People who turn to WebMD in their quest for health information can now do so without lifting a finger – they can use their voice, through a new integration with Amazon Alexa. As of today, people who use the voice-assistant service can launch the WebMD skill on any Alexa-enabled device (such as the Echo, Echo Dot and Amazon Fire TV) and ask a question about a range of health-related topics including conditions, medication, tests and treatments. Alexa will respond with WebMD-sourced answers in easy-to-understand language. "Every month, nearly one-third of the total online U.S. population turns to WebMD's websites and apps in search of answers to their health-related questions, but now they have another option – and it's as simple as asking Alexa," WebMD Vice President Ben Greenberg, whose product team developed the new voice capabilities, said in a statement. "There are a number of reasons that voice-enabled interfaces are growing in popularity – they are generally hands-free, people can talk faster than they type, and when done right, they make it easier for consumers to quickly and easily get to the information they need."

Flipping burgers is a hot and greasy job. Slips, trips, burns and cuts are common hazards associated with the work. But global demand for burgers is tremendous. Top burger chains racked up more than $75.5 billion in annual sales in 2016. To help keep human cooks out of harm's way while fulfilling our collective appetite for burgers, Pasadena-based Miso Robotics is rolling out a new "robotic kitchen assistant" called Flippy.

Artificial intelligence has rapidly become an integral part of wealth management, so that computers and algorithms analyze massive amounts of financial data to spit out stock recommendations and other types of advice. Yet it's taken a bit longer to figure out a way to apply this technology to consumers' day-to-day spending and saving habits. But over the past year there's been an explosion in the number of artificially intelligent personal finance chatbots, suggesting that we're entering a new phase of digital assistance. Some of these digital assistants have human names like Olivia and Abe, while others go for succinct monosyllables like Plum and Trim. Financial institutions have started rolling out their own apps, too, like Bank of America's Erica that's purported to help customers make smarter financial decisions.

Germany and Japan, March 8, 2017 --- Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz (German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, 'DFKI') and Hitachi, Ltd. (Hitachi) today announced the joint development of AI (artificial intelligence) technology for human activity recongnition of workers using wearable devices. The AI technology performs real-time recognition of workers' activities by integrating technology in eye-tracking glasses*1to recognize gazed objects with technology in armband devices to recognize action. The recognition ability of each activity is achieved by having the AI understand the tools or parts used at the production site as well as anticipated actions through Deep Learning*2. DFKI and Hitachi will use this newly developed AI technology to assist operations and prevent human error, to contribute to enhancing quality and efficiency on the front line of manufacturing. In line with initiatives such as Industry 4.0*3in Germany and Society 5.0*4in Japan, the manufacturing industry is accelerating steps towards innovating production using AI and robotics, and the automation of menial tasks.

IBM Watson burst onto the world stage in 2011 when it participated in the trivia-based game show Jeopardy!. The supercomputer beat out two former champions to claim a victory for "artificial intelligence." Since then, Watson has embarked on a number of challenges across a variety of domains, from identifying the best cancer treatments to improving weather forecasting. Adding Watson's cognitive capabilities allows financial services companies to go beyond traditional rules-based policy and demographic views for a deeper understanding of customer profitability and preferences. In turn, this allows them to offer new, more personalized offerings and experiences.

It is a scenario that brings us one step closer to a robot run world. An artificial intelligence-driven robot has completed its first day flipping burgers at a California-based restaurant chain - and its makers claims it can'cook the perfect burger, every time'. Called Flippy, the machine is fitted with a 6-axis robotic arm, which it uses to flip burgers and place them on buns. An artificial intelligence-driven robot has completed its first day flipping burgers at a California-based restaurant chain that is said to'cook the perfect burger, every time'. Flippy is an artificial intelligence-driven robot that can flip burgers on a grill and then place them on a bung once they are done cooking.

In March 2016 Insilico Medicine initiated a research collaboration with Life Extension to apply advanced bioinformatic methods and deep learning algorithms to screen for naturally occurring compounds that may slow down or even reverse the cellular and molecular mechanisms of aging. Today Life Extension (LE) launched a new line of nutraceuticals called GEROPROTECTTM, and the first product in the series called Ageless CellTM combines some of the natural compounds that were shortlisted by Insilico Medicine's algorithms and are generally recognized as safe (GRAS). "Life Extension's mission is to extend the healthy human lifespan; and as such, we are focused on identifying natural products with critical health and wellness properties," said Andrew G. Swick, PhD, senior vice president of scientific affairs, discovery research and product development for Life Extension. "Our collaboration with Insilico Medicine fostered a novel approach to formulating anti-aging supplements utilizing artificial intelligence and sophisticated biologically-inspired algorithms and resulted in the very first AI formulated supplement," Swick said. The global nutraceuticals market was valued at US$165.62 billion in 2014 by Transparency Market Research and is expected to reach US$278.96 billion by 2021.

IBM Watson burst onto the world stage in 2011 when it participated in the trivia-based game show Jeopardy!. The supercomputer beat out two former champions to claim a victory for "artificial intelligence". Since then, Watson has embarked on a number of challenges across a variety of domains, from identifying the best cancer treatments to improving weather forecasting. For its latest endeavor, Watson is looking to improve the quality of life for individuals with autism and other cognitive disorders. Autism refers to a group of complex disorders of brain development characterized by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and possible repetitive behaviors.

A groundbreaking project led by a Florida State University researcher makes an exponential advance in suicide prediction, potentially giving clinicians the ability to predict who will attempt suicide up to two years in advance with 80 percent accuracy. FSU Psychology researcher Jessica Ribeiro feels an urgency to confront this relentless problem. Shadowing her research is the ever-present awareness that 120 Americans take their lives every day, nearly 45,000 a year. Ribeiro's paper, titled "Predicting Risk of Suicide Attempts over Time through Machine Learning," will be published by the journal Clinical Psychological Science. The study offers a fascinating finding: machine learning -- a future frontier for artificial intelligence -- can predict with 80-90 percent accuracy whether someone will attempt suicide as far off as two years into the future.

Travelling for business may sound glamorous, but it can actually be pretty stressful. Booking tickets and hotels, co-ordinating journey times, coping with queues and scrums for taxis, can all leave you frazzled before you've even entered the room to make your pitch. Booking.com research finds that more than nine in 10 business travellers suffer from stress. So wouldn't it be wonderful if technology could take a lot of these hassles away? From hotel concierge services offering online check in and room service at the touch of a button, to wireless Bluetooth padlocks for luggage, tech innovations promise to do just that. But it could be artificial intelligence (AI) that has the biggest impact.