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  • Microsoft Using AI to Tackle Corruption

    Microsoft Using AI to Tackle Corruption

    Marking the 15th anniversary of the United Nations’ International Anti-Corruption Day, Microsoft has unveiled Anti-Corruption Technology and Solutions (ACTS).

    Corruption continues to be a significant problem for both governments and the private sector. While many different methods of combating corruption have been tried, Microsoft believes artificial intelligence may hold the key.

    “In the next decade, Microsoft ACTS will leverage the company’s investments in cloud computing, data visualization, AI, machine learning, and other emerging technologies to enhance transparency and to detect and deter corruption,” writes Dev Stahlkopf – Corporate Vice President and General Counsel. “We will endeavor to bring the most promising solutions to the broadest possible audience, using our partner networks, programs, and global employee base to scale solutions through careful consideration of their priorities, technical infrastructure, and capabilities.

    “Over the last six months, we have already begun to make investments in support of the Microsoft ACTS initiative, including a partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank to advance anti-corruption, transparency, and integrity objectives in Latin America and the Caribbean. Announced in July 2020, we are partnering with the IDB Transparency Fund to help bring greater transparency to the use of Covid-19 economic stimulus funds, building on the Mapa Inversiones platform developed by the IDB with Microsoft support and already adopted by many countries in the region. In the coming months and years, we look forward to additional partnerships, learning as we go, and empowering the work of others.”

    With UN estimates placing the cost of corruption at $3.6 trillion dollars a year, Microsoft ACTS will likely see widespread adoption. The technology illustrates yet another way in which AI can be put to good use.

  • Google In Hot Water After Firing High-Profile AI Researcher

    Google In Hot Water After Firing High-Profile AI Researcher

    Google is facing major backlash after firing Dr. Timnit Gebru, one of the world’s leading AI ethics researchers.

    Google has already been accused by the National Labor Relations Board of spying on and terminating employees unlawfully. The accusation stems from the company’s efforts to discourage unionization.

    Now the company has fired Timnit Gebru, a leading, well-respected researcher specializing in AI ethics. Gebru announced her firing via Twitter:

    As Gebru points out, and as Google has stated, the company says it fired her for sending an email to employees in the Bain group, an email that was “inconsistent with the expectations of a Google manager.”

    At the heart of the issue was a research paper Gebru was working on, a paper that received pushback. Gebru provided conditions that she asked Google to meet—in regard to the paper she was working on—otherwise she planned to resign. Rather than negotiate, the company simply accepted her resignation immediately, effectively firing her.

    At the same time, Jeff Dean, the head of Google research, sent out a lengthy email to Google employees explaining why the company chose to fire Gebru. The company blamed its actions on Gebru’s email to the Bain group, in which she detailed the struggles she had experienced as a Black women at the company. Gebru’s email to the Bain group, as well as Dean’s response can be read here.

    It appears Google’s employees aren’t buying the company’s line, not surprising given how well respected Gebru is. To date, over 1,000 people have signed a petition in support of her. In addition, Dr. Alex Hanna, also a Google AI ethics researcher, called out the company for its “chilling” actions against Gebru:

    It goes without saying that Google is providing a case study in how not to handle this kind of situation. Given the scrutiny the company is under, this is certainly not going to help their case.

  • Qualcomm Intros Snapdragon 888, Promises ‘Breakthrough Performance’

    Qualcomm Intros Snapdragon 888, Promises ‘Breakthrough Performance’

    Qualcomm has announced the next iteration of its Snapdragon line of processors, the flagship Snapdragon 888.

    Qualcomm is one of the leading makers of mobile chips, used in Android smartphones and tablets. Based on ARM designs, Snapdragon is used in some of the premier devices on the market.

    The new Snapdragon 888 makes significant improvement on previous generations, especially in performance, AI and connectivity.

    “Qualcomm’s history of breakthrough technology inventions has paved the way for our continued leadership in the premium-tier mobile segment,” said Alex Katouzian, senior vice president and general manager of mobile, compute and infrastructure, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “The new flagship Snapdragon 888 Mobile Platform will enable OEMs to further differentiate their devices and allows users to experience the latest cutting-edge mobile technologies.”

    When it comes to performance, the Snapdragon 888 is based on 5nm process technology, giving up to 25% better overall CPU performance and top speeds up to 2.84 GHz. The 888 also includes an integrated 5G modem, unlike the previous generation that had to be paired with a discreet modem.

    Qualcomm touts the Snapdragon 888’s AI abilities as “the biggest architectural leap forward in AI. The completely re-designed 6th generation Qualcomm AI Engine with the new Qualcomm® Hexagon 780 processor enables premium experiences that blend AI with professional cameras, personal voice assistants, elite gaming, lightning-fast connectivity and more.” Meanwhile, “the integrated 3rd generation Snapdragon X60 5G Modem-RF System enables support for 5G sub-6 carrier aggregation and mmWave to deliver the world’s fastest commercially available 5G speeds, up to 7.5 Gbps.”

