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May 2016 (Formerly Speech Strategy News) Editor, William Meisel Microsoft introduces Skype Bots and a Bot framework for outside developers Simply send a message to a specialized bot and get a reply At Microsoft’s Build 2016 developers’ conference at the end of March, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that “bots are the new applications.” He also spoke of a world where “human language is the UI layer” and Microsoft is participating in “conversational canvases,” a term he applied to any app where people are conversing in natural language, including email, chat, and SMS. Announcements during the conference validated Microsoft’s support for this point of view, with the announcements of the ability of outside developers to create “intelligent” bots that work inside of Skype and independently of Skype using a Microsoft cloud service. Continued on page 28 Google discusses the future of search Being able to react to natural language and sustain a dialog On March 1, Behshad Behzadi, Google’s director of conversational search, gave a keynote address at SMX West in San Jose. As Google sees it, the intent of conversational search is to conduct a dialog with the user, rather than the usual one-and-gone interaction in search. Behzadi discussed the future of search, including voice search and Now on Tap. (In Android, when you touch and hold the Home button, Now on Tap uses what’s on your screen to show you related details, apps, and actions.) He started the talk by showing video clips with Captain Kirk talking to the Star Trek’s computer and from the movie Her to show the kind of interaction Google is targeting. Continued on page 30 Facebook supports contact with outside company “bots” within Messenger Natural language texting to companies for customer service, purchases, or services Every month, over 900 million people around the world communicate with friends, families and over 50 million businesses on Facebook Messenger. It’s the second most popular app on iOS, and was the fastest growing app in the US in 2015. In April, the company launched the Messenger Platform in Beta with bots and a Send/Receive API. Continued on page 31 LUI News May 2016 2 Table of Contents Microsoft introduces Skype Bots and a Bot framework for outside developers 1 Simply send a message to a specialized bot and get a reply 1 Google discusses the future of search 1 Being able to react to natural language and sustain a dialog 1 Inbenta launches “Hybrid Chat,” to integrate human and automated chat System can change options when agents aren’t available Signpost unveils Mia, AI-driven CRM Automated, personalized customer relationship assistant using machine learning 13 13 14 14 Facebook supports contact with outside company “bots” within Messenger 1 noHold expands its virtual assistants to multiple business units in a company 14 Editor’s Notes 5 Today’s route to increasing computer power—and its role in lowering the cost of the Language User Interface (LUI) 5 AYLIEN adds News option to its NLP text analysis API 15 Natural language texting to companies for customer service, purchases, or services 1 Bill Meisel, Publisher & Editor 5 Amazon has sold three million Echos, adds more features and skills 6 Alexa available on Echo-like device from Invoxia Nuance testing “Mix,” a Natural Language Understanding tool Extrapolates from a relatively small number of examples 6 7 7 Spare5 provides crowdsourcing service to label unstructured data 8 Data labeling specialists scored by machine learning 8 Expert System combines semantics and machine learning 9 Cogito Studio designed for customized text analysis 9 Kik messaging app launches “Bot Shop” 10 New API allows outside developers to build bots for Kik 10 Taco Bell builds a bot for workplaces that use Slack’s messaging platform 10 Natural language text interaction to take food orders10 Interactions and Arise Virtual Solutions partner for Voice Virtual Assistants 11 Automated customer care on Arise’s platform using Interactions’ human-aided system 11 Aspect Software will support customer chatbots through Facebook Messenger 11 Chatbot messaging with Aspect’s Natural Language Understanding and agent backup 11 Nina Virtual Assistant from Nuance used in Swedbank customer service Natural-language text interaction 12 12 AgentBot and Zendesk partner to offer virtual agent for ticketing 13 Integration allows easy transfer to agents when necessary 13 Includes Human Resources, IT, Legal, Marketing, Sales and Support 14 SDKs for Natural Language Processing, Information Retrieval, and Machine Learning tools 15 AI-driven virtual assistant from Kasisto powers India’s first mobile-only bank 15 Text inquiries in natural language simulate banking assistant 15 Toyota is forming a new data science company in partnership with Microsoft 16 Toyota Connected has a goal of simplifying technology so it’s easier to use in vehicles 16 Mobvoi releases new in-car app for information and entertainment 16 Chinese company supports voice interaction in Android OS 16 Amazon’s Alexa featured on a smartwatch from Chinese company iMCO 17 Paired wirelessly with Android or iOS phones 17 Samsung ARTIK modules can support speech recognition and NLU 17 SoundHound’s Houndify adds the technology to connected devices 17 Conversica launches AI assistant for automotive service 18 Automatically maintains contact with current and potential service customers 18 Baidu Research and Peel collaborate on voiceenabled smart home products 19 “In the future, it will be as easy to talk to your devices as it is to talk to the person next to you.” 19 LumenVox updates its speech recognition and TTS for IVR systems 20 Adds partners using its technology 20 Google’s annual Founders’ Letter 20 “Over time, the computer itself—whatever its form factor—will be an intelligent assistant helping you through your day.” 20 LUI News Google launching a new machine learning platform May 2016 21 Free limited access to create custom models, with pre-trained models including a Speech API 21 Google expands hands-free operation in Android22 Button control by voice aids those with disabilities 22 New Samsung Galaxy models Include Sensory’s TrulyHandsfree Voice Control 22 Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge smartphones continue a long-term relationship with Sensory 22 Speech-enabled Unibet Sports Betting App uses Artificial Solutions’ Teneo 23 Natural-language interaction even while watching a streaming game 23 Speech Processing Solutions adds speech-to-text service to its dictation software 23 Philips SpeechLive dictation service now available as a cloud service 23 SYSTRAN API Platform enables translation and natural language processing 24 SYSTRAN.io supports multiple languages with cloudbased Application Programming Interface 24 Winscribe and Speech Processing Solutions expand dictation offerings 24 Availability of speech-to-text transcription services on Philips SpeechAir Android device 24 Mattersight and Voci will license the other company’s products 25 Voci’s transcription engine and Voci Mattersight’s Behavioral Analytics 25 Audeme offers speech recognition and synthesis for Arduino platform 25 Speaker-independent voice control with up to 150 commands 25 Microsoft Translator adds features on iOS 26 Offline translation and webpage translation using Deep Neural Nets 26 Nvidia unveils processor for AI and creates “deep learning supercomputer” 27 Turnkey system claims to deliver the equivalent throughput of 250 x86 servers 27 Intelligent Voice offers speech-to-text based on Graphical Processing Units 28 Nvidia GPUs allow up to 400 times real-time processing of speech 28 News briefs .............................................................. 33 Elon Musk’s OpenAI releases first AI tool ..................... 33 [24]7 introduces customer acquisition cloud service for marketers ..................................................................... 33 Microsoft Windows 10 Mobile test build includes support for Cortana in more languages ..................... 33 IBM discusses recent advances in conversational speech recognition ...................................................... 33 IBM notes growth in Watson services ........................... 34 3 IBM and the University of Illinois to pioneer nextgeneration cognitive computing systems for applications such as multimodal education .............. 34 SparkCognition uses IBM Watson in assessing security risks .............................................................................. 34 IBM and SAP agree to combine complementary services, including IBM Cognitive Computing and SAP HANA Business Suite, available on-premise and in the cloud ............................................................................. 35 IBM partners with American Cancer Society on Watson Cancer Advisor ............................................................. 35 IBM Health Corps to use Watson to tackle global health disparities ..................................................................... 35 IBM teaming with Sesame Street to aid in early learning through Watson technologies ..................................... 35 NTT uses machine learning to detect cyber-crime ....... 35 NTT Comm and IPsoft partner to launch an automated cognitive agent service ................................................ 36 Google upgrades its open-source TensorFlow machine learning framework to a distributed version .............. 36 Google open-sources Walt, a tool that measures lag for touch and voice commands ........................................ 36 Android N preview 2 lets you change the pitch of Google’s text-to-speech voice ..................................... 36 Yahoo reportedly preparing a mobile personal assistant36 Rage Frameworks’ linguistics tool analyzes documents, adds deployments ....................................................... 36 NeoSpeech releases Canadian French TTS voice ........ 37 NeoSpeech integrates Bitcode support in its text-tospeech software for iOS .............................................. 37 Conexant introduces far-field microphone processing software for Qualcomm Hexagon DSP ....................... 37 Fortemedia’s updated FM1388 Series IC provides voice processing solutions for Apple CarPlay ...................... 37 Apple TV activates “live tune-in” feature launched through Siri ................................................................... 37 e-djuster launches mobile solution for contents inventory and claims management with speech recognition ................................................................... 38 Lexalytics provides text analytics that run on an Android device, targeted at developers to include in their apps38 GMA Consulting and TermSet offer document-centric solutions for financial sector ...................................... 38 Nuance selected by CHRISTUS Health for enterprisewide speech recognition and clinical documentation improvement deployment ........................................... 39 Recent Windows 10 update build apparently includes Cortana “find my phone” feature ............................... 39 CallMiner partners with Ultracomms to add its interaction analytics solutions to Ultracomms’ PCIcompliant cloud contact center .................................. 39 Hitachi introduces in-store sales representative robot 39 Thomson Reuters signs an agreement with FiscalNote to add automated legislative tracking solution to Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence ................. 40 Forum announces the public launch of the VoiceXML 2.1 Developer Certification Exam ............................... 40 ASTi to enhance RAF Ch-47 trainers including speech recognition ................................................................... 40 LUI News May 2016 Max Sound’s High Definition Audio now available for iPhones......................................................................... 40 BodyWorn body-worn camera system allows entering notes with speech-to-text ............................................ 41 MIT and PatternEx develop machine learning AI to detect cyberattacks, using machine learning to cluster similar potential problems for human analysts ......... 41 Sentient Technologies uses AI to help sell shoes ........ 41 SRI International spins off robotics company to make body suit that enhances movement ........................... 42 Chevron employs AI to improve operations .................. 42 Wise.io introduces content discovery capability for customer support ........................................................ 42 Intoware uses Nuance speech recognition to direct aircraft maintenance hands-free ................................ 42 Does this look like a robot? ........................................... 43 Narita International Airport in Japan testing a speech-tospeech translation application on shuttle buses ...... 43 Perfect Pitch uses recorded scripted responses to allow off-shore agents to sound native ................................ 43 IndianTTS launches Hindi text-to-speech solution ....... 43 Microsoft collaborates with Narrative Science to add automated natural-language narratives to its Power BI visuals .......................................................................... 44 Microsoft updates Cortana on the iPhone .................... 44 Florida Hospital achieves significant quality improvements plus $72.5 million in increased reimbursement with Nuance Clinical Documentation Improvement ................................................................ 44 Apple will pay $24.9 million in a long-running lawsuit over the origins of Siri, more suits likely .................... 44 MetaMind acquired by Salesforce................................. 48 $30M round for AI marketing firm Persado.................. 48 X.ai secures $23M in Series B funding ......................... 48 Artificial intelligence startup DigitalGenius raises $4M to automate customer service .................................... 49 nGUVU raises $3 million to bring gamification and machine learning to contact centers ......................... 49 Security startup Illumio raises $100 million ................ 49 Shopify acquires Kit CRM to further “conversational commerce” ................................................................... 49 Mobify acquires Pathful and its machine learning technology .................................................................... 50 Coveo grows with its “intelligent search” products ...... 50 Almax Analytics closes seed round to provide AI for news insights in capital markets ................................ 50 SparkCognition closes a $6 million Series B funding round ............................................................................ 50 Vivint Smart Home raises $100M in equity funding .... 50 Statistics and Surveys ............................................. 45 More than 75% of businesses rank the importance of having a mobile application as high ........................... 45 89% of consumers expect and prefer conversational interactions with customer service ............................ 45 Botego CEO predicts 2017 will be the year of the bots with $2 billion market size .......................................... 45 Millennials have the lowest tolerance for errors and delays, but reward good service with loyalty ............. 46 73% of smart home owners already use voice commands ................................................................... 46 Global virtual reality headset revenues projected to reach $895 million in 2016........................................ 46 YouTube and Netflix lead Web video delivery .............. 46 Speech analytics market worth $1.60 billion by 2020 47 Intelligent Virtual Assistant market is expected to exceed $3 million by 2020 ......................................... 47 The “global intelligent voice” industry to reach $19 billion by 2020 ............................................................. 47 More than three billion Android phones in use globally by 2020 ........................................................................ 47 Global smartphone shipments this year have fallen ... 47 Annual gains in worldwide ad spending will hover around 6% through 2020 ........................................... 47 Mobile advertising nears $29 billion annually in US ... 48 Financial Notes ...................................................... 48 Aspect Software makes progress in restructuring ....... 48 4 People ...................................................................... 51 Avaya appoints Steve Joyner to Head of Sales Engineering, Europe .................................................... 51 For Further Information on Companies Mentioned in this Issue 51 Blog (with a chance to comment!) 58 The Software Society (www.thesoftwaresociety.com).. 58 LUI News May 2016 5 Editor’s Notes Today’s route to increasing computer power—and its role in lowering the cost of the Language User Interface (LUI) Bill Meisel, Publisher & Editor Moore’s Law is of course not a physical law, and it is reaching its limits in terms of the number of transistors that can fit on a chip—the size of an atom is an eventual limit at least. But two trends may continue the growth of affordable computing power beyond those limits, in effect extending the implications of Moore’s Law. The key implications of Moore’s Law were always the decreasing cost of computing, and that trend may continue beyond stuffing more transistors on a chip. The first of the two trends allowing this continued reduced cost of computing is cloud computing. It lowers the cost of IT support by centralizing IT, providing the advantage of scale. And it provides powerful and scaleable computing resources available even to companies whose size would make it difficult to support such resources internally. The second trend is driven by specialized chips that can perform parallel processing on each chip, rather than the sequential processing of a single CPU on a chip—the classical microprocessor. These parallel-processing chips can be general-purpose, such as the new server chips introduced by Intel at the end of March; the new Xeon E5-2600 v4 family includes up to 22 calculating engines on each chip, up from a maximum of 18 on prior models. Such parallel-processing chips can be specialized, such as new Nvidia Tesla P100 chips with 15 billion transistors each, using a Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) architecture. The Nvidia DGX-1 deep learning system (p. 27), built on the new Nvidia chips, provides the throughput of 250 CPU-based servers, networking, cables, and racks in a single box, according to the company. The DGX-1 is specialized to create Deep Neural Network (DNN) solutions from large databases that can then be deployed for operation on more conventional processors. It reflects the growing importance of AI and the natural language processing (including digital assistants and “bots”) to companies. The chips and architecture could be used by companies offering a cloud-based machine learning service, such as those by Microsoft, Amazon, and the one just introduced by Google (p. 21). Google in fact indicated that its cloud machine learning service is powered in part by GPUs. Reflecting the interest in such parallelprocessing architectures, IBM researchers unveiled a new generation of “neurosynaptic” computing chips with networks of simulated neurons, intended to be used in “cognitive computers” that learn as they are used. The company’s first two prototype chips have already been fabricated and are currently undergoing testing. The company and its university collaborators also announced they have been awarded approximately $21 million in new funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for Phase 2 of the Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics (SyNAPSE) project. The “Language User Interface“ (LUI) is likely the next step in user-friendly design to augment or, in some cases replace, the Graphical User Interface (GUI) that has served us so well historically in easing the use of digital systems. Machine learning and DNNs have proved effective in creating the natural language understanding required for digital assistants and similar applications of the LUI. And the LUI could benefit from the IBM’s “cognitive computer.” Intelligent Voice claims that it now has the “world’s fastest commercially available speech to text appliance,” based around Nvidia GPU technology (p. 27). These trends could continue to boost the amount of computing power available per dollar over time, perhaps even faster than Moore’s Law for specific uses such as machine learning. The LUI will be a likely beneficiary of these trends. LUI News May 2016 6 Amazon has sold three million Echos, adds more features and skills Alexa available on Echo-like device from Invoxia A survey of 2,000 U.S. customers by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners led them to estimate Amazon has sold 3 million Echos. They found that close to half of US Amazon customers are aware of the product. Analysts have struggled to explain the success of the product. Judging from comments by consumers who express “affection” for the device, it may be the first successful “social robot,” a device whose utility is prized, but which is almost viewed fondly—like a pet. The company is doing well financially. Amazon reported a profit of $513 million in its first quarter, helped by a 28% jump in sales to $29.1 billion for the first quarter. The most profitable unit was Amazon Web Services, its cloud-computing platform. Invoxia’s Triby device incorporates Alexa Amazon previously announced that Alexa was available for devices beyond its Echo. What appears to be the first example of that is an announcement by Invoxia that its Triby portable speaker system (see image) incorporates Alexa. Triby, which has a magnetic frame that lets you attach it, for example, to a refrigerator; some analysts have considered this to make it a kitchen-oriented device. It features a built-in speaker and microphone that can be used to listen to Internet radio or as a hands-free speakerphone. It appears, however, that its main function is to act as a digital assistant that can provide hands-free control for getting information from the Web, including Wikipedia, weather, news and sports. It can also support a shopping list, and other features similar to the Echo. Since it has a small e-ink screen, it can be used to leave a message for other members of the household (without draining the battery). Triby costs $199. Invoxia received backing from Amazon’s Alexa Fund last year. Triby portable speaker with Alexa New features You can now ask Alexa to add events directly to your Google Calendar after you go to Settings in your Alexa smartphone App and tap Calendar. Then you can make requests such as: § Alexa, add an event to my calendar. § Alexa, add ‘brunch with Mom’ to my calendar for Saturday at 10 AM. § Alexa can also check your Google Calendar for events: § “Alexa, when is my next event?” § “Alexa, what’s on my calendar today?” Alexa can now set alarms that repeat daily or on the same day every week through the Alexa app. You can set one alarm for weekdays and another for the weekend. You can use the app to set a default sound—including custom tones by Alec Baldwin and Missy Elliott and brand-new ones from Jason Schwartzman and Dan Marino. Alexa can now access election news and content “written exclusively for Alexa,” the company’s virtual assistant, by Washington Post political blogger Chris Cillizza. The political blog entries from Cillizza are read in Alexa’s voice. (The Washington Post is owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.) New tool for skills Amazon has added the Smart Home Skill API to the Alexa Skills Kit. The API makes it faster LUI News May 2016 and easier for device makers to build the Skills that sync their products up with Alexa, and it standardizes the vocabulary that they’ll use, too. If I make a smart thermostat and sync it up with Alexa using the Smart Home Skill API, I’ll be using common terminology that Alexa already knows. That means that Alexa will be able to control my thermostat with basic commands like, “Turn the heat up” or, “Set the thermostat to 70” without me needing to program any of it. A new Syfy skill will give fans of the entertainment source behind-the-scenes previews, scheduling, and episode info. Alexa has exhaustive knowledge of Syfy’s schedule as far out as 14 days in the future. Alexa knows about the most recent episodes of current Syfy shows; If you need an update, just ask her what happened in a show you missed. Alexa is also prepared to give you a quick sneak peek on the next episode of your favorite Syfy shows. Giant Spoon has created an advertising agency app on the Amazon Echo platform, in order to educate and entertain clients, marketers, and industry influentials. Giant Spoon hopes its new Amazon Echo app serves as inspiration to tell brand stories on Alexa (and maybe make a few people laugh along the way. Some available commands: § “Alexa, ask Giant Spoon for an idea.” § “Alexa, ask Giant Spoon for advice.” § “Alexa, ask Giant Spoon for help brainstorming.” These commands will initiate over 50 different advertising and marketing ideas created by Giant Spoon. Some responses: § “Subtly promise consumers eternal youth.” § “Think glocal act lobal.” § “A branded food truck. But, sexier.” Giant Spoon will be sending a notice to all clients showcasing the new Echo app and offering to build custom experiences on the platform for brands. New skills A new1-800-Flowers skill will let you choose from among four different arrangements to say happy Mother's Day, happy birthday, I love you, or thanks. For example, you can request, “Alexa, ask 1-800-Flowers to send Becky flowers.” Boston Children’s Hospital released a new app for Amazon’s Alexa. Called KidsMD, the software lets Alexa offer simple health advice to parents about their children’s’ fever and medication dosing. For example, you can ask whether symptoms like fever, cough, or headache warrant a call to the doctor, or get weight- or age-specific dosing guidelines for acetaminophen or ibuprofen. Alexa can call a plumber, a carpenter, or another skilled professional using HomeAdvisor’s new app. Users will be asked for their zip code and phone number, allowing the requested tradesperson to call them back to schedule a visit. 