Automatic speech recognition, or ASR, is a foundational part of not only assistants like Apple’s Siri, but dictation software such as Nuance’s Dragon and customer support platforms like Google’s Contact Center AI. It’s the thing that enables machines to parse utterances for key phrases and words and that allows them to distinguish people by their intonations and pitches. Perhaps it goes…

San Francisco-based HomeLight, which develops AI-driven software and services for home buyers, sellers, and real estate agents, today announced that it has raised $109 million in funding from a raft of investors, bringing its total raised to over $160 million. Zeev Ventures led the round, with participation from Group 11, Menlo Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Stereo Capital, and others. CEO Drew Uher…

Smart home thermostat company Ecobee today rolled out Eco+, a free suite of machine learning features, to all its thermostats with voice support. Eco+ uses machine learning to tailor temperature settings and cut costs. It also helps you further reduce energy consumption and move to clean energy. In July 2018, Ecobee kicked off a pilot called Peak Relief that aims to save energy and money by…