    The Snapdragon 888 should help smartphone manufacturers push the envelope of what’s possible, and usher in a new generation of mobile devices.

  • Loon Internet Balloons Being Piloted By Google AI

    Loon Internet Balloons Being Piloted By Google AI

    Fully autonomous cars may not be here yet, but artificial intelligence (AI) is already piloting Loon’s fleet of internet-providing balloons.

    Loon is one of Alphabet’s companies dedicated to providing internet access to rural and underserved areas. The company uses high-altitude balloons that drift in the stratosphere, 11 to 16 miles above the Earth’s surface, creating a wireless network to provide internet access.

    The company announced in a blog post that it has turned over navigation of the balloons to Google’s deep reinforcement learning AI.

    “In our ongoing efforts to improve Loon’s navigation system for our stratospheric connectivity mission, a small group of colleagues at Loon and Google AI had been working to develop a more powerful navigation system that leverages deep reinforcement learning (RL), which is a type of machine learning technique that enables an agent to learn by trial and error in an interactive environment using feedback from its own actions and experiences,” writes Salvatore Candido, Loon CTO. “This contrasts against the conventional approach of the automated system following fixed procedures artisanally crafted by engineers.”

    While some may question whether the balloon’s RL qualifies as a true AI, Candido believes it has now crossed that line.

    “In my last post about Loon’s navigation system, I asked the question of whether we were dealing with AI. My answer was uncertain,” continues Candido. “This time my answer is even more nuanced. While there is no chance that a super-pressure balloon drifting efficiently through the stratosphere will become sentient, we have transitioned from designing its navigation system ourselves to having computers construct it in a data-driven manner. Even if it’s not the beginning of an Asimov novel, it’s a good story and maybe something worth calling AI.”

    Whatever degree of AI Loon’s navigation system achieves, it’s a significant development in the technology.

  • IBM Set to Layoff 10,000 Employees

    IBM Set to Layoff 10,000 Employees

    IBM is preparing for a massive round of layoffs in Europe, impacting some 10,000 employees.

    According to Bloomberg, IBM announced the layoffs earlier in November in a meeting with labor representatives. The source remained anonymous, as the talks are still private.

    “Our staffing decisions are made to provide the best support to our customers in adopting an open hybrid cloud platform and AI capabilities,” an IBM spokeswoman said in an emailed statement to Bloomberg. “We also continue to make significant investments in training and skills development for IBMers to best meet the needs of our customers.”

    The bulk of the cuts are in IBM’s legacy business. The company announced in October it is planning on splitting the company in two. The core will continue under the IBM name and focus on hybrid cloud and AI, while the legacy business will be spun off into a separate company.

    It appears the UK and Germany will be hardest hit, with Belgium, Italy, Poland and Slovakia also slated to experience some layoffs as well.

  • IBM Acquiring Instana As It Focuses On Hybrid Cloud and AI

    IBM Acquiring Instana As It Focuses On Hybrid Cloud and AI

    IBM has announced it is acquiring applications performance monitoring (APM) company Instana to aid in its hybrid cloud and AI strategy.

    IBM made headlines in October when it announced its plans to split itself into two companies. The legacy business will be split into a new company, while the core IBM doubles down on hybrid cloud and AI services.

    To assist in those goals, the company is now acquiring Instana, a startup that uses AI to help companies monitor the performance of cloud apps and services. The startup’s platform is a natural fit for IBM’s newfound focus.

    “Our clients today are faced with managing a complex technology landscape filled with mission-critical applications and data that are running across a variety of hybrid cloud environments – from public clouds, private clouds and on-premises,” said Rob Thomas, Senior Vice President, Cloud and Data Platform, IBM. “IBM’s acquisition of Instana is yet another important step that we are taking to provide companies with the most complete portfolio of AI-automated solutions to tackle this enormous challenge and help prevent unforeseen IT incidents that can cost a business in lost revenue and reputation.”

    At the same time, being part of IBM will help Instana develop its service even more, becoming a dominant player in the DevOps community.

    “With the added responsibility of ensuring the build and run quality of the software they develop, DevOps teams need a new generation of application performance monitoring and observability capabilities to succeed,” said Mirko Novakovic, co-founder and CEO, Instana. “Instana’s observability capabilities combined with IBM’s AI-powered automation capabilities across hybrid cloud environments will give clients a full view of their application performance to best optimize operations.”

