The day when self-driving cars dominate the world's highways is still years away, experts agree, but that hasn't discouraged a crowded field of established automakers and startups from spending billions of dollars on the journey to making autonomous vehicles an everyday reality. The futuristic end goal is to allow riders to get in their car, tell their voice assistant where they're going, and go there without the pesky problem of paying attention to steering and navigating. While we're getting to that goal, automakers are gradually adding trusted self-driving features like lane assist and parking assist. At the same time, automobiles are becoming more and more connected. A 2017 study from McKinsey suggested that cars are now sending up to 25 gigabytes of data into the cloud every hour.

For many, the term "analytics" conjures up images of highly trained, bookish professionals poring over multiple screens of incomprehensible symbols and text that hold the secrets to data-driven insights. But the real power of analytics is unlocked when it can be used by everyone. To showcase just how easy using analytics can be, and how powerful, Adobe is providing Fantasy Football players with a chance to see for themselves. Its "Hack the Huddle" site gives all who use it the power of Adobe Analytics and Adobe Sensei, the company's AI and machine learning tool, to improve their Fantasy team performance--and the chance to win $5,000 in the on-site contest. Adobe Analytics democratizes the ability to use powerful analytics, whether you're seeking business insight or simply want to pick a third running back for your Fantasy Football team.

Adobe Analytics announced today that it will use its Adobe Sensei AI platform to help fans with their fantasy football teams during the 2019 NFL Season. Of all the technological advancements in the sports world, it can be argued that the most impactful innovations in the foreseeable future will be automated insights (AI) and machine learning (ML), changing the way front offices make player decisions and business operations departments make fan experience decisions. Data is also creeping into other facets of sports, especially with the steady march into the mainstream of gambling and daily fantasy sports. As applications of AI and ML expand into the sports world, a number of companies are looking to take advantage of its burgeoning impact. One of these companies, Adobe, has moved into the sports world and is, today, announcing a new initiative, just as the NFL season is beginning.

NEW YORK – It would have been easy to turn on their computers at home over plates of leftover turkey and take advantage of the Black Friday deals most retailers now offer online. But across the country, thousands of shoppers flocked to stores on Thanksgiving or woke up before dawn the next day to take part in this most famous ritual of American consumerism. Shoppers spent their holiday lined up outside the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, by 4 p.m. Thursday, and the crowd had swelled to 3,000 people by the time doors opened at 5 a.m. In Ohio, a group of women was so determined, they booked a hotel room Thursday night to be closer to the stores. In New York City, one woman went straight from a dance club to a department store in the middle of the night.

Adobe Analytics is a sophisticated product, so much so that users might focus on a set of known metrics at the cost of missing key insights. Adobe introduced an AI-fueled virtual assistant called Intelligent Alerts today to help users find deeper insights they might have otherwise missed. John Bates, director of product management for Adobe Analytics says that in the past, the company has used artificial intelligence and machine learning under the hood of Analytics to help their users understand their customer's behavior better. This marks the first time, Adobe will be using this technology to understand how the user works with Analytics to offer new data they might not have considered. "Historically we've analyzed the data that we collect on behalf of our customers, on behalf of brands and help provide insights. Now we're analyzing our users' behavior within Adobe Analytics, and then mashing them up with those insights that are most relevant and personalized for that individual, based on the signals that we see and how they use our tool," Bates explained.

Adobe outlined a series of new artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies and features from its labs that it plans to roll into the company's analytics tools. But the more interesting item may be how Adobe thinks about developing new AI-driven technologies and collaborates across functions. Adobe has more than 200 PhDs in machine learning, economics, physics and computer science in its analytics unit. This brain power sits within Adobe's R&D unit as well as within various departments and units. "We provide a Hubble telescope into data to see much deeper and further," said John Bates, group product manager for Adobe Analytics.

Adobe and Microsoft have joined forces, combining Adobe's Sensei artificial intelligence (AI) with Microsoft's data to give Adobe customers more automated, intelligence-based business feedback. By plugging into Microsoft's ecosystem, Adobe can pull rich insights from Microsoft's customer relationship management (CRM) and data visualization tools, among other platforms. Adobe Sensei is now armed with a new trove of data from Microsoft Dynamics 365, Microsoft Power BI, and Microsoft Azure, from which it can draw on its algorithm-based recommendations. Both companies are also working to add Adobe Sensei to Microsoft tools; however, there is no timeline for when this reverse integration will be available. Here's an excellent example of how Adobe Sensei and Microsoft work together today: A financial services client working within Adobe Analytics can take existing Adobe data, combine it with Microsoft's data ecosystem, and then feed all of that information into Sensei.

Earlier this year, Adobe took the wraps off its new Adobe Marketing Cloud, touting new data science capabilities like Adobe Analytics' Segment IQ, which uses machine learning to help marketers gain deep insight into audience segments. On Wednesday, Adobe advanced Segment IQ another step with the release of Segment Comparison for Analysis Workspace. Segment Comparison for Analysis Workspace is the first in what Adobe promises will be a series of audience analysis and discovery tools within Segment IQ. It uses machine learning techniques to perform automated analysis on every metric and dimension to which you have access. Nate Smith, senior product marketing manager, Adobe Analytics, says this allows Segment Comparison to uncover the key characteristics of the audience segments that are driving your company's KPIs.

Earlier this year, Adobe took the wraps off its new Adobe Marketing Cloud, touting new data science capabilities like Adobe Analytics' Segment IQ, which uses machine learning to help marketers gain deep insight into audience segments. On Wednesday, Adobe advanced Segment IQ another step with the release of Segment Comparison for Analysis Workspace. Segment Comparison for Analysis Workspace is the first in what Adobe promises will be a series of audience analysis and discovery tools within Segment IQ. It uses machine learning techniques to perform automated analysis on every metric and dimension to which you have access. Nate Smith, senior product marketing manager, Adobe Analytics, says this allows Segment Comparison to uncover the key characteristics of the audience segments that are driving your company's KPIs.