While the earlier decade was all about data communication and internet proliferation, the economy of the next few years will thrive upon digitization of systems, where we will encounter implementation of smartness into everything i.e. smart home, smart city, smart appliances, smart retail, etc. The demand for smart home appliances is increasing due to numerous advancements and adoptions of digital technologies in everyday life. IoT solutions is one of the key focus areas of digital transformation projects in the consumer electronics and home appliances industry. With the addition of smart devices and appliances, and with capabilities in sensing, connectivity, and data transmission, people can interact, collect, and analyze highly valuable data to automate various operations at home, which were previously performed manually. Today, technology has evolved to such an extent that there's a possibility to design meaningful collaboration between humans and machines, primarily due to advancements in AI.

Google is everywhere at CES 2020. With the world's largest consumer electronics showcase under way here in Las Vegas, the search giant has dispatched an army of people clad in white uniforms to spread the gospel about the Google Assistant, the company's digital concierge software. The company built a massive fun house with slides and a ball pit. The words "Hey Google," the wake phrase for the software, are plastered all over buildings and the monorail in Las Vegas, the tech show's host city. It's a classic corporate marketing blitz, but it's also an apt metaphor for Google's grand ambition: to get its software all around you -- to fill up every inch of your life, from your commute to work to your Saturday morning vacuuming the house.

Kim Komando has all the answers about dating sites, political ads, Fire TV and more. Each week, I receive tons of questions from my listeners about tech concerns, new products and all things digital. Sometimes, choosing the most interesting questions to highlight is the best part of my job. This week, I received questions about whether any old tech is worth money to collectors, dating online, the Fire Stick, political ads and whether I shut down my app. Do you have a question you'd like to ask me?

Fortunately, an artificial intelligence-driven system in your vehicle is looking after you. The system automatically checks on your flight--still on schedule--and determines your chances of making it to the gate on time are slim. With your permission, it can proactively book an alternate flight. "That's the true virtual assistant in the future," says Gartner vice president and fellow David Cearley. "Rather than having conversational interfaces respond to discrete things, it understands the context and can respond to (your) intent."

Developed between 1966 and 72 at Stanford Research Institute (SRI), wobbly-gaited Shakey, the first robot to reason about its own actions, marked the beginning of artificial intelligence. Half a century later, Hanson Robotics introduced Sophia, a robot who grabbed headlines both for her spontaneity while being interviewed and her status as the first robot to be awarded citizenship. In the fifty years between the activation of these two robots, not only did technology advance but the goals of artificially intelligent machines also changed dramatically. In doing so, we may have made life more convenient in some ways, and in other ways may have paved the way for our own replacements. As robot technology improved, designers moved from physically powerful machines that freed up muscle and might to machines that could work alongside and with people.

Technology that can understand regional accents and gender-neutral voice assistants are among the developments expected in the voice technology field in 2020. Products such as Alexa and Siri have faced mounting criticism that the technology behind them disproportionately misunderstands women, ethnic minorities and those with accents not represented in datasets that have historically favoured white and Chinese male voices. In response, a wave of new projects aims to redress the balance and make the growing voice tech industry more inclusive. "Voice tech has failed by not being programmed to respond adequately to abuse," she said. "The example of Siri stating'I'd blush if I could' when told it was a bitch is a well-known example, as is Alexa replying'Well, thanks for the feedback' when told'You're a slut'."

The global IoT healthcare market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 29.9% to reach $322.2 billion by 2025. This can be attributed to the fact that this technology has tremendous potential to transform healthcare operations and efficiencies, including patient care and operational workflows. While it is still at a developing stage, and may have its fair share of obstacles, it is revolutionizing the entire healthcare industry in many ways. Virtual assistants are commonplace in our everyday life with Siri, Alexa, Google Home being the forerunners. The same technology i.e., conversation-based assistance using AI is also used in the healthcare sector for increasing patient engagement.

Tech experts have long warned about the dark side of virtual assistant AI, from Alexa to Siri, but the masses haven't listened. Now Fox is kicking it up a notch with their upcoming drama, NeXt, about Artificial Intelligence that gets super personal while creating human misery. Creator and executive producer Manny Coto brought his cast, including John Slattery, to Television Critic's Association winter press tour in Pasadena to give a first look at the series coming to Fox this spring. The NeXt in the title refers to an artificial intelligence project that takes its programming to extremes as it seeks to wipe out the humans who want to thwart its goals. Coto told reporters that the series idea actually came from a creepy incident involving his son and their Amazon Alexa. "My son woke me up and said, 'Alexa started talking to me at three a.m." Unsettled, the showrunner said they never got to the bottom of why their Alexa went midnight rogue several times, but it got him thinking about what we're allowing into our homes.

Many people perceive automation and artificial intelligence within the enterprise as job killers. Instead, I argue that AI -- and digital employees in particular -- open up new opportunities for learning cutting-edge, higher-value and higher-paying skills. Take, for example, some of the more recent research from the McKinsey Global Institute on the Future of Work, which includes this statement: "Millions of jobs with a high share of automatable tasks could be phased out in the decade ahead. Others will be created, more than making up for those losses in many scenarios -- although they may be different occupations located in different places." I've often put forward that we're rapidly approaching a time when humans and digital employees will fuse into a hybrid workforce, fundamentally transforming how we live and work.

It's about to be in even more places as the industry in charge of developing it pushes for dominance on their own platforms and standards. While for them it means new technologies -- and more importantly products -- that can be packaged up and sold, for us it means consistency and assuredness in a technology still somewhat shrouded in mystery and fragmented across platforms as companies compete for supremacy. In an attempt to bring some clarity into the smart home, key industry leaders like Apple, Amazon and Google (who make the Siri, Alexa, and Assistant digital voice AI platforms that power many smart homes) joined forces through the Project Connected Home Over IP protocol. The idea is to ensure that all your smart home devices work with one another. The three big tech companies mainly utilise their AI technology through smart speakers, and other companies across appliances, automotive and consumer electronics make their products compatible.