With sales of Apple's flagship iPhone slowing, the spotlight is on the company's hunt for its next big thing. Apple's annual software developers conference, which kicks off Monday, will be its next big opportunity to show the world what's coming next. Artificial intelligence, and Apple's wisecracking digital assistant Siri, could play a big role. Of course, Apple is expected to unveil a number of other advances -- software improvements for its iPhones, iPads and Mac computers and a possible overhaul of its music service chief among them. After Apple's dust-up with the FBI earlier this year over iPhone security, it might also announce new security measures to protect users' data.

FILE - In this June 10, 2013, file photo, Eddy Cue, Apple senior vice president of internet software and services, talking about the new voices of Siri virtual assistant during the keynote address of the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. Apple's Siri made a big splash when the wisecracking digital assistant debuted in 2011. But as its competitors jockey to build intelligent "chat bots" and voice-controlled home systems capable of more challenging artificial-intelligence feats, Siri at times no longer seems cutting edge. On Monday, June 13, 2016, Apple is expected to demonstrate how much smarter Siri can get as it kicks off its annual software conference.

Within a decade marketers will have to worry more about the algorithm than emotion Chris Stephenson, chief strategist for media agency PHD, has predicted. The bold pronouncement was made during the international keynote last week at the Mumbrella360 conference with Stephenson warning that humans are not far away from a future where consumers will have virtual personal assistants (VPAs) who will make purchasing decisions for them. "The AI (artificial intelligence) train is coming," Stephenson said. "As marketers, as media people this isn't something that will just vaguely enter our world. Artificial intelligence is going to come hurtling through our yard, it is going to change our industry, it is going to change our what we do and how we do it. "It is going to have massive significant impacts on our industry." Stephenson cited the rapid developments in the AI space in recent years and argued that these developments would soon flow to consumers. "Where we are is one minute to midnight on AI eve," he said. "The last few decades have see various technologies and developments that have got us to this moment where we are on the edge of an AI future.

Asking Apple's voice-activated assistant, Siri, what the company plans to unveil at its Worldwide Developer Conference on Tuesday elicits the response: "If I told you, they'd probably make me sit through product security again." Witty, perhaps, but Siri will have to supply more satisfying answers if it's going to convince customers, developers and investors that Apple is keeping pace with Google Now and Amazon's Alexa in one of the hottest emerging areas of tech: virtual personal assistants. Alongside updates to Apple Music and the company's mobile, watch and television operating systems, Apple will announce that for the first time it will let outside developers integrate Siri with their apps, according to a person familiar with the plans. READ MORE: * iPhone's Siri can'beatbox', in newly discovered trick * Siri learns to speak Kiwinglish * The women (and man) behind the voice of Siri Getting programmers on board is an essential step toward building tools that make Apple's devices more indispensable - such as apps that let you use voice commands on an iPhone or iPad to order a pizza or summon an Uber car, both of which Alexa can already do through the Echo in-home speaker. "Siri needs to grow up and get smarter, and by being in other apps it will get smarter because it will know more of what I do," said Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Creative Strategies.

Siri is expected to expand beyond the iPhone and iPad to third-party apps and Macs, a move designed to hike the usefulness and IQ of Apple's personal digital assistant. Analysts who cover Apple predict an expanded role for Siri will be one highlight of the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, which begins Monday in San Francisco. Apple did not respond to a request for comment. The Cupertino, California company has a big job ahead. Even though Siri was first to bat among digital assistants, it has limited utility and risks putting Apple in second-tier status when it comes to the make-or-break technology of the moment: artificial intelligence and natural-language learning that can simulate human conversation.

Since making its first public appearance last October, Sharp Corp.'s humanoid robot smartphone, RoBoHoN, has created a lot of buzz. But the eye-catching 19.5-cm-tall robot, which can walk, talk and dance but still works as a phone, has also left many people wondering why a phone and a robot should be bundled together, and what Sharp's long game is. As it turns out, Sharp is dead serious about the project. Officials say the firm thinks a robot phone could be the next big thing -- in fact, as big as the smartphone boom. The company is even envisioning a science fiction-like future in which everyone will carry his or her own robot phone that doubles as a personal assistant.

It can be incredibly frustrating when a virtual assistant repeatedly misunderstands what you're saying. Soon, though, some of them might at least be able to hear the irritation in your voice, and offer an apology. Amazon is working on significant updates to Alexa, the virtual helper that lives inside the company's voice-controlled home appliance, called Amazon Echo. These will include better language skills and perhaps the ability to recognize the emotional tenor of your voice. A source familiar with the Echo project says Amazon's researchers are looking at ways to stay ahead of the competition, primarily through a better understanding of a user's intent.

Coming off its first quarterly revenue decline in 13 years, Apple Inc. kicks off its annual developers' conference Monday in San Francisco facing questions about whether the company's best days are behind it. The focus of the weeklong Worldwide Developers Conference is expected to be on Siri, Apple's digital assistant. When Apple introduced Siri as an iPhone feature in 2011, it heralded a future of people finding information or completing tasks on their devices by speaking rather than typing or tapping. That vision of Siri hasn't fully materialized, leaving the door open for other technology companies to push into Apple's turf. Google parent Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. have all introduced voice-activated digital assistants that rely on artificial intelligence?technology that allows computers to understand inferences and context so they can make decisions like a human brain instead of following programmed instructions.

Light globes that change colour with the tap of an app, coffee machines you can talk to, and ovens that know exactly how long to cook your food: our homes are getting smart. These devices, just a few examples of what is known as "the internet of things" (or IOT), have been called the "next great disruptor" and "the second digital revolution". One of the great hopes of this revolution is that it will help households save energy. Sensors can turn off lights and appliances when not in use, or turn the heating down when people go to bed. Smartphone apps can provide households with more insight into the energy use of their appliances.

Intelligent Personal Assistant, Automated Personal Assistant or Automated Virtual Personal Assistant can perform tasks, or services, on behalf of an individual based on a combination of user input, and location awareness. It has the ability to access information from a variety of online sources such as weather conditions, traffic congestion, news, stock prices, user schedules, and retail prices. Intelligent Personal Assistant has the ability to organize and maintain information and includes the management of emails, calendar events, files, and to do lists. Some automated personal assistants can perform concierge type tasks or provide information based on voice input or commands and some smart personal agents, which can automatically perform management or data handling tasks based on online information without user initiation or interaction. Intelligent Agents can be classified based on their degree of perceived intelligence and capability such as simple reflex agents, model-based reflex agents, goal-based agents, utility-based agents and learning agents.