This post is the first in a two-part series, and is authored by Erika Menezes, Software Engineer at Microsoft. Visual content has always been a critical part of communication. Emojis are increasingly playing a crucial role in human dialogue conducted on leading social media and messaging platforms. Concise and fun to use, emojis can help improve communication between users and make dialogue systems more anthropomorphic and vivid. We also see an increasing investment in chatbots that allow users to complete task-oriented services such as purchasing auto insurance or movie tickets, or checking in for flights, etc., in a frictionless and personalized way from right within messaging apps.

The most potent and under-appreciated corporate function today is Corporate Communications. Their continued reliance on a pre-digital, centrally-governed model that delivers tightly-edited messages through pre-approved channels does not help. This approach is colliding with the new digital ways in which people search, find, consume and share news (including corporate information, real or fake). It's time for Chief Communications Officers to update their standard operating model to calibrate for the proliferation of decentralized digital networks as well as conversational user interfaces that are reshaping public and private modes of communication. The purpose of Corporate Communications is to be the primary source of truth for stakeholders, a role crucial for executives and society alike.

In the last few years, commercial organizations have relied heavily on immersive technology, effectively transforming operations and even market competition. The internet makes cross-device integration increasingly common, particularly as more devices become connected. As it becomes easier to connect with one another, the lines between reality and digital world become increasingly blurred. Although Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning were huge buzzwords in 2016, in the coming year we expect to see even more cloud users become accustomed to dealing with bots, and synchronizing their lives and operations to include digital assistants. Last year, Google and Microsoft added more powerful AI services to their cloud platforms.

In the last few years, commercial organizations have relied heavily on immersive technology, effectively transforming operations, and even market competition. The internet makes cross-device integration increasingly common, particularly as more devices become connected. And as it becomes easier to connect with one another, the lines between reality and the digital world are increasingly blurred. Although artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning were huge buzzwords in 2016, in the coming year we expect to see even more cloud users become accustomed to dealing with bots and synchronize their lives and operations to include digital assistants. Last year, Google and Microsoft added more powerful AI services to their cloud platforms.

Amazon Web Services is bringing its consumer technology artificial intelligence capabilities to the enterprise, unveiling three new AI services at its re:Invent developer conference on Wednesday. The move is intended to make it easier for developers to work with AI, which normally requires vast amounts of data and a specialization in machine learning and neural networks, according to the company. Now, AWS is making AI more accessible to application developers, offering its deep learning algorithms and technology as managed services. The company unveiled Amazon Lex, which uses the technology that powers its smart device Alexa, to let developers build "conversational user experiences" for web, mobile and connected devices; Amazon Polly, which turns text into speech in 47 different voices for 24 languages; and Amazon Rekognition, which uses deep learning and facial recognition to add image analysis to applications. Amazon Web Services is bringing its consumer technology artificial intelligence capabilities to the enterprise, unveiling three new AI services at its re:Invent developer conference on Wednesday.