Tinder could become a pushy matchmaker. Rather than simply present users with profiles to "like" or discard, future versions of the dating app will suggest that you take Jessica from No 32 to an indie gig at 8pm tomorrow. The app already uses an algorithm to suggest matches based on things such as location and common interests but its creators plan to use artificial intelligence to suggest specific dates. The company has launched a division to buy tech start-ups that will enable this change. It wants people to use the smarter Tinder with voice-activated digital assistants such as Apple's Siri.

Many modern commercial sites employ recommender systems to propose relevant content to users. While most systems are focused on maximizing the immediate gain (clicks, purchases or ratings), a better notion of success would be the lifetime value (LTV) of the user-system interaction. The LTV approach considers the future implications of the item recommendation, and seeks to maximize the cumulative gain over time. The Reinforcement Learning (RL) framework is the standard formulation for optimizing cumulative successes over time. However, RL is rarely used in practice due to its associated representation, optimization and validation techniques which can be complex. In this paper we propose a new architecture for combining RL with recommendation systems which obviates the need for hand-tuned features, thus automating the state-space representation construction process. We analyze the practical difficulties in this formulation and test our solutions on batch off-line real-world recommendation data.

Harriet Green, GM, Watson IoT, Commerce & Education and Mona Abutaleb, SVP of Services, Ricoh Americas with the voice controlled interactive whiteboard in Munich, Germany. Imagine if the whiteboard in your next corporate meeting could take notes when you talked and add comments from your teammates in the meeting. IBM and Ricoh Europe have announced an interactive whiteboard with artificial intelligence (AI) that puts cognitive computing right in the middle of a meeting room. The IBM Watson-powered whiteboard looks like any other run-of-the-mill meeting room whiteboard. Anyone in the meeting room or remotely joining by conference call, can control what's on the whiteboard with voice commands.

Samsung is apparently ready to bet big on artificial intelligence, with a massive amount of money set aside for buying more AI companies. Artificial intelligence is rapidly gaining ground and it's playing an increasingly bigger role in people's everyday lives. From smart digital assistants to all sorts of gadgets, robots, infotainment systems and more, AI is shaping up as a cornerstone of modern technology and it adds convenience in virtually every technology area. We've seen an impressive growth in the artificial intelligence field in recent years and the trend is gaining momentum still, with more companies embedding AI technology into more products and areas. Samsung itself is expected to take a big AI plunge with a smart assistant called Bixby, presumably set to grace the next-generation Samsung Galaxy S8 flagship.

Women have been made into servants once again. Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa, Microsoft's Cortana, and Google's Google Home peddle stereotypes of female subservience--which puts their "progressive" parent companies in a moral predicament. People often comment on the sexism inherent in these subservient bots' female voices, but few have considered the real-life implications of the devices' lackluster responses to sexual harassment. By letting users verbally abuse these assistants without ramifications, their parent companies are allowing certain behavioral stereotypes to be perpetuated. Everyone has an ethical imperative to help prevent abuse, but companies producing digital female servants warrant extra scrutiny, especially if they can unintentionally reinforce their abusers' actions as normal or acceptable. In order to substantiate claims about these bots' responses to sexual harassment and the ethical implications of their pre-programmed responses, Quartz gathered comprehensive data on their programming by systematically testing how each reacts to harassment. The message is clear: Instead of fighting back against abuse, each bot helps entrench sexist tropes through their passivity. And Apple, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have the responsibility to do something about it.

The concept of artificial intelligence (AI) has always fascinated humans. The ancient Greek myths of Hephaestus and Pygmalion incorporated the idea of intelligent robots and artificial beings. In the 1950s, British scientist Alan Turing proposed the now-famous Turing Test as a measure of machine intelligence, and Isaac Asimov published his Three Laws of Robotics. The Turing Test has been long passed, and AI is an everyday occurrence with Siri and Google Now. At the same time SMS messaging has become the most popular method of written communication in history, with an estimated 6 billion humans now using mobile messaging to talk to each other around the world.

From phone apps and GPS maps to music recommendations and artificial intelligence, our lives are increasingly molded by algorithms. Sets of instructions for completing tasks or solving problems, algorithms are the governing principles of our age--the underlying equations that help us make decisions, and, in some cases, make decisions for us. Are these life recipes a force for good or ill? Pew surveyed 1,302 experts of various stripes--futurists, academics, coders, IT guys and girls--and opinions were split. Asked if the "net overall effect" for individuals and society would be positive or negative in the next decade, 38% said the positives would outpace the negatives, while 37% saw it the other way.

You could one day find love on the street by pointing their smartphones at strangers to see if they're single. That's according to Tinder's CEO Sean Rad, who has been speculating on what dating might look like in the future. Speaking at a conference in California, the technology entrepreneur said single people could one day use an app similar to Pokemon Go to help them find love. Tinder's CEO, Sean Rad, suggested that the future of online dating may lay in augmented reality in which users can find out information about each other without even speaking Mr Rad's idea was inspired by student'traffic light parties' where men and women wear red, amber and green to indicate their relationship status. Those wearing red are in a relationship, while those in green or orange are open to new encounters.

It's been 20 years since IBM's supercomputer Deep Blue defeated world chess champion Gary Kasparov, in an historical first victory for artificial intelligence. What was once a futuristic concept in 1997, writes Daniel Surmacz (pictured below), COO, RTB House, has slowly become part of everyday reality. Here, Surmacz explains where the future of artificial intelligence lies. Scientists have since made huge steps towards creating a computing system that emulates the human brain's neurons, working together in a neural network to solve problems. Today, supercomputers are smart enough to easily beat not only chess players, but also succeed in similarly sophisticated games, like the 3000-year-old Chinese game of Go, and, most recently, poker challenges against multiple human pros.

A recent survey found that 46% of Americans can't come up with $400 to cover an unexpected expense without selling an asset or taking out a loan. Many Americans are in debt, living paycheck to paycheck, or struggling to save for retirement -- or all three. This is especially true for Millennials, who are carrying the heaviest student loan debt burden in US history. Now more than ever, Americans are in dire need of personal financial management (PFM) tools that empower them to take control of their finances and grow their wealth. But most banks aren't meeting this need.