AI’s invisible hand: Skopai is the latest example of companies using AI to predict economic outcomes. However, more than a tool, AI could become an economic factor.
Close to half of US adults believe widespread use of driverless cars would be bad for society. Meanwhile, 26% think it’d be good for autonomous vehicles to rule the roads, and 29% aren’t sure.
Add robotaxis to the list of upcoming Tesla products: Struggles with fully autonomous driving, delivering on schedule, and safety are huge roadblocks to Tesla’s robotaxi flex.
Restaurants are experimenting with robots, but customers aren’t enthused: Labor crunches and high costs are pushing fast-food chains like Chipotle and Panera Bread to adopt automation front and back of house.
Panera’s new AI uses sensors, algorithms, and analytics to ensure coffee is optimally brewed: Restaurants are leaning into AI and automation, but will long-term effects lead to reduced hospitality and fewer customers?
Google continues to court consumers with a new visual shopping feature: The tech giant’s multisearch capability helps fend off competition from social media platforms by simplifying product discovery.
California law challenges bias in AI hiring tools: Proposed amendments could make AI decision-making tools illegal for screening protected-class applicants—but would also slow down hiring processes on a monumental scale.
Talk-to-code is coming: A radical CodeGen initiative by Salesforce is underway to turn programming into a conversational task anyone can do. The era of the keyboard is ending.
As of January 2022, 35% of people ages 12 and over in the US own a smart speaker, up just 2 percentage points from the year before. That’s following an increase of 6 percentage points year over year in 2021.
Retailers haven’t given up trying to make voice shopping happen: Amazon Prime users can now receive notifications about upcoming discounts and schedule purchases in advance.
Nearly half of marketers have increased their AI-related CX spending: Customer service and custom content are two of a few priority investment areas for companies.
Tripadvisor used conversational AI technology for a campaign executed on voice assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant with the goal of maintaining engagement during the pandemic, according to Adam Ochman, global head of marketing at Tripadvisor.
Big data, DevOps, and security are the highest-paying tech specializations: US-based programmers and engineers are earning the most as employers hire tech pros at pre-pandemic levels.
A new set of regulations on AI recommendation algorithms went into effect in China on March 1 in an attempt to introduce unprecedented oversight and inject transparency and accountability into an opaque industry. This is the first case of a major economy enforcing such sweeping rules on the machine, and the world is watching.
Anything Alexa can do, ElliQ can do better: Companionship AI has the potential to satisfy some human needs, but with a sketchy track record for in-home AI, there are also risks.
Matter rollout delayed because of growing adoption: More smart home manufacturers want in on the industry standard, but could delays stop larger manufacturers from releasing products?
No code? No problem for AI: No longer limited to use by programmers, a no-code AI movement opens doors to the technology, potentially upending the tech workforce and beyond.
Future Wi-Fi routers will sense movement: Smarter hotspots could find a niche in healthcare and patient-monitoring applications, but creating standards for different manufacturers’ devices to communicate will be a challenge.