Smart homes may soon be equipped with an AI concierge to help you manage all of your connected devices. San Francisco firm Thington has revealed a free iPhone app that pairs with smart lights, cameras, and other devices in the growing Internet of Things to provide centralized control, which can be securely shared with select people. The Thington Concierge chatbot will ask about your preferences and even help you set up your smart appliances so they work with each other, making for a safer and more efficient network. The app can communicate with users through text messages, allowing it to find out specific preferences on the setup of each device by simply asking you a question. To adjust the brightness of your smart lights, for example, you could command it to'Change the settings,' 'stop doing this,' or'leave it as it is.'

Amazon wants Alexa to boldly go where no AI has gone before. The e-commerce giant envisions its voice assistant functioning like the'Star Trek computer', in that it will answer users no matter where they are in their home with instant feedback. And, more than 10,000 developers have registered to add the virtual assistant to products, bringing this dream closer to a reality. Amazon wants Alexa to boldly go where no AI has gone before. David Limp, Amazon's senior vice president for devices, envisions the voice assistant functioning like the'Star Trek computer', in that it will answer users no matter where they are in their home and right away David Limp, Amazon's senior vice president for devices, envisions the voice assistant functioning like the'Star Trek computer', in that it will answer users no matter where they are in their home and right away.

Earlier this year, Mark Zuckerberg reveal he is dedicating his year to making a home AI butler. Now, he has revealed the project is already coming to fruition - and promised to reveal it soon. He told The Verge it can already control his home, and even makes his breakfast. Earlier this year, Mark Zuckerberg reveal he is dedicating his year to making a home AI butler. Now, he has revealed the project is already coming to fruition - and promised to reveal it soon. 'It's going well, and I'm planning on doing a demo soon,' he said.

Artificial intelligence that can understand and answer any work-related question it is asked has been made available in the UK for the first time. The computer software, called Starmind, uses machine learning to understand queries, then source answers from previous staff conversations on a subject or track down experts within the company who are able to help. Its creators refer to it as'brain technology', adding its aim is to become a central knowledge bank within any company, an instant database of information that can be accessed by anyone. AI software which understands and answers work-related questions has been made available in the UK. Starmind is an artificial intelligence software for the workplace, designed in Switzerland.

Microsoft is adding its Cortana smart assistant to millions of Xbox One game consoles in a bid to take on Apple, Google and Amazon in the smart assistant market. The firm today launched the first test version of the smart assistant for beta users of its Xbox One, ahead of a full launch for it later this summer. It will allow users to talk to the assistant using either Kinect or a headset. The update, coming to all Xbox One consoles this summer, will allow users to access Microaoft's smart assistant simply by saying'Hey, Cortana'. Microsoft boss Satya Nadella touted the power of'conversational' computing at the company's annual Build conference for software developers in San Francisco earlier this year.

Siri and Cortana are helpful with answering questions and searching the web, but fall short when it comes to recognizing and anticipating someone's needs. Now researches have unveiled a new application that could be deemed a true virtual assistant for your smartphone. Called RedEye, this technology uses machine learning to see and hear what users are experiencing in order to provide them with specific information - like people they've seen or places they've been. Rice has unveiled a new application that could be deemed a true virtual assistant. Called RedEye, this technology uses machine learning to see and hear what users are experiencing to provide them with specific information -- like people they've seen or places they've been RedEye assists mobile CPU/GPU systems by replacing the image sensor, nearly halving the system energy consumption by moving convolutional processing from the digital domain in the analog domain.

Humanoid robot'Pepper' will soon be taking orders in Pizza Hut locations across Asia. MasterCard announced this week that it is teaming up with SoftBanks Robotics and Pizza Hut Asia to launch a new commerce app for the customer service bot. Pepper will be able to make recommendations and complete transactions, and is expected to begin employment by the end of this year. Humanoid robot'Pepper' will soon be taking orders in Pizza Huts in Asia. MasterCard announced this week that it is teaming up with SoftBanks Robotics and Pizza Hut Asia to launch a new commerce app for the bot.

The personal data of nearly 70,000 OKCupid users has been put online for anyone to see – not by hackers, but researchers. The group scraped information from the dating site and uploaded a paper discussing their findings to an online forum that encourages researchers to share raw social science data. Although no first names were released, other information such as sexual turn-ons, orientation, user names and location were - giving enough clues to figure out their real identities. Personal data of nearly 70,000 OKCupid users has been leaked – not by hackers, but researchers. The information scraped about the site's members was username, age, gender, religious astrology, number of photos and more – a total of 36 variables.

Humans have been taking a beating from computers lately. The 4-1 defeat of Go grandmaster Lee Se-Dol by Google's AlphaGo artificial intelligence (AI) is only the latest in a string of pursuits in which technology has triumphed over humanity. Self-driving cars are already less accident-prone than human drivers, the TV quiz show Jeopardy! is a lost cause, and in chess humans have fallen so woefully behind computers that a recent international tournament was won by a mobile phone. Researchers from Western Sydney University two reasons why AIs are'our greatest threat. The first being they are trained with logic and heuristics.

Microsoft has officially acquired the makers of predictive keyboard mobile app SwiftKey. The London-based start-up behind the app has been brought into the Microsoft fold in a deal worth an estimated $250 million (£174m). Microsoft is believed to have a keen interest in the firm's artificial intelligence research, including its recently launched Neural Alpha app, which could make its Cortana assistant more accurate. The London-based start-up behind the SwiftKey predictive keyboard app (pictured) has been bought by Microsoft in a deal worth $250 million (£174m). The app is available in over 100 languages, including Arabic, Russian, Thai and Afrikaans, and predicts text as it learns from the user's swipes and key strokes SwiftKey was started by Cambridge graduates in 2008, launching its predictive auto-correcting keyboard app on Android in 2010 and iOS in 2014.