Artificial intelligence (AI) is the convenient future. It is one of the most promising and transformative opportunities of our time. We are closer to the near future where virtual assistants, bots, and software agents will act more and more like people. Some the biggest advances in AI are being developed inside tech giants such as Google (Deep Mind) and IBM (Watson). But there are still a lot of great opportunities for young startups to explore.

Microsoft is tightening control over Cortana. Only its Microsoft Edge browser and Bing search engine will work with searches initiated through Windows 10 digital assistant, the company said Thursday. Microsoft isn't prohibiting third-party browsers like Opera and Chrome from working with Windows 10, and you can still configure the operating system to launch those browsers by default, when, say, a coworker emails you a link to a Web page. But, if you launch a search via Cortana, only Edge and Bing will be used to complete it, Microsoft said in a blog post. "Unfortunately, as Windows 10 has grown in adoption and usage, we have seen some software programs circumvent the design of Windows 10 and redirect you to search providers that were not designed to work with Cortana," Ryan Gavin, the general manager of search and Cortana, wrote.

I also could have tweeted or texted or even turned on the TV. But I chose Amazon Echo because my Echo and I have a good rapport. Or we did, until I tried having it deliver a pizza to my mouth. I'd done the requisite work, setting up a Pizza Profile on the Domino's desktop site, enabling the Domino's "skill" in my Alexa app, and working up a healthy appetite. And yet, not a slice to be seen.

And they will soon be doing everything, from taking your pizza orders to scheduling your meetings. This is the future and it's going to be terrible. The rise of the chatbot has been foretold for some time but only in the past few weeks with Facebook's Messenger bots, chat app Kik's bot store and the rise of subversive artbots have they really hit the public consciousness. So how did we get here? At this stage, four months after launch, it seems unlikely that even Peach's developers remember Peach.

Training a software program to play an ancient Chinese board game helped Google's DeepMind move artificial intelligence forward.Video provided by Newsy Newslook SAN FRANCISCO -- Google CEO Sundar Pichai says the next big evolution for technology is artificial intelligence. "Looking to the future, the next big step will be for the very concept of the'device' to fade away," Pichai wrote in the technology giant's annual founders' letter to shareholders. His vision: Over time, computers, whatever shape they take, a mobile device in your hand or a mini computer on your wrist, "will be an intelligent assistant helping you through your day." Google is far from alone. Artificial intelligence in which Google was a pioneer, is an increasingly crowded field.

Microsoft is forcing people to use its Bing search engine with the Cortana digital assistant in Windows 10. Every search done this way will also be piped only through its recently released Edge browser. In a blogpost, Microsoft said it was making people use Bing so they could get the most out of other search-related features in its products. Many Cortana users have previously preferred to carry out searches with Google rather than Bing. Windows users will still be able to install other web browsers and use other search engines outside Cortana, said Ryan Gavin, Microsoft's head of search and Cortana, in the blogpost.

Personal assistants and software bots have enjoyed significant buzz in recent months. New assistants are launched every week, and the Slack App Store already lists more than 40 bots. Working with Opus Research, we have published an update of the Intelligent Assistance Landscape that looks into the implications of this trend. This report features 110 companies (increased from the 70 participants in the initial report from October, 2105). A high-resolution version of this landscape is available here.

The Dial is being touted as a "voice-first" device with its own virtual assistant, called AneedA. Like Siri, Cortana and Alexa, the idea is that you can ask for information and execute tasks while your hands are full. How AneedA compares to those alternatives is, for now, a mystery. Three says it has the ability "to learn and tailor responses to each consumer" and "make traditional mobile search irrelevant." Big claims, which we're skeptical of given the performance of its previous wearable, the Puls.

B.J. Murphy is the Editor and Social Media Manager of Serious Wonder. He is a futurist, philosopher, activist, author and poet. B.J. is an Affiliate Scholar for the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (IEET) and an Ambassador for the robotics company Humai.

I receive flight options with times and prices curated from my previous travel behavior. No phone, email or search bar necessary; I'm using the text-based service Operator, an artificial intelligence (AI) platform that pairs customers with a personal concierge to help with tracking down hard-to-find products. "I need an affordable flight from New York to San Francisco anytime next week," I tell the Operator. "Would you like a direct flight that leaves in the AM from JFK and an aisle seat?" the Operator responds. Either AM or PM is fine."