7 Nuance testing “Mix,” a Natural Language Understanding tool Extrapolates from a relatively small number of examples As part of its Developer program, Nuance Communications is testing a natural language service called Nuance Mix. Those allowed in the beta program get access to Mix.nlu, the company’s web-based Natural Language Understanding (NLU) tool to develop NLU models. The Mix.nlu tool is for developers interested in adding natural language interactions into mobile apps, IoT, wearables, and other use cases. The tool is designed to translate a text input (which might come from a speech recognition engine) into an actionable command. Nuance gives examples using “intents” and “concepts” in JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), a lightweight data-interchange format: § “Play some funky jazz” = user_intent: change_playlist, type: funky_jazz § “Turn the lights on in the kitchen” = user_intent: lights_on, location: home_kitchen. The tool works by your giving text examples of what users might say, with the appropriate action indicated. Nuance said that Mix.nlu learns patterns in your user samples, so eventually it Speech Strategy News May 2016 8 will understand more samples than what you explicitly put in (using machine learning). Nuance Mix is specifically focused on consumer device and mobile app experiences for IoT. Nuance does have offerings for the healthcare and enterprise vertical markets, with language models and services that meet the needs of those industries specifically. Greg Pal, vice president of marketing strategy and business development, Nuance Enterprise Division, noted in an interview that the same model can be used across multiple channels, text (e.g., SMS). Mark Hanson, Senior Director of Nuance’s Cognitive Innovations group, in an interview, noted that the tool is intended for use cases where there is limited data with the text and intent labeled. The tool doesn’t use what is usually considered “machine learning,” which can require tens of thousands of labeled data or more for accuracy. Hanson noted that most of the use cases targeted by the tool are situations in which only “small data,” not “big data,” are available. He said the tool creates a “dynamic grammar,” a representation that can parse an utterance to determine its intent and type. To use speech input, a developer can use Nuance’s SpeechKit 2.x or a websockets (web protocol) interface with Mix functionality. The HTTP interface v1.0 or earlier SpeechKit versions are not available for use with the Mix Beta. Mix.nlu currently supports US English as part of the beta. Nuance indicates it will be adding additional language support throughout 2016. Nuance previously announced that its Dragon Drive connected car platform and Nuance Mix voice and natural language understanding (NLU) developer platform provide automakers with a set of capabilities to create intelligent and conversational voice experiences for cars that talk to ‘things’ such as consumer electronics and smart devices (SSN, April 2016, p. 7). Spare5 provides crowdsourcing service to label unstructured data Data labeling specialists scored by machine learning It’s obvious that AI is “hot,” and “machine learning” often cited as a key driver of major advances in applications and services using such techniques as natural language interpretation. The major bottleneck for most companies using machine learning technology is obtaining the labeled data to drive machine learning. Machine learning simply extrapolates from examples that are labeled with the outcome that the resulting algorithm is to predict. Similarly, searching for content (e.g., an image that fits certain criteria) often requires labeling that content, even if the search technique is more conventional. According to IDG, unstructured data is growing at the rate of 62% annually, and, by 2022, 93% of all data will be unstructured. Spare5 is attacking this data-labeling bottleneck with a service, Intelligent Crowdsourcing Platform, to provide companies a way to convert their unstructured data into labeled data. The Platform leverages a known community of specialists to accomplish custom micro-tasks that, filtered for quality, allow product owners to train artificial intelligence models, improve their search and browse experiences, and augment their directories. Spare5’s customers include Avvo (an online legal services marketplace), Expedia, Getty Images, GoPro (wearable cameras), and Sentient Technologies (AI software, p. 41). Spare5’s platform applies a combination of human insights and machine learning to solve the increasingly complex problem of utilizing unstructured data, including images, video, social media content, and text messages. Spare5’s data solution leverages a secure network of qualified individuals, and the company claims the ability to engage the right human in the right loop to deliver the best insights into unstructured data. Spare5’s “Reputation Engine” applies machine learning to rate each individual’s performance by domain. Spare5 offers a subscription service. Companies can join the platform, gain access to a variety of task templates, and work with a Speech Strategy News May 2016 9 company member. Pricing varies depending on customization, task complexity, and specialty, the company indicated. Myles Brundage, Director at Sentient Technologies, said, “With Spare5’s unique ability to access people with specific domain experience, we are able to quickly validate our AI-generated models by comparing them to how people perceive certain nuances between different retail products.” Steve Heck, CTO of Getty Images, said, “The old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words is true, but it’s just the beginning. Spare5 is providing us breakthrough value by delivering nuanced human insights into our photos, at a value and scale that was unthinkable just a year ago.” Spare5 filters task results for accuracy through a quality assurance process that includes Spare5’s proprietary machine learning algorithms. As customers use the platform over time, the process improves. Using a variety of SDKs and APIs, the data can be integrated into existing data workflows and exported to produce top-line business reports. “Our mission is to tap the world’s potential brainpower,” said Matt Bencke, Founder and CEO of Spare5. “Businesses need specialized human insights to solve complex data problems. It used to be somewhere between impossible and impractical to crowdsource specialized insights at scale, with confidence and speed. Not anymore. We love seeing our customers get the help they need to interpret unstructured data, while freeing up their employees to focus on their core competencies. There is a profound difference when the right human intelligence powers machine learning.” Expert System combines semantics and machine learning Cogito Studio designed for customized text analysis Expert System, which characterizes its business as “multilingual cognitive computing technology for the effective management of unstructured information,” announced the release of Cogito Studio, a product developed by its Cogito Labs for developing customized semantic applications for text analytics, including the analysis, categorization, and extraction of information. (Expert System’s Cogito Labs were established in 1994 in Modena, Italy. Today, the company has R&D facilities in Rovereto and Naples, Italy; Grenoble, France; Madrid, Spain; and in the Silicon Valley and Washington DC areas.) Onix Networking Corp., a provider of IT solutions and services to government and corporate customers, and Expert System also announced that Onix will be integrating Expert System’s Cogito technology into both commercial and federal market solutions. Cogito Studio Cogito Studio combines both semantics (formal representations of human language) and deep learning techniques (machine learning). Cogito Studio will help companies optimize the launch of new projects by automatically learning new knowledge, such as that for a specific domain, by applying its semantic technology that reads and understands words in context. This approach can exceed the limitations of deep learning because it reduces the need to manually acquire large volumes of data and to deal with cases not covered well in the data. Marco Varone, President and CTO, Expert System, said, “We believe that we can make significant contributions to the field of artificial intelligence. In our vision of AI, typical deep learning algorithms for automatic learning and knowledge extraction can be made more effective when combined with algorithms based on a comprehension of text and on knowledge structured in a manner similar to that of humans.” Onix and Expert System Onix delivers a full range of services including consulting, deployment planning, implementation and support for knowledge discovery solutions. Onix also specializes in cloud computing technologies. Speech Strategy News May 2016 10 Onix will be integrating Expert System's Cogito technology into their solutions. Dal VanDervort, Vice President Sales at Onix, said, “Expert System's Cogito guards against cognitive bias by applying multiple, diverse worldviews through the use of community/topicspecific taxonomies. We are thrilled to be offering customers this new capability as part of our suite of offerings." Kik messaging app launches “Bot Shop” New API allows outside developers to build bots for Kik Kik Interactive launched its Bot Shop. The Bot Shop features bots you can chat with (by text) from within the Kik messaging app. The bots you can address are from their partners, including Vine, Funny Or Die, Riffsy, Sephora, and The Weather Channel, with more promised. You can find the Bot Shop in Kik by tapping on the search magnifying glass, then “Find People,” or, on the web, visit bots.kik.com. The company also invited developers to start building bots for Kik using a new bot API, available at dev.kik.com. This continues a trend away from users downloading more apps (see Microsoft Bot article, p. 1). People are spending more time in chat apps like Kik instead of apps. Last year, 1.4 billion people used a chat app, according to eMarketer, and they spend a lot of time in those messaging apps. Kik said its research shows that people spend 35 minutes per session in Kik. Kik CEO Ted Livingston said in an a recent interview, “Chat is going to be the next great operating system. Apps will come to be thought of as the new browsers; bots will be the new websites. This is the beginning of a new internet.” New features help make the bot experience smoother. Kik’s web bubbles (“wubbles”) provide a way of displaying rich media in conversation threads. “Suggested responses” now take over the whole keyboard space and allow a user to select options while chatting to a bot without having to type anything in. There is a new “mentions” feature, which allows you to call a bot into a conversation by typing the “@” symbol, allowing bots to be participants in chats with friends. Taco Bell builds a bot for workplaces that use Slack’s messaging platform Natural language text interaction to take food orders Taco Bell and its ad agency, Deutsch, built a experimental bot on the Slack collaboration and communications platform that uses Wit.ai’s AI technology to take orders and even crack a couple of jokes. (Wit.ai is now part of Facebook.) The TacoBot is the digital assistant version of the cashiers that take your order at its restaurants. Taco Bell built the bot for workplaces that use Slack’s messaging platform to communicate internally. Participants can ask TacoBot to place an order for them. The bot uses natural text commands that support a variety of ways of making a request, e.g., “Can I have a burrito” or “Let me get a burrito” or “Burrito, please.” It retains context: you can order a taco in one line and then later type “no cheese,” and Taco Bot will understand that you don’t want cheese on the taco you had previously ordered. “We are at a point of switching up how we use computers,” said Deutsch’s senior VP and creative technology director, Martin Legowiecki. “It used to be we had to talk like computers.” TacoBot is still in private beta mode with a few companies that use Slack. Taco Bell and Deutsch have plans to bring the bot to Facebook Messenger and Amazon’s Echo. The hope is that eventually, TacoBot will be able to remember people’s order histories to make better recommendations. Speech Strategy News May 2016 11 Interactions and Arise Virtual Solutions partner for Voice Virtual Assistants Automated customer care on Arise’s platform using Interactions’ human-aided system Interactions provides speech and natural language technology for customer care (SSN, March 2016, p. 1). Interactions and Arise Virtual Solutions, a provider of crowdsourced business process outsourcing (BPO) services, announced that they have partnered to expand the delivery of conversational Virtual Assistant solutions for customer care. Arise will offer Interactions Virtual Assistant solutions to its customers, combining Interactions “Adaptive Understanding” technology with Arise’s virtual customer care platform. The combined offering allows consumers to accomplish tasks in self-service or transition to a live agent when human interaction is needed. Arise’s crowdsourcing platform provides flexibility and reduces cost of the humanaugmented aspect of the virtual interaction. John Meyer, CEO of Arise, said, “Interactions’ offerings enable us to expand our portfolio by providing greater conversational self-service options while call centers using our platform handle those calls that are better suited for live agents, either due to complexity or business practices…This partnership is an ideal alternative for businesses looking to bring offshore customer care back on-shore, by providing both higher quality and lower cost point.” Aspect Software will support customer chatbots through Facebook Messenger Chatbot messaging with Aspect’s Natural Language Understanding and agent backup Aspect Software, a provider of integrated consumer engagement, workforce optimization, and back-office solutions on premises and in the cloud (LUI News, April 2016, p. 27), announced an initiative to accelerate consumer brand transactions and interactions through Facebook Messenger, using the new “bots” support from Facebook (p. 1). Aspect cited new research that found nearly 40% of consumers would rather use messaging apps like Facebook Messenger for customer service versus a phone call. The Aspect Consumer Experience Index study found that 73% of consumers want companies to offer more self-service options for customer service. Aspect sees Facebook Messenger rapidly becoming a critical customer service and engagement channel. The company claims that Messenger is a natural extension to Aspect’s Customer Experience Platform’s (CXP) omnichannel capabilities: another conversational channel for customers to self-serve on, in addition to IVR, mobile Web, SMS, and Twitter. The integration between Aspect CXP and Facebook Messenger helps create chatbots using Natural Language Understanding (NLU) in more than a dozen languages to match a customer query to the right response. The chatbots can engage consumers in a conversation to get more information when needed or complete multi-step transactions. And when agent assistance is needed, conversations can be transferred seamlessly using Aspect’s software, with full contact center integration and appropriate routing to the right agent without consumers needing to repeat themselves. CXP’s design-once, deployanywhere support means that chatbots designed for Messenger can easily be deployed on SMS and Twitter. Aspect also says that the years of experience Aspect’s Professional Services has in conversational user interface design guarantees that enterprise bots built on Aspect CXP begin with a high level of quality. Joe Gagnon, SVP and Chief Customer Strategy Officer, said, “Intelligent, automated messaging has the potential to create highly engaging and interactive conversations for consumers, and chatbots offer the promise for timely and intuitive consumer engagement. But brand interaction in isolation from the customer service ecosystem, regardless of the medium or application, puts businesses at risk of falling into Speech Strategy News May 2016 12 the same customer service failures of the past. With 900 Million active users on Messenger, Facebook is poised to take messaging to a new and very exciting level, and we’re thrilled to be elevating the quality of company-consumer interactions on the platform to which more and more consumers are moving.” Aspect Customer Service on Facebook Messenger can be integrated and implemented alongside existing contact center and selfservice solutions, even if they aren’t Aspect platforms, according to the company. It allows consumers to opt-in to outbound messages like important notifications, payment reminders, or sales promotions, and respond to inbound inquiries with natural dialogues powered by Aspect NLU. Due to early interest, Aspect is inviting more companies interested in testing customer service interaction on Facebook Messenger to participate in a free introductory production pilot. Participating companies will have access to Aspect’s NLU platform as well. Nina Virtual Assistant from Nuance used in Swedbank customer service Natural-language text interaction Nuance Communications announced that Swedbank Group, a major financial institution in Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, is using Nuance Nina, an intelligent virtual assistant that delivers conversational customer service experience to enable self-service capabilities and quick and easy access to information for both Swedbank customers and service agents. With the natural language system on the Swedbank Web site, banking customers type their questions to the Swedbank virtual assistant in order to find answers to their questions and identify the financial services that are best suited for their needs. In addition, Swedbank customer service agents are using the new system to quickly find information for customers, reducing the amount of time customers must spend on the phone seeking answers to their questions. As a result, Nina has helped Swedbank improve the customer experience for consumers and agents alike, reaching 78% first-contact resolution within the first three months. The virtual assistant provides a “chat” experience” based on the Nuance Nina platform, using Nuance’s Natural Language Understanding (NLU) technology. The web site shows a chat box headed “Hi, how can we help you?” (in Swedish), with the chatbox containing the instructions “Feel free to ask your question here!” Because more than 75% of Swedbank customers prefer to conduct their banking via a mobile app or the bank’s web site, the virtual assistant is helping to guide customers quickly to the answers that they seek, limiting the need to call in to the bank with additional questions. Swedbank’s virtual assistant is currently answering 8 out of every 10 customer questions, according to Nuance. Customer adoption of the virtual assistant has been positive, with an average of 30,000 conversations having occurred per month within just the first three months of the deployment. In the future, Swedbank plans to expand Nina to reach more of the customer base, followed by its digital platforms, Mobile Bank and iPad Bank. This includes the addition of transactional capabilities to Nina Web, removing the need for escalation to Swedbank’s contact center for many service-related inquiries; new value-added services via chat and call-back; increased integration with a greater depth of customer data for more precise routing of customers to the right contact center agent; and increased self service (for example, for qualification and assistance in response to a call-to-action in a sales campaign). Robert Weideman, executive vice president and general manager, Nuance Communications, said, “Since Nina was introduced, we’ve seen the clear impact that these sorts of interactive, conversational experiences can have when it comes to improving the consumer’s experience, and we’re also seeing tangible business benefits, particularly on the web.” Speech Strategy News May 2016 13 AgentBot and Zendesk partner to offer virtual agent for ticketing Integration allows easy transfer to agents when necessary AgentBot creates text-based natural-language virtual assistants for customer service. Zendesk provides a web-based customer service system for dealing with inbound ticket requests from any channel—email, web, social, phone, or chat. The companies announced a partnership integrating their tools. The integration combines the virtual agents solution offered by AgentBot with the possibility of incorporating secondlevel assistance forms integrated to Zendesk. With this partnership, both companies will include new functionalities, giving their support service solutions and their automatic customer service more agility in the resolution of client’s requests. It will be possible to complement all the benefits of instantaneous automatic customer service with the possibility of transferring requests related to sales or complex matters directly to Zendesk. AgentBot indicates it uses an advanced language understanding engine to generate responses. The virtual agent retains important information and recognizes different means of expressing the same concept thanks to its own evolving dictionary. It is designed to understand the errors we make daily when texting, as well as local regionalisms, while giving more importance to products and services. Inbenta launches “Hybrid Chat,” to integrate human and automated chat System can change options when agents aren’t available Inbenta specializes in Natural Language Processing and semantic search to improve the customer experience online (SSN, April 2016, p. 19). The firm announced the global availability of a new “Hybrid Chat” service. This hybrid approach combines Inbenta’s selfservice Virtual Assistant support with its ondemand Live Chat technology. Now, when a customer is not satisfied with an answer provided by the virtual agent, they can instantly open a conversation with a live agent who will already have the detailed history for a seamless user experience. Here’s how Hybrid Chat works: § Using Inbenta’s self-service technology, customers seeking support will immediately see an interactive “Help” window appear on the homepage of the company’s website. § Once engaged, the customer is greeted by a customized Virtual Assistant avatar; the avatar can be programmed to speak questions and responses. § Customers will begin the conversation by typing their question(s) into the chat box; the virtual assistant will then access the company’s knowledge base to find the most relevant answer(s) based on Natural Language Processing. § If the customer is satisfied, the user closes out of the window and proceeds through their journey; otherwise, they are offered to connect to a live agent. § The full chat conversation is instantly sent to the responding agent so they can pick up the conversation wherever the Virtual Assistant left off. There’s no need to make the customer repeat themselves. Hybrid Chat has the ability to detect whether agents are online or not. Support teams can make real-time