Automated Speech Recognition shows superhuman performance for adult English speech on a range of benchmarks, but disappoints when fed children's speech. This has long sat in the way of child-robot interaction. Recent evolutions in data-driven speech recognition, including the availability of Transformer architectures and unprecedented volumes of training data, might mean a breakthrough for child speech recognition and social robot applications aimed at children. We revisit a study on child speech recognition from 2017 and show that indeed performance has increased, with newcomer OpenAI Whisper doing markedly better than leading commercial cloud services. While transcription is not perfect yet, the best model recognises 60.3% of sentences correctly barring small grammatical differences, with sub-second transcription time running on a local GPU, showing potential for usable autonomous child-robot speech interactions.

As the CTO of a major financial institution, it is crucial to stay informed about the latest trends in data and AI in the financial services industry in order to prepare for the future and remain competitive. While there are many vendor platforms and systems available on the market to help decision-makers solve their challenges initially, the true value varies based on your organization's readiness to implement. In the next five to 10 years, there are several key trends expected to shape the financial services industry. Banks are increasingly leveraging cloud-based solutions to store, process and analyze large amounts of data, as well as to improve scalability and reduce costs. This can help them gain insights into customer behavior and market trends.

But in the context of Artificial Intelligence and Edge computing, "AI on the edge" is starting to become the norm rather than the exception. Edge AI is garnering attention partly due to the recent advances in edge compute capability and increasingly lightweight AI algorithms. But the real need for edge AI has risen from the changing dynamics of human-machine interactions and user engagement models. "AI on the edge" is an amalgamation of two key technology areas – Artificial Intelligence and Edge computing. Artificial Intelligence or machine intelligence is now a commonplace technology in applications such as computer vision, language processing and complex data analysis.

Now is not the time to rely on grand predictions. That may seem like an incongruous statement coming from the leader of a customer intelligence company, but it's true. And as we find ourselves in the first part of 2021, and more and more yearly predictions come out, that sentiment remains. There is no greater example of risky predictions than Las Vegas. There is a reason the house always wins in the long-term -- gambling on an event before it happens is a losing proposition.

More often than not, it is quite confusing for a business, which develops chatbots, to decide whether they want to build a chatbot on-premise or on-cloud. Each has its own pros and cons. But depending on business requirements you can make a smart choice. Here are 4 factors based on which you can make an initial decision. Cloud-based chatbot: Cloud-based solutions simplify the chatbot development process.

Core Associates, LLC announced the firm has completed the process to gain Sage's product certification of TimberScan Titanium for Sage Intacct. The makers of TimberScan, the only AP automation solution designed exclusively for Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate, now offer a cloud-based solution that integrates with Sage Intacct to simplify approval workflows, document management, and related AP invoice processes from virtually anywhere. TimberScan Titanium is a new solution designed for project-intensive businesses, such as builders, contractors, and businesses in other industries, that offers a paper-free AP invoice processing experience while allowing users to stay connected to their Sage Intacct software. TimberScan Titanium reads from Sage Intacct to facilitate better data management without the need for rekeying information. With Smart Extraction Technology based on Optical Character Recognition, OCR, TimberScan Titanium is ideal for companies looking to recognize and automatically code AP invoices.

The AWS Certified Advanced Networking Official Study Guide – Specialty Exam helps to ensure your preparation for the AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty Exam. Expert review of AWS fundamentals align with the exam objectives, and detailed explanations of key exam topics merge with real-world scenarios to help you build the robust knowledge base you need to succeed on the exam--and in the field as an AWS Certified Networking specialist. Coverage includes the design, implementation, and deployment of cloud-based solutions; core AWS services implementation and knowledge of architectural best practices; AWS service architecture design and maintenance; networking automation; and more. You also get one year of free access to Sybex's online interactive learning environment and study tools, which features flashcards, a glossary, chapter tests, practice exams, and a test bank to help you track your progress and gauge your readiness as exam day grows near. The exam assumes existing competency with advanced networking tasks, and assesses your ability to apply deep technical knowledge to the design and implementation of AWS services.

The hype has passed, but it's still an important question to ask: do I really need a bot? Like websites and apps, millions have been spent on fixing problems that don't exist. Expectations for bots in customer care were extremely high, while in practice there is a lot of disappointment. You cannot expect a bot to automate 90% of customer interactions. For customer care, you should consider a safe 10–15% automation success using a bot.

If you've yet to hear about this IT phenomenon, it's likely you're not among the 44 percent of businesses implementing a digital-first approach to business processes, operations, and customer engagement. ZDnet defines today's digital transformation as, "using digital technologies to remake a process to become more efficient or effective. The idea is to use technology not just to replicate an existing service in a digital form, but to use technology to transform that service into something significantly better." As today's organizations embrace digital tools to create new processes or modify existing ones, they'll also inherently impact other important aspects, like workplace culture and customer experience. With digital transformation, companies are re-evaluating everything they do, from internal systems to online and in-person customer interactions.

From my Northern Irish vantage point, I coordinate and facilitate a collaborative network around AI. Our 30 members range from micro SMEs through to multinational organisations, such as Liberty IT and Allstate. As such, I am privy to an incredible range of AI based applications and solutions that are coming down the line, and I am always surprised at the pace of change in the industry. With every change, we need to take a few steps back and rethink how to frame the state of the art at that given time – so it's worth keeping in mind that what is state of the art at any given time may well be seen as mundane in just a few short months. For example, when the age of the AI personal assistant arrived with Google Assistant, Siri and Cortana, my framing focussed on trying to communicate that AI was no longer an abstract concept, but part of our everyday lives; albeit in a relatively limited manner. But it was only with the arrival of Amazon Alexa that many people were spending real money to own what is ultimately an AI product. Well… today things feel different again.