The idea of artificial intelligence (AI) has dominated scientific and popular culture for decades. Most fictional works that explore the idea of AI focus on its dangers to humanity, with the premise often involving robots or super-advanced computer interfaces that have developed their own freewill and turned against humanity (a la HAL 9000 from Space Odyssey). But despite fearmongering around AI, scientists have been developing software and tech to make machines smarter than ever. We have already seen AI programs beat humans at complex games, computers that can reproduce classical works of art and robots that can play football (albeit not convincingly). One area where AI brings a lot of opportunity is the marketing industry.

NVIDIA's (NVDA) quarterly revenues have been surging at double-digit rates in the last three quarters and, looking at the guidance for the next quarter, it's clear that the company is expecting the growth rate to continue unabated in the near future. One of the key factors that has added fuel to their engines is NVIDIA's new growth drivers: the data center segment and auto segment. In the most recent quarter, NVIDIA's data center unit reported 151 million in sales, a growth of 109.72% The growth in data center revenues is much higher than other segments, and there are several reasons why this growth can, in fact, continue its breakneck pace for several more quarters. NVIDIA's expertise in the GPU segment has given it a range of must-have products for hyperscale data centers.

A matchmaking service aimed at "sugar daddies" and "sugar babies" is feeling the heat after posting a billboard advertising to undocumented immigrants in Austin, Texas. ArrangementFinders.com, a service that promises to link wealthy older men to young women who are hoping for a financial or other type of arrangement, posted a billboard on Interstate 35 in South Austin reading, "Undocumented immigrant? Before you get deported – get a sugar daddy." Residents are upset about the implication that people would break immigration laws by, presumably, marrying in order to gain citizenship. When asked by ABC affiliate KVUE about the billboard, Kylie Brumley said, ""I think it's really disrespectful to all women and illegal immigrants." Jesse Aguilera said, "To get around getting legalization like that, it's just really offensive." "On a billboard they're encouraging people to commit a federal felony," Thomas Esparza Jr. told Fox 7 Austin. "It's rare that you see a billboard that says, 'Commit a felony.'" Jacob Webster, who was identified as the Chief Marketing Officer for ArrangementFinders.com "I think you're going to have people that are against it, and then you're going to have people that are going to sign up for it," Webster said. ArrangementFinders.com was founded in 2010, and is owned by Avid Life Media, a Toronto-based company that also operates Ashley Madison, the infamous dating website for married people. Cost of membership to ArrangementFinders.com is 79 per month for men, free to women. The two can then meet off-line to determine what kind of "mutually beneficial relationship" they would like to have, according to the website. The site is known for its controversial advertising. In 2014, the company had billboards removed in Chicago and Los Angeles, including one that read, "Because the best job is a b--w job." Webster told Fox 7 that Latinas make up one-third of the women who sign up for ArrangementFinders.com, "How could we speak to this growing demographic for this site in a way where we could get the max effect?" he said. He added that the billboard had been rejected by other locations. "We had a couple approvals, but we got a lot more denials.

An Australian man was acquitted Thursday in the murder of a young woman who fell from his balcony two years ago after the two met through the popular dating app Tinder. What, exactly, caused 26-year-old Warriena Wright to plunge 14 stories is not known, but the encounter between the couple -- much of which was captured on an audio tape -- has prompted the question: Are mobile dating apps safe? The answer is complicated, according to dating experts and behavioral psychologists. "These incidents are very rare," said Sameera Sullivan, a relationship expert and psychologist who founded the matchmaking service, Lasting Connections, in 2012. "There's always going to be bad people out there," said Sullivan.

Apple is going all-in on artificial intelligence (AI). As it continues to work on Siri, its voice-activated digital assistant, a new interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook sheds a bit of light on just how far the company is willing to go to make Siri a central part of your life. Speaking to Nikkei, Cook waxed philosophical about Siri's intended abilities, saying "AI is horizontal" and should reach across all products. He said the technology should be able to do things like help you manage battery life, recommend music to Apple Music subscribers, and tell you where you parked your car. Cook also discussed Apple's incoming Yokohama research and development center, where it intends to focus on machine learning and AI.

On Thursday morning, feminist-leaning dating app Bumble posted a picture to Instagram that read: "For every like this post gets, Bumble will donate a dollar to Planned Parenthood." The post received 28,747 likes by the time the campaign ended at 3pm on Thursday. "This isn't a political post," the caption reads. "Our team is a mixing pot, some of us are Republicans, some are Democrats, some are Independents, and some aren't even from America. But every single one of us knows how important it is for women to have safe and affordable healthcare."

It's been a big year for Artificial Intelligence, and its related terms like Cognitive Computing, Machine Intelligence, and Intelligent Machines, and for all its associated branches, from Machine Learning to Neural Networking and Natural Language Processing. IBM, for example, has continued making strides with Watson in verticals such as healthcare and financial services. The vendor announced everything from advances in its ability to add rich image analytics with Deep Learning to the Watson Health platform, to a furthering of its partnership with Deloitte that will use the technology in solutions to more efficiently and immediately manage risk and regulatory compliance requirements. At the end of last year, we also saw Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk join with other industry figures to launch a non-profit AI research venture, OpenAI, with its stated goal being to help spread the technology to a broader base and direct it to having a positive impact on humanity. Furthermore, just to pick one Google announcement in the area, the search giant said it's using AI and Machine Learning in the Smart Reply capability in its Gmail Inbox mobile email client.

Google has made a strong phone debut, according to the first round of reviews. Strong enough to take on the market-leading iPhone. The 5-inch Pixel and 5.5-inch Pixel XL are the company's first pure Google-branded smartphones, with the tagline "made by Google." To date, Google has released phones under the Nexus brand, which tended to emphasize the phone's manufacturer, such as LG and Huawei, not Google. Wall Street Journal: "The Google Pixel is now the best Android smartphone you can buy," the Journal said in its review.

Does it seem like your virtual personal assistant (VPA) knows everything about your life? Microsoft's Cortana can give you reminders, track packages, send emails or texts, keep track of your flights and even remind you to say happy birthday to your cousin next time she calls. According to Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, developers made deliberate design decisions with customers in mind as the company moves into the world of artificial intelligence (AI). "When it comes to AI, the fundamental vision I have is that AI will be infused into everything," Mr. Nadella said in the Mastermind Interview at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2016 in Orlando. "The currency going forward is going to be how to build trust in technology so that people and organizations are comfortable using more technology, and I think that's one of the pressing issues of our time," he said.

Stephanie Palermo wasn't interested in living in a "smart home" outfitted with web-connected appliances controlled remotely by phone or computer. She didn't need her fridge to have Wi-Fi or her blinds to close themselves. But when Amazon temporarily discounted the price on its voice-controlled Echo speaker to 99 for Amazon Prime members, there was "a low barrier to entry," and the 28-year-old from Belmont, Calif., was willing to take a risk. She started using the cylindrical device as a hands-free speaker. During board game nights, she'd tell Alexa -- the artificial intelligence that powers the Echo -- to play themed music from Pandora.