changes to the “Help” widget so that customers will either have access to a Virtual Assistant, a Virtual Assistant + Chat, or simply the Chat feature when support teams are unavailable. Speech Strategy News May 2016 14 Signpost unveils Mia, AI-driven CRM Automated, personalized customer relationship assistant using machine learning Signpost announced the launch of Mia— artificial intelligence that helps companies connect with customers. Mia automatically collects customer data such as email, phone, and purchase information to create a customer record. Using this data, Mia stays connected with customers and prospects to drive word-ofmouth reviews and repeat business. Mia uses machine learning to eliminate the need for a traditional CRM and other forms of manual marketing. “Mia is the future of communication between businesses and consumers,” claimed Signpost CEO Stuart Wall. “B2C companies have long shied away from CRM systems, because they’re complicated, time-consuming, and built for companies with dedicated sales teams. The average CRM forces users to manually upload leads, cross-reference data streams like email, text, and purchases; and, perhaps most onerous, they require users to curate email marketing campaigns. Mia removes that friction by automatically capturing and optimizing every customer interaction with zero effort from the user.” Users simply set objectives they would like to achieve such as five-star reviews, customer referrals, generating new customers. Mia learns and changes her behavior with every customer interaction. She generates follow-up and ongoing communication through email and SMS. Mia has data on more than 16 million US consumers across more than 6,000 companies that are Signpost customers. From this proprietary data set she learns what types of communication work best and applies that to her email or SMS–driving targeted communication. Signpost recently raised a $20M Series C round. The company is backed by Google Ventures, Spark Capital, Georgian Partners, and OpenView Ventures. noHold expands its virtual assistants to multiple business units in a company Includes Human Resources, IT, Legal, Marketing, Sales and Support noHold provides web-based self-service solutions through a natural-language virtual assistant using text interaction. Its flagship product, Support Advisor, thus typically answers support and customer care type questions. The company has expanded to include internally facing enterprise Virtual Assistants such as: § HR Advisor- allows employees to help themselves with human resources questions; § IT Advisor- for the enterprise help desk; § Legal Advisor- to enforce compliance; § Marketing Advisor- to prequalify sales opportunities; § Sales Advisor- to increase conversion rates; and § Support Advisor- to reduce support costs. According to Diego Ventura, CEO of noHold, “When creating a Virtual Assistant for a specific organization within the enterprise, you must take into consideration the different features needed by those particular business units that will optimize the Virtual Assistant. For example, we discovered that when a Call Center Agent is on the phone with a customer, they need to have a sense of the questions they will be asking and why. In these situations, the Virtual Assistant cannot always ask questions serially, so we implemented the ‘Look Ahead’ feature, designed to show the Agent why the Virtual Assistant would be asking those questions.” Speech Strategy News May 2016 15 AYLIEN adds News option to its NLP text analysis API SDKs for Natural Language Processing, Information Retrieval, and Machine Learning tools AYLIEN Text API is a package of Natural Language Processing, information retrieval, and machine learning tools for extracting meaning and insight from textual and visual content. The company has introduced a more specialized version for summarizing news content, their News API. § § § Text API AYLIEN indicated that it had broad use-cases in mind when designing and developing the Application Programming Interface, so developers could use it for applications such as organizing legal documents (such as patents). However, the company notes that the API is “slightly geared towards analyzing news and Social Media content.” The tool allows search by keywords, entities (people, organizations, brands), and topics. You can filter stories by sentiment towards People, Organizations, Brands, etc., and specify topics and categories that matter to you. You can also track specific news outlets and authors. You can further narrow down results to a specific region. The company describes features of the tool: § Article Extraction strips HTML documents of ads, navigation elements, and anything that gets in the way of understanding the text. § Summarization extracts key sentences from a text, leaving only the most important concepts. § § § Classification tags a text with metadata from up to 500 categories. Entity Extraction lists organizations, phone numbers, currency amounts, and individuals mentioned in a text. Concept Extraction goes beyond Entity Extraction to provide Linked Data for topics mentioned, including semantic types and Uniform Resource Identifiers. Automatic Hashtag Suggestion helps get more exposure for content on Social Media. Sentiment Analysis summarizes the tone of a text—positive or negative, subjective or objective. Language Detection ensures that you and the text in question are speaking the same language. News API The News API is specifically tuned to help summarize news sources. It allows users to search, source, and index news and blog content from across the Web in real time. The service crawls and indexes thousands of news sources every day and analyzes their content using an NLP-powered Text Analysis Engine to provide a flexible news data source. Developers will find interactive API documentation and code snippets (JavaScript, Python, PHP, Go, C#, and Ruby) for the News API on the AYLIEN website. AI-driven virtual assistant from Kasisto powers India’s first mobile-only bank Text inquiries in natural language simulate banking assistant Kasisto, which spun out of SRI International in 2014, is supporting a new generation of banking services that are mobile and accessible using natural language text. Its conversational AI platform powers customizable virtual assistants that enable banks to engage with their customers. Kasisto announced that its KAI platform is behind the virtual assistant in digibank, a new mobile-only bank launched in India. In addition, digibank creator DBS Bank has taken a minority stake in Kasisto. DBS Bank, Singapore’s largest bank and a leading bank in Asia, announced digibank, India’s first mobile-only bank, in April. Speech Strategy News May 2016 16 Breaking away from conventional banking norms, digibank is a completely paperless, signatureless, and branchless bank. Account opening can be done at an extensive network of outlets run by DBS’ partners; for a start, this includes over 500 cafes across India. There is no paperwork involved; instead, customer authentication is done purely using the Aadhaar card, a biometrics-enabled ID which has been issued to over 1 billion Indians. Customer service provided by a Kasisto-based 24x7 AI-driven virtual assistant. Customers can converse with the virtual assistant to get their queries answered or banking transactions performed, with requests such as, “What is my account balance?,” “Show me past transactions,” or “Pay Amit 100 rupees.” Today, the assistant can anticipate and answer some 10,000 customer questions, with new knowledge continually added. DBS CEO Piyush Gupta said, “With the advent of technology, banking as we know it is being completely transformed. digibank places an entire bank in our customers’ hands.” Toyota is forming a new data science company in partnership with Microsoft Toyota Connected has a goal of simplifying technology so it’s easier to use in vehicles Toyota is forming a new data science company, Toyota Connected, in partnership with Microsoft, that’s designed to free customers “from the tyranny of technology.” Zack Hicks, the company’s CEO and Toyota Motor America’s Chief Information Officer, explained that the goal was making the increasing number of options created by Internet connectivity less difficult to use. The company wants to create more intuitive user interfaces, such as speech interaction, to address the problem. “I think people are really tired of fumbling with multiple devices and having this disjointed experience,” Hicks said when Toyota announced the venture. Toyota Connected will research options such as linking with other vehicles so they can report weather and traffic conditions to people driving the same route. Microsoft engineers will work with the company at its headquarters in Plano, Texas, where Toyota is moving its US operations. Microsoft bought a 5% equity stake in Toyota Connected, which is organized as a separate corporation. Toyota says the new company will support research into artificial intelligence and robots, as well as analyze data from vehicle sensors and cameras, so algorithms can be developed for self-driving cars. Toyota Connect will use Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform to collect and analyze data. Drivers would have to opt in to all of the data reporting, and Toyota would disclose what data is being shared, the company said. In January, Toyota began a $1 billion, fiveyear investment in Toyota Research Institute, which is setting up centers near Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Leading the effort is Gill Pratt, the former top robotics engineer for the US military. Mobvoi releases new in-car app for information and entertainment Chinese company supports voice interaction in Android OS After receiving an investment from Google, the Chinese AI company Mobvoi is moving into in-car infortainment. Mobvoi has just released an Android app for drivers, Wenwen In Car— “drive and ask.” The new app leverages Mobvoi technology used in its voice search engine Chumenwenwen. The Android app shows four major large buttons on the right hand side and a speech button on the left. Wenwen In Car allows drivers hands-free operation through voice interaction. It supports traffic updates, navigation, points of interest, and calling. The app can also be used to play music and request information. The application can be engaged by saying “Nihao Wenwen.” LUI News May 2016 Wenwen In Car uses Mobvoi’s speech recognition, TTS, proactive search, mobile search, and semantic analysis. 17 Amazon’s Alexa featured on a smartwatch from Chinese company iMCO Paired wirelessly with Android or iOS phones Chinese company iMCO Technology has introduced a smartwatch called the CoWatch (see image), expected to be available in June in limited quantities. It features a high-resolution touchscreen and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and it also runs on the Cronologics OS, an operating system designed by Google and Android veterans. CoWatch is the first smartwatch to feature Alexa, the voiceinteractive digital assistant from Amazon. As the voice of the Amazon Echo (p. 6), which doesn’t have a screen, Alexa focuses on voice interaction, where many digital assistants default to a screen (usually a web search) when stumped. Thus, Alexa is more suited to a smartwatch than most digital assistants. The CoWatch was launched on crowd-funding site Indiegogo in April. The watch can synchronize with smartphones running on Android 5.0 or higher, or iPhones with iOS 9. It features a 400 x 400 pixel Super AMOLED display at 1.39 inches. iMCO CoWatch The watch is fitted with a dual-core MIPS processor, 1GB RAM and 8GB storage. It also includes sensors such as an accelerometer, magnetometer, gyro, vibrating motor, and a heart rate sensor. The watch comes with a charging cradle, and it takes one hour to charge up to 70%. The wearable device has a 300mAh battery that promises up to 32 hours of usage. Samsung ARTIK modules can support speech recognition and NLU SoundHound’s Houndify adds the technology to connected devices The open Samsung ARTIK platform provides all the essential hardware and software to support the Internet of Things (IoT). Samsung calls it “the end-to-end, integrated IoT platform that transforms the process of building, launching, and managing IoT products.” It’s an entire integrated ecosystem, from silicon to development tools to cloud, plus an extensive array of technology and development partners. SoundHound announced as partner One recently announced partner is SoundHound. Samsung has a consumer product, Hound, that is essentially a general mobile personal assistant for iOS and Android, with a focus on specific talents. Hound uses SoundHound’s Speech-to-Meaning technology to showcase an impressive smartphone experience (judging from the examples of that experience shown by Katie McMahon, VP & General Manager, SoundHound, at the Mobile Voice Conference). Hound showcases the company’s Houndify platform, designed to be used by application developers to support speech understanding and voice search in their applications. The collaboration between the company’s new Houndify platform and the Samsung ARTIK platform ecosystem enables connected devices to have the power of a voiceenabled conversational interface. Samsung and SoundHound worked closely to enable Houndify across the entire Samsung LUI News May 2016 ARTIK family of modules. The collaboration resulted in an optimized version of the Houndify SDK that can run on the Samsung ARTIK 1 module, using extremely low memory and processing power, while unlocking the full power of the Houndify platform. The new SDK is available on Houndify.com to all developers interested in the ARTIK platform, and is being actively integrated with devices that can be shipped to hundreds of millions of consumers in the near future, with some shipping later this year, according to SoundHound. Keyvan Mohajer, Founder and CEO, SoundHound, said, “We are a strong believer in the IoT revolution – the world of connected devices around us. We also believe that the most compelling, and often the only form of communication with these connected devices is using voice and natural language. The Samsung ARTIK platform enables developers to more easily create a connected device, and the Houndify platform enables them to quickly and easily add a voice-enabled, conversational interface to whatever they build.” announced the intent to become a Samsung Artik Cloud Platform collaborator. Samsung’s Otto Samsung created Otto, an Echo-like device to show off ARTIK technology (see image). It can respond to voice inquiries. It includes a video camera that lets you look around when not at home, like a surveillance camera (which has already garnered some negative publicity as a hacker’s target). It’s not yet a product, however. VoiceBox on the Artik Platform VoiceBox Technologies, a global provider of contextual voice and natural language understanding (NLU) technologies for automotive, mobile and IoT products, 18 Samsung’s Otto VoiceBox indicated that IoT developers face a number of challenges that are solved by using the Artik Cloud Platform. Hurdles like managing data from devices using a variety of protocols, ensuring interoperability across siloed ecosystems, working with heterogeneous data, reducing latency, protecting data privacy, and accessing data from disparate clouds can be addressed through Artik tools and services. “Our vision of delivering a common, intelligent IoT interface that is multi-device, cross-device and multi-user, is quickly extended by adopting standards-bridging platforms like Artik Cloud,” said Mike Kennewick, VoiceBox's CEO. Conversica launches AI assistant for automotive service Automatically maintains contact with current and potential service customers Conversica, a provider of sales conversion management software, offers an AI persona that helps sales and marketing personnel close sales (LUI News, April 2016, p. 41). The sales assistant engages potential customers in two- way email conversations to uncover their intent and connect them with a salesperson. In April, the company announced the launch of the Conversica automotive service assistant, an AI-based solution for automotive dealerships and their service departments that engages new LUI News May 2016 19 car buyers, as well as present and past service customers, in natural, two-way email conversations to get them into the service drive. This automated yet natural engagement with service customers frees up service advisors to focus on the day’s service appointments and builds a long-lasting relationship between dealer and customer. According to Conversica, the service center is the most profitable department in a dealership with a 72% gross revenue margin and is the main point of contact for creating a lifelong relationship with the customer. Moreover, 82% of car buyers that service with their dealership will buy their next car from that dealership and consequently, over a lifetime, one customer is worth on average over $500,000 in revenue from car purchases, servicing, and parts. Therefore, keeping a customer engaged with the dealership at every stage of ownership is vital to future revenue. With artificial intelligence for auto service, Conversica also delivers valuable information about potential service customers to the service department. With details from the AI conversation, service advisors will be prepared to engage each customer when, where and how that person prefers. The auto service assistant is designed to handle situations such as: § Engaging service leads in real time as they come in through the dealer website; § Encouraging new car buyers to make their first service appointment; § Engaging new car buyers who have never scheduled a service; § Reengaging customers who have been in for service but not returned; and § Following up after service appointments to gauge customer satisfaction and identify areas for improvement. Baidu Research and Peel collaborate on voice-enabled smart home products “In the future, it will be as easy to talk to your devices as it is to talk to the person next to you.” Peel offers a popular universal remote app called Peel Smart Remote for smartphones and tablets. It has more than 150 million users in 200 countries and executes 10 billion monthly remote commands. It uses the infrared functionality built into many Samsung phones, as well as the HTC One, to control TVs, DVRs, and cable boxes. An iPhone user can take advantage of its other features, such as its show and channel trackers, or pair it with a $50 Pronto to take advantage of its remote control capabilities. Baidu Research, a division of Baidu, Inc., announced a technology collaboration with Peel where Baidu’s Deep Speech technology will be integrated into Peel’s AI-based platform for home control to create voice-enabled smart home products. Deep Speech is a speech recognition system developed using “end-to-end deep learning” by Baidu Research’s Silicon Valley AI Lab (SVAIL). The companies demoed a beta version of Peel’s voice-based remote at the GPU Technology Conference in San Jose, CA in April. The Peel demo used speech recognition to access live TV, DVR, and streaming content seamlessly across devices. For example, using voice commands, a user can switch between House of Cards on Roku and Game of Thrones on cable TV, or ask to see a line-up of comedy shows or programs about the US presidential election. Baidu’s Adam Coates, who leads the SVAIL team, said, “Speech recognition is at an inflection point. In the future, it will be as easy to talk to your devices as it is to talk to the person next to you. We are excited about the potential of the collaboration with Peel to bring that experience to users.” Peel Co-founder and Chief Product Officer Bala Krishnan added: “This collaboration is opening up new exciting possibilities for our users. Voice command and artificial intelligence are the foundation for the next generation of Peel universal home control.” LUI News May 2016 20 LumenVox updates its speech recognition and TTS for IVR systems Adds partners using its technology LumenVox has released version 14.2 of its technology supporting speech recognition and text-to-speech in an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) customer service environment. The company now has 57 TTS voices available. The new additions include Polish Female “Agnieszka” and “Ewa” voices, a Polish Male “Jacek” voice and an American English Male child “Justin” voice. LumenVox TTS now covers 24 languages. The Dashboard configuration utility has been extended to provide more options, including the ability to configure the “client property” settings, making it easier for users to configure LumenVox servers. A new feature that allows the LumenVox Manager Service to be restarted directly through the Dashboard interface was also added. The company added two new features to their Speech Tuner, offering more control over the naming of saved audio files and a flexible new accuracy classification feature that allows companies to see the hypothetical effects on individual interactions if the confidence threshold were to be changed. LumenVox announced new partners, including Forty 7 Ronin and InfinityCTI. They were awarded LumenVox Skills Certification, which demonstrates a partner’s capability to deliver high-quality speech solutions based on the LumenVox speech automation suite. Forty 7 Ronin specializes in Voice User Interface Design, IVR development, and speech recognition. The company provides voice solutions supported by the LumenVox Speech Recognizer and Text-To-Speech Server on the Genesys, Aspect, and Avaya IVR platforms. InfinityCTI supports speech-enabled applications on the Avaya Aura Experience Portal. The company utilizes the LumenVox speech automation suite to provide an IVR system that automates membership renewal, card replacement, and credit card payment services over the phone for AAA Arizona. The InfinityCTI speech-enabled application increased the call completion rate and reduced the agent load in the AAA Arizona Call Center, according to InfinityCTI. The enhanced tuning services provided by InfinityCTI with the LumenVox Speech Application Tuner have helped improve customer satisfaction with the call center. Google’s annual Founders’ Letter “Over time, the computer itself—whatever its form factor—will be an intelligent assistant helping you through your day.” On April 28, Google posted its annual Founders’ Letter, introduced by Alphabet CEO Larry Page and written by Goggle CEO Sundar Pichai. One particular summarizing comment seems key: “Looking to the future, the next big step will be for the very concept of the ‘device’ to fade away. Over time, the computer itself—whatever its form factor—will be an intelligent assistant helping you through your day. We will move from mobile first to an AI first world.” A few other excerpts: Search and assistance “…today we are about one thing above all else: making information and knowledge available for everyone…the majority of our searches come from mobile, and an increasing number of them via voice.” “You should be able to move seamlessly across Google services in a natural way, and get assistance that understands your context, situation, and needs…Smart assistance should LUI News May 2016 understand all of these things and be helpful at the right time, in the right way.” car, like Android Auto, or your wrist, like Android Wear.” “Most of these computing experiences are very likely to be built in the cloud.” Machine learning and artificial intelligence “…creating artificial intelligence that can help us in everything from accomplishing our daily tasks and travels, to eventually tackling even bigger challenges like climate change and cancer diagnosis.” More great content, in more places “Our focus on our core mission has led us to many efforts over the years to improve discovery, creation, and monetization of content—from indexing images, video, and the news, to building platforms like Google Play and YouTube.” Powerful computing platforms “Android…has more than 1.4 billion 30-dayactive devices—and growing. Today’s proliferation of ‘screens’ goes well beyond phones, desktops, and tablets. Already, there are exciting developments as screens extend to your 21 Enterprise “As we look to our long-term investments in our productivity tools supported by our machine learning and artificial intelligence efforts, we see huge opportunities to dramatically improve how people work.” Building for everyone “The Internet is one of the world’s most powerful equalizers, and we see it as our job to make it available to as many people as possible.” “Making this possible is a lot more complicated than simply translating a product or launching a local country domain.” “For us, technology is not about the devices or the products we build. Those aren’t the endgoals. Technology is a democratizing force, empowering people through information.” Google launching a new machine learning platform Free limited access to create custom models, with pre-trained models including a Speech API In April, at the NEXT Google Cloud Platform user conference, Google’s officials announced a new cloud-based machine-learning platform. The company is offering a limited free trial. Google Cloud Machine Learning provides modern machine learning services, with some pre-trained models and a platform to generate custom tailored models. The neuralnet-based machine learning platform is claimed to have better training performance and increased accuracy compared to other largescale deep learning systems. The pre-trained models use REST APIs (RESTful web Application Programming Interfaces). The cloud platform is a scalable and distributed training infrastructure, powered by Graphical Processing Units (see Editor’s Notes, p. 5). A developer can create a model with the TensorFlow framework, open-sourced by Google, that powers many Google products from Google Photos, to Google Cloud Speech (p. 21). Companies can use the TensorFlow SDK to train models locally on sample data sets and use the Google Cloud Platform for training at scale. In future phases, Google indicated that models trained using Cloud Machine Learning can be downloaded for local execution. The service is integrated with other Google Cloud Data platform products such as Google Cloud Storage or Google BigQuery to ease the process of training machine learning models from data. Major Google applications use the Cloud Machine Learning platform, including the Google search app itself (voice search), Photos (image search), Translate, and Inbox (Smart Reply). “In the future almost everything will be done in the cloud,” Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said in a speech at the company’s Google Cloud Platform NEXT conference. “For LUI News May 2016 years we have been investing in scaling up our infrastructure to do this.” Google will put “thousands of people” to work on the systems that support its cloud over the next few years, in part to build the data center and network infrastructure needed to handle many large corporate customers, according to Alphabet, Inc. Chairman Eric Schmidt. Google’s Speech API can stream text results, returning partial recognition results as they become available, with the recognized text appearing immediately while speaking. Alternatively, Speech API can return recognized text from audio stored in a file. The company says its speech-recognition service is also free for a preview phase, but there will be a charge. There is also a Cloud Vision API and Cloud Translate API. Google will charge companies between 60 cents and $5 for every 1,000 uses of its Cloud Vision system. This lets users automatically detect faces, landmarks, logos and other features in images. Google says the more companies use the services, the cheaper it will be for them; there is also a free tier for 1,000 or fewer uses during a month. The Google Cloud Speech API The Google Cloud Speech API enables converting audio to text by using neural network models. The API recognizes over 80 languages and variants. Google said the API can support transcription through an application’s microphone or enable voice control in an application, among other use cases. 