Amazon joins the chatbot conversation

Amazon is opening up its machine-learning capabilities to third-party developers with its new AI platform, according to TechCrunch. The service, which was introduced at Amazon's re:Invent developer conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday, boasts three new tools that span the whole gamut of machine learning -- image recognition, text-to-speech, and a platform that lets developers build conversational applications: Rekognition is an image-recognition service similar to Google's, Microsoft's, and Facebook's image-recognition offerings. Image recognition is an increasingly important tool as smartphone cameras become more prevalent in search and communications. Polly is Amazon's text-to-speech service that uses machine learning and natural-language understanding (NLU) to produce more natural, life-like speech. It can distinguish between words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently, such as in "I live in Seattle" and "Live from New York," Amazon explains.