For decades, the media has jumped on the big tech stories, including human-like robots that will do all the basic household chores for us. As far back as 1966, we were introduced to Mabel The Robot Housemaid, who was going to be doing all the tasks by 1976. While that failed to be a reality, AI has seamlessly integrated itself into all our lives, and while there might not be any Mables, many of us have assistants called Alexa, Siri, and Cortana.

These robots may not be able to do the ironing for us, but they can be used to turn the lights on and off, program the oven, or control our heating systems when we are not around. Rather than take over all the physical work, they help us in the background and are integrated into our homes. According to today’s experts, by 2033, robots will be doing almost 40% of our housework. This seems somewhat similar to the 1966 claims, but this is backed up by data from Japan’s Ochanomizu and the UK’s University of Oxford. 65 AI experts were asked to predict what everyday tasks will become automated within the next five to ten years.

The study looked at the question “what kind of futures are imagined for unpaid work? If robots take our jobs, will they at least also take out the trash for us?” It is suggested that the time people spend doing housework will decrease by 46% in the next decade. However, the biggest task that is likely to become more automated is grocery shopping. The experts predict that by 2033 almost 60% of our grocery shop will be performed by AI. However, it is unlikely that machines will be trusted with caring responsibilities such as looking after the elderly or children. Even if AI had the technical ability to undertake these tasks, the studies experts believe there would be acceptability issues of delegating childcare to machines due to potential developmental impacts on the child and privacy implications.

So, if AI is not looking after our children or doing the ironing, what tasks is it doing? Given the market size, this sector is a massive part of the global economy. The most recent statistics predict it will be worth US$ 184.00bn in 2024. However, that is a small fry compared to forecasts for 2030. The market is expected to grow at almost 29% and will be worth a staggering US$826 billion by the end of the decade.

Here are some areas where AI plays an integral part in our lives, so much so that we almost forget how we functioned before.

We open our phones with face IDs. It is AI that enables this functionality. Using biometrics, the device can see you in 3D and capture images of your face using 30,000 invisible infrared dots. Then, using machine learning algorithms, it compares the scan of your face with what it has stored on file to determine if it is you or an intruder trying to access your phone. Apple claims that the chance of fooling its FaceID is one in a million

Once our phones are open, there are many places we might choose to go. Some people head off to check social media or catch up on the news. Other people use their phones for entertainment, like online games, or to visit an online casino. AI and algorithms are integral to the functioning of these sites, with AI involved in everything from customer services to verifying payments and paying out winnings. Players get a personalised experience as the AI learns which games they enjoy playing, which means players can choose from the newest games that are on offer. However, rather than trawling through all the latest releases, the system can learn from what they have played before and offer them something similar to play next.

AI also updates social media feeds. What a user sees is personalised because the algorithm has learned what posts you react to based on your history. It makes friend suggestions and news posts. The next step for AI is to recognise better and, filter out misinformation, and prevent cyberbullying. Getting rid of fake news is even more crucial as 2024 is a global year of general elections.

We use spell check and other tools like Grammarly when we write on our computers and phones, whether to send emails, messages, or reports. These help us create error-free messages by using natural language processing and suggestions. More AI is involved when we send and receive messages with spam filters, blocking some emails and sending them to our junk boxes. In addition, anti-virus software employs machine learning to protect our email accounts and computers.

While these examples all happen behind the scenes, one of the most notable changes in recent years is our use of digital voice assistants. Whether we want to get directions or find out what the weather will be like, Siri, Alexa, Google Home, and Cortana accompany us wherever we go. They have become indispensable for many people who use them as a co-pilot when driving and a general source of endless information around the home. These assistants use natural language processors and generators driven by AI to answer all the questions. They are increasingly programmed to give ‘human-like’ responses and can even sound offended at times.

Since 1966, we have dreamed of robots doing the housework, and while that is not a reality, our homes are becoming increasingly ‘smart’. We have thermostats that allow us to control the heating from our phones and fridges that can create shopping lists based on what is no longer in the refrigerator. They can also recommend what you might like to buy as an accompaniment based on what is in your fridge, such as wine or condiments.

There is still no sign of Mabel, but maybe she will put in an appearance one of these days.

