Companies like Amazon, Google, and Tesla are using artificial intelligence (AI) to improve their products and services. The AI-driven shift is also supporting countless other corporations worldwide. However, the benefits that come with AI technology aren't only limited to the big brands and names in the industry. Even small businesses can use AI to increase their process management efficiency. AI technology has grown so widespread, it has become accessible even for private individuals through virtual assistants like Alexa, Siri, and Cortana.

This is a guest post from Matt Fielder and Jordan Rosenblum at iHeartRadio. In their own words, "iHeartRadio is a streaming audio service that reaches tens of millions of users every month and registers many tens of thousands more every day." Personalization is an important part of the user experience, and we aspire to give useful recommendations as early in the user lifecycle as possible. Music suggestions that are surfaced directly after registration let our users know that we can quickly adapt to their tastes and reduce the likelihood of churn. But how do we personalize content to a user that doesn't yet have any listening history?

Welcome to the world where messaging apps are slowly becoming new platforms of convenience and customers expect to unlock a universe of information using only their voice. Today 6 out of the top 10 mobile apps are messaging apps. Over a third of customers prefer social media over telephone conversations for customer support. Over1 billion messages are sent between people and businesses every month on Facebook Messenger. The rise of messaging apps, social media, mobility, cloud, the Internet of Things, and landmark breakthroughs in machine learning, natural language processing, and cutting edge technologies like neural networks have revolutionized the way consumers interact with devices.

Amazon's Smart Plug is on sale for $5 on Black Friday (Photo: Amazon) Purchases you make through our links may earn us a commission. Amazon's Black Friday deals are in full swing, and Reviewed has coverage of all the best deals on everything from TVs, headphones, smart speakers, to clothing, mattresses, and more. One of the best secrets of Black Friday is Amazon's voice-exclusive deals. If you have an Alexa-enabled device that supports voice shopping (like an Echo speaker), you can just ask Alexa for the current deals. The best deal, by far, is the Amazon smart plug for just $5. Normally $24.99, through Alexa you can get it for $20 off.

The Amazon Echo can contribute to our lives unlike any other technology before. It's a smart speaker that will follow your commands, answer your queries, and do so much more. However, Alexa's "skills" are what can make the system truly useful. They are like apps for the Echo, which allow you to customize your experience and add extra functionality. There are more than 25,000 skills available today, so it made sense for us to cherry-pick the best of them.

Instagram has shared new details on how its app uses machine learning to surface content for users, stressing that, when making recommendations, it focuses on finding accounts it thinks people will enjoy, rather than individual posts. The blog post is technical in nature and contains no big surprises, but it offers an interesting behind-the-scenes perspective at a time when algorithmic recommendation systems are under scrutiny for pushing users toward dangerous, hateful, and extremist content. While Instagram has not been criticized with the same ferocity as YouTube (dubbed "the Great Radicalizer" by The New York Times), it certainly has its share of problems. Hateful content and misinformation thrive on the platform as much as any other social network, and certain mechanisms in the app (like its suggested follows feature) have been shown to push users toward extreme viewpoints for topics like anti-vaccination. In its blog post, though, Instagram's engineers explain the operation of the Explore tab while steering clear of thorny political issues. "This is the first time we're going into heavy detail on the foundational building blocks that help us provide personalized content at scale," Instagram software engineer Ivan Medvedev told The Vergeover email.

Fox News Headlines 24/7 Correspondent Carley Shimkus tells'America's Newsroom HQ' that Amazon developers are making Alexa more human-based on feedback from users Fox News Headlines 24/7 Correspondent Carley Shimkus told "America's News HQ" host Arthel Neville on Thursday that she didn't know if Amazon's new development that makes Alexa more emotional was "cool or creepy." The company announced Wednesday that the operating system received an initial skills upgrade, giving it a range of emotional responses. The new emotional responses use a technology referred to as Neural Text-to-Speech, which converts written text into synthesized speech and shifts in tempo, pitch and volume. On the "Alexa Skills Kit blog," the new capability could reportedly be used for tasks like mimicking a news anchor reporting headlines or a radio host offering new music. "Alexa is definitely becoming more human and can now sound either excited and happy or disappointed and sad depending on what you say," Shimkus explained.

While heating and cooling setups can vary a lot, most US homes rely on some sort of heating, ventilating and air conditioning system (HVAC) to help keep indoor temperatures in check. Your thermostat acts as the main point of access for this system, allowing you to determine when and at what temperature air is circulated. The thing is, today's thermostats are quite different than the typical models sold in stores just 10 years ago. That's where this buying guide comes in handy. We'll explore the changing thermostat market, so you can decide which model makes the most sense for your home.

Amazon just announced a new feature that it hopes will make us all more willing to invite Alexa into our everyday lives, and that is the ability to express certain emotions depending on specific interactions. Amazon is utilizing a Neural text-to-speech (NTTS) system that it claims is able to make the smart voice assistant's responses sound more natural than a pre-recorded audio snippet. There are six different emotions available to developers right now, including low, medium, and high variants of excited and disappointed responses. Amazon envisions these tones being used in Alexa games, as well as in response to requests for details about the news or scores from your favorite sports team. Here's a short example of one of Alexa's new emotional responses (high level disappointed):

Artificial intelligence (AI) is red-hot and for good reason. Coca-Cola is an example of a company that leverages AI to squeeze every drop of insight it can from the customer data it collects. Ever wonder how Cherry Sprite came about? Coca-Cola created Cherry Sprite as a new flavor after monitoring data collected from "smart" self-service soft drink fountains that allow customers to mix their own drinks. With more than 100 million Facebook fans and 35 million Twitter followers, Coca-Cola has used social media as another hugely important source for gathering customer insight.