'Siri, Find Me A Russian Submarine,' U.S. Navy Asks

Virtual assistants such as Apple's Siri or Amazon's AMZN Alexa have become popular technological helpers. Ask a virtual assistant to find a restaurant or tell you today's weather, a soothing AI voice obligingly responds. So why not a virtual assistant to help the U.S. Navy find Russian and Chinese submarines? The Navy wants a virtual assistant -- like the ones found on consumer smartphones -- to help overloaded sonar operators manage multiple anti-submarine warfare (ASW) systems. In particular, active sonar on Navy cruisers and destroyers come with a variety of settings.