Longer term, who knows the fate of the human agent. There is certainly plenty of impetus for automation, but for now it can seem like a cool gimmick (see the Henn na Hotel). If used on any scale, AI has to be proven to definitively ease the customer journey and ultimately grow revenue.

The Amazon Echo is the gadget that keeps on giving. Amazon quietly updated its smart speaker with support for connecting to Bluetooth--a feature that the smaller and cheaper Echo Dot has had since day one. Although no reason was given as to why it took some two years for the Echo to get Bluetooth speaker support, it's still a welcome update. But if you wanted better wireless sound, you were kind of screwed until now. Now you can pair the Echo to any Bluetooth speaker of your choice, which not only means you can get better sound, but you can also project music from anywhere in a room (like on a coffee table or in the bathroom).

Every company wants to find ways to be more relevant in their customers' lives, whether that means making their online shopping experience more personalized or providing exceptional service. When Domino's Pizza introduced Amazon Echo ordering capabilities, it addressed a tangible consumer benefit: the ability to order their favorite pie without lifting a finger. Domino's is just one example of how companies are using artificial intelligence (AI) to drive consumer engagement and awareness by offering a discrete utility to customers. While AI might feel like a fringe -- and perhaps somewhat futuristic -- marketing tactic, home devices like Amazon Echo (now in 8 million homes) and Google Home are bringing these types of experiences to the mainstream. With more consumers springing for home assistant products, forward-thinking companies are identifying new and novel ways to fit into their consumers' lives.

Logitech's Harmony series has come a long way and now with the Elite remote control you can do more than ever before. This universal remote not only lets you control all your media devices (from TVs to streaming media players), but it also handles a variety of smart home products. You can use the Harmony Elite to adjust your Nest thermostat or connected lighting systems, all from that well-worn spot on the couch. As if that wasn't enough, the Elite universal home control also supports Alexa. Now you can even take the remote out of the equation, by simply using your voice along with one of Amazon's smart speakers.

Amazon Echo is strange enough - especially with fears that Alexa, its intelligent personal assistant, is listening to our every word. But a robot enthusiast has just made it even creepier by transforming his Alexa into a terrifying talking skull. Not only does this skull appear to talk, but it can also nod, tilt its head and even move its eyeballs at the same time. The skull is made by an American computer and robotics fanatic called Mike McGurrin who lives in Virginia. The key components are the skull, an Alexa and a special chip.

What is machine learning and how does it work? You've probably heard the buzz. The age of artificial intelligence has arrived. But that doesn't mean it's easy to wrap your mind around. Let's break down the basics of artificial intelligence, bots, and machine learning. Besides, there's nothing that will impact marketing more in the next five to ten years than artificial intelligence.

For many firms transforming business operations via technology means improving how they interact with -- and meet -- customer needs. In fact, customer experience represents the single best opportunity financial services firms have to deliver on their priorities, according to a survey by Econsultancy. What's more, 45% of respondents indicated that making the customer experience as personalised and relevant as possible is their key focus. CEOs around the world are not asking if digital disruption will occur, but instead, what it means for their business. So the questioned asked in this article, is how can financial institutions leverage digital transformation to advance their competitive position, strengthen customer engagement and improve performance?

Artificial intelligence is having its breakout moment. Once confined to the realm of science fiction, it seems bright-eyed entrepreneurs everywhere are now getting into AI. As renowned author, editor, and futurist Kevin Kelly puts it, "The business plans of the next 10,000 startups are easy to forecast: Take X and add AI." But while disruptive opportunities abound for AI, there's also no shortage of challenges to overcome. Anyone who has tried their hand at training a fledgling AI will tell you, there's one hurdle that eclipses them all: removing a human from the loop. It's no secret that scaling AI typically involves human agents operating as a safety net, working in the background and ready to take the controls when a bot gets stuck.

As artificial intelligence grows smarter, the debate rages on about if--or when--its abilities will eventually surpass us. At least one person in the tech world isn't worried about the prospect of robot overlords: Adam Cheyer, co-founder of Siri, the voice assistant company that Apple acquired in 2010. Speaking at South by Southwest on March 11, Cheyer summarized Google Brain founder Andrew Ng: Worrying about A.I. becoming too smart right now is like worrying about overpopulation on Mars. "We're barely at the beginning of A.I.," Cheyer said. "There's nothing to even be done yet."

Microsoft Monday is a weekly column that focuses on updates in regards to the Redmond giant. This week, Microsoft Monday includes details about features removed from the Windows 10 Creators Update, the So.cl social network shutting down, Teams being released tomorrow, flash support being added to the Pix app, a new partnership between Microsoft and Qualcomm, Skype for macOS now supporting the Touch Bar and much more! Last week Forbes contributor Gordon Kelly pointed out that the Windows 10 Creators Update will have some feature removals. Flash autorun in Edge - Flash will be turned off by default in the default Windows 10 browser. Microsoft Paint extended language support - Microsoft Paint will only support languages on the main localization list going forward.