San Francisco (AFP) - Major technology firms are racing to infuse smartphones and other internet-linked devices with software smarts that help them think like people. The effort is seen as an evolution in computing that allows users to interact with machines in natural conversation style, telling devices to tend to tasks such as ordering goods, checking traffic, making restaurant reservations or searching for information. The artificial intelligence (AI) component in these programs aims to make create a world in which everyone can have a virtual aide that gets to know them better with each interaction. Google is making a high-profile push into AI, with the internet titan's chief referring to it as a force for change as powerful as powerful as smartphones. Google Assistant software is being built into new Pixel handsets -- aiming to outdo Apple's Siri -- enabling users to organize and use information on the devices and in the cloud -- to check emails, stay up to date on calendar appointments, news or ask for traffic and weather data.

Talking to a smartphone as if it were a person may seem strange at first, but chances are you will be getting the weather report, ordering a new laptop or requesting a day off with a chat bot pretty soon… if you aren't doing so already. And this is just the beginning. Using natural language – whether via voice or text – is so powerful because it is so human. People want to talk like humans, not in a limited set of staccato commands that are easy for machines to understand but require us to learn and just plain feel ridiculous. Although the richness of human speech, with its jargons, dialects, and turns of phrase, has taken computer engineers time to master, the technology has evolved rapidly.

Starting in December, developers will be able to make bots for Google Assistant. The creation of interactions will be done through the recently announced Actions on Google. Google Assistant is an AI offering much like Amazon's Alexa. This makes Actions on Google the platform's version of Amazon's Skills. Upon the opening of the Actions on Google program, developers will have access to Assistant's SDK. Developers will be able to create two types of requests: direct actions and conversational actions.

Chatbots are technically not a new invention. Simple forms of intelligent digital assistants have been around for some time now. Remember the Microsoft Office Assistant'Clippy'? He was first introduced in November 1996 to help Microsoft users when using their software products. And then there was'SmarterChild' in the 2000's, an intelligent bot that was nestled into messaging services like AIM and MSN.

Exploding phones ensured Samsung lost out to Apple during the adjacent launches of their newest smartphones, and Samsung could be emphasizing big software upgrades to divert attention from the much-publicized failure of the Galaxy Note 7. Directly buying out the company that developed Siri, one of Apple's iconic mobile features, is indeed a bold competitive move, and Viv touts even better functionality than its parent tech. A key differentiation point for Viv is that it purports to be developer friendly. This is significant as apps for digital assistants will likely be a key method for driving use going forward. It appears that digital assistants are becoming table stakes for consumer-facing digital platforms, with Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Apple all offering one. This suggests that Samsung's acquisition is a strategic move to insure it stays with the pack.

Star Trek got it right: In the future, we'll use computers by talking to them. Google held an event this week and new hardware got most of the attention. Google unveiled a couple of Google-built Pixel phones, Google Wi-Fi home mesh routers, the Google Home virtual assistant appliance, a new 4k Chromecast Ultra streaming media box and the Daydream View VR headset. Critics say Google is copying and competing directly with Apple with the Pixel phones and with Amazon with Home. But this misses the point.

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) has announced a partnership with IBM's AI platform Watson to introduce a virtual advisory service named Luvo. The pilot project, which is currently being rolled out to a select group of customers, employs Watson's Conversation technology to deliver a cloud-based chatbot service. The solution is expected to reach approximately 10% of RBS customers in Scotland by December this year, before rolling out to NatWest customers in England and Wales. Using the virtual advisory platform, customers will be able to deal with certain financial queries online – such as notifying the bank that they will be travelling abroad or updating address information. According to IBM's press release, Luvo will be able to manage these requests in seconds and direct any complex questions to a human operator.

Research into Artificial Intelligence will evolve into many more applications than asking Amazon's Echo how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon. As the technology expands in its capabilities and applications, we'll be confronted with massive social change. How will Apple, for example, both serve us and meet competitive challenges? "Siri and Apple's Machine Learning Are About to Get a Lot Better." Author Levy was given an inside look at what Apple is doing with machine learning and the transformation of Siri.

Over four years ago, Google launched a bold evolution of search called Google Now. Google Now wasn't the search you were used to. Instead of a list of results to your queries, you got the single answer you were looking for. How old is Barack Obama? What time is the Super Bowl?

I have always been an optimist, almost to a fault. Being this optimistic in the dating world can put you in some regretful situations. You think, "How much worse could this possibly get?" This is a story of a young lady (me) getting an answer to that question. We met on Tinder, talked for a day or two, and then we went out on a Sunday night.