22 Google expands hands-free operation in Android Button control by voice aids those with disabilities Google Voice Access for Android, recently launched in beta testing, is intended to bring increased functionality to people who have accessibility issues, e.g., difficulty seeing objects at handheld distance or pressing buttons, both a challenge to smartphone use. Among other things, Voice Access adds discrete button control. The app assigns numbers to every button that it’s possible for a user to press. An individual can use both keyboards and websites by calling out the number visually associated with an element you want to press. In addition, users can say “open Chrome” or “go home” to navigate around the phone or interact with the screen by saying “click next” or “scroll down,” for example. Voice Beta Access disables the phone’s touch screen while Voice Access is running. Google has also improved its screen reader on its Chromebook tablets. Every Chromebook now comes with a built-in screen reader called ChromeVox, enabling the blind or visually impaired to read the screen using text-to-speech software. The latest version, ChromeVox Next Beta, includes a simplified keyboard shortcut model, a new caption panel to display speech as text and Braille output, and a new set of navigation sounds. Google Docs now enables users to type, edit, and format documents using voice commands, making it easier for people who can’t use a touchscreen to edit documents. Google also pointed out that it is continuing to work closely with Freedom Scientific, a provider of assistive technology products, to improve the Google Docs and Drive experience with the JAWS screen reader. New Samsung Galaxy models Include Sensory’s TrulyHandsfree Voice Control Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge smartphones continue a long-term relationship with Sensory Sensory Inc. announced that Samsung continues to utilize TrulyHandsfree technology to provide a speech trigger and speech recognition experience on their Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge smartphones. Samsung continues to utilize Sensory’s embedded LUI News May 2016 23 TrulyHandsfree speech recognition engine that work without an Internet connection. Sensory technologies have been shipping on Samsung Galaxy smartphone products since 2011, on every Samsung Galaxy smartphone product since the S2, as well as Samsung’s Galaxy Note tablets and Galaxy Gear and Galaxy Gear S2 smart watches. TrulyHandsfree supports US English, UK English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Sensory TrulyHandsfree has ultra-low-power deeply embedded ports available for leading DSP/MCU IP cores from ARM, Cadence, CEVA, NXP CoolFlux, Synopsys and Verisilicon, as well as for integrated circuits from Audience, Avnera, Cirrus Logic, Conexant, DSPG, Fortemedia, Intel, Invensense, Microsemi, NXP, Qualcomm, QuickLogic, Realtek, STMicroelectronics, TI, and Yamaha. Speech-enabled Unibet Sports Betting App uses Artificial Solutions’ Teneo Natural-language interaction even while watching a streaming game Artificial Solutions announced a new speechenabled intelligent interactive feature in the Unibet Sports Betting App from Malta-based Unibet that allows users to place a bet speaking natural language. The feature that uses the Teneo platform from Artificial Solutions enables enterprises to rapidly build a range of natural language applications—from digital employees and mobile personal assistants, to wearables and IoT interfaces—all from a single platform. Unibet, one of Europe’s largest and fastest growing online gaming operators, with over 13 million customers globally, is making its mark by making betting simpler and more intuitive. Using Artificial Solutions’ Natural Language Interaction (NLI) technology, Unibet is experimenting with ways of eliminating some of the current frictions in online betting—such as in navigation and finding the desired bet. With Unibet’s new NLI-enabled app the customer simply needs to say something such as “Five quid on Chelsea to win” or “A tenner on a 3-0 City win” and the app does the rest, guiding the customer until the bet is placed. Should any ambiguity occur, the app will either make some safe assumptions or ask the customer for clarification. NLI is particularly useful when coupled with Unibet’s live streaming portfolio (Unibet streams over 30,000 major events per year). Bets can be placed without having to exit the stream and risk missing a crucial play. Will Mace, Head of Strategic Development at Unibet, said, “As speech-enabled apps become more commonplace, people expect interactions to be intelligent, fast and responsive. They are fed-up with clunky menu driven interfaces; instead customers are demanding sophisticated understanding of their spoken words.” Speech Processing Solutions adds speech-to-text service to its dictation software Philips SpeechLive dictation service now available as a cloud service Speech Processing Solutions, the global provider of professional dictation solutions has just launched their latest update of Philips SpeechLive cloud dictation workflow solution. The latest release now offers a fully-integrated speech recognition service that turns recordings into text. Philips SpeechLive also allows users to send dictation from anywhere to the cloud and have their human assistant transcribe the files for them. People using dictation can also use the SpeechLive transcription service, where industry-specific and trained professionals type up the recordings. Real estate agents, journalists, finance professionals, and people in the legal, healthcare and insurance industry save time and money by having their recordings automatically typed up for them. Notes, tasks, and documents can LUI News May 2016 24 simply be recorded with a Philips voice recorder or the Philips dictation recorder smartphone app and the SpeechLive speech recognition service transcribes the files almost immediately. The new service is available for 21 different languages. As an introductory offer, Philips is giving its customers 10 free speech recognition minutes per user every month. SYSTRAN API Platform enables translation and natural language processing SYSTRAN.io supports multiple languages with cloud-based Application Programming Interface SYSTRAN Software, a global 48-year-old language translation technology company, opened its language intelligence technology to multi-national companies of all sizes with a cloud-based Application Program Interface (API)—SYSTRAN.io. SYSTRAN.io is based on the same language translation technology that powers SYSTRAN’s enterprise offering used by Symantec, Cisco, Airbus, Ford, Toyota, BNP Paribas, Daimler, Barclays, defense and security organizations such as the US intelligence community, NATO, Interpol, and language service providers. Platform customers include ADP, Adobe, and Apple, which integrates a language translation widget on the dashboard of its MacBook. To attract application developer interest, the API will allow 1 million characters to be translated free each month. SYSTRAN.io is a hosted 50-language toolkit that features: § Real-time text-to-text translation; § § § § Voice-to-text recognition and transcription; Data extraction and restructuring; Dictionary Management; Sentiment analysis of user-generated content; and § Anonymization. The company said that SYSTRAN.io is a natural solution for collaboration platforms and team messaging apps such as Slack, which offer simplified communication with team members around the world. A real-time language translation tool ensures that virtual team members who speak different languages are being heard for true collaboration. SYSTRAN.io can be integrated for real-time translation into collaboration platforms. For customer support teams, real-time translation of complaints, customer feedback, or service outages reduces call volumes and increases customer satisfaction. Winscribe and Speech Processing Solutions expand dictation offerings Availability of speech-to-text transcription services on Philips SpeechAir Android device Speech Processing Solutions specializes in professional dictation. Founded in Austria in 1954 as part of Philips, the company has products such as the new portable Philips SpeechAir, Philips Pocket Memo voice recorder, the Philips SpeechMike Premium dictation microphone, and the Philips dictation recorder app for smartphones. The latest, Philips SpeechLive, brings secure dictation workflow to the cloud. Winscribe, which provides digital dictation, speech recognition, and document workflow management software, further expanded its partnership with Speech Processing Solutions with a new mobile app and full support of the Philips SpeechAir smart voice recorder. The Philips SpeechAir brings together advances in dictation hardware and sound technology with the comfort and familiarity of a modern smartphone. Users get an Android device with a touchscreen, camera, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, but still benefit from outstanding sound quality, a comfortable slide-switch, extended battery life, professional voice file editing, and maximum security controls. The paired solution has been designed to save users time and resources by allowing them to work in a more flexible manner and enabling fast and efficient communication of important information. Users can dictate their reports, LUI News May 2016 25 letters, time, directions to support staff, and more – from anywhere at any time – and send them off for transcription or to be automatically converted from voice to text, using Winscribe’s speech recognition software solutions. Winscribe mobile speech productivity suite of applications are also available for Android, iOS, BlackBerry, and Windows smartphones and tablets. Mattersight and Voci will license the other company’s products Voci’s transcription engine and Voci Mattersight’s Behavioral Analytics Mattersight Corporation and Voci Technologies announced a strategic partnership whereby Mattersight will license Voci’s VBlaze transcription engine and call recording converters and Voci will license Mattersight’s Behavioral Analytics Cloud, in order to elevate the customer experience for both companies’ customers. Mattersight has developed analytics algorithms detecting human emotion and personality hosted in Mattersight’s secure Behavioral Analytics Cloud. Voci has developed a fast, low-latency speech-to-text transcription engine. Currently available in English and Spanish, it provides fully punctuated transcripts and emotional information, and can also be used to protect customers’ privacy by automatically redacting sensitive Payment Card Industry (PCI) information. These capabilities support both post-call analytics and live real-time analytics. Voci has also created a telephony adapter that can be configured to ingest call recordings from the most popular third-party call recording systems. Combining its proprietary algorithms, personality insights, real-time alerting, and portal infrastructure with Voci’s transcription engine, Mattersight will be able to provide customers with a set of analytics applications, all served from the company’s secure Behavioral Analytics Cloud, including: § The feeding of hundreds of data attributes and the underlying call transcriptions to its customers’ big data and CRM applications; § Improved real-time alerting for financial compliance and business process monitoring; and § Enhancement of Mattersight’s predictive modeling of Customer Satisfaction Score and Net Promoter Score. Voci will leverage Mattersight’s Behavioral Analytics Cloud to provide its Speech Analytics, Business Intelligence, Electronic Discovery, and Compliance customers with its highly-secure secure PCI- and HIPAA-compliant cloud solution. Audeme offers speech recognition and synthesis for Arduino platform Speaker-independent voice control with up to 150 commands Arduino provides an open-source electronics platform called “Arduino” based on easy-to-use hardware and software. It has its own programming language and development environment. Audeme, an auditory sensor and solution provider that enables the maker community with audio recognition products, announced the availability of MOVI, a cloudless speech recognizer and synthesizer for Arduino, available through a programming interface to makers of all technical levels. MOVI can be programmed from the Arduino Integrated Development Environment (IDE), allowing users to have the shield recognize up to 150 of their own full-sentence voice commands. MOVI is speaker-independent and can support programmed conversations with projects using the speech synthesizer. Compatible with most Arduino-compatible boards, MOVI retails for LUI News May 2016 26 $89.90. The open source community has already ported MOVI to two other platforms: Raspberry Pi and the Huzzah esp8266 from Adafruit. Bertrand Irissou, CEO at Audeme, noted that the local recognition alleviated privacy concerns when recognition is done in the cloud, and cited home alarm systems, home automation, games, as well as applications to help those living with disabilities, as possible uses of the technology. Dr. Gerald Friedland, CTO at Audeme, added, “As few as 4 lines of codes is all that’s required to start recognizing an English sentence.” Microsoft Translator adds features on iOS Offline translation and webpage translation using Deep Neural Nets Continuing its move to make its technologies available on OSs other than Windows, Microsoft announced two new features for the free Microsoft Translator app for iOS. In addition to the text, conversation, and image translation already available, Microsoft added support for offline translation (i.e., not connected to the Internet) and webpage translation. Until now, iPhone users needed an Internet connection if they wanted to translate on their mobile devices. Now, by downloading the Microsoft Translator app and the needed offline language packs, iOS users can get translations comparable to the cloud solution even when they are not connected to the Internet. The update for iOS includes a new Safari extension which lets users translate web pages within their Safari browser. After you have turned the extension on, clicking on “Microsoft Translator” from the list of available extensions will translate the page automatically. The new offline language packs use the same Deep Neural Network technology the company recently introduced in the Microsoft Translator app for Android. Deep Neural Networks have been used for almost a year by the Microsoft Translator online cloud service to deliver high-quality translations to Microsoft Translator apps and Bing.com/translator. They are also used to power the speech translation technology in the new speech translation API and Skype Translator. In conjunction with this release, Microsoft also added 34 new languages to the list of offline languages supported by Microsoft Translator. Microsoft gave examples of the use of the Microsoft Translator, illustrating its flexibility: § Get from the airport or a conference to your hotel by pinning preplanned translations to your favorites. § Respond to something you didn’t plan ahead for and get quick translations of short phrases by typing or speaking into your phone. You can also speak the phrase into your Apple Watch if your phone is in your pocket or purse. § Translate instant messages, texts and other content by simply copy-pasting it from and to the Translator app. § Translate signs and restaurant menus with the image translation feature. This also works with pictures you receive by email or save from online sites or social media posts. § Download the new offline language packs so you’ll be sure to be able to translate text and images if you don’t have an internet connection. § Use the text to speech feature to let the app do the talking and ensure you have the right pronunciation. § Use the conversation feature to engage in natural conversations to find out the best local restaurants from the concierge, a cab driver, or maybe just someone you happen to meet. § View that restaurant’s website in your own language before you visit using the new Safari extension. LUI News May 2016 27 Nvidia unveils processor for AI and creates “deep learning supercomputer” Turnkey system claims to deliver the equivalent throughput of 250 x86 servers Nvidia sells Graphical Processing Units (GPUs) that perform specialized parallel processing operations for displaying graphical information. Early in April, the company announced it is going beyond that role and attempting to provide a full platform to accelerate Artificial Intelligence applications that use deep neural networks. Nvidia announced a chip intended to accelerate such applications, the Tesla P100, and an architecture using multiple Tesla P100s in a cloudcomputing environment; this “deep learning supercomputer” is designed to accelerate the development of such algorithms from large databases. The new Tesla P100 chip, designed for use in corporate data centers, achieves very high performance by packing 15 billion transistors on a piece of silicon. That is roughly twice as many as Nvidia’s prior high-end graphics processor and some new server chips introduced by Intel at the end of March expanding its Xeon line. The new Xeon E5-2600 v4 family includes up to 22 calculating engines on each chip, up from a maximum of 18 on prior models. (The use of parallel processing within chips to accelerate computing power is the subject of this month’s editorial, p. 5.) The Nvidia DGX-1 supercomputer, using the company’s “Pascal” architecture, is designed specifically for deep learning. It comes fully integrated with hardware, deep learning software, and development tools for easier deployment. It is a turnkey system that contains the new P100 chips, delivering the equivalent throughput of 250 Intel x86 servers, according to Nvidia. “Artificial intelligence is the most farreaching technological advancement in our lifetime,” said Jen-Hsun Huang, CEO and cofounder of Nvidia. “It changes every industry, every company, everything. It will open up markets to benefit everyone. Data scientists and AI researchers today spend far too much time on home-brewed high performance computing solutions. The DGX-1 is easy to deploy and was created for one purpose: to unlock the powers of superhuman capabilities and apply them to problems that were once unsolvable.” The Nvidia DGX-1 deep learning system, built on Nvidia Tesla P100 GPUs, is based on a new Nvidia Pascal GPU architecture. It provides the throughput of 250 CPU-based servers, networking, cables and racks in a single box. The DGX-1 includes the Nvidia NVLink highspeed interconnect for maximum application scalability and new half-precision instructions to deliver more than 21 teraflops of peak performance for deep learning. The DGX-1 systems equipped with Tesla P100 GPUs can deliver over 12 times faster training than fourway Nvidia Maxwell architecture-based solutions from just one year ago. Yann LeCun, director of AI Research at Facebook, which introduced bots for its Messenger system (p. 1), said in the Nvidia announcement, “As neural nets become larger and larger, we not only need faster GPUs with larger and faster memory, but also much faster GPU-to-GPU communication, as well as hardware that can take advantage of reducedprecision arithmetic. This is precisely what Pascal delivers.” “Microsoft is developing super deep neural networks that are more than 1,000 layers,” said Xuedong Huang, chief speech scientist at Microsoft Research. “Nvidia Tesla P100’s impressive horsepower will enable Microsoft’s CNTK [Computational Network Toolkit] to accelerate AI breakthroughs.” Andrew Ng, chief scientist at Baidu (p. 19), said, “AI computers are like space rockets: The bigger the better. Pascal’s throughput and interconnect will make the biggest rocket we’ve seen yet.” Massachusetts General Hospital will use Nvidia’s new DGX-1 deep-learning supercomputer. Nvidia is partnering with the hospital’s Clinical Data Science Center to advance health care with AI in order to improve LUI News May 2016 28 the detection, diagnosis, treatment, and management of diseases. The DGX-1 software includes the Nvidia Deep Learning GPU Training System (called DIGITS), a complete, interactive system for designing deep neural networks (DNNs). It also includes the newly released Nvidia CUDA Deep Neural Network library (cuDNN) version 5, a GPU-accelerated library of primitives for designing DNNs. It also includes optimized versions of several widely used deep learning frameworks—Caffe, Theano, and Torch. The DGX-1 additionally provides access to cloud management tools, software updates, and a repository for containerized applications (encapsulating an application in a container with its own operating environment). General availability for the Nvidia DGX-1 deep learning system in the United States is in June, and in other regions beginning in the third quarter, direct from Nvidia and from some systems integrators. Intelligent Voice offers speech-to-text based on Graphical Processing Units Nvidia GPUs allow up to 400 times real-time processing of speech Intelligent Voice claims that it now has the “world’s fastest commercially available speech to text appliance” based on Nvidia GPU technology (previous article). Operating at up to 400x real-time, Intelligent Voice leverages CUDA programming (the parallel computing platform and application programming interface model created by Nvidia). The technology