence is set to play an increasingly prominent role in our day-to-day lives. Let's examine 9 statistics that speak to how artificial intelligence is set to become one of the most important technology trends of our lifetimes. Forget GE! Heres how to play the largest growth opportunity in history Forget GE! Heres how to play the largest growth opportunity in history In a survey of corporate executives, 32% of respondents said voice recognition software like Apple'sSiri, Alphabet's (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Google Assistant, and Amazon.com's

Projects Visualizing Targeted Audiences Users of social networks can be passionate about sharing their political convictions, art projects, or business ventures. They often want to direct their social interactions to certain people in order to start collaborations or to raise awareness about issues they support. However, users generally have scattered, unstructured information about the characteristics of their audiences, making it difficult for them to deliver the right messages or interactions to the right people. Existing audience-targeting tools allow people to select potential candidates based on predefined lists, but the tools provide few insights about whether or not these people would be appropriate for a specific type of communication. We introduce an online tool, \textit{Hax}, to explore instead the idea of using interactive data visualizations to help people dynamically identify audiences for their different sharing efforts.

Microsoft is joining Google and Amazon in the race for your home. This week, at an event in China, the venerable tech giant trumpeted the arrival of Project Evo, a sweeping plan to build hardware devices that work a lot like Google Home or the Amazon Echo. But this race is much bigger than some gadgets that sit on your coffee table. The prize is more than just the best home digital assistant. The biggest spoils go to the company that rides its assistant to artificial brains that are far smarter--and creates a market for using these brains to do just about anything. OpenAI Joins Microsoft on the Cloud's Next Big Front: Chips Intel Looks to a New Chip to Power the Coming Age of AI Giant Corporations Are Hoarding the World's AI Talent Artificial Intelligence Just Broke Steve Jobs' Wall of Secrecy Giant Corporations Are Hoarding the World's AI Talent Giant Corporations Are Hoarding the World's AI Talent Google, Amazon, and Microsoft are all racing to build systems that recognize and truly understand natural language--how you and I talk.

Meet Jill Watson, a first-time teaching assistant at Georgia Tech assigned to moderate an online forum for a computer science class. Jill was 1 of 9 TAs assigned to help answer questions about coursework and projects from the 300 students enrolled in the advanced course. During the first few weeks in January, Jill really struggled. This was Knowledge-Based Artificial Intelligence, after all, a course with the goal to "build AI agents capable of human-level intelligence and gain insights into human cognition." It was also a requirement for graduate students to earn their master's degree.

Firmly rooted in the realm of science fiction, artificial intelligence (AI) has often felt external – something happening out there. In reality, AI is a huge part of our everyday lives. We just don't recognize it.Bank alerts of suspected fraudulent charges, smartphone notifications to exercise, Siri or Cortana's ability to recognize voices – are all examples of AI. "Artificial intelligence is basically where machines make sense, learn, interface with the external world, without human beings having to specifically program it," said Nidhi Chappell, director of machine learning at Intel. AI improves lives in many other areas too. By measuring biometrics in sports, data can help measure how an athlete's playing time impacts injury likelihood.

Cognitive computing is rapidly infusing every aspect of our lives. As 2017 approaches, the cognitive revolution--riding on artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and data science -- is coming home to roost more rapidly than many realize. Here are my predictions for the many ways in which you may encounter cognitive technology. Most e-commerce applications now include in-line chatbots that pop out automatically and/or at your request to answer your questions, recommend products for you to purchase, and otherwise make your customer experience more seamless and satisfying. Behind the natural-language conversational interface are cognitive algorithms that are built and tuned by data scientists through real-world experiments, A/B tests, machine learning, and predictive analytics assets in line to merchants' applications.

Intel and Microsoft are working on technology allowing you to shout out commands to Cortana or activate a Windows 10 PC from sleep mode without being all that close to it. The chipmaker is working with Microsoft to add "far-field speech recognition" technology, where one can shout out Cortana commands to a Windows PC from longer distances. "Soon, you'll be able to speak to your PC from a distance and access all of your information on the device and in the cloud," Navin Shenoy is senior vice president and general manager for the Client Computing Group for Intel, said in a blog entry this week. Also, users will also be able to use Cortana to start a PC from standby. Users will have to say, "Hey Cortana."

Microsoft's slow advance into the mobile territory held by rivals Apple and Google continues this week with updates and expanded availability of a key mobile application that runs on the opposition's platforms. As iOS and Android circle the wagons to make sure that no other OS platforms can become established in the mobile space, Microsoft is playing a slightly longer game with a different target. Although Windows 10 Mobile is a great environment (and one that I personally enjoy) it does not have the market share or volume of mobile users that are needed to be self-sustaining. Which is why Microsoft is not only focusing on cloud-based services, but also ensuring they are usable on both iOS and Android as well as Windows 10. A quick glance at the app stores shows the prominence of Outlook, the utility of Outlook365, and the quiet magic of OneNote all riding high.