How close we are to fully self-sufficient artificial intelligence. Interesting Engineering. https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/how-close-we-are-to-fully-self-sufficient-artificial-intelligence

• Short consumer-level article discussing our approach to achieving true Artificial General Intelligence, or an AI that can adapt to solve any problem we present it with. Includes a link to 10 essential TED talks on AI.

Interesting Engineering (2022, September 1). A Chinese Game Company has Appointed the World’s First Humanoid Robot as its CEO. Interestingengineering.com. https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/chinese-company-humanoid-ceo

• The China-based mobile game company NetDragon Websoft appointed an artificial intelligence-supported virtual human being as the general manager named "Tang Yu." Her role is to support decision-making during the company's daily operations and provide a more effective risk management system. She will also be used as a real-time data center and analytics tool for the board. NetDragon's use of Tang Yu will enable them to expand on the algorithms behind Tang Yu to build an open, interactive and highly transparent management model as the world increasingly integrates the metaverse. The company reports that this will allow them to attract a much broader base of talents worldwide and put them in a position to achieve bigger goals.

Kannan, P. (2022, October 10). Is It My Turn Yet? Teaching a Voice Assistant When to Speak. Hai.Stanford.edu. Retrieved January 4, 2023, from https://hai.stanford.edu/news/it-my-turn-yet-teaching-voice-assistant-when-speak

• Researchers studied the effect of voice assistants predicting initiation points based on voice intonation instead of silence detection. They believe it will help designers build more engaging experiences because of the model’s ability to get continuous feedback from the user, leading to the next generation of voice assistant technology.

Voiceitt, voice assistant for people with speech impairments. Available from: https://isocial.cat/en/voiceitt-voice-assistant-for-people-with-speech-impairments/

• An application that allows people with speech impairments to use intelligent voice assistants. Voicett is an accessibility application for people with speech disabilities or speech impairments that learns the particularities of the atypical speech of these people and translates it into the voice assistants on the market, so that they can use them for their conversations and daily routines like other citizens.

How Voice Assistants are Empowering Independent Living for Individuals with Disabilities. Available from: https://www.accessibility.com/blog/how-voice-assistants-are-empowering-independent-living-for-individuals-with-disabilities

• Blog article about Voice Assistants.

Hussain, Muhammad & Shaoor, Ahmad & Alsuhibany, Suliman & Ghadi, Yazeed & Al Shloul, Tamara & Jalal, Ahmad & Park, Jeongmin. (2022). Intelligent Sign Language Recognition System for E-Learning Context. Computers, Materials & Continua. 72. 5327-5343. Available from: https://digitallibrary.aau.ac.ae/handle/123456789/728

• In this research work, an efficient sign language recognition tool for e-learning has been proposed with a new type of feature set based on angle and lines. This feature set has the ability to increase the overall performance of machine learning algorithms in an efficient way.

Vieira, Alessandro and Leite, Higor and Volochtchuk, Ana Vitória, The Impact of Voice Assistant Home Devices on People with Disabilities: A Longitudinal Study. Available from:  http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3993227

• A paper that examines the impact of voice assistant (VA) technology within the ecosystem of physically and visually impaired people. During 30 weeks, 5 longitudinal studies have been carried out, and data have been collected from semi-structured interviews, informal conversations, observations, and focus groups with participants, as well as secondary data collected from VA devices’ reports.

Everything you need to know about voice assistants. Available from: https://www.santander.com/en/stories/everything-you-need-to-know-about-voice-assistants

• Voice assistant is software that carries out everyday tasks via voice command. It brings AI and machine learning together to recognize our voice and do what we ask it. Voice assistant software can be found on smart speakers, smartwatches, mobile phones, tablets and other devices. The most well-known are Alexa (Amazon), Siri (Apple), Google Assistant (Google) and Bixby (Samsung).