Personal Assistant Systems
NVIDIA AI Platform Takes Conversational User Experience To A New Level
After breaking all the records related to training computer vision models, NVIDIA now claims that it's AI platform is able to train a natural language neural network model based on one of the largest datasets in a record time. It also claims that the inference time is just 2 milliseconds which translates to an extremely fast response from the model participating in a conversation with a user. After computer vision, natural language processing is one of the top applications of AI. From Siri to Alexa to Cortana to Google Assistant, all conversational user experiences are powered by AI. The advancements in AI research is putting the power of language understanding and conversational interface into the hands of developers.
Reinforcement Learning Applications
We start with a brief introduction to reinforcement learning (RL), about its successful stories, basics, an example, issues, the ICML 2019 Workshop on RL for Real Life, how to use it, study material and an outlook. Then we discuss a selection of RL applications, including recommender systems, computer systems, energy, finance, healthcare, robotics, and transportation.
GraphSW: a training protocol based on stage-wise training for GNN-based Recommender Model
Tai, Chang-You, Wu, Meng-Ru, Chu, Yun-Wei, Chu, Shao-Yu
Recently, researchers utilize Knowledge Graph (KG) as side information in recommendation system to address cold start and sparsity issue and improve the recommendation performance. Existing KG-aware recommendation model use the feature of neighboring entities and structural information to update the embedding of currently located entity. Although the fruitful information is beneficial to the following task, the cost of exploring the entire graph is massive and impractical. In order to reduce the computational cost and maintain the pattern of extracting features, KG-aware recommendation model usually utilize fixed-size and random set of neighbors rather than complete information in KG. Nonetheless, there are two critical issues in these approaches: First of all, fixed-size and randomly selected neighbors restrict the view of graph. In addition, as the order of graph feature increases, the growth of parameter dimensionality of the model may lead the training process hard to converge. To solve the aforementioned limitations, we propose GraphSW, a strategy based on stage-wise training framework which would only access to a subset of the entities in KG in every stage. During the following stages, the learned embedding from previous stages is provided to the network in the next stage and the model can learn the information gradually from the KG. We apply stage-wise training on two SOTA recommendation models, RippleNet and Knowledge Graph Convolutional Networks (KGCN). Moreover, we evaluate the performance on six real world datasets, Last.FM 2011, Book-Crossing,movie, LFM-1b 2015, Amazon-book and Yelp 2018. The result of our experiments shows that proposed strategy can help both models to collect more information from the KG and improve the performance. Furthermore, it is observed that GraphSW can assist KGCN to converge effectively in high-order graph feature.
Artificial Intelligence in eCommerce – Infographic
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a science that deals with building intelligent machines and algorithms that can think and respond like a human (that is learning according to human). Artificial intelligence has filled the digital lacuna and summoned reality into utopia. Undoubtedly it has filled every walk of life from airport to home automation and e-commerce is no new story for its ink. It won't be necromancy to add that not only Artificial intelligence is simplifying the E-commerce but also providing unbelievable new horizon for its growth. With every new artificial add on ads to new possibility and a wow factor to E-commerce let us look few of the Artificial intelligence, which is changing the E-commerce spectrum.
Hey, Siri, how about some shortcuts to help save me some time. Siri says, 'Sure'
Who wouldn't like to get more done in less time? That's the idea behind Siri Shortcuts, a popular Apple app for iPhone and iPad, and built into the upcoming iOS 13 operating system, out in beta release now with a full upgrade due this fall soon after new iPhones hit in September. As the name suggests, Siri Shortcuts link the voice-controlled personal assistant you already know with time-saving shortcuts for tasks you want to perform. By simply asking for it – or tapping the screen if you're not in a place to freely use your voice – your iPhone or iPad can quickly heed your request. In other words, Siri Shortcuts – previously known as Workflow – fuses small actions to yield big results.
SummitSync Partners with Conversica to Boost Marketing ROI with Event AI Assistant
The new partnership will help marketing and sales teams maximize the ROI on their event marketing spend. With SummitSync's conference and trade show intelligence paired with automated lead engagement through Conversica's AI Assistants, brands will be able to drive higher quality sales meetings and convert more prospects to customers like never before. For event marketers, the joint solution automates many of the time-consuming tasks associated with event execution such as pre-booking meetings at events, coordinating on-site demos with salespeople and capturing follow-up requests for information. It frees event marketers to focus on delivering an outstanding end-to-end experience. "Conversica is an ideal partner for us because we serve a similar customer base and our combined technologies complement each other and increase the value we deliver," said Al Torres, president and co-founder at SummitSync.
what-is-alexa-and-what-does-she-do
You've seen the TV ads for Amazon's Alexa-enabled devices, and you know you can ask her to do, well, just about anything. What really is Alexa, though, and how can she make your life easier? Alexa is Amazon's own smart assistant and can be found on any Alexa-enabled device. This can be a smart speaker, like the Echo Dot, the Echo Plus, or the Echo; or a smart display device, such as the Echo Show or the Echo Spot. There are a handful of other Amazon devices that use Alexa, such as the Amazon Fire Stick.
what-is-apple-homekit-and-how-does-it-work
For iPhone users who don't want to venture far to control their smart homes, look no further than Apple HomeKit. Like Amazon Alexa or the Google Assistant, you can use HomeKit to control and command your favorite HomeKit-compatible smart devices. Apple HomeKit isn't compatible with quite as many devices as the aforementioned digital assistants, but unlike smart home systems such as Samsung SmartThings, it doesn't require a specific hub to configure. All you need to get started is to scope out the compatible hardware--door locks, smart bulbs, and so on--and once these gadgets are synced up, you can walk through the door and ask Siri to turn on the lights! The Apple Home app lets you control connected devices.
Siri and Alexa are NOT making adults ruder because we don't need to say please or thank you to them
Barking off orders to Alexa and Siri without so much as a please or thank you likely isn't going to become a habit you carry over into the rest of your life. This is because adults have already formed their behaviours for interacting with others -- and, in their current form, we don't see smart assistants as people. Researchers came to this conclusion after talking with over 200 people and seeing how they interacted with digital assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri. However, children may be more susceptible to forming impolite habits from talking to smart assistants -- partly because they are more likely to personify them. Adults may begin to be more influenced by their interactions with smart machines as their designs more more human-like or relatable, however, the researchers added.