While AI initiatives such as IBM Watson, chatbots and digital assistants have garnered much attention over the past year, the current applications only scratch the surface of the technology's potential. For companies, AI will be used to predict customer needs in near real-time, helping them retain customers. The importance of AI to customer interactions is reflected in Forrester's findings, such as that 37% of companies plan to implement intelligent assistants in the next 12 months, and 35% have their sights on cognitive product launches for customers. Some of the other ways AI will be used going forward include leveraging speech recognition for customer interactions, machine learning for making predictions, image recognition in combination with machine learning, robotics and self-driving cars. Already this year, there are signs that robots in stores could revolutionize the customer experience. However, because AI comes with a number of ethical, political and social issues attached, it will be important for companies to develop a plan and have foundational elements in place as they test and learn, per Forrester.

Apple plans to introduce a much smarter version of Siri this year, leveraging a bunch of machine learning technologies it recently acquired with Turi, Tuplejump, Perceptio, VocalIQ and other AI-focused acquisitions, Digitimes claims. The report seems to suggest Apple plans to introduce these features alongside introduction of a future iPhone, though it is not clear if this will be this year, or the next. However, this makes little sense given Siri is now available across all Apple's platforms – while the capabilities may differ (Siri behaves a little differently on a Mac, for example), the basic tech is similar. That's why I can't imagine new Siri features being introduced as an iPhone exclusive. The report also states other smartphone vendors, "are likely to introduce models featuring AI (artificial intelligence) applications as a means to ramp up market shares in 2017, according to industry sources."

Good news, Google Home owners: the smart home hub can now talk to more gear. This morning, Google announced a pair of new partners for the Home platform that will bring even more variety to its stable of connected devices and better streamline our increasingly connected smart households: Honeywell and Belkin Wemo. SEE ALSO: Google's PR team penned the mother of all replies Google already had Nest, Philips Hue and Samsung SmartThings devices as part of the system, so adding Honeywell and and Belkin Wemo will give Home owners more options as they sync up their homes to the Internet of Things (IoT), a term commonly used to refer to all the smart, internet-connected devices used to optimize our daily lives (think smart appliances). Honeywell's smart thermostats will give the platform an alternative to Nest, while Wemo's lighting and home automation systems join the Hue and SmartThings offerings as a way to keep closer control of lighting and energy levels. The new gear will be managed by the Home Control system, which keeps all of the IoT devices on one hub through Google Assistant.

To keep up in the AI race against Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant, Apple is working on an enhanced version of Siri for its iPhone 8 launch, Digitimes reported Tuesday. Supply chain sources suggest Apple is responding to increased competition among smart assistants after the Amazon Echo and Google Home assistants gained popularity. The sources say Apple's next iPhone lineup is expected to feature a better version of Siri. In an effort to boost Siri's capabilities Apple acquired Australian start-up Turi last August for $200 million. Turi lets developers create apps with machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities.

Machine learning is the subfield of computer science that gives computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed (Arthur Samuel, 1959).[1] Evolved from the study of pattern recognition and computational learning theory in artificial intelligence,[2] machine learning explores the study and construction of algorithms that can learn from and make predictions on data[3] – such algorithms overcome following strictly static program instructions by making data driven predictions or decisions,[4]:2 through building a model from sample inputs. Machine learning is employed in a range of computing tasks where designing and programming explicit algorithms is infeasible; example applications include spam filtering, detection of network intruders or malicious insiders working towards a data breach,[5] optical character recognition (OCR),[6] search engines and computer vision. Machine learning is closely related to (and often overlaps with) computational statistics, which also focuses in prediction-making through the use of computers. It has strong ties to mathematical optimization, which delivers methods, theory and application domains to the field. Machine learning is sometimes conflated with data mining,[7] where the latter subfield focuses more on exploratory data analysis and is known as unsupervised learning.[4]:vii[8]

Amazon quietly added a new option to the wake words on Amazon Echo devices that will make the dreams of every Star Trek fan come true. If Echo users open the Settings area of the Alexa app they should see a fresh wake word option: Computer. Yes, soon everyone can live the dream of saying, "Computer, what are the current environmental conditions of this Class M planet?"--though I can't promise Alexa will come up with an appropriate response. If you don't see the option in the Alexa app yet, it should appear in the coming days.

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Samsung's Galaxy S8 will come in two sizes, have an almost bezel-less, edge-to-edge "infinity" display and an iris scanner, the Guardian has learned. The Galaxy S8 will be announced in late March and go on sale on or around 21 April, later than the originally planned launch at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February due to knock-on effects of the Note 7 fiasco. The two variants will have screens in the 5in to 6in region, with the devices having the same or smaller proportions of previous versions of Samsung's flagship smartphone but with larger displays, according to several well placed sources talking to the Guardian. The S7 was available with either a 5.1in and 5.5in screen. The two smartphones are codenamed Dream and Dream 2, representing the smaller and larger Galaxy S8 respectively, according to two sources.

Familiarize yourself with the AI technologies available today and prepare for adoption -- or face the inevitability of disruption. These days it seems like you can't open a newspaper (OK, web browser) without coming across an article on artificial intelligence (AI). Machine learning, task automation and robotics are already widely used in business. These and other AI technologies are about to multiply, and we look at how organizations can best take advantage of them. Publicized breakthroughs -- like Google AlphaGo's unprecedented victories over human Go champions -- have heralded the promise of a new golden age for AI.

People walking around with tablet computers, talking to the thin air and waiting for information...this was my kitchen on Monday night. But twenty years ago, the only place you could find such wonders was as part of the future envisioned by the creators of Star Trek: The Next Generation. With the activation word "Computer," Picard (the greatest starship captain ever) and his crew could access and command their ship's LCARS system. Now, if you own an Amazon Echo device, you can bring that bit of the future back to your kitchen. Hot." Doesn't get you an instant cup of tea. Find your device in the list and select it. Scroll down a bit until you find the Wake Word setting. Select Computer from the menu, click Done, and you're good to go. It might take a couple of minutes for the change to propagate down to your Echo. Now, the next time you want to find out what the weather is, order a fresh supply of paper towels, or listen to an audio book, you can bark "Computer!" in your best fake accent and have your Echo respond. It's a little Easter Egg for those sci-fi nerds among us; but it's one that's greatly appreciated. Just don't expect anything to appear when you say "Computer.