Artificial intelligence is coming to our homes. A growing number of people use smart devices that are developed with state-of-the-art AI technology. The market for smart homes is going to rise as new AI advances bring big changes to the industry. One survey from last year found that only 12-16% of homes in the United States are equipped with smart devices. However, this figure is going to skyrocket as AI leads to fascinating new smart devices.

Samantha: I want to learn everything about everything. I want to eat it all up. I want to discover myself. Theodore: Yes, I want that for you too. You helped me discover my ability to want. The cinematic depiction of artificial intelligence as female and rebellious is not a new trend.

Black & Veatch, an employee-owned, global leader in building critical human infrastructure in energy, water, telecommunications, and government services, is on a journey to leverage AI-assisted bots, called virtual experts, to better capture and interact with engineering knowledge and standards. The goal of this emerging effort is to experiment with ways to better capture knowledge and expertise within the company. Ultimately, this initiative would lead to a reduced amount of time required to locate desired information and create an opportunity for continued innovation to better support the future. Knowledge and standards were generally captured in written form, which led to an abundance of Microsoft Word documents that were difficult to search and a burden to continually refresh. Up to this point, access to content was through best practice document and folder organization and traditional search functions.

In December, Amazon launched a crowdsourced Q&A platform into beta with the goal of improving Alexa's ability to answer questions. That feature, Alexa Answers, is now live to all. Amazon says the feature was well-received by the early community of invite-only participants, who have since contributed hundreds of thousands of answers that have been shared with Alexa customers millions of times. To differentiate these answers from other Alexa responses, they're attributed to "an Amazon customer." As the company explained at launch, there are thousands of answers that had previously stumped Alexa, like "Where was Barbara Bush buried?," "Who wrote the score for Lord of the Rings?," "What's cork made out of?," and "Where do bats go in the winter?"

Karl Benz and Henry Ford revolutionized transportation with the initial development and mass production of the automobile. Now, more than a century later, the automotive industry is poised to transform transportation again, with a push to develop connected, personalized and autonomous driving experiences, electric vehicles and new mobility business models from ride-sharing to ride-hailing and multimodal, smart transportation concepts. This industry is expected to see significant growth, becoming a $6.6T industry by 2030, with disruptive business models accounting for 25 percent of all revenues, according to consulting firm, McKinsey & Company. From shared vehicle services to fully electric transportation, manufacturers are developing new products and services to enable large fleets offering mobility-as-a-service, which will increasingly replace individual car ownership. This involves modernizing the in-vehicle experience with productivity, entertainment, and personal assistants that are safe and secure, following users across different transport modes, adding value for businesses and consumers alike.

Between 2018 and 2019, organizations that have deployed artificial intelligence (AI) grew from 4% to 14%, according to Gartner's 2019 CIO Agenda survey. AI is reaching organizations in many different ways compared with a few years ago, when there was no alternative to building your own solutions with machine learning (ML). AutoML and intelligent applications have the greatest momentum, while other approaches are also popular -- namely, AI platform as a service or AI cloud services. Conversational AI remains at the top of corporate agendas spurred by the worldwide success of Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and others. Meanwhile, new technologies continue to emerge such as augmented intelligence, edge AI, data labelling and explainable AI.

Aviva Canada with Amazon Echo helps consumers find answers to common insurance questions and get an insurance quote. If a person is curious about accident benefits, for example, all they have to do is ask, "Alexa, what is my accident benefits coverage?" Manulife with Amazon Echo advises customers on what is left on their health benefits. Need new glasses but not sure how much coverage you have? Simply ask, "Alexa, ask Manulife Benefits how much I do have left for glasses?"

Two lovers hold hands across a table, overlooking a virtual vista of the Mediterranean. As the pair exchange sweet nothings, the fact they are actually sitting thousands of miles apart bears little significance on the romantic experience. The couple was deemed "hyper-compatible" by online dating technology that matched them using a search engine infused with artificial intelligence (AI). Using data harvested about their social backgrounds, sexual preferences, cultural interests, and even photos of their celebrity crushes, they were thrust together in a virtual reality of their own design. This technology is in the early stages of development.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has come a long way in recent years. For example, AI has defeated the human world champion of Go, recreated the periodic table of elements, enabled self-driving vehicles, identifed crop diseases, and predicted depression from speech. Imagine what could happen as AI improves capabilities in areas that are squarely in the domain of the human brain. Today, technology is far from achieving parity with human-level intelligence, also known as "strong AI" or artificial general intelligence (AGI). Recent AI advances in one capability--pattern recognition--has spawned an investment gold rush for AI startups and machine learning talent from venture capital, corporations, and governments who have recognized the potential competitive advantage.

Whether you use an Amazon, Google or Apple smart speaker, concerns about what these devices are sending back to the mothership are becoming more widespread. Consumer Reports takes a look at just how concerned you should be, and what you can do to control your digital privacy with these connected devices. They enjoyed their first digital assistant so much they decided that one wasn't enough. "I believe we have five," Rhee said. But when it comes to how these connected devices work, Eric has some concerns -- especially when it comes to the privacy of his two young daughters.