However, the new Microsoft is directed towards building more intelligent apps and services, where the company's future seems bright once again. Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella has expressed his fascination with HoloLens, the company's most exciting product in years. Even though it will take some time until we see the full potential of this platform, we can already see what it's capable of. After all, HoloLens is highly futuristic, innovative, and intelligent – and this is exactly what the new Microsoft hopes to become. What is important to consider is how different tech giants are trying to implement the next-generation technology into their products and services.

Recently, we have seen artificial intelligence triumph over humans in Jeopardy and chess. And there is a growing presence of virtual assistants like Alexa, Cortana, and Siri that populate our computers, phones, and homes. It's only a matter of time before A.I.-powered assistants play a significant role in the workplace, experts say. In fact, the global intelligent virtual assistant market is forecast to be worth 5.1 billion by 2022, up from – 600 million in 2014, according to Transparency Market Research. What are the potential benefits and challenges of giving smart virtual assistants a home in the enterprise?

THE WINOGRAD Schema Challenge is a competition intended to reward technologists who can build a system that understands the kind of ambiguous sentences humans come out with all the time, but which are simple for other humans, even stupid ones, to understand. Get it right 90 per cent of the time and 25,000 is up for grabs. And with things like Apple's Siri, Microsoft's Cortana and Google Assistant, the Winograd Schema Challenge must surely be as good as obsolete by now. The best two entrants at the event this week achieved correct scores only 48 per cent of the time, little better than randomly guessing the meaning of the sentences they were supposed to crack. This is despite a decade of advances in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), which has barely shifted since the late 1950s, according to some.

Apple's biggest move was to open up the talking iPhone assistant to third-party developers for inclusion in their apps, paving the way for users to hail a ride from Uber or send a message with Tencent's WeChat using voice commands. Experts in artificial intelligence applauded the move as an important step forward, in part because the more people use an artificial intelligence system, the better it becomes. But some wondered why Apple had not made Siri an open platform much sooner, noting that competing products including Amazon.com's Alexa, Microsoft's Cortana and the Google app are already open to developers. "Is it too little too late?" "Siri is five years old and still trying to learn how to play well with others."

It was a worrying refusal that does not bode well for the future of humanity. In New York to help Mastercard launch its rebrand and a new mobile payment service, the machine answered several questions - but refused to reveal its ultimate ambitions, simply flashing its eyes. 'I was named Pepper as I'm here to spice up your life, and my nickname is Pepperoni,' the robot then told us. Pepper also revealed it knows the three laws of robots, which include not harming humans, adding'I think robots should love humans.' However, it also refused to answer whether is was looking to take our reporter's job, simply waving and saying goodbye at that point, cutting the interview short. Betty DeVita of Mastercard reveal the Pepper unit normally works in a Pizza restaurant.

Up until recently, artificial Intelligence (AI) was regularly associated with sci-fi films and dystopian futures -- but a shift has occurred and it already plays a much more commonplace and integral role in our everyday lives. From betting on the Kentucky Derby, to helping us interact with our banks, emails, and families through AI assistants such as Alexa and Siri, AI is becoming ever more important. It is also becoming more integral to businesses. The 2016 Accenture Technology Vision report showed that 70 percent of corporate executives are making more investments in AI-related technologies than they were two years ago, with 55 percent stating that they plan on using machine learning, deep learning, as well as embedded AI solutions like Amelia. Businesses are using this technology to fundamentally change the way they operate and to drive a new, more productive relationship between people and machines.

Artificial Intelligence has been heralded as a game changer in the drive toward the intelligent enterprise. While AI and machine learning has been around for more than five decades, it's today's increasingly interconnected world and the continuing explosion of data that is driving an increase of applications powered by AI. AI promises to deliver exciting opportunities to the IT as well as the business world, and many believe the reality is not far off. According to a recent report by Research and Markets, the AI market is estimated to grow from 419.7 million in 2014 to 5.05 billion by 2020, at a CAGR of 53.65% from 2015 to 2020. Major factors driving growth include diversified application areas of AI, improved productivity, and increased levels of customer satisfaction.

Artificial intelligence (AI) assistants, like Apple's Siri and Microsoft's Cortana, can help internet users with a variety of activities, especially when they're on the go. According to June 2016 research, nearly two-thirds of AI users in the US use these personal assistants to answer general questions. San Francisco, CA–based AYTM Market Research surveyed 1,000 US internet users about their dealings with an AI assistant. Overall, 58% had never used one, while about a quarter used AI assistants on at least a monthly basis. According to the survey, the majority (64.5%) of AI users said they used AI assistants to ask general questions, followed by getting directions while driving (39.7%) and making calls (25.2%). Other research confirms, though, that few mobile phone owners in the US actually use a voice-controlled personal assistant regularly.

Artificial Intelligence for Sysadmins Artificial intelligence (AI) is on a roll. It's happening through developments spurred on by 800 pound tech gorillas like Amazon and IBM, and big brands in transportation like Uber and Jaguar. Before we ponder that further, if you haven't had the time to keep up here are seven recent notches on the artificial intelligence belt…er, chipset. Back in 2011, IBM's Watson blew away the human "Jeopardy" champions. IBM is now betting big on Watson once again and cognitive computing opportunities in the health care industry and beyond. Following the success of Apple's intelligent agent Siri, Microsoft's Cortana and Google Now, Amazon's Alexa has garnered a loyal following and is… Link to Full Article: Artificial Intelligence for Sysadmins

PRINEVILLE, Ore. – In a row of racks deep inside a massive data center sits the engine of Facebook's ambitions in artificial intelligence. Each server chassis is packed with computing horsepower, including graphics processing units (GPUs) that can crunch enormous volumes of data. This is Big Sur, and it is the key to Facebook's bid to create a smarter newsfeed for its 1.6 billion users around the globe. Using Big Sur, Facebook can train its machine learning systems to recognize speech, understand the content of video and images, and translate content from one language to another. Machine learning holds tremendous promise, but requires a lot of horsepower.