Imagine if your teaching assistant was actually a robot--and looked like Alicia Vikander. A picture of the "Ex Machina" lead actress graces a Wall Street Journal article that explores students' surprise when they discovered one of their teaching assistants was, in fact, a bot. Her responses--which fooled even former IBM employees--were based on looking through nearly 40,000 questions and answers on a discussion forum. Ashok Goel, the professor who teaches the online Georgia Tech computer science course, believes that bots like Jill can answer 40 percent of all students' questions--many of the mundane variety--within a year. Best quote of the story goes to a student: "We're taking an artificial intelligence class. There should be some artificial intelligence here."

If you tell Siri to set an alarm for 5 am, she'll set an alarm for 5 am. But if you start asking her which prescription pain killer is least likely to upset your stomach, she's not really gonna know what to do--just because that's a pretty complicated sentence. Siri is a long way from what computer scientists call "natural language understanding." She can't truly understand the natural way we humans talk--despite the way Apple portrays her in all those TV ads. In fact, we shouldn't really be talking about her as a "her" at all.

Google is expected to hit the smart home market in a big way with a new device codenamed Chirp. According to a report from Recode, the tech titan is moving in on the turf carved out by Amazon's Echo with its own voice-activated assistant for the home. The device probably won't see the light of day until later this year, though we may see some hints of what's to come by reading between the lines at Google's developers conference in San Francisco next week. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Google has been focused on the smart home for years, and in 2014 forecast broader ambitions in the space by buying smart appliance maker Nest for 3.2 billion.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) "voices" listen, react and integrate with consumer devices. How can brands tap into this, and how can it benefit consumers? The absence of screens and the presence of a new voice is the reality of AI in the home. The Amazon Echo (fondly known as Alexa) listens and reacts to whomever is talking to it. Alexa will let you know how much food is in your fridge, check your work calendar, and answer almost any question.

This week we take a look at some recent developments in the realms of personalized shopping and artificial intelligence (AI) in ecommerce. Retailers, digital marketplaces, social networks and department stores are all trying to figure out the best way to deliver personalized, data-driven customer experience. Many companies see artificial intelligence as the answer to improve the shopping interface and user experience, while other marketers turn to personalized targeting methods and omni-channel strategies. In exploring these technological advances, it must be understood that not all innovations are profitable. These ideas have promises and risks, and their efficacy will ultimately be tested and decided by the customer. Last week, eBay acquired Expertmaker, a Swedish company that focused on artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data analytics.

Muttering "OK Google" may soon become useful all around your house, as Google reportedly preps an Amazon Echo rival dubbed "Chirp" that will extend the company's voice and search capabilities into the home. Following up on earlier rumors about a Google-powered Echo clone, Recode claims that Google will showcase voice search and intelligent assistant capabilities at its I/O conference next week, with Chirp itself expected to debut later this year. The surprising part isn't that Google may be creating an Echo rival but rather that it's taken so long to do so. Google has big smart home ambitions, the power of Google Now and search, top-notch voice recognition technology, and even an appropriate form factor with the OnHub router (pictured above)--which Recode says Chirp's design will mimic. Google also owns Nest and its line of smart home products.

Google is said to be developing a product that would compete with Amazon's Echo voice assistant, according to Recode. The gadget would look similar to Google's OnHub wireless router, and would include Google's search and voice recognition technology. Google likely won't introduce the device at its developer conference next week, during which it usually makes significant product announcements, says Recode. But the firm is aiming to launch the Echo-like product this year. Google employees are calling the project "Chirp" internally.

People gather in the Nvidia booth at the Mobile World Congress, the world's largest mobile phone trade show, in Barcelona on Feb. 27. (Photo: Manu Fernandez, AP) Chip maker Nvidia reports quarterly results after the bell Thursday. Meanwhile, Amazon's popular Echo speaker might have competition soon. The company will report first quarter earnings after the markets close. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, Nvidia is projected to report earnings of 41 cents a share on revenue of 1.26 billion. Google is reportedly working on a project called Chirp that could directly compete with the Amazon Echo voice-enabled speaker.

Meet Jill Watson, a first-time teaching assistant at Georgia Tech assigned to moderate an online forum for a computer science class. Jill was 1 of 9 TAs assigned to help answer questions about coursework and projects from the 300 students enrolled in the advanced course. During the first few weeks in January, Jill really struggled. This was Knowledge-Based Artificial Intelligence, after all, a course with the goal to "build AI agents capable of human-level intelligence and gain insights into human cognition." It was also a requirement for graduate students to earn their master's degree.

According to The Information, one of the last remaining members of Siri's original team, Darren Haas, has quit Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) for General Electric (GE). His move comes only a few weeks after Steve D'Aurora resigned from his position at Apple to join GE. Both of the former Apple employees are reportedly working on a similar cloud service platform at GE. The primary reason behind the departures seems to be the political infighting within Apple's engineering team. These clashes ensued after the tech giant decided to extend the software platform built by Siri's team, to its other Internet services such as iTunes and iCloud.