can process large databases of speech quickly for tasks such as analytics. Intelligent Voice indicates that it allows a company to sift through expanding data sets without the need for expensive transcription services. The software goes beyond transcription, using machine learning and natural language techniques to produce a “SmartTranscript,” learning what is important in a telephone call, extracting the information, and storing a visual representation of the call. Intelligent Voice’s search and alert makes it possible to tackle agent performance issues, address data security concerns, and monitor physical access to data. Information is taken directly from a network and quickly assessed for quality. The system fine-tunes itself for future processing and indexing with the data as well. Quick search for specific content is enabled by the company’s JumpTo technology. SmartTranscript is a single, self-contained HTML file that contains not only original audio/video, but also a transcript of what has been said. This is augmented by Intelligent Voice’s topic extraction technology which gives an instant snapshot of the key things said in the file. This allows the user to immediately engage with the content, understanding what has been said, and to navigate intuitively from topic to topic, guided by an advanced playback function. Intelligent Voice claims a user can within seconds understand the key topics in audio or video, without the need to listen to the whole file. Microsoft Bots (cont.) typical to download an application and install it before using it. And one must first find the app to start it up—sometimes not easy as apps proliferate. Even after launching the app, one generally must next go through the home screen to get to any real functionality. The “bot” model allows simply calling the application and usually a function within the app from Cortana or Messenger with one natural-language command to use the app’s functionality. Amazon has a similar functionality with its “skills” launched through its digital assistant Alexa. The trend Continued from page 1 Similar announcements from Facebook on bots in its Messenger service (p. 1) and Kik for its messaging service (p. 10) are part of a trend toward using natural language to make digital systems easier to use—what this newsletter summarizes as the Language User Interface (LUI). However, the announcements suggest a further trend—going directly to an independent application without launching it. Otherwise, it is LUI News May 2016 clearly has backing from influential and deeppocketed champions. This trend emphasizes a point I’ve made in several forums, including this newsletter—that the general personal assistants are becoming gateways to company-specific applications that should be bots themselves, and that every company will eventually find it as necessary to have a bot/digital-assistant as they do a web site today. Microsoft’s announcements make it easier for a company to do so by adopting its platform for bots. will interact with Skype bots by texting them and receive a text reply. Later, they will be available by voice to audio and video calling. A new Skype client, available on Windows, Android, iPhone, and iPad supports Skype Bots. A preview on these platforms is available in Skype currently in Australia, Canada, England, Ireland, India, New Zealand, Singapore, and US. A new Skype Bot developer program was launched. The Skype Bots Platform for developers includes the SDK, API, and Workflows. The Cortana and Skype demonstrations at the developers conference showed how Cortana can help one get things done directly in your Skype chats. For example, Cortana proactively helps you find information, manages your calendar, and connects to other Bots, all without leaving Skype. Cortana enhancements New features allow asking Cortana to send to a contact a document you “worked on yesterday” to surface the correct file you might be referring to. Cortana can also use Skype to interact with customers in a bot-like manner. New Outlook integration means that Cortana will be able to check your email messages and calendar to offer suggestions based on your schedule. Microsoft’s Terry Myerson, Executive Vice President, Windows and Devices Group, said in a blog post, “And only Cortana works across your devices—you can complete certain notification-based tasks on your Windows or Android phone, such as receiving and sending text messages, on your PC.” And developers can now build “Proactive Actions” on Cortana. Microsoft offers a Cortana Developer Preview. Microsoft is not ignoring its basic Windows business, however. Nadella said Windows 10 ”is off to an fantastic start” with over 270 million active devices, outpacing Windows 7 by 145%. Skype Bots Microsoft’s Skype is a VoiceOverIP (VoIP) communications solution that makes local and global connections. Nadella indicated that the next stage is adding conversation to the platform itself. Cortana is available in Skype, and can now connect users to any Skype contact with a voice command. At their developers’ conference, Microsoft introduced Skype Bots—a new way to bring expertise, products, services, and entertainment into daily messaging on Skype. Initially, one 29 The Bot Framework for conversational intelligent assistants Microsoft took the Bot Framework outside of Skype as well. Microsoft is positioning their Bot Framework as a platform where developers can build bots to run in many different environments and across services such as Facebook, Slack, and Line. The Framework uses Microsoft’s new Language Understanding Intelligent Service (LUIS) for natural language understanding support. See the end of this article for more on LUIS. A Skype Bot SDK is available, and developers can integrate it into both audio and video experiences. The bots will also come to Skype for Android, iOS, and HoloLens in addition to Windows. For bots outside of Skype, Microsoft announced the Bot Framework to connect bots to most major messaging apps and teach them to better understand natural language. Developers can also browse a bot directory to find ones with the functionality you’re seeking. These interactions can be brokered through Cortana, meaning you could theoretically start a chat with a Dominos bot after saying “Hey Cortana, order a pizza.” LUI News May 2016 Microsoft’s Cognitive Services also supplies 22 free APIs to integrate into your product. There is an Application Programming Interface for cloud-based speech recognition and text-tospeech, for example. It’s free up to 5,000 transactions per month. Microsoft’s cross-platform REST API (RESTful web Application Programming Interfaces) enables speech capabilities on all internet-connected devices. Every major platform including Android, iOS, Windows, and third-party IoT devices are supported. The REST API offers speech-to-text, text-to-speech, and language understanding capabilities delivered through the cloud. databases, but can work from a very small number of examples of what a user might type and what the “intent” and “activities” are for that action. The tool generalizes beyond the specific examples, allowing you to list “activities” relevant to your task (e.g., “run” or “bike ride” for an exercise monitoring application). It has built-in understanding of concepts such as reminders that you can use without creating them (but which can be extended). Microsoft has provided a video demonstrating LUIS that shows how the tool is used. The tool is most suitable for tasks where the context is limited. Once your application is deployed and traffic starts to flow into the system, LUIS uses active learning to improve itself. In the active learning process, LUIS identifies the interactions that it is relatively unsure of, and asks you to later label those transactions according to intent and entities to improve handling of those cases. Language Understanding Intelligence Service LUIS is a new offering, currently in beta mode. It is cloud-based, free with usage under 100,000 transactions per month on Azure. The tool is not “machine learning” designed for large Google search (cont.) Continued from page 1 He noted that a big step forward in 2012 was the use of Knowledge Graphs, which allowed understanding of “things, not strings.” Currently, Google’s representation of things includes two billion entities, 54 billion facts, 38,000 types of entities—and is growing. Behzadi noted that the future is mobile, and search has to adapt to that environment. In the mobile world, people increasingly use speech. Voice search is growing faster than typed search. He said that that speech recognition today works, with a word error rate of 8%. With speech, people use more natural sentences instead of query language, e.g., “What’s the weather like in Paris?” versus “weather Paris.” The future of search is to build the ultimate assistant, Behzadi claimed. The ultimate assistant should understand the world and your relationship to it, as well as your situation in the world currently (your current context). He showed a series of demos illustrating different types of results the user might be seeking: § 30 Answers about general knowledge such as “Show me how to make chicken soup.” § Answers about you such as “When is my next flight?” § Personal search, such as searching your email, calendar, and photos for upcoming meetings. § Using apps, such as asking Google to play a song by title. § Actions, such as setting an alarm. Behzadi illustrated the role of dialog with an example. He asked, “How high is Rigi?” and the question wasn’t understood. But then he said, “mountains in the Alps,” getting a list of mountains. which Google then lists off. When he then asked, “How high is Rigi?,” Google gave him the height of the mountain Rigi. (Editor’s Note: Google has not named its search, whatever the form, other than Google, so the natural language assistant has the same name as the company, which is also a verb, as when you “Google” something. Sorry if this leads to confusion that Apple and Microsoft, for example, have avoided by giving their equivalent functionality the names Siri and Cortana. It’s clear that search has evolved into a LUI News May 2016 digital assistant functionality, as the movie examples at the start of Behzadi’s talk confirm.) A similar use of dialog results when you ask, “Show me pictures of Wales” and get back pictures of whales. If you then you say, “w-a-le-s,” Google corrects its interpretation and shows pictures of Wales. A demonstration of the future of Now on Tap showed Behzadi in a chat talking about a restaurant reservation. Now on Tap showed options proactively, and a reservation was made with two taps. Perhaps we are moving toward what we have considered science fiction faster than some expect. CEO Sundar Pichai gave further views on where Google is heading in the company’s annual Founders’ Letter (p. 20) and the company launched a new cloud-based machine learning platform (p. 21). Facebook bots (cont.) receipts, shipping notifications, and live automated messages by interacting directly with people inside the Messenger application. The Messenger Send/Receive API will support not only sending and receiving text, but also images and interactive rich bubbles containing multiple calls-to-action. Developers can also set a welcome screen for their threads to set context as well as different controls. Facebook is immediately providing developers and businesses access to documents to build bots for Messenger, and submit them for review. We will gradually accept and approve submissions to ensure the best experiences for everyone on Messenger. The Bot Framework is summarized in the following graphic from Facebook. Continued from page 1 In announcing the initiative at a company developers conference, CEO Mark Zuckerberg summarized the goal: “We think you should message a business just the way you would message a friend.” Implicit in that statement and obvious from demonstrations is that one can use “natural language” in what amounts to text messages to a specialized company “bot.” More than 30 partners are said to be working with Facebook to develop bots. Bots Bots can provide anything from automated subscription content like weather and traffic updates, to customized communications like 31 Facebook’s Bot Framework Facebook noted the availability of Wit.ai’s complex bots that can interpret intent from Bot Engine to enable developers to build more natural language, and continuously learn to get LUI News May 2016 32 better over time. Wit.ai is now a subsidiary of Facebook, and is apparently the technology behind Facebook’s digital assistant M. Facebook has built discovery tools such as plugins for websites and a prominent search option in Messenger. The company has made it easier to connect to a bot (and other users) with Messenger Usernames, Links, and Codes. A bot can have a code that makes it easier to interact with that bot without making them “friends” or other complexities. Usernames can avoid the issue of some people or companies having similar names. A user can tap or click any Messenger Link to open Messenger directly to a thread with a person or business. In addition, Facebook News Feed ads will enable the opening of threads on Messenger and a new customer-matching feature will allow messages that are usually sent through SMS to be sent on Messenger. Facebook is experimenting with charging businesses to send re-engagement messages to people who’ve already voluntarily started a conversation with them. These “Sponsored Messages” are currently in testing with a small number of advertisers. Facebook will also be able to earn revenue with “Click To Message” News Feed ads. With the danger of such contacts becoming spam, people will be able to mute and block communications that they don’t want to receive. Facebook indicates it has strict policies for developers and businesses to uphold and will have review processes to ensure they carefully evaluate how their community is responding. While they are not yet common in the U.S. and Europe, chat bots have taken off in Asia, where messaging services such as WeChat help users schedule doctor’s appointments, shop for the latest styles, play games or the lottery, and even send money to friends. Several businesses are already available through Messenger. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines recently began allowing passengers to check in, get flight updates, make travel changes and talk to customer service reps in its Messenger app. You can hail a ride on Uber and Lyft by tapping a new transportation option inside Messenger. You can ask hotel chain Hyatt about your accommodations, and you can track your purchases through online retailer Everlane. Facebook recently announced more than two dozen additional chatbot partnerships including the Wall Street Journal, CNN, Disney, Staples, Shopify, and 1-800-Flowers. Bank of America indicated it will use Facebook Messenger to reach customers with real-time alerts and other yet-to-be revealed features. To browse for a pair of shoes on Facebook Messenger, you can now text a message to the mobile shopping start-up Spring. Spring will ask you for a preferred price range for the shoes and show you what it thinks you might like. A new Fandango bot is providing prompts for moviegoers to locate nearby theaters and movies playing at those theaters. It will also provide trailers, film synopses, ratings, run times, and direct access to advance ticketing. A concern with outside bots There have been some online complaints about poor performance of some bots attached to Facebook, e.g., the weather option. This represents a general problem for the bot model—the quality of outside bots isn’t under the control of the hosting company (Facebook in this case), but the performance is associated with the hosting company’s bot functionality. This should ease as the outside bots mature, but could be a significant problem if the hosting companies don’t differentiate the functionality that they directly support from that of third parties. Supporting announcements Aspect Software indicated it would support customer chatbots through Facebook Messenger (p. 11). Chatfuel offers tools for creating Facebook bots and a bot hosting service. LUI News May 2016 33 News briefs Elon Musk’s OpenAI releases first AI tool Elon Musk founded join OpenAI, a nonprofit dedicated to releasing cutting-edge artificial intelligence research for free. The nonprofit released the first fruits of its work, a tool called OpenAI Gym for developing and comparing different reinforcement learning algorithms, which provide a way for a machine to learn through positive and negative feedback. OpenAI Gym includes code and examples to help others get started with reinforcement learning. OpenAI also announced two new recruits, including Pieter Abbeel, an associate professor at UC Berkeley, and an expert on applying reinforcement learning to robots. [24]7 introduces customer acquisition cloud service for marketers [24]7 announced in April that it has launched the [24]7 Customer Acquisition Cloud, a suite of marketing technology solutions. The suite is based on the acquisition of Campanja, which specializes in paid search bid optimization, and EngageClick, which supports personalized marketing. Combined with [24]7’s intent-driven, predictive customer engagement platform, the [24]7 Customer Acquisition Cloud is claimed to give marketers insight into the entire customer journey, from initial search through to the point of purchase. Personalized content and optimized experiences ensure consumers are getting the best marketing offer, at the optimal time and in the ideal format. A machine learning system, integrated with several data sources and data platforms, combines software for predictive prospecting (what prospects might like to buy), retargeting (determining what consumers wanted in the past), and predictive optimized targeting (forecasting what they will likely want in the future) to determine outcomes for each consumer. This adaptive system then selects the best digital content delivery channel to present a customized offer for each individual customer. Microsoft Windows 10 Mobile test build includes support for Cortana in more languages A recent Windows 10 Mobile test build adds support for Cortana in Spanish (Mexico), Portuguese (Brazil), and French (Canada). IBM discusses recent advances in conversational speech recognition George Saon of IBM published a blog on “Recent Advances in Conversational Speech Recognition.” The blog, with references, discussed the core technology IBM employs in its Watson speech-to-text. He indicated that, on the acoustic side, IBM uses a fusion of two powerful deep neural networks that predict context-dependent phones from the input audio. The models were trained on 2000 hours of publicly available transcribed audio from the Switchboard, Fisher and CallHome corpora. On the language modeling side, IBM uses a sequence of language models (LMs) that are progressively more refined. The baseline is an n-gram LM estimated on a variety of publicly available corpora such as Switchboard, Fisher, Gigaword, and Broadcast News and Conversations. The hypotheses obtained by decoding with this LM are re-ranked with an exponential class-based language model called model M. The M stands for Medium, meaning that it’s neither too big nor too small. Lastly, IBM rescoreS the candidate sentences with a neural network LM to obtain the final output. Saon said IBM is currently working on integrating these technologies into IBM Watson’s speech-to-text service. LUI News May 2016 34 IBM notes growth in Watson services IBM announced accelerated adoption of Watson’s cognitive capabilities globally. “IBM is receiving an outpouring of interest from partners in Watson’s cognitive capabilities and supporting industry-changing use cases around the globe,” said Stephen Gold, Vice President, IBM Watson Group. “We are thrilled to be working with some of the industries best and brightest entrepreneurs and established organizations.” IBM is investing more than $1 billion into the Watson Group, focusing on research, development and bringing cloud-delivered cognitive applications and services to market. This includes $100 million earmarked for direct investment to support IBM’s ecosystem of start-ups and businesses building cognitive apps made with Watson. Currently more than 3,300 organizations and entrepreneurial individuals have shared their ideas for creating cognitive apps that redefine how businesses and consumers make decisions, IBM indicated. IBM and the University of Illinois to pioneer next-generation cognitive computing systems for applications such as multimodal education IBM Research announced plans for a multi-year collaboration with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to create the Center for Cognitive Computing Systems Research (C3SR), which will be housed within the College of Engineering on the Urbana campus. Opening in the summer of 2016, the C3SR will integrate and advance scientific frontiers in both machine learning and heterogeneous computing systems optimized for new cognitive computing workloads. The C3SR will build and optimize integrated systems such as state-of-the-art cognitive computing systems modeled on IBM’s Watson technology that can master a subject area by learning from multimedia and multi-modal educational content. Such systems will efficiently ingest vast amounts of data including videos, lecture notes, homework, and textbooks, and reason through this knowledge effectively enough to be able to eventually pass a college level exam. The optimized computing systems developed by the C3SR are expected to perform orders of magnitude better than today’s systems that run cognitive applications. With the increased computational demands of cognitive computing, the researchers will further optimize Power Systems for cognitive workloads. Researchers will have access to the OpenPOWER Foundation’s systems technology as well as technical development and support from IBM Systems Group. The new hardware designs and cognitive algorithms will be released to the open source community and OpenPOWER Foundation, of which both IBM and the University of Illinois are members. SparkCognition uses IBM Watson in assessing security risks SparkCognition, which calls itself a “Cognitive Security Analytics” company and recently raised $6 million (p. 50), and IBM announced that clients, including ExamSoft Worldwide (which does education testing), are tapping the power of Watson to transform how businesses make use of unstructured data to enhance Security Analytics. SparkCognition’s MindSpark platform and “Cognitive Fingerprinting” technology model physical and virtual assets, continuously learn from data, and derive intelligent insights to secure and protect assets. Cloud application security is a growing challenge compounded by increasingly sophisticated attack patterns and underlying configuration complexity in the assets and infrastructure being protected. Using IBM Watson technology through the cloud, SparkCognition’s Cognitive Security Insights (CSI) service discovers unfolding threats and provides users with specific information they need to know about remediation and defense mechanisms. SparkCognition’s CSI offering works by collecting massive amounts of security data and applying machine learning and AI algorithms to find trends, patterns and anomalies. LUI News May 2016 35 IBM and SAP agree to combine complementary services, including IBM Cognitive Computing and SAP HANA Business Suite, available on-premise and in the cloud IBM and Germany-based SAP plan to co-innovate solutions that increase customer value through cognitive extensions, enhanced customer and user experiences, and industry-specific functionality—all enabled with SAP Business Suite 4 SAP HANA (SAP S/4HANA) software, available on-premise and in the cloud. The companies intend to co-locate resources in Walldorf, Germany and Palo Alto, Calif. deepening a long-standing partnership. “The future of business strategy and business value will proceed from the foundational elements of this announcement—cognitive, cloud and the design of consumer-quality experiences in every industry,” said Bridget van Kralingen, senior vice president, IBM Global Business Services. “We’re formalizing a complementary set of capabilities to simplify and speed outcomes for clients evolving to become cognitive enterprises.” IBM partners with American Cancer Society on Watson Cancer Advisor IBM and the American Cancer Society (ACS) announced a partnership to develop a Watsonbased advisor for people fighting cancer—to bring the cognitive power of IBM’s Watson, not only to physicians treating cancer, but to those suffering from the disease. IBM Chairman, President and CEO Ginni Rometty announced the collaboration at the 13th Annual World Health Care Congress. The goal of