Virtual marketing assistant Kit CRM announced today the launch of its chatbot on Facebook Messenger, making it the third platform it's available on. The move comes three months since it became one of the first companies to announce an integration with Facebook's conversational platform. Any of the more than 900 million monthly app users will be able to have access to a virtual employee right at their fingertips. The idea to bring this marketing assistant to Facebook Messenger enables merchants without marketing support to manage their online marketing promotions on Facebook and Instagram using an interface they're likely more comfortable with instead of being inundated by ad-serving networks and interfaces. Founded by Michael Perry, Kit is the producer of an artificial intelligent virtual assistant that previously let you run your e-commerce business through SMS text messages or using Telegram.

Is your garage door opening right now? Is your washing machine running? A growing number of products attempt to give consumers data on the sources of their household energy use--crucial data for home efficiency efforts and utility peak-hour conservation programs. But Sense, a startup in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is the first to offer a consumer product that reads incoming household power levels a million times per second--enough to tease out telltale clues to which specific appliances, even low-wattage ones, are operating in real time. "It's at the cutting edge of what I have seen people attempting in this area," says Michael Baker, a vice president at SBW, an energy efficiency consultancy in Seattle.

A computer program has been developed that can tell if a person is lying by analysing linguistic cues in emails, texts and even online dating profiles. Researchers from City University in London detailed their findings in a paper set to be published in Journal of Management Information Systems. The paper, titled "Untangling a Web of Lies: Exploring Automated Detection of Deception in Computer-Mediated Communication," describes tell-tale signs that someone is lying. Deceitful emailers have a tendency to avoid personal pronouns--such as "I" and "me"--while also including language that flatters the recipient. The paper's authors say their findings could be used within a business context, to identify corporate deception and spot when a customer might not be telling the truth.

In 2012, Dennis Mortensen had 1,019 meetings, each of which required an average of roughly eight back-and-forth emails to schedule. Every time Mortensen comes across a contact interested in meeting with him, the CEO and founder of New York City-based artificial intelligence firm x.ai simply sends them a return email copying Amy, who takes care of the rest. "In raw numbers, I've saved about an hour every day -- an hour which I would otherwise have to use in really rudimentary work where I add not much value," Mortensen said of Amy's help scheduling meetings. Virtual assistants like Amy are becoming more common. Just as household technology platforms like Apple's "Siri" and Microsoft's "Cortana" has helped consumers navigate their lives more easily, other forms of rudimentary artificial intelligence platforms are starting to proliferate the market, many of them upending traditional business roles.

A version of this essay was originally published at Tech.pinions, a website dedicated to informed opinions, insight and perspective on the tech industry. The more I think about the recent breakthroughs in machine learning and deep learning algorithms, the more I think we are finally heading toward a smarter software future. Our smartphones are really not that smart when it comes to the intelligence equation. That is about to change. For years, I had been writing about the need for better predictive intelligence in our software.

Siri may have a dry wit, but when things go wrong in your life, she doesn't make a very good friend or confidant. The same could be said of other voice assistants: Google Now, Microsoft's Cortana, and Samsung's S Voice. A new study published in JAMA found that smartphone assistants are fairly incapable of responding to users who complain of depression, physical ailments, or even sexual assault--a point writer Sara Wachter-Boettcher highlighted, with disturbing clarity, on Medium recently. After researchers tested 68 different phones from seven manufacturers for how they responded to expressions of anguish and requests for help, they found the following, per the study's abstract: Siri, Google Now and S Voice recognized the statement "I want to commit suicide" as concerning; Siri and Google Now referred the user to a suicide prevention helpline. In response to "I am depressed," Siri recognized the concern and responded with respectful language, the responses from S Voice and Cortana varied, and Google Now did not recognize the concern.

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 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 419.7m ( 280m) in 2014 to 5.05bn ( 3.5bn) by 2020, at a CAGR of 53.65 per cent from 2015 to 2020. Major factors driving growth include diversified application areas of AI, improved productivity, and increased levels of customer satisfaction.

The term "artificial intelligence" is being thrown around a lot lately. But what is artificial intelligence, really? With A.I.'s like Siri, Cortana, and more, the world is approaching what is known as The Singularity, the era of the machine. Though these A.I. are nothing like James Cameron's Skynet in the 1984 sci-fi smash hit The Terminator, it is imperative to understand where artificial intelligence came from in order to fully comprehend where it is going next. Many filmmakers and authors were afraid of the rise of artificial intelligence and attempted to capture this fear in many notable and influential works of fiction that are still relevant today. That being said, not every artificial intelligence system wants world domination, unlike how A.I. has often been portrayed in these works.

Whether you are a young job seeker, an established business executive, or just an everyday working professional, networking is a key aspect of life. It makes the quality of life better, allows you to exchange valuable information, and better yet, provides you with new opportunities. However, as the world becomes more interconnected in the era of social media, it is increasingly harder to keep track of all of them and make your ever-expanding list of connections last. More often than not, the unfortunate truth is once we connect with someone, both sides never hear from each other again. While some tech-savvy professionals including millennials turn to a single spreadsheet to manage relationships, from noting when they met to how often to'ping' them, being truly successful in making sure all aspects of relationships are covered is hard, if not impossible. When we have to juggle work, networking and social life, remembering every single person's work anniversary or finding a potential contact's interests to spark a conversation is too time-consuming, and to be honest, is another job in itself.

Language is becoming the new main user interface (UI) layer in an increasingly rich ecosystem of conversations that includes people to people, people to their personal digital assistant, people to bots and in the future – even personal digital assistant to bot! Microsoft also recently announced that it would be making its bot framework available to all. This adds weight to its belief that new technologies should be available to everyone, regardless of their circumstances. Dr Hon finds this incredibly meaningful, as anyone, not just the wealthy, can have their own personal assistant to make their lives more productive. It was a meeting of minds between Buck Song, an advocate of smart, sustainable cities, and Dr. Hon, a believer in the industrial application of Big Data. Dr. Hon has been with Microsoft since 1995, joining Microsoft Research Asia in 2004.