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At the Marketing AI Institute, we read dozens of articles on artificial intelligence every week to uncover the most valuable ones for our subscribers and we curate them for you here. We call it 3 Links in 3 Minutes. Enjoy!
How Kayak is Owning the Voice and Chat Space
100 million—that’s the predicted number of people using smart speakers by the end of 2018, according to VentureBeat. And with that many users, businesses have no choice but to ready themselves for voice and chatbot platforms.
For travel company Kayak, that means taking some risks. Kayak’s chief scientist and senior vice president of technology Matthias Keller explains:
“Not everything you do here is going to work. You’re going to start something and you may realize a year later, or even earlier, that it just makes no sense. But you have to start early on with understanding these platforms, understanding how they fit with your business.”
Kayak is embracing the voice and chat space. They are now on every major voice platform (Google, Siri, Amazon, etc.), a partner of Amazon’s new display language and reminders for Alexa, and they just launched a “Travel Plans” shortcut for Siri.
But with much of the voice and chat space uncharted and open for exploration, this also means brands will need to pay close attention to what exactly customers want and how they can simplify the buying process for voice.
Everything High School Graduates Show Know About AI
We often talk about the level of understanding marketers should have regarding artificial intelligence—how it works, its potential impacts and more. However, because it is one of the “most important change forces in modern society,” marketers aren’t the only ones who need to understand it, says Forbes. High school graduates should, too.
This year, the AI for K-12 Working Group (AI4K2) was formed by the Association of Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) and the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) with the goal of defining what exactly students should know about AI. The five big ideas include:
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How computers use sensors and extensive knowledge to “see” and “hear.”
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How machines use models/representations of the world for reasoning.
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How machine learning works and how to code simple applications using open tools.
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How computers interact with humans and how sentiment analysis is used for chatbots.
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How AI can impact society (both positively and negatively).
Faculty members from Carnegie Mellon, University of Florida, and the University of Massachusetts are steering the AI4K12 committee. The full report of their ideas can be found here.
Taylor Swift Utilizes Facial Recognition for Security
Big enterprises aren’t the only ones using artificial intelligence software; celebrity singers like Taylor Swift are also starting to utilize the technology.
According to Quartz, Swift’s team used facial recognition software at California’s Rose Bowl in this past May to scan the crowd for stalkers.
A kiosk at the performance, which showed footage from Swift’s rehearsals, secretly recorded the faces of viewers. Those images were then sent to a security team located in Nashville, Tennessee where they attempted to match the faces with the artist’s known stalkers.
Because concert venues are generally private locations, attendees submit themselves whatever kind of surveillance the owners mandate. Whether captured footage was kept has not been disclosed.
Ashley Sams
Ashley Sams is director of marketing at Ready North. She joined the agency in 2017 with a background in marketing, specifically for higher education and social media. Ashley is a 2015 graduate of The University of Mount Union where she earned a degree in marketing.