Google has long been the king of search, building its empire by answering questions, giving directions and helping people settle arguments with its vast database of facts. But as more people search using their voice -- verbally asking questions to Apple's Siri or Amazon Echo's Alexa -- instead of typing queries into their phones or laptops, the tech giant risks ceding some of that dominance. To future-proof itself from competitors, the Mountain View, Calif., tech firm announced Tuesday a new slate of electronic devices that support voice search and come pre-installed with Google Assistant, the company's artificial intelligence bot that can do a wide variety of things, including answering queries and making restaurant reservations. "[Google Assistant] will be a two-way conversation, a natural dialogue between our users and Google," said Sundar Pichai, Google's chief executive. "It will be universal, available when users need it to help them. Our goal is to build a personal Google for each and every user."

Today, Google announced a plethora of new hardware. Just now, at the event, I got to spend a little bit of hands-on time with the Pixel Phones, Google Home, and the Daydream VR viewer. The first thing I noticed when I started playing with the Pixel Phone is that it's fast. I didn't experience anything resembling lag, no matter how many apps I opened. Google is claiming that the Pixel has the best smartphone camera ever.

In an effort to reflect consumers growing dependency on customized mobile interactions, Google s new branded smartphone, Pixel, contains a fully integrated artificial intelligence assistant alongside complete virtual reality compatibility. During the live stream of yesterday s product unveiling event, Google lifted the curtain on its newest machine learning and AI capabilities, revealing its answer to Apple s virtual assistant, Siri, as well as its latest offering into the smart home device space. The search giant s executives highlighted the world s ongoing shift from being mobile-first to AI-first, signaling that other heavyweights in the consumer technology sector including Apple and Amazon could face stark competition from Google in this respect. We re at a seminal moment in computing, said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, during yesterday s live stream. Our goal is to build a personal Google for each and every user.

Humans have so far failed to keep up with the scale and sophistication of cyber attacks -- so security companies are now starting to put their faith in artificial intelligence to protect networks from hackers. From Apple to Twitter, tech companies are snapping up artificial intelligence start-ups and using the technology to do everything from predicting customer behaviour to interacting with users via virtual personal assistants. For security companies, the growth of more sophisticated artificial intelligence promises the opportunity to catch up with hackers, who experts say have the upper hand. For example, as the industry struggles to find qualified engineers, many companies are turning to artificial intelligence to supplement their workforces. Tomer Weingarten, chief executive at security software provider SentinelOne, says cyber security is one of artificial intelligence's most promising applications. "It can look at all the behaviours and interactions that happen on a given machine, the malware [cyber attack software], what happens when someone is attacking you, to learn what'badness' looks like, how an attacker behaves and what they will do once they try to compromise the device," he says.

"Amy" saves entrepreneur Gillian Morris about 43 productive hours a year. Morris, the founder of Hitlist, a travel app that alerts users to cheap flights, has been using Amy, a virtual assistant from x.ai for about two years, to schedule meetings. To ask for Amy's help, Morris sends an email to the person or people she wants to meet with and copies Amy. From there, Amy takes Morris out of the email chain and handles the back and forth about dates and times. Morris estimates Amy schedules about 10 meetings for her a week, and spares her from having to read or respond to any related emails herself.

Google ratcheted up its rivalry with Apple and Amazon by unveiling new smartphones, an internet-connected speaker that channels a digital assistant, and other gadgets the company hopes to make indispensable. The devices announced Tuesday are part of Google's bold move to design and sell its own hardware, instead of just supplying Android and other software for other companies to make products. Google's previous attempts at hardware have had limited distribution and included such high-profile flops as its internet-connected Glass headgear. This time around, Google is betting that it can design software and hardware to work seamlessly with each other. That's an art Apple mastered over the past 15 years as it turned out finely crafted iPods, iPhones, iPads and Macs.

Google ratcheted up its rivalry with Apple and Amazon by unveiling new smartphones, an internet-connected speaker that channels a digital assistant, and other gadgets the company hopes to make indispensable. The devices announced yesterday are part of Google's bold move to design and sell its own hardware, instead of just supplying Android and other software for other companies to make products. Google is betting that it can design software and hardware to work seamlessly with each other. That's an art Apple has mastered over the past 15 years as it turned out finely crafted iPods, iPhones, iPads and Macs. Google executives showed off a series of gadgets in rapid succession yesterday.

Does your home really need a "smart speaker" that can answer questions, call you an Uber, turn off the lights or play music when you ask? You may be about to find out. Two years ago, Amazon introduced the Amazon Echo, an unassuming, 180 cylinder that sits atop a kitchen counter or bookshelf, acting as a personal assistant that listens to you and does your bidding. Initially, the gadget's main purpose was a little difficult to discern . But Echo and its Alexa voice recognition software have since become a sleeper hit, with an estimated 3 million gadgets sold as of April, according to research firm Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.

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In fact, when I look at where computing is headed, it's clear to me that we are evolving from a mobile-first to an AI-first world. Devices like Amazon's Echo and Google Home are "always-on" intelligent assistants designed to sit quietly and await our bidding. As the devices recede into the background it's the AI-powered services that will come to the fore.