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Although Apple was his most recent employer, Stasior actually left the company in May. Stasior will now join Microsoft later this month as corporate vice president and will report to CTO Kevin Scott.

Stasior worked at Apple for almost a decade. Having also held the positions of director of search and navigation at Amazon, director of advanced development at AltaVista, senior developer at Oracle Corporation, and researcher and developer at MIT, Stasior brings a vast amount of experience to Microsoft.

Of course, Microsoft’s hiring of Stasior from Apple is all part of the Silicon Valley talent trading. For example, Apple stole Google’s former head of search and AI, John Giannandrea, last year to oversee Cupertino’s machine learning and AI strategy.

Under Giannandrea, Apple has been revamping its AI strategy not just with Siri but across the company’s products. During WWDC earlier this year, Apple announced the ML Core 13 framework which is the first to support both inference and training directly on-device.

However, Siri has been making significant improvements under Giannandrea’s leadership. In an article yesterday, AI News reported on an IQ test by Loup Ventures. While behind Google Assistant, Siri was in second place ahead of Alexa with 83.1 percent of questions answered correctly.

Apple has long been seen as at a disadvantage in AI due to its strict stance on protecting user privacy. While admirable, AI requires large amounts of data to be trained on. Time will tell if Apple can compete with the likes of Google in the long-term.

Microsoft has also been changing its own AI strategy. Back in January, Microsoft said that it’s no longer attempting to compete with Alexa or Google Assistant in areas like smart speakers with Cortana but instead will reposition the AI assistant more like a skill that can be embedded in services.

Interested in hearing industry leaders discuss subjects like this? Attend the co-located 5G Expo, IoT Tech Expo, Blockchain Expo, AI & Big Data Expo, and Cyber Security & Cloud Expo World Series with upcoming events in Silicon Valley, London, and Amsterdam.

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Published by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), the 146-page report titled “I’d blush if I could” highlights the market is dominated by female voice assistants.

According to the researchers, the almost exclusive use of female voice assistants fuels stereotypes that women are “obliging, docile and eager-to-please helpers”.

The researchers also believe the lack of mannerisms required in speaking to current virtual assistants is also problematic. They claim the fact a virtual assistant will respond to requests no matter how it’s asked reinforces the idea women are “subservient and tolerant of poor treatment” in some communities.

Similarly, the fact virtual assistants can be summoned with just a “touch of a button or with a blunt voice command like ‘hey’ or ‘OK’,” makes it appear like women are available on demand.

Most virtual assistants use female voices by default but offer a male option. Technology giants such as Amazon and Apple have in the past said consumers prefer female voices for their assistants, with an Amazon spokesperson recently attributing these voices with more “sympathetic and pleasant” traits.

The report highlights virtual assistants are predominantly created with male engineering teams. Some cases even found assistants “thanking users for sexual harassment”, and that sexual advances from male users were tolerated more than from female users.

Siri was found to respond “provocatively to sexual favours” from male users, with phrases such as: “I’d blush if I could” (hence the report’s title) and “Oooh!”, but would do so less towards women.

The lack of ability for female voice assistants to defend themselves from sexist and hostile insults “may highlight her powerlessness,” claims the report. Such coding “projects a digitally encrypted ‘boys will be boys’ attitude” that “may help biases to take hold and spread”.

In a bid to help tackle the issue, the UN believes gender-neutral and non-human voices should be used. The researchers point towards Stephen Hawking’s famous robotic voice as one such example.

Alexa, Google Assistant, and Cortana all use female voices by default. Siri uses a male voice in Arabic, British English, Dutch, and French.

Interested in hearing industry leaders discuss subjects like this and their use cases? Attend the co-located AI & Big Data Expo events with upcoming shows in Silicon Valley, London, and Amsterdam to learn more. Co-located with the IoT Tech Expo, Blockchain Expo, and Cyber Security & Cloud Expo.

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In the company’s annual report for the 2017 fiscal year, AI is now mentioned on six occasions. Compared to not a single mention in the previous report, it’s clear Microsoft is now putting more of its focus on artificial intelligence.

Microsoft also indicates this in their corporate vision statement: “Our strategic vision is to compete and grow by building best-in-class platforms and productivity services for an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge infused with AI.”