the new cancer health advisor is to provide cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers with ACS resources and guidance personalized to each individual’s fight against cancer. An early 2017 release of the offering is expected. IBM Health Corps to use Watson to tackle global health disparities IBM Health Corps is a global pro-bono program focused on tackling health disparities. IBM partners with health organizations across the world, contributing the time and expertise of teams of IBM experts for three weeks on the ground. IBM Health Corps teams use IBM cognitive tools and analytics to help partner organizations expand health access and services and improve health systems and outcomes. During 13th Annual World Health Care Congress in April, IBM unveiled IBM Health Corps, a global pro-bono program focused on tackling health disparities using IBM Watson’s cognitive tools and analytics. The new service initiative will bring IBM’s top talent and cognitive technologies to help communities address health challenges such as primary care gaps, health worker shortages, and access to safe water and nutritious food. IBM teaming with Sesame Street to aid in early learning through Watson technologies Studies show that early learning can affect a child’s ability for a lifetime. IBM is teaming up with Sesame Workshop, the non-profit behind Sesame Street, to develop a new suite of preschool products that could range from consumer apps and toys, to educational tools for schools. The company says it entered into this partnership because it wants to provide personalized learning to as many kids around the world as possible. Harriet Green, IBM’s GM for Watson IoT, Commerce and Education told CNNMoney that not enough kids have access to the right level of education at the right time in their lives.” By taking what Sesame Workshop has learned about childhood education over the past few decades, and giving it to Watson, IBM hopes to develop software that helps fill in some of these gaps. NTT uses machine learning to detect cyber-crime NTT Com announced it has succeeded in automatically detecting infections of unknown malware in real time with more than 99% accuracy using machine learning. The capability has been added to NTT Com’s Managed Security Services solution under the WideAngle brand. LUI News May 2016 36 NTT Comm and IPsoft partner to launch an automated cognitive agent service NTT Communications (a subsidiary of NTT) has agreed with IPsoft to launch an automated cognitive agent service this summer. It is said to leverage AI for smooth interaction with customers in both English and Japanese. The service will work on cloud-based systems, and continues to learn from dialogue with customers. In addition to automating initial responses to customers who contact a call center or enterprise/store contact point, it will also issue invoices, send emails, and mail documents. Google upgrades its open-source TensorFlow machine learning framework to a distributed version Google is releasing a distributed version of its open-source TensorFlow software that allows it to run across multiple machines—up to hundreds at a time. The result is the ability to evaluate models in an acceptable amount of time. With the release of TensorFlow 0.8, Google noted that TensorFlow is the most popular machine learning framework on code repository GitHub. TensorFlow is a software library for numerical computation using data flow graphs that could be used to simulate a neural net, for example. Nodes in the graph represent mathematical operations, while the graph edges represent the multidimensional data arrays (tensors) communicated between them. Google open-sources Walt, a tool that measures lag for touch and voice commands In April, Google described “Walt,” software that people can use to figure out how long it takes for a device to respond to touch or voice input. Google has been using Walt to do performance tests on Android devices and Chromebooks. The company made the software available under an open source Apache license on GitHub. Walt requires hardware—a microcontroller, an accelerometer board, and a laser, but the entire kit shouldn’t cost more than $50, Google software engineer Mark Koudritsky wrote in a blog post. Koudritsky explained, “An important innovation in WALT (a descendant of QuickStep) is that it synchronizes an external hardware clock with the Android device or Chromebook to within a millisecond. This allows it to measure input and output latencies separately as opposed to measuring a round-trip latency.” Android N preview 2 lets you change the pitch of Google’s text-to-speech voice The second developer preview of Android N, the next big release of Google’s mobile operating system, comes with an update to the settings for Google’s core text-to-speech engine. There are now sliders that allow you to fine-tune the speech rate and pitch of the voice. Yahoo reportedly preparing a mobile personal assistant Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer in a recent presentation recently mentioned Index, a potential entrant in the personal assistant competition. She noted that it “accomplishes tasks on your behalf.” Rage Frameworks’ linguistics tool analyzes documents, adds deployments Rage Frameworks, a provider of knowledge-based automation technology and services, announced new deployments of its deep learning technology known as Rage AI across several global financial services, consumer products, and manufacturing firms. The challenges these organizations faced required the understanding and interpretation of complex documents and integration of other transaction data from enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to identify significant cost efficiencies and compliance conformance. RAGE AI incorporates linguistics-based tools to understand the meaning of documents and interpret them. It can operate completely unsupervised or with assistance by human experts. “Most artificial intelligence solutions involving natural language today are based purely on patterns in the data with no understanding of what they are processing. They will require highly LUI News May 2016 37 homogenous data or suffer the curse of dimensionality,” said Venkat Srinivasan, CEO of RAGE Frameworks. ”Additionally, they are all black boxes with no or little ability to provide the users with their reasoning. This is true of Google, IBM Watson, and the scores of others who have rushed to leverage computational statistics-based deep learning. With RAGE AI, we are breaking the mold and creating truly intelligent machines that can substantiate their decisions.” NeoSpeech releases Canadian French TTS voice Text-to-speech provider NeoSpeech released Canadian French voice, Leo. He joins Chloe to give consumers a male and female Canadian French option for synthesized speech. Leo comes with a customizable dictionary that enables users to customize the way he says certain words or phrases and add industry-specific jargon or slang to their audio. NeoSpeech integrates Bitcode support in its text-to-speech software for iOS Text-to-speech software provider NeoSpeech has released version 11.11 of its iOS VoiceText Embedded SDK. The new version supports Bitcode. Apple introduced Bitcode last June to allow the App Store to re-optimize apps for each kind of device before they’re delivered to the user. Conexant introduces far-field microphone processing software for Qualcomm Hexagon DSP Conexant Systems and Qualcomm Technologies, a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, announced that Conexant’s AudioSmart software has been integrated into the Qualcomm Hexagon Digital Signal Processor (DSP) family. Enabling speech recognition and voice control from a distance in smart platforms requires overcoming substantial challenges related to echo cancellation, background noise, microphone speaker position, and more. Conexant’s AudioSmart software improves voice control in smart phones, smart home applications, wearables, robots, IoT devices, and more. Fortemedia’s updated FM1388 Series IC provides voice processing solutions for Apple CarPlay Fortemedia announced it has launched new versions of its FM1388 integrated circuit tailored for Apple CarPlay and ITU P.1100/P.1110 compliance. The FM1388-1 and FM1388-2 Voice Processing ICs enable OEMs and ODMs to develop automotive infotainment systems that provide quality hands-free voice communication, voice control, and speech recognition services. The FM1388-1 works with single-microphone systems while the FM1388-2 supports multiplemicrophone systems, providing advanced features enabled by Fortemedia’s smart microphone array system. Fortemedia’s latest generation of FM1388-1 and FM1388-2 Voice Processing ICs include Advanced Microphone Array Processing (AMAP), Advanced Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC), and newly developed Smart Spectral Analysis (SSA) technologies to ensure the high-quality voice operations for both wideband and narrowband hands-free calling with Apple CarPlay and other automotive infotainment voice calling applications. For multiple-microphone systems Fortemedia supports flexible microphone placements both in the car console and in traditional car cabin overhead locations. In addition to providing a superior voice experience during hands-free phone calls, the FM1388-1 and FM1388-2 offer a voice recognition enhancement mode, that assists speech recognition systems to provide better performance when operating in the challenging car cabin environment. The FM1388-1 and FM1388-2 are shipping in prototype quantities and are currently being incorporated in a number of OEM and ODM automotive infotainment products, according to the company. Apple TV activates “live tune-in” feature launched through Siri Apple’s “Live Tune-In” feature for the most recent generation of Apple TV is officially live. This feature allows an Apple TV user to ask Siri to automatically transport them to the livestream of LUI News May 2016 38 a tvOS app from the home screen. The “Live Tune-In” feature was officially part of the tvOS 9.2 update that Apple released in March. The update also brought Bluetooth keyboard support to the Apple TV, folders for apps, dictation and Siri support for searching through the tvOS store. Apple is promoting three apps at the moment for use with the “Live Tune-In” feature: ESPN, Disney XD, and CBS. By telling Siri to watch ESPN live for example, Siri will automatically open the app and start the live stream. e-djuster launches mobile solution for contents inventory and claims management with speech recognition e-djuster announced the launch of its e-xclaim mobile solution, a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) contents inventory and claims management solution serving the insurance industry. The service supports speech recognition, enabling adjusters and field content claims specialists to remotely complete content inventory claims faster, with greater accuracy, and with the ability to operate on a connected or unconnected basis to a cellular or Wifi network. The Mobile solution provides a seamless upload capability to e-xclaim, where the pricing and valuation process is automatically initiated without delay. Compared to traditional claims methods, the e-xclaim valuation platform improves claims processing productivity by more than 20% and indemnity performance by greater than 15% through access to the industry’s highest quality matching product data, according to the company. Lexalytics provides text analytics that run on an Android device, targeted at developers to include in their apps Lexalytics, a provider of cloud and on-premise text analytics solutions, is launching Salience for Android, a native text analytics package built on machine learning. By providing native text analytics, all processing stays local on the phone so analysis results never go back to the cloud, ensuring end-user privacy, according to the vendor. With Salience for Android, application developers can offer mobile users natural language processing and analytics for an app that uses text, including email, SMS and chat, reviews, comparison shopping, social media, travel, and hospitality, so they can gain insights and useful information to improve productivity and simplify day-to-day activities. With Salience for Android, developers can bring apps to market with functionality such as immediately alerting a user about an email or post that is especially negative and incendiary, or positive and praiseworthy; displaying a daily summary of emails from important contacts; providing a list of any to-do’s throughout the day, week or month; summarizing the latest information in the sports world from a favorite team; removing politics-related content or any content the user might want stricken from their social feed; highlight buzz-worthy events taking place in the upcoming weekend; and warning users when they’re about to send out a text they may regret later. Other features include named entity extraction, summarization, imperative sentence extraction, and query-based categorization. GMA Consulting and TermSet offer document-centric solutions for financial sector GMA Consulting, an IT consultancy specializing in solutions for the financial services industry, and TermSet, a provider of software which automatically creates metadata and taxonomies for Office documents, PDFs, and emails within Microsoft SharePoint, announced a partnership to offer advanced document-centric solutions for firms in the financial services sector. Ben Grey, a Director at GMA Consulting, said, “The first area we identified where TermSet could benefit our clients was managing research documents. Both buy and sell side firms produce and consume large amounts of research documents. When a piece of research material is uploaded to a SharePoint library, TermSet can automatically produce a headline summary, classify the sentiment, and automatically tag with metadata such as asset class, industry sector, company name, and region / country. This will make it LUI News May 2016 39 far easier for users to find documents they are interested in, particularly if SharePoint’s advanced search capabilities are used as well. The second area we identified is legal document management. TermSet can help extract key information such as matter reference and counterparty names and tag documents with this information. This would negate the need for legal departments to manually classify documents, which is hugely time consuming and inefficient.” TermSet uses Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning to improve search, governance and navigation within SharePoint. Nuance selected by CHRISTUS Health for enterprise-wide speech recognition and clinical documentation improvement deployment Nuance Communications announced it has been selected by CHRISTUS Health, one of the ten largest Catholic not-for-profit health systems in the US, for an enterprise-wide physician documentation improvement initiative to improve how physicians work with inpatient and ambulatory Electronic Health Records, with the additional benefit of improving financial performance. This broad implementation replaces multiple competitive systems, adding Nuance’s full suite of clinical documentation solutions including Nuance’s back-end medical transcription, as well as Nuance PowerScribe 360, and Nuance Dragon Medical for real-time speech-enabled physician documentation. Recent Windows 10 update build apparently includes Cortana “find my phone” feature Microsoft is working on Cortana features in the upcoming Windows 10 Anniversary Update. One of those new features is, according to rumors, a new “Find my phone” option. Asking Cortana on build 14295 to “find my phone” appears to work, according to one report—the command results in Cortana saying that she’s now looking for it. CallMiner partners with Ultracomms to add its interaction analytics solutions to Ultracomms’ PCI-compliant cloud contact center CallMiner, Inc. and, Ultracomms, a European cloud contact center services provider, announced a partnership to provide contact centers across the UK with advanced cloud-based Interaction Analytics solutions from CallMiner. Ultracomms recently achieved the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) v3.1, (PCI DSS) Level 1 accredited service provider status for its entire platform. By adding the CallMiner Eureka interaction analytics solution, Ultracomms customers can capture and analyze 100% of customer interactions across all communication channels, including calls, chats, emails and social media. This delivers a number of benefits, including: § Helping organizations improve contact center performance by analyzing all interactions for all agents, rather than basing decisions on a small sample of calls; § Making full FCA compliance very simple by providing access to all interactions; § Identifying best practice and agent strengths so that not only can the skills of individual agents be matched to tasks but also the performance of the whole team can be raised; § Introducing a competitive spirit amongst agents by providing each agent with their own dashboard that anonymously compares their performance with best-performing agents; § Identifying the optimal path for customer interactions so that best practice can be shared across the team; and § Enabling contact center managers to become more effective by switching their time from listening to a small sample of calls to identifying and delivering more targeted and intelligent coaching based on all interactions. Hitachi introduces in-store sales representative robot SoftBank’s Pepper robot has been used as a conversational in-store guide for shoppers, and Hitachi has launched a competitor. Called by the catchy name of EMIEW3, the roughly 3-foot-tall LUI News May 2016 40 unit can determine when customers need help and then approach them without prompting, Hitachi said. (A questionable feature if, for example, it frightens a child or startles an adult.) The intelligence is delivered over a network connection, which allows it to be helped by cameras in the venue observing a customer’s movements. The device will reportedly go on sale in 2018. Thomson Reuters signs an agreement with FiscalNote to add automated legislative tracking solution to Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence Thomson Reuters announced that it has signed an agreement with FiscalNote, a provider of legislative and regulatory analytics and insight. The agreement supplies predictive legislative analytics to Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence (TRRI), a global solution that provides clients a focused view allowing them to manage regulatory risk. Under the agreement, FiscalNote will provide TRRI users with insight on the likelihood and factors important to a piece of legislation’s passage with a high degree of accuracy. FiscalNote uses machine learning and natural language processing to create models analyzing open government data. These models allow FiscalNote to automatically analyze how legislation is going to fare by examining and understanding the importance of various factors such as legislators, committee assignments, actions taken, bill versions, and amendments. Forum announces the public launch of the VoiceXML 2.1 Developer Certification Exam Voice eXtensible Markup Language (VoiceXML) has long been a popular way to control voiceinteractive IVR systems. The VoiceXML Forum was created in 1999 with the mission to promote and to accelerate the worldwide adoption of VoiceXML-based applications. The VoiceXML Forum announced the launch of the VoiceXML 2.1 competency-based certification for IVR developers. VoiceXML developers will be able to attest to their skills and expertise within the IVR community and to potential employers. This Certification Exam expands upon a previous developer certification offered by the Forum to match the evolution of industry standards in the following ways: § VoiceXML 2.0 test material has been greatly expanded and revised for clarity. § Extended to cover VoiceXML 2.1 through comprehensive inclusion of assertions relating to material from the VoiceXML 2.1 specification. § Includes updated content reflecting the final draft specifications for the CCXML, SRGS, SISR, and SSML specifications. ASTi to enhance RAF Ch-47 trainers including speech recognition Advanced Simulation Technology (ASTi) equipment will be fitted on a suite of CH-47 Mk6 Chinook helicopter weapons system trainers for the British Royal Air Force (RAF), the company announced. The RAF's cabin trainer and two flight deck trainers will be equipped with ASTi’s Telestra 4 and Simulated Environment for Realistic ATC (SERA) systems. The systems will equip the trainers with audio and communications capabilities. ASTi’s SERA system creates an immersive and fully automated ATC and external radio environment for enhanced aircrew training by generating artificially intelligent (AI) entities that represent pilots, other aircraft and air traffic controllers who communicate in the same simulation. The system uses speech recognition to allow pilot trainees to communicate with AI controllers during all phases of flight training. The speech recognition system replicates regional accents and eliminates the need for additional staff role players. Max Sound’s High Definition Audio now available for iPhones Max Sound Corporation announced that the next generation iOS MAX-D HD Audio App version 2.01 is now available for free download at the Apple App Store. MAX-D HD is designed specifically to bring High Definition audio to today’s worldwide streaming audience. Version 2.01 resynthesizes today’s compressed audio in real time, restoring much of what was lost during the LUI News May 2016 41 compression process, including the highs, lows, and mid-ranges. In addition, MAX-D has a natural audio safe mode that allows the App user to choose to enjoy their music under 85 decibels to avoid hearing damage. For those people who don't stream music, MAX-D Version 2.01 allows anyone with an iTunes playlist to listen in MAX-D HD. MAX-D HD version 3.0 will offer a paid subscription version of the App in the near future. The Subscription App will work with additional streaming audio/video services, speech recognition, and Apple's Car Play. BodyWorn body-worn camera system allows entering notes with speech-to-text The latest upgrade to the BodyWorn smart body-worn camera system from Utility is now available to instantly playback recorded HD video, classify video by retention categories, and enter notes via text entry and speech recognition. BodyWorn can be configured to allow police officers to view recorded video on their body-worn device immediately after recording to improve the accuracy of their notes. Robert McKeeman, CEO of Utility, said, “The Police Department does not have to buy new body camera hardware to get new features and capabilities, or wait years for the camera hardware to be replaced. The Department, of course, decides which features and capabilities to activate as part of their overall policy-based recording strategy. Our mission is to provide Police Chiefs and Policy Makers with the most up-to-date configurable technology so they can make policy decisions without being limited by the technology.” MIT and PatternEx develop machine learning AI to detect cyberattacks, using machine learning to cluster similar potential problems for human analysts A new artificial intelligence platform developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and PatternEx can identify up to 85% of cyberattacks, according to a new research paper. Dubbed AI2, the platform is said to be significantly better at predicting cyberattacks than similar systems because it continuously incorporates new input provided by human experts. “Today’s security systems usually fall into one of two categories: man or machine,” Adam Conner-Simon from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) wrote in a post on the MIT News site. “So-called ‘analyst-driven solutions’ rely on rules created by human experts and therefore miss any attacks that don’t match the rules. Meanwhile, today’s machinelearning approaches rely on ‘anomaly detection,’ which tends to trigger false positives that both create distrust of the system and end up having to be investigated by humans, anyway.” The MIT and PatternEx platform attempts to merge those two approaches. AI2 predicts attacks by combing through data and detecting suspicious activity by clustering it into meaningful patterns using unsupervised machine learning, according to researchers at MIT. It then presents the activity to human analysts who confirm which events are actual attacks. AI2 then incorporates that feedback into its models for the next set of data. Sentient Technologies uses AI to help sell shoes Sentient Technologies uses AI to make e-commerce more effective with it Sentient Aware software. Sentient Aware does not require shoppers to interact with navigation menus and checkbox filters to narrow down results. Based on the positive response from its shoppers to the initial rollout of Sentient Aware, SHOES.COM is expanding the use of Sentient Aware to a number of new shoe categories on its Canadian site SHOEme.ca. SHOES.COM’s “Visual Filter” uses the Sentient AI to gain has a deep, highly detailed understanding of the shoes available in the catalog. As consumers click on product images, it rapidly learns shoppers’ unique style preferences. Visual Filter provides instant recommendations of available shoes. These highly personalized choices can then be selected for purchase or saved for later. LUI News May 2016 42 SHOES.COM has also released a new user interface for Sentient Aware on their site, and rebranded the experience as Smart Shopper. Since the launch of the Sentient Aware-powered Visual Filter last November, customers using the experience have, on average, a 16% higher average order size when checking out compared to the rest of SHOEme.ca’s customers. SRI International spins off robotics company to make body suit that enhances movement Nonprofit research organization SRI motivated by support for soldiers that carry International is spinning off part of its robotics heavy packs or armaments all day. division into a new company called Superflex. Superflex will focus on “human augmentation,” robotic augmentations for people, with the focus on helping the disabled or preventing disabilities in people with jobs that entail repetitive physical stress that might lead to disabilities. Superflex is the name of the company’s prototype, a full-body suit filled with soft muscle-like actuators that detect movements and give them a boost. The intent is to be the difference that lets someone in physical therapy walk normally, or prevents an individual in a job requiring repetitive physical stress avoid future problems. Some DARPA funding at SRI is Chevron employs AI to improve operations According to The Motley Fool, Chevron is currently using AI (probably machine learning in particular) to identify new well locations and stimulation candidates in California. Using AI software to analyze the company’s historical well performance data has reportedly allowed the company to drill in better locations, yielding a production rise 30% over conventional methods. Chevron is also using predictive models to analyze the performance of thousands of pieces of rotating equipment to detect failures before they occur, avoiding unplanned shutdowns and has lowering repair expenses. The increased production and lower repair costs have translated to more profit per well. Overall, analysts believe artificial intelligence and digital technologies will unlock trillions of dollars of productivity gains over the next decade in the industrial sector, with the oil and gas sector being one of the prime beneficiaries. Wise.io introduces content discovery capability for customer support Wise.io, a provider of machine learning applications to help enterprises provide a better customer experience, launched an intelligent content discovery and creation capability for customer support organizations. Using machine learning to read and understand past support conversations, “Wise Support” automatically identifies and surfaces similar agent responses that are not already part of a company’s curated content library. With Wise.io, the creative work of front-line agents, often lost in the noise, can be used to drive efficiency and uniformity across the customer care organization. Intoware uses Nuance speech recognition to direct aircraft maintenance hands-free U.K.