Contribution to an article on AI, published in The Guardian by Joanna Goodman.

Conversational commerce and artificial intelligence as a utility will change the way we interact with tech, brands and each other.

Martin Hollywood, lead creative technologist at Razorfish London highlights the role of wearables as notification devices. Voice is emerging as the primary user interface (UI) to manage and facilitate human outcomes/experiences.

…Hollywood agrees, highlighting brands’ dual perspective. “2016 is the year of the chatbot”, he says. Beauty brand Sephora’s messaging app, Kik, enables users to get makeup tips, browse and buy products by chatting to the company’s bot. Microsoft’s personal assistant, Cortana, is being integrated into Skype. During the recent Microsoft Build conference in San Francisco, Skype’s Lilian Rincon used Skype and Cortana to book a hotel room, which also suggested she visit a friend who lived nearby.

Full article here.