A few short years ago, personal digital assistants like Amazon's Alexa, Apple's Siri, and Google Assistant sounded futuristic. Now, the future is here and this future is embedded, augmented, and ubiquitous. Digital assistants can be found in your office, home, car, hotel, phone, and many other places. They have recently undergone a massive transformation and run on operating systems that are fueled by artificial intelligence (A.I.). They observe and collect data in real-time and have the capability to pull information from different sources such as smart devices and cloud services and put the information into context using A.I. to make sense of the situation.

A few short years ago, personal digital assistants like Amazon's Alexa, Apple's Siri and Google Assistant sounded futuristic. Now, the future is here and this future is embedded, augmented and ubiquitous. Digital assistants can be found in your office, home, car, hotel, phone and many other places. They have recently undergone massive transformation and run on operating systems that are fuelled by artificial intelligence (AI). They observe and collect data in real-time and have the capability to pull information from different sources such as smart devices and cloud services and put the information into context using AI to make sense of the situation.

Today's social media platforms are ruled over by opaque algorithms that decide what we see, guiding us towards content they believe we have the greatest chance of engaging with and creating new content in response to. We have no right to see inside these algorithms or control them in any way. Their decisions are made with their profit-minded creators in mind, not our intellectual and emotional best interests. Could our personal digital assistants of the future wade through the vast social wasteland on our behalf, tracking down content and curating a specialized feed that represents what we want to see, not what social platforms want us to see and even shield us from hate? The algorithms that run today's social media platforms are designed to mindlessly drive us towards the highest-engagement content.

The Internet of Things is already part of our history. Surpassed, at least in the way it is still described in many conferences and papers. New technology advancements and human-machine collaboration models are redefying its potential, centered around cloud and artificial intelligence. Let's see some factors which are shaping this new kind of "Internet of"… which is deeply transforing the way Humans and Things interact and collaborate! At Microsoft we imagine a new world where conversation and vision is the new computer interface, able to proactively and personally serve our needs.

Amazon wants you to have long, real conversations with Alexa, its popular personal digital assistant. The e-tail giant recently released new tools to app developers that allow Alexa to whisper, show emotion and pause naturally, like we humans do. And that's just the start, says Rohit Prasad, Amazon's head scientist for Alexa, who is playing a key role in the retailer's efforts in artificial intelligence for Alexa--using computers to converse with us. "I truly believe that for AI to be useful in our daily lives, it has to be something you can connect with," Prasad said in an interview here. "Conversation is the next step, to be more human-like."

Amazon wants you to have long, real conversations with Alexa, its popular personal digital assistant. The e-tail giant recently released new tools to app developers that allow Alexa to whisper, show emotion and pause naturally, like we humans do. And that's just the start, says Rohit Prasad, Amazon's head scientist for Alexa, who is playing a key role in the retailer's efforts in artificial intelligence for Alexa--using computers to converse with us. "I truly believe that for AI to be useful in our daily lives, it has to be something you can connect with," Prasad said in an interview here. "Conversation is the next step, to be more human-like."

Digital technologies and advanced analytics have the potential to create the invisible bank of the future. Powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and activated by voice, virtual banking assistants can become an integral part of consumers' daily lives. Banking today is becoming less and less a place you go, and more something that is hidden from view behind digital banking and commerce apps. Once an account is opened at a bank or credit union, there is less need to stop into a branch, since functions like deposits, borrowing, payments and transfers can be done without personal interaction through online and mobile devices. According to a new report published by KPMG, "Meet Eva – Your Enlightened Virtual Assistant and the Future Face of the Invisible Bank", technologies like Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa or Samsung's Viv will enable an even greater shift in banks and banking by 2030.

Apple is set to unveil a new and improved Siri, the personal digital assistant, and widen its reach, to Mac computers and third-party apps. Philips Hue is now compatible with Apple Home Kit, meaning you can use Siri to control your lights. LOS ANGELES -- Siri is expected to expand beyond the iPhone and iPad to third-party apps and Macs, a move designed to hike the usefulness and IQ of Apple's personal digital assistant. Analysts who cover Apple predict an expanded role for Siri will be one highlight of Apple's Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, which begins Monday in San Francisco. Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

Siri has been a part of Apple's iPhone since 2011. The human voice is one of the most personal and unique aspects of every individual, as well as one of the most sought after means of interacting with our devices. Voice-based interfaces have, in fact, been promised as the next big breakthrough for several decades. Until recently, though, they've been much more future promise than current reality. Even with the much heralded introduction of Apple's Siri back in October of 2011, spoken interactions with computing devices have often been more comical than helpful. Beginning with Amazon's Alexa, however--part of their Echo series of devices--the notion of natural human-style interactions with computing devices is starting to take hold.

This was a year full of innovation in the PC space. What makes the year particularly interesting, however, is that many of its advancements are in early stages. Call it the year of the beta: many advancements were either first introduced in 2016, or barely made their way from the concept stage to the market. Artificial intelligence has taken on significant real-world importance in everyday computing, after spending decades as a darling of science fiction, and relegated to researchers running experiments on massively parallel systems. And indeed, "strong AI" –a machine that's as intelligent as a human – remains a goal that's likely far in the future.