-based Intoware has developed speech recognition software called WorkfloPlus that guides techs through performance and reporting of aircraft maintenance tasks hands-free. Chief Technology Officer James Woodall explains the software gives audio instructions on each step to be followed, receives the results of each step spoken into a digital device, and stamps each interaction with GPS location and time. The Intoware software can be used on Android, iOS, or Windows smartphones or wearable devices. “It solves the problem of giving instructions on each step, guiding mechanics LUI News May 2016 43 through each step and knowing that each step has been followed,” Woodall says. “You can’t skip steps; it won’t allow that.” Intoware uses Nuance’s VoCon 3200 speech recognition software and builds WorkfloPlus on top of that. The company makes only the software, not the hardware. Background noise cancelation is necessary to avoid false triggers in frequently loud maintenance environments. WorkfloPlus currently uses algorithms to cancel background noise and improve speech recognition. Woodall recommends that device manufacturers consider installing Kopin’s noise-canceling chips to achieve the same effect. Does this look like a robot? Jia Jia (pictured) is an experimental robot build at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). Jia Jia has been created to mimic humans in as many ways as possible. The mouth lip-syncs words, she looks around to scan the environment, and she processes the events around her. Perhaps ironically, given that China is often viewed as a source of low-cost human labor, the country has made a priority of developing robot technology. Jia Jia Narita International Airport in Japan testing a speech-to-speech translation application on shuttle buses Narita International Airport in Japan is testing a speech-to-speech translation mobile application NariTra for iOS and Android devices on shuttle buses running between two terminals. The plan is to roll it out across the entire airport by the time the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games take place. The free multilingual translation app was created by the airport using a multilingual speech translation engine developed by the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology of Japan (NITC). It employs noise-canceling techniques and can provide speech-to-speech translations between Japanese and English, Mandarin Chinese, Korean, and Indonesian. It also supports text-to-text translation in these languages, as well as in Thai, French, and Spanish. Perfect Pitch uses recorded scripted responses to allow off-shore agents to sound native Perfect Pitch’s customer contact center uses scripted, recorded responses, using human agents to control scripted responses, essentially reducing agents to speech recognition engines. The company’s approach is an attempt to address complaints about understanding foreign call center representatives with heavy accents. The company helps companies utilize offshore call centers, while having the representative sound local to the customer from wherever he or she lives. The technology has been used to facilitate over 100 million minutes of conversation, according to the company. IndianTTS launches Hindi text-to-speech solution Indian Text to Speech Private Limited has announced the availability of its Hindi text-tospeech solution for IVR systems. This technology is said to engage the customer in regional Indian languages. IndianTTS’s Hindi product includes a specialized name conversion tool that is said to achieve 85% accurate Indian naming conversion. LUI News May 2016 44 Microsoft collaborates with Narrative Science to add automated natural-language narratives to its Power BI visuals Microsoft Power BI (Business Intelligence) transforms company data into rich visuals. Microsoft announced a collaboration with Narrative Science resulting in a new feature: Narratives for Power BI, which automatically communicates insights from all connected Power BI data sources in natural language. As you interact with your data and visualizations, Narratives for Power BI dynamically delivers insights in narrative form, simulating what an analyst would write. This custom feature uses Narrative Science Quill, a natural language generation platform. Narratives can be generated directly from the wide range of Power BI’s connected data sources and can be used to uncover trends hidden in visualizations. Dynamic narratives continuously update as you interact with your data and visualizations, providing natural language insights driven by descriptive, diagnostic, and predictive analytics. Microsoft updates Cortana on the iPhone Microsoft updated Cortana on the Apple iPhone, adding some new functionality and fixing some issues. Version 1.5.5 includes the ability to launch some popular apps with your voice and an improved homepage loading experience. Florida Hospital achieves significant quality improvements plus $72.5 million in increased reimbursement with Nuance Clinical Documentation Improvement Nuance Communications announced that Florida Hospital has realized significant improvements in its Case Mix Index (CMI), resulting in $72.5 million increase in appropriate reimbursement since the implementation of Nuance CDI. (Clinical Documentation Improvement is a process typically used in hospitals with specialists who review clinical documents and provide feedback to physicians.) In addition, Florida Hospital reduced its observed-to-expected mortality rates by 48% and achieved ICD-10 compliance. (ICD is the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, a medical classification list standardized by the World Health Organization). Florida Hospital deployed Nuance’s CDI program at Florida Hospital in summer 2014 and completed an expansion across eight affiliated hospitals by May 2015. Florida Hospital will expand its program and leverage the enhanced Nuance Clintegrity CDI solution embedded within Cerner’s Millennium Electronic Health Record and revenue cycle solutions. This integration will provide clinicians and clinical documentation specialists with a highly efficient workflow that supports the quality of physician documentation with minimal disruptions. Nuance clients will also leverage computer-assisted physician documentation (CAPD) technology, which provides automated CDI clarifications to physicians, integrated into Cerner’s Document Quality Review solution. Apple will pay $24.9 million in a long-running lawsuit over the origins of Siri, more suits likely A lawsuit, which dates back to 2011, alleges that Apple's virtual personal assistant Siri was developed by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), which was awarded a patent for the technology in 2007. RPI then licensed the patent to Dynamic Advances. Apple agreed to provide Dynamic Advances’ parent company Marathon Patent Group with $5 million now, and hand over an additional $20 million after certain conditions are met. In announcing the settlement, the non-practicing entity said, ‘Dynamic Advances believes RPI has unreasonably withheld its consent to the reasonable royalty rate set forth in the settlement agreement between Dynamic Advances and Apple, and that issue may have to be resolved in arbitration.” The SEC statement announcing the deal also makes clear that Dynamic Advances is going to find other targets, as the company states that it “believes that other voice recognition products infringe the ‘798 patent.” LUI News May 2016 45 A Taiwanese university has also sued Apple for alleged patent infringement in its Siri voice assistant. Taiwan's National Cheng Kung University alleged in the lawsuit, filed in a US district court, that Apple's Siri feature infringes on two of the school’s U. patents dealing with speech recognition technology. The university is demanding Apple pay a still undetermined amount in damages, and that the court order an injunction on Apple's use of Siri as a feature on its iPhones and iPads. Statistics and Surveys More than 75% of businesses rank the importance of having a mobile application as high 451 Research asked businesses to rate the importance of providing customer with services from mobile devices. Over three-quarters ranked as high (8-10 on a scale of 10) both creating a mobile shopping experience via a mobile web site and creating a mobile application for customers such as shopping or customer service. 89% of consumers expect and prefer conversational interactions with customer service Nuance Communications shared results of a recent global survey relating to consumer preferences and expectations around customer self-service. 89% of consumers want to engage in conversation with virtual assistants to quickly find information instead of searching through Web pages or a mobile app on their own. In the phone channel, the majority of consumers indicated they prefer to engage with a system that lets them speak naturally when calling a business. Further results: § 73% of consumers want their conversation with customer service to be personalized. § 64% of consumers want their customer service to be proactive in nature, with suggestions and reminders. § Consumers want a conversational, personalized and proactive interaction throughout the entire service experience, including authentication, with 83% of respondents seeking an alternative to passwords and PINs and the majority eager to use voice biometrics as the method to identify themselves. Botego CEO predicts 2017 will be the year of the bots with $2 billion market size Botego has nine years of experience in developing bots for web, mobile, Facebook, Slack, and other platforms. Customers include Johnson & Johnson, Coca Cola, and Unilever. Currently, 40+ bots developed by Botego deliver an average of 5 million answers per month, according to the company. Ekim Nazim Kaya, CEO of Botego, expects 2017 to be a big year for bots. He shared his predictions in a recent blog post. Kaya bases his optimism on the following: § Siri, Cortana, Echo, and now Messenger M represent a strong trend; § Apps such as Whatsapp, Line, Telegram have billions of users; § Using a bot running on these platforms is much more efficient than downloading an app for every brand; § Millenials, who will account for 40% of all consumers, prefer using self service channels over talking to a customer service rep; and § Analysts from Gartner and Deloitte predict that autonomous software will take place in most economic transactions by 2020. LUI News May 2016 46 Millennials have the lowest tolerance for errors and delays, but reward good service with loyalty J.D. Power released their first Millennials Insight Report: The Customer Experience Perspective, defining the makeup and customer experience preferences of Millennials—those born between 1982 and 1994. The report concluded that millennials have the lowest tolerance for errors and delays of any other generation studied—they simply expect things to work. However, when there is a problem and it is resolved fully, Millennials are substantially more likely than Boomers to reuse a product or service. Unlike other generations that tend to buy things for status, image, or brand loyalty, Millennials are most likely to make a purchase decision based on value for money—across virtually every product category. Millennials are less concerned than other generations about privacy. They accept the erosion of privacy as inevitable and are generally willing to have their information collected if it comes with benefits in the form of targeted offers and personalized services. Despite having lower accumulated wealth, less income, and higher debt than other generations, millennials are much more optimistic about the economy and their own personal financial outlook. 73% of smart home owners already use voice commands According to The NPD Group Connected Intelligence Connected Home Automation Report, 64% of smart home product owners used a smartphone to control or monitor their home automation devices. Additionally, 73% of smart home owners already use voice commands, with 61% of those consumers expressing an interest in wanting to use voice to control more products in their homes. “This reliance on smartphones to control and monitor the smart home is due, in part, to app compatibility, as nearly all home automation devices have an iPhone or Android app,” said John Buffone, executive director, Connected Intelligence. “As apps and devices become more intuitive, voice recognition – and thus, voice control – will begin to play a more prominent role in the further development of the smart home.” The NPD Group’s Retail Tracking Service has also recorded that Home Automation sales are up 41% year-over-year in 2015 versus 2014. This tracking service’s metrics incorporate not only systems controllers such as thermostats, but also the broad range of smart capabilities across technologies such as power, sensors, lighting, security/monitoring, locks, and kits. Global virtual reality headset revenues projected to reach $895 million in 2016 According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, global virtual reality headset revenues will reach $895 million in 2016 with 77% of that value accounted for by newly launched premium devices from Oculus, HTC, and Sony. These three brands however will only account for 13% of volume in 2016 as lower-priced smartphone-based devices will dominate in the 12.8 million unit virtual reality headset market. The analyst firm sees 2016 as a pivotal year for virtual reality given a confluence of factors, and also one where managing expectations will be paramount given a dearth of available content and the technical limitations of entry-level virtual reality. YouTube and Netflix lead Web video delivery In broadcasting, over-the-top content (OTT) refers to delivery of audio, video, and other media over the Internet without the involvement of a multiple-system operator in the control or distribution of the content. Netflix continues to grow its user base in the US, with 126.9 million people expected to use it this year, according to eMarketer’s latest forecast on OTT video usage. That equates to 67.9% of OTT video users. Among the OTT service providers eMarketer tracks, only YouTube has more users than Netflix—176.1 million, which equates to 94.3% of OTT users. LUI News May 2016 47 Speech analytics market worth $1.60 billion by 2020 According to a new market research report on speech analytics published by MarketsandMarkets, the market is estimated to grow from $589.2 Million in 2015 to $1.60 Billion by 2020, at an estimated Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 22.0% from 2015 to 2020. The telecom, IT and outsourcing segment is expected to contribute the largest market share in the Speech Analytics Market in 2015. The travel and hospitality segment is expected to grow at a rapid rate from 2015 to 2020. Intelligent Virtual Assistant market is expected to exceed $3 million by 2020 Grand View Research projected that the global intelligent virtual assistant market will be $352 million in 2012, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 31.7% from 2013 to 2020. Growing focus on efficient customer interaction facilitated by virtual assistants is expected to drive the market over the forecast period. Large enterprises were the dominant consumers of intelligent virtual assistant services, and accounted for over 80% of the overall market in 2012. Market prospects for small and medium enterprises (SME) are expected to be positive, with adoption rates expected to increase considerably over the next six years. Demand from travel, utilities, telecommunication, etc. is expected to be a major opportunity for market participants. The “global intelligent voice” industry to reach $19 billion by 2020 The “global intelligent voice industry” was estimated at $4.75 billion in 2014 and should see 30% growth per year, reaching $19 billion by 2020, according to a study from ReportsnReports. Propelled by big data, mobile Internet, cloud computing, and other technologies, the global intelligent voice industry is predicted to grow 30.7% from a year ago to hit $6.21 billion. The market was valued at $4.75 billion in 2014. As the application of speech recognition technology in intelligent in-vehicle, smart home, and wearable devices goes deeper, the market will maintain rapid growth, reaching an estimated $19.17 billion in 2020. With the intense involvement of Internet giants including Google, Microsoft, and Apple around 2010, the global intelligent voice industry has gradually evolved from an oligopoly to monopolistic competition. In 2015, speech recognition leader Nuance Communications still took first place with a market share of 31.1 percent but suffered a significant decline; Google, Microsoft, Apple, and IFLYTEK witnessed rapid share growth, standing at 20.7 percent, 13.4 percent, 12.9 percent, and 6.7 percent, respectively. The report identifies the major speech recognition players as Nuance, Apple, Google, Microsoft, IBM, MindMeld, and Speaktoit. More than three billion Android phones in use globally by 2020 451 Research estimated that the number of Android phones in use will rise from 2.132 billion in 2015 to 3.029 billion in 2020. Global smartphone shipments this year have fallen According to a report from Strategy Analytics, global smartphone shipments this year have fallen 3% compared with the first quarter of 2015, down from 345 million units to 334.6 million. This is the first time smartphone unit sales have slipped since the device’s introduction. Annual gains in worldwide ad spending will hover around 6% through 2020 Spending on paid media ads worldwide will climb 5.7% in 2016 to $542.55 billion, propelled by increased investments in digital advertising. Worldwide ad spending will reach $674.24 billion by the end of 2020, with annual gains hovering between 5% and 6%. LUI News May 2016 48 Mobile advertising nears $29 billion annually in US This year, in the US, eMarketer estimates that advertisers will spend $28.72 billion to reach their targets on mobile devices. Financial Notes Aspect Software makes progress in restructuring Aspect Software, a provider of fully integrated consumer engagement, workforce optimization, and back-office solutions on premises and in the cloud, updated the status of its strategic action to facilitate its long-term growth. On March 9, 2016, the company commenced a pre-arranged chapter 11 case in support of a proposed restructuring agreement with existing lenders. The restructuring is expected to facilitate the reduction of more than $320 million of indebtedness, a new first lien facility, and an infusion of new capital to enable growth. Since the announcement of its restructuring just a month ago, the Company has agreed upon and filed the underlying documentation to implement the transaction and, more importantly, secured consent from nearly all of its existing lenders. More specifically: § 100% support from the Company’s first lien secured lenders § Approximately 80% support from the Company’s second lien secured lenders § Angel Island Capital, an existing stakeholder in Aspect and an affiliate of Golden Gate Capital (Aspect’s current majority equity shareholder), has agreed to invest new capital and continue as an equity holder in Aspect following its reorganization § All trade debt will be paid in full in cash as part of the restructuring; moreover, no committee of creditors has been formed § Overwhelming support for the restructuring will facilitate an expedited exit from the restructuring process. MetaMind acquired by Salesforce Salesforce has acquired MetaMind, which has a question-and-answering technology for both visual and textual inputs. MetaMind indicated it would extend Salesforce’s data science capabilities by embedding deep learning within the Salesforce platform. Salesforce plans to integrate MetaMind’s technology into Salesforce services. MetaMind will discontinue the services it offers directly. $30M round for AI marketing firm Persado Persado has a “persuasion automation” platform, natural language processing technology that automates the creation of the persuasive language used in digital marketing and other applications. The company optimizes marketing pitches for a variety of corporate clients such as Citibank, Microsoft, Verizon Wireless, Sears, and American Express, just closed a $30 million Series C funding round. Investment bank Goldman Sachs led the round, while previous investors — Bain Capital Ventures, StarVest Partners, American Express Ventures, and Citi Ventures — also participated. The company currently employs more than 200 people across nine global locations and generates cognitive content for display ads, Facebook, email, website landing pages, SMS, and mobile push notifications. X.ai secures $23M in Series B funding x.ai, Inc., an artificial intelligence company, announced that it has secured an additional $23 million in Series B financing led by Two Sigma Ventures. In addition, DCM Ventures and Work- LUI News May 2016 49 Bench Ventures have joined in the round of funding as new investors. All of x.ai’s existing investors have also participated. The investment will support the