AI is only just starting to get real momentum (hence why this very publication has been launched, hello!) but it seems to be another case of where the company has slumbered, and that’s incredibly frustrating because it has much to contribute.

Microsoft is in a very advantageous position to lead in AI. First off, it has Bing. While it doesn’t have anywhere near the user numbers of Google’s search engine, it has been crawling the world’s information and building a vast knowledge graph since it launched back in 2009. This is a valuable resource and it’s only Google in the western world that’s able to compete.

When you include eastern markets, then Baidu, China’s largest search engine, is also in a similar position. Google and Baidu are considered world leaders in AI, and their search engine backgrounds are part of the reason why.

Microsoft also has the talent. Rivals including Apple and Facebook have poached some of it, but there’s good reason. Microsoft is full of it. In fact, Microsoft is the biggest supplier of AI talent to Facebook, Amazon, and Google. The company should’ve looked at why their employees were heading elsewhere long ago, I’d wager it was a lack of momentum compared to rivals.

Finally, Microsoft has the users. Whether it’s enterprises using Azure, employees, and students on Windows, or even gamers on Xbox… the company has legions of people already using their products who could benefit from AI.

Ok, it’s not like Microsoft has been completely absent from AI, the company even has a fairly capable personal assistant with Cortana which in tests is only second to Google in its ability to understand and correctly answer general questions. Compared to Siri and Alexa, Cortana is ahead by a wide margin in this regard.

But while others have been advancing their capabilities rapidly, Cortana has stagnated. Today it’s the only assistant which is unable to control smart home devices.

When the Xbox One was launched, the console was marketed as being the one entertainment center for your home. Whether you wanted games, videos, TV, or music, you were supposed to find it on the “always on” Xbox. Microsoft missed a huge opportunity to make the Xbox the center of your smart home and give people a reason to want Kinect, a device which has seemingly become the perfect metaphor for Microsoft – impressive, yet often missing the mark.

Last year, Microsoft set up a dedicated research group for artificial intelligence reporting to Harry Shum, Vice President of Artificial Intelligence & Research, which consists of 7,500 scientists, researchers, and engineers from its product teams. The group’s purpose is to speed up Microsoft’s AI development and become as active in the community as the likes of Google, IBM, and Amazon.

A new research and incubation hub called Microsoft Research AI has also been set up within its research labs unit to work on solving problems associated with AI. Part of this work is to unite research in currently disparate areas such as deep learning, machine perception, and natural language processing. By integrating these disciplines, Microsoft believes it will cause the next technology breakthroughs, such as machine reading.

This is applaudable, but not if like a lot of Microsoft’s best work it just sits in a research lab. At least to help settle the concerns about AI going rogue the company has set up the Aether ethics advisory board alongside Google, Facebook, and Amazon.

As for the importance of AI, I’d go as far as to suggest there are similarities between the AI race and two of humankind’s most defining moments. The space race, and the nuclear arms race. The former was mostly about bragging rights, while the latter was a show of deadly capability to potential opponents.

China’s strict censorship and its ‘great firewall’ is renowned but earlier this year it went a step further when the nation blocked streams of Google’s AlphaMind AI beating the country’s Go champion. While usual sports broadcasts go uninterrupted, it was clear there was a political motive behind the decision to block the competition.

As we reported earlier this week, most cybersecurity experts believe AI will be weaponised over the course of the next 12 months. Whether by individual or state-sponsored hackers, the race is on for governments to match and/or exceed those capabilities. That is the dark side of AI no-one likes to discuss, but today’s battlefield is increasingly digital, and governments will be looking to weaponise AI.

That is the importance of AI, and it’s good to see Microsoft finally putting their full weight behind it, even if it should have been much sooner.

Are you looking forward to Microsoft focusing its efforts on AI? Let us know in the comments.

 Interested in hearing industry leaders discuss subjects like this and sharing their use-cases? Attend the co-located AI & Big Data Expo events with upcoming shows in Silicon Valley, London and Amsterdam to learn more. Co-located with the  IoT Tech Expo, Blockchain Expo and Cyber Security & Cloud Expo so you can explore the future of enterprise technology in one place.

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