From Siri to Alexa, voice interfaces are becoming increasingly common, but for all their recent advances, they often struggle with one of the most basic characteristics of human speech: accents. The problem is so prevalent that computer scientists have identified the existence of a "machine voice," a standardized way of speaking that individuals with accents adopt in the hope of being understood. Researchers even warn about the existence of a "speech divide" that ostracizes individuals whose accents differ from those the machines have been trained on. As is often the case with technology built on large data sets, the problem begins with the input. If you only train your interface using a narrow selection of voices, then it won't know how to respond to accents that fall outside of its frame of reference.

Amy Ingram is a dream personal assistant: professional, prompt and receptive to critiques. She's scheduled tens of thousands of meetings for her clients -- and she makes those who use her services look good. "Some people are like how the hell did they afford an assistant," said Dennis Mortensen, cofounder of X.ai, the startup behind Amy. "They" can afford to pay Amy because she's not a human. She is an artificially intelligent personal assistant -- just look at her initials (A.I.) -- and right now, she's free.

How can Banks help customers manage money throughout their life? In the early days of banking, bankers knew customers and could guide and advise them in person. Today's digital models have taken away that personal connection. Can we use technology to bring back the human connection? At many levels, Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be leveraged to bring back that connection.

In the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, version 1607, Microsoft removed the on-off switch for Cortana. As with most things Windows, you can remove the search button or box completely if you're really convinced you won't use it. With that option set, you can still access Cortana's full feature set by tapping the Windows key and typing. If you want to turn off all of Cortana's features, leaving only the ability to search for local apps, files, and settings, you need to make a simple registry edit. On a system running Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise edition, you can use Group Policy to apply this setting across multiple machines in an enterprise network; on a single PC, use the local Group Policy Editor, gpedit.msc, to open the policy Computer Configuration Administrative Templates Windows Components Search Allow Cortana and set it to disabled.

Remember those OkCupid blog posts about the mathematics of beauty, the lies people tell in online dating, and how OkCupid experiments on its users? Those were the work of Christian Rudder. Christian Rudder is the co-founder of OkCupid. He is also a founding member of celebrated indie-rock band Bishop Allen. He has his own IMDb page from roles in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and the mumblecore film Funny Haha. He is cited on the "Love" wikipedia page, and he's written massively popular blog posts at OkTrends. Two years ago he authored Dataclysm: Love, Sex, Race, and Identity–What Our Online Lives Tell Us about Our Offline Selves, the New York Times best-selling book that delved into what data tells us about who we really are.

Analysis Artificial intelligence and machine learning engines are underpinning many emerging applications and services, from making sense of big data for enterprises, to supporting hyper-personalized consumer content, or virtual reality gaming. The current challenge is to move AI from the supercomputer to the mobile device, supporting technologies like computer vision locally on the handset, car, camera or VR headset. Qualcomm has been a leader here, but the past weeks have seen Intel and its Chinese partner Rockchip invest in chip-level computer vision and AI capabilities, while Apple has acquired machine learning startup Turi, presumably to enhance its AI-driven personal assistant Siri. Rockchip has licensed the XM4 imaging and vision DSP (digital signal processor) design from IP provider CEVA, to enhance these aspects of its system-on-chip (SoC) products. It says it will enable advanced vision features at the low power levels required for mobile devices, supporting digital video stabilization, object detection and tracking, and 3D depth sensing, among others.

The latest Xbox One update includes plenty of features to please gamers, but gaming has never been the sole focus of Microsoft's console. While Microsoft has moved away from its goal of taking over your television, bringing its Cortana digital voice assistant to the platform shows the company, it hasn't given up on the idea of putting a smart hub in your living room. We'll show you how to activate Cortana on your Xbox One and let you know just how useful it can be. Microsoft's digital assistant goes a long way toward turning your Xbox One into a big-screened Amazon Echo, as the robot inside your Xbox is always listening and willing to offer a helping hand. If you want to know the weather report, a sports score, or the latest action flicks you're just a "Hey, Cortana" away.

This post is authored by Roope Astala, Senior Program Manager at Microsoft. We are thrilled to announce the support for multiple versions of R and Python in Azure ML.

In 2016 bots and artificial intelligent digital assistants seem to be the Next Big Thing. Back in 2014 I posited that Cortana would be the intelligent, voice-engaged UI for our increasingly mobile experiences. As a mediator between our "will" and our apps, I thought that she would effectively make apps "invisible" as she became the ambient user interface of our mobile computing lifestyles. As Microsoft continues to evolve Cortana toward the vision the company sees for its AI digital assistant, I've seen that my 2014 analysis was not entirely correct. Nor was it entirely wrong.

Humans are amazing creatures – driven by curiosity, intellect, ambition. The Olympic Games this month and the Nobel Prize Awards are examples of how our society reveres those who push their limits to achieve the seemingly impossible in both work and life. Digital advancements and new technologies are quickly redefining what is possible by accelerating human potential beyond the physical and intellectual capabilities of just a few years ago. But what can humans achieve with a little help from artificial intelligence? According to Erik Brynjolfsson, economist at MIT and the co-author of The Second Machine Age, "The accumulated doubling of Moore's Law, and the ample doubling still to come, gives us a world where supercomputer power becomes available to toys in just a few years, where ever-cheaper sensors enable inexpensive solutions to previously intractable problems, and where science fiction keeps becoming reality."