continued expansion of x.ai’s data science team as well as the development of its customer acquisition and enterprise sales teams. To date, a select number of customers have had beta access to x.ai’s AI personal assistant (Amy or Andrew Ingram) (Speech Strategy News, March 2015, p. 23). Customers simply cc’ Amy, and she takes over the job of scheduling your meeting. Artificial intelligence startup DigitalGenius raises $4M to automate customer service DigitalGenius is announced its Human+AI customer service platform, along with a $4.1 million seed investment. The platform integrates with existing customer service software suites — like Salesforce, Zendesk, and Oracle — to automate the most repetitive parts of customer service through AI and machine learning-powered chatbots. Salesforce was part of the deal. nGUVU raises $3 million to bring gamification and machine learning to contact centers nGUVU, a developer of gamification and machine learning software for contact centers, has just received $3 million in funding from Brightspark Venture Capital and Desjardins Venture Capital. Pierre Donaldson, Chairman and CEO of nGUVU, said, “Our mission is to revolutionize contact centers by putting the agent at the core of our strategy. The opportunity before us is huge because there are over 4 million agents in North America and 20 million agents worldwide. There is no other solution today that uses gamification and machine learning to improve the agent experience.” Security startup Illumio raises $100 million Having emerged from stealth mode late last year, Illumio announced $100m of series C funding from new investors BlackRock Funds and Accel Partners, plus existing investors. The company offers an Adaptive Security Platform (ASP). According to the company, traditional perimeter- and network-centric security products are no longer sufficient in a world where applications and workloads increasingly need to work dynamically across on-premise data centers and public cloud services. Firewalls, intrusion protection systems and advanced threat protection appliances are widely deployed to secure interactions at the perimeter - but, says Illumio, these tools offer little protection within enterprise data centers and in the public cloud, where much of today’s traffic flow and data resides. Illumio’s Adaptive Security Platform addresses the problem by taking a granular approach to security. There are two elements to the ASP: an agent (the Virtual Enforcement Node, or VEN) that attaches to Linux or Windows workloads running on physical and virtual machines, be they in onpremise data centers or in the cloud; and a centralized (on-premise or cloud-based) server, the Policy Compute Engine (PCE), which receives telemetry from the VENs to build a map of the dependencies between classified workloads in multi-tiered applications. This map can then be used to build application-specific security policies based on explicitly allowed interactions between the constituent workloads. Policies are written in natural language (and translated into network actions by the VENs) rather than arcane firewall rules. Shopify acquires Kit CRM to further “conversational commerce” Shopify, a Canadian e-commerce company headquartered that develops computer software for online stores and retail point-of-sale systems, is among the latest to invest in chat bots. The ecommerce platform has acquired Kit CRM as it looks to further what it calls its “conversational commerce” strategy. Kit, which got its start in 2013, is positioned as a virtual marketing assistant that helps online merchants market their stores and engage customers via text and other messaging. Kit enables businesses to build Facebook ads, email customers, sponsor Instagram photos, post updates to their LUI News May 2016 50 Facebook Page and offer recommendations through a chat interface. Kit also introduced an API that lets it interact with other apps in the Shopify App Store. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Mobify acquires Pathful and its machine learning technology Mobile customer engagement company Mobify announced the acquisition of Pathful, a provider of advanced machine learning-based technology for behavior-based targeting. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Founded in 2011, Pathful helps retailers and B2B customers understand how visitors interact with content, capturing micro interactions on the web as well as with desktop and mobile devices to surface content that engages with customers and increases conversions. The technology is being integrated with Mobify’s Mobile Customer Engagement Platform, enabling retailers that use content marketing and marketing automation to acquire and qualify customers by understanding the entire customer journey, from acquisition through conversion. Coveo grows with its “intelligent search” products Coveo, which provides “intelligent search,” announced another consecutive record-breaking quarter for Q1 2016. Coveo reported CY Q1 2016 revenue bookings growth of 107% and GAAP revenue growth of 109% over CY Q1 2015. During CY Q1 2016 Coveo expanded its key verticals with multiple new customers in energy, healthcare, financial services, and technology. “This is an exciting time for Coveo with our significant technology advances in machine learning, analytics, and search intelligence in the cloud,” said Louis Tetu, Coveo CEO. Coveo plans to open new offices in Montreal and Silicon Valley, expand its R&D headquarters in Quebec City, and hire an additional 70 staff this year. Almax Analytics closes seed round to provide AI for news insights in capital markets Almax Analytics, which provides “Artificial Intelligence for News Insights in Capital Markets,” announced a seed round has been closed in London. Investors include executives from MCSI Inc., Aviva plc, a founding member of RiskMetrics Group Inc., the Fintech SEIS Fund and Jonas Dromberg, a Finnish technology investor and former Bloomberg Bureau Chief. Results of this firstto-market service for analyzing news are expected by July, with Series A financing plans already in process. Almax Analytics delivers actionable insights by putting the content of news into context and running deep analysis across the entire network of affected companies. SparkCognition closes a $6 million Series B funding round Artificial intelligence and cybersecurity company SparkCognition (p. 34) has closed a $6 million Series B funding round from investors that include Verizon Ventures and CME Ventures. The startup plans to spend the new money on gaining customers for its machine-learning technology that aims to predict when a company’s systems might fail or get hacked. Vivint Smart Home raises $100M in equity funding Vivint Smart Home, a provider of smart home technology and services, raised $100 million in equity funding. The round was co-led by tech investor Peter Thiel and investment firm Solamere Capital. Today, the company has more than one million customers and revenue of more than $650 million. Vivint Smart Home offers a custom platform with integrated smart home products, including smart door locks, thermostat, cameras, doorbell camera, cloud storage, and an array of sensors. In addition to its product suite, the company has integrated smart home products into its Vivint Sky platform, including the Amazon Echo and the Nest Learning Thermostat. Vivint also offers in-home consultation, professional installation and support delivered by professionals, as well as 24-7 customer care and monitoring. LUI News May 2016 51 People Avaya appoints Steve Joyner to Head of Sales Engineering, Europe Avaya announced it is has appointed Steve Joyner as Head of Sales Engineering for Europe. Steve has over 25 years of experience in the technology industry. He has undertaken a range of technical roles at companies including GEC Plessy, Nortel, and Avaya in Europe and the Middle East. Most recently he was a manager within the European Sales Engineering team at Avaya. For Further Information on Companies Mentioned in this Issue Company Location 1-800-Flowers -- 24/7 Inc. ([24]7) Campbell, CA 451 Research Adafruit Advanced Simulation Technololgy Inc. (ASTi) New York, NY -- AgentBot Almax Analytics Amazon Amazon Web Services American Cancer Society American Express American Express Ventures Apple Arduino Arise Virtual Solutions Artificial Solutions Aspect Software Audeme Avaya Inc. Avvo Business Online florist Customer service solutions Research firm Electronics kits Military system simulation Herndon, VA San Francisco, CA Text-based virtual agent Helsinki, Analysis of news for Finland company impact Product sales on the Seattle, WA Web, Echo, and more Technology infrastructure Seattle, WA platform in the cloud Atlanta, GA Non-profit organization New York, NY Credit card service Palo Alto, CA Venture capital firm Personal computers, music players, wireless Cupertino, CA phones Open-source electronics -platform Crowd-sourcing of Miramar, FL agents Stockholm, Virtual assistant Sweden development tools Chemsford, Customer Service MA platform Sunnyvale, CA Audio recognition Basking Ridge, Enterprise telephony NJ solutions Online legal services Seattle, WA marketplace Contact info www.1800flowers.com www.247-inc.com (212)505-3030; https://451research.com www.adafruit.com www.asti-usa.com (415)849-2288; http://agentbot.net www.almaxanalytics.com www.amazon.com http://aws.amazon.com www.cancer.org www.americanexpress.com www.americanexpress.com/us/cont ent/amexventures www.apple.com www.arduino.cc www.arise.com +46 8 663 54 50; www.artificialsolutions.com (978)25- 7900; www.aspect.com www.audeme.com (908)953-6000; www.avaya.com www.avvo.com LUI News May 2016 52 Companies Mentioned in this Issue AYLIEN Dublin, Ireland Beijing, China, Baidu Research (division of and Silicon Baidu, Inc.) Valley Baidu, Inc. Beijing, China Boston, MA Bain Capital Ventures Bank of America -BodyWorn Atlanta, GA Botego New York, NY Brightspark Ventures Canada CallMiner Waltham, MA Center for Cognitive Computing Systems Research (C3SR) Urbana, IL Kansas City, Cerner MO San Francisco, Chatfuel CA San Ramon, Chevron CA CHRISTUS Health Citi Ventures Citibank Coca-Cola Conversica Cronologics Corporation DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) DBS Bank Deutsche digibank Natural language processing and data services provider Research division Web search in Chinese Venture capital fund Bank Wearable cameras Virtual agents Venture capital Speech analytics http://research.baidu.com http://ir.baidu.com Research center http://illinois.edu Healthcare solutions Creating and hosting chatbots (816)201-1024; www.cerner.com www.darpa.mil Dynamic Advances -San Antonio, TX Patent licensing firm Claim content valuation for insurers New York, NY Boca Raton, FL Market research Bellevue, WA Rockville, MD Travel service Semantic software Social web service Expedia Expert System Facebook http://chatfuel.com Arlington, VA Singapore -India New York, NY ExamSoft Worldwide www.bodyworn.com www.botego.com www.brightspark.com (781)547-5666; www.callminer.com www.chevron.com DigitalGenius eMarketer www.baincapitalventures.com www.bankofamerica.com Oil company Not-for-profit health Irving, TX system Palo Alto, CA Venture capital firm New York, NY bank Atlanta, GA Soft drinks Lead engagement Foster City, CA software Wearable technology San Mateo, CA company Research support Financial services group Ad agency Online bank AI-powered customer service e-djuster +353-1-5983-168; http://aylien.com Palo Alto, CA Education testing www.christushealth.org www.ventures.citi.com 212-559-1719; www.citigroup.com www.coca-cola.com www.conversica.com https://cronologics.com www.dbs.com www.deutsch.com (212)266-0090; http://digitalgenius.com www.marathonpg.com/patentportfolio/subsidiarylisting/detail/546/dynamic-advances www.e-‐djuster.ca (212)763-6010; www.emarketer.com http://learn.examsoft.com 1-800-EXPEDIA; www.expedia.com www.expertsystem.com www.facebook.com LUI News May 2016 53 Companies Mentioned in this Issue Fandango FiscalNote Florida Hospital Fortemedia Forty 7 Ronin Freedom Scientific Genesys Santa Monica, CA Ticketing service Artificial intelligence for Washington, analysis of government DC data Orlando, FL Hospital system Fab-less semiconductor company with array Sunnyvale, CA microphone Colorado VUI Design and IVR Springs, CO Development St. Petersburg, Solutions for visually FL impaired Customer service and contact center software Daly City, CA and services Getty Images Chicago, IL Giant Spoon Los Angeles, CA GMA Consulting London, UK Goldman Sachs New York, NY Mountain View, CA, and Cambridge, MA -- Image licensing Creative agency IT consulting for financial services Investment firm Inbenta Voice and directory search Wearable cameras Medical information Palo Alto, CA mobile apps Felton, CA Market research Semiconductors and Tokyo, Japan robots Digital home services Golden, CO marketplace Smartphone and PDA Taiwan, R.O.C. Phone devices Somers, NY Information systems Organization to uncover -global health disparities Sunnyvale, CA Security system China Smartwatch Intelligent virual Sunnyvale, CA assistants Indian Text to Speech Private Limited Indiegogo Ahmedabad, In dia Text-to-speech software -- Crowd-funding site InfinityCTI San Diego, CA Santa Clara, CA Google (part of Alphabet) GoPro HealthTap Hexa Reports Hitachi Group HomeAdvisor HTC IBM IBM Health Corps Illumio iMCO Technology Intel Corporation 1-800-FANDANGO; www.fandango.com www.fiscalnote.com www.floridahospital.com (408)861-8088; www.fortemedia.com (719)445-8054; www.forty7ronin.com (727)803-8000; www.FreedomScientific.com (650)466 - 1100; www.genesyslab.com (312)344 4500; www.gettyimages.com www.giantspoon.com www.gmaconsulting.com (212)902-1000; www.goldmansachs.com (650)253-0000; www.google.com; www.google.com/mobile; www.grandcentral.com http://gopro.com www.healthtap.com www.hexareports.com www.hitachi.com/gateway www.homeadvisor.com +886-3-3753252; www.htc.com (877)426-3774; www.ibm.com www.ibmhealthcorps.org (669)800-5000; www.illumio.com -(408)213-8771; www.inbenta.com www.indianTTS.com www.indiegogo.com Interactive Voice Response systems (800)795-1546; www.infinitycti.com Semiconductors www.intel.com LUI News May 2016 54 Companies Mentioned in this Issue Intelligent Voice London, UK Interactions Corporation International Data Group (IDG) Franklin, MA Framingham, MA Nottingham, UK -- Intoware Invoxia IPSoft J.D. Power and Associates New York, NY Westlake Village, CA Johnson & Johnson New Brunswick, NJ Kasisto California Kik Interactive Waterloo, Canada Kit CRM Kopin Lexalytics LumenVox LLC Marathon Patent Group MarketsandMarkets Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Mattersight Max Sound MetaMind Microsoft MindMeld (formerly Expect Labs) Mobify Mobvoi (Chumenwenwen) Narrative Science eDiscovery and Compliance solutions Virtual agent services for call centers and speech recognition technology www.intelligentvoice.com (317)810-2800; www.interactions.com Market research Construction on-site workflow tool Digital assistant device IT services and cognitive computing www.idg.com Surveys and studies www.jdpower.com Healthcare products Conversational virtual assistant (732)524-0400; www.jnj.com Smartphone messenger with a built-in browser San Francisco, Manages social CA marketing Hands-free displays and Westboro, MA headsets Text and sentiment Boston, MA analysis technologies Speech recognition technology and San Diego, CA development tools Los Angeles, CA Patent licensing firm www.intoware.com www.invoxia.com www.ipsoft.com (650)762-6450; www.kasisto.com http://kik.com https://kitcrm.com (508)870-‐5959; www.kopin.com (617)249-1049; www.lexalytics.com Dallas, TX Market research (858)707-0707; www.lumenvox.com (703)232-1701; www.marathonpg.com (888)600-6441; www.marketsandmarkets.com Boston, MA Cambridge, MA Hospital www.massgeneral.org University Analytics for customerChicago, Il employee interactions Apps for enhanced Audio, Video and Data San Diego, CA transmissions Artificial Intelligence Palo Alto, CA technology Various applications, Redmond, WA products, and services San Francisco, Natural language CA interpretation platform Vancouver, Mobile customer BC, Canada engagement platform Mobile voice search and Beijing, China apps Software writing news Chicago, IL articles www.mit.edu (877)235-6925; www.mattersight.com http://maxd.audio www.metamind.io (206)454-2030; www.microsoft.com https://mindmeld.com www.mobify.com www.mobvoi.com (312)477-0590; www.narrativescience.com LUI News May 2016 55 Companies Mentioned in this Issue National Cheng Kung University National Institute of Information and Communications Technology of Japan (NITC) NeoSpeech Nest Labs (acquired by Google) Netflix nGUVU noHold NPD Group NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation) NTT Communications (subsidiary of NTT) Nuance Communications Nvidia Oculus VR Onix Networking Corp. OpenAI OpenPOWER Foundation Opus Research Pathful PatternEx Taiwan University http://english.web.ncku.edu.tw Tokyo, Japan Santa Clara, CA Research center Text-to-speech and other speech technologies Advanced thermostat and fire alarm www.nict.go.jp Movie rental www.netflix.com Cloud games Web-based self-service solutions www.nguvu.com Market research (516)625-0700; www.npd.com Palo Alto, CA Beverly Hills, CA Montréal, Canada Milpitas, CA Port Washington, NY Tokyo, Japan Tokyo, Japan Burlington, MA Santa Clara, CA Irvine, CA Lakewood, OH Telephony and other solutions Telephony and other solutions Speech technology, applications, and services Graphics chips Virtual reality headsets IT solutions and services Artificial Intelligence -research -Technical organization Conversational Access San Francisco, Technologies research CA and consulting Machine learning-based Vancouver, technology for behaviourBC, Canada based customer targeting Peel Perfect Pitch Persado, Inc. San Jose, CA Mountain View, CA Utah New York, NY Qualcomm Inc. San Diego, CA Rage Frameworks Raspberry Pi ReportsnReports.com Dedham, MA -Dallas, TX AI for cyber security Home entertainment and home control Call center services "Persuasion Automation" Chips and wireless devices Knowledge-based automation technology ARM software platform Market research www.neospeech.com www.nest.com www.nohold.com (81)3-3509-3101; www.ntt.co.jp www.ntt.com (617)428-4444; www.nuance.com (408)486-‐2000; www.nvidia.com (949)502-2070; www.oculusvr.com www.onixnet.com http://openai.sourceforge.net openpowerfoundation.org (415)904-7666; www.opusresearch.net (866)662-0786; www.pathful.com (408)416-5322; www.patternex.com www.peel.com www.perfectpitchtech.com (646)678-‐3400; www.persado.com (619)651-7942; www.qualcomm.com www.rageframeworks.com www.raspberrypi.org www.ReportsnReports.com LUI News May 2016 56 Companies Mentioned in this Issue Sears Holdings San Francisco, CA Seoul, South Korea Walldorf, Germany Hoffman Estates, IL Sensory, Inc. Santa Clara, CA Sentient Technologies San Francisco, Artificial intelligence CA software Salesforce Samsung Electronics SAP CRM and sales support software Wireless telephones and TVs (415)901-7000; www.salesforce.com Enterprise software +49 180 534-34-24; www.sap.com Retailer Embedded speech recognition and speaker ID www.searsholdings.com www.samsung.com (408)625-3300; www.sensory.com Staples (415)422-9886; www.sentient.ai Children's entertainment New York, NY and education www.sesameworkshop.org Software for online stores Ottawa, and retail point-of-sale Canada systems www.shopify.com CRM and marketing New York, NY automation technology (855)606-4900; www.signpost.com San Francisco, Collaboration and CA communications platform https://slack.com Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan Pepper robot www.softbank.jp/en/robot Consumer electronics, www.sony.com Tokyo, Japan including wearable Music identification and (408)441-3200; Santa Clara, natural language speech www.soundhound.com; CA interaction www.houndify.com Data enrichment, data clean-up and data www.spare5.com Seattle, WA labeling Dallas, TX Security analytics www.sparkcognition.com Personal assistant Palo Alto, CA mobile app www.speaktoit.com Vienna, Austria and Alpharetta, GA Dictation solutions www.dictation.philips.com -Shopping service www.shopspring.com Menlo Park, Speech recognition and CA language R&D (650)859-2000; www.sri.com Stanford, CA (650)723-‐2300; www.stanford.edu University Framingham, Office supplies and www.staples.com MA equipment StarVest Partners New York, NY Venture capital Strategy Analytics Superflex (SRI International) Swedbank Syfy Newton, MA Market reports -Sweden -Seoul, South Korea Body suit for disabled Bank Entertainment Sesame Workshop Shopify Signpost Slack SoftBank Robotics Sony Corporation SoundHound Spare5 SparkCognition Speaktoit, Inc. Speech Processing Solutions (Philips) Spring SRI International Stanford University Systran Software Machine translation (212)863-‐2500; www.starvestpartners.com 617 614-0700; www.strategyanalytics.net https://www.sri.com/sites/default/file s/brochures/superflex.pdf www.swedbank.com www.syfy.com www.systransoft.com LUI News May 2016 57 Companies Mentioned in this Issue Taco Bell Downey, CA TensorFlow -- TermSet Thomson Reuters Toyota Toyota Research Institute (TRI) London, UK New York, NY Japan Research group Ultracomms Unibet Fareham, UK Gzira, Malta Unilever New York, NY University of Illinois Urbana Urbana, IL University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) Hefei, China Decatur, Utility Georgia Restaurant chain Open-source software library for machine intelligence Search, governance and navigation within SharePoint Information provider Automobiles and robots University http://en.ustc.edu.cn WinScribe Chicago, IL Wise.io Berkeley, CA Wit.ai x.ai Palo Alto, CA Yahoo YouTube Zendesk New York, NY Santa Clara, CA San Bruno, CA San Francisco, CA +44 203 086 8080; www.termset.com http://thomsonreuters.com www.toyota.com www.ultracomms.com www.unibet.com (212) 906-4694; (212) 9064666(fax); www.unilever.com www..illinois.edu VoiceXML Forum Voicebox Technologies www.tensorflow.org Cloud-based contact center services Betting application Food, home, and personal care products University Body-worn cameras Wireless telephone Bedminster, NJ services Provo, UT Smart home technology Speech recognition Pittsburgh, PA technology Conversational voice Bellevue, WA technology Voice eXtensible Markup New York, NY Language Verizon Wireless Vivint Smart Home Voci Technologies Incorporated www.tacobell.com Dictation solutions Customer service support using machine learning Natural language interpretation tool AI-based virtual assistant Web resources Online video clips Web-based help desk software www.utility.com www.verizonwireless.com www.vivint.com (412)621-9310; www.vocitec.com (425)968-7900; www.voicebox.com (732)465-6486; [email protected]; www.voicexml.org (866)494-6727; www.winscribe.com www.wise.io https://wit.ai https://x.ai (408)731-3300; www.yahoo.com (650)253-0000; www.youtube.com (415)418-7506; www.zendesk.com LUI News May 2016 58 Blog (with a chance to comment!) The Software Society (www.thesoftwaresociety.com) § § THE HUMAN-COMPUTER CONNECTION The Language User Interface -- Be there or be late Will Artificial Intelligence someday dominate humans? § The end of advertising? · Redistributing income won’t solve the jobs problem · Conference Emphasizes the Critical Role of Language Technology in the Usability of Digital Systems I wish to subscribe to Speech Strategy News for one year (12 issues), payable in US$ on US bank— Individual* Corporate* Individual* Corporate* PDF PDF PDF PDF 6 monthly issues 6 monthly issues 12 monthly issues 12 monthly issues $215 $750* $425 $1,495* * Corporate subscriptions: Unlimited users within a corporation for PDF version with Web access through corporate password. Individual subscriptions cannot be shared (neither passwords nor electronic copies). Please invoice me. Or go to www.tmaa.com/subscribetossn Please send information on your consulting. 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From time to time, the author or TMA Associates may have consulting assignments, advisory positions, own stock, or have other business relations with organizations in speech recognition and associated areas, including companies discussed in this newsletter. LUI News and Speech Strategy News are trademarks of TMA Associates. A m ystery novel by Bill M eisel— Technically Dead. It takes place in the near future with technology familiar to readers of this newsletter. Check out the reviews! Reader’s Favorite https://readersfavorite.com/book-review/technically-dead US Review of Books www.theusreview.com/reviews/Technically-Dead-by-WilliamMeisel.html – .VeG8_9NVhBc Kirkus Reviews www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/william-meisel/technically-dead/ Forward Clarion Reviews www.forewordreviews.com /reviews/technically-dead