  • Facebook Moderators Want Remote Work, Hazard Pay

    Facebook Moderators Want Remote Work, Hazard Pay

    Facebook moderators are protesting the company’s decision to require them to come back to the office amid the pandemic.

    For months, Facebook allowed content moderators to work from home. Recently, however, the company required them to come back into the office. Moderators have penned an open letter, criticizing executives for not taking their safety seriously, and not paying them enough to take risks Facebook requires.

    After months of allowing content moderators to work from home, faced with intense pressure to keep Facebook free of hate and disinformation, you have forced us back to the office. Moderators who secure a doctors’ note about a personal COVID risk have been excused from attending in person. Moderators with vulnerable relatives, who might die were they to contract COVID from us, have not.

    The moderators take Zuckerberg to task for benefiting significantly from the pandemic, with his fortune nearly doubling during it, but not passing on any benefits to the people making Facebook’s success possible. While Zuckerberg is worth over $100 billion, the moderators are only paid roughly $18/hour.

    The letter also addresses the toxic nature of the job, something that has become intolerable when the pressure of the pandemic is added on.

    Before the pandemic, content moderation was easily Facebook’s most brutal job. We waded through violence and child abuse for hours on end. Moderators working on child abuse content had targets increased during the pandemic, with no additional support.

    Now, on top of work that is psychologically toxic, holding onto the job means walking into a hot zone. In several offices, multiple COVID cases have occurred on the floor. Workers have asked Facebook leadership, and the leadership of your outsourcing firms like Accenture and CPL, to take urgent steps to protect us and value our work. You refused. We are publishing this letter because we are left with no choice.

    The moderators highlight how Facebook’s artificial intelligence algorithms have so far failed to replace the human element, making the moderators more important than ever. It remains to be seen if Facebook will address the moderators’ concerns.

    Their message, however, is clear:

    Stop Needlessly Risking Moderators’ Lives

  • Marissa Mayer’s New Company Launches AI-Driven Contact App

    Marissa Mayer’s New Company Launches AI-Driven Contact App

    Marissa Mayer’s new company, Sunshine, has launched Sunshine Contacts, an app that organizes iOS contacts.

    Marissa Mayer previously served as CEO of Yahoo from 2012 to 2017, when Verizon acquired the company. Prior to her time at Yahoo, Mayer was a long-time Google employee and executive.

    Since leaving Yahoo, Mayer cofounded Sunshine with the goal of creating “advanced technology to make mundane tasks effortless, free up your time, and make it easier to be thoughtful.”

    The company’s Sunshine Contacts is a perfect example, using artificial intelligence (AI) to understand the relationships between people. This helps the app organize communication, events and more. The app also uses AI to pull together the various bits of a contact’s information into one location, making it easier to keep the information organized and up-to-date.

    “We’re incredibly proud to introduce Sunshine to the world today,” said Marissa Mayer, Sunshine co-founder and CEO. “The essential technologies that help us stay connected to those who matter most are antiquated. They’ve been around forever and we all see them as ‘good enough,’ despite their outsized impact on our interactions and relationships. At Sunshine, we believe there’s an immense opportunity to make the mundane magical. It’s been an extremely challenging and rewarding problem to tackle and we’re just getting started.”

    “The idea of ‘sunshine’ elicits happiness – just as our company and the products we’ll build intend to do,” said Enrique Muñoz Torres, Sunshine co-founder and President. “Our goal is to give people intuitive insights to help them strengthen their relationships, improve how they spend their time, and make it easier to stay in touch. As first-time founders, we’re excited about the team we’ve built to help accomplish this and we look forward to addressing more everyday problems.”

    The app is available via invitation for the time being. As of yet, there has been no announcement regarding general availability.

  • Work Productivity Firm ActivTrak Raises $50 Million

    Work Productivity Firm ActivTrak Raises $50 Million

    ActivTrak has raised $50 million to help companies “understand and optimize how digital work gets done.”

    ActivTrak is a company that specializes in helping customers understand how their employees work. The company’s cloud-based platform analyzes data to help companies discover ways to improve productivity and compliance.

    The company has secured $50 million from Sapphire Ventures “to scale go-to-market activities in sales, marketing, and channels, and expand platform capabilities using AI-driven analytics to help companies better understand and optimize how digital work gets done.”

    As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, more companies are working remotely than ever before. Many companies have had enough success with remote work that they have made it a permanent part of corporate policies. Even so, some companies are still struggling to improve remote work productivity.

    “Our goal is to bring context to digital work data, providing productivity insights that help companies identify work patterns, set benchmarks, and optimize and sustain outcomes for ongoing success,” said Rita Selvaggi, CEO of ActivTrak. “Sapphire Ventures has a deep track record of investing in next-generation technology companies that leverage the power of analytics to change how people live and work. I’m thrilled to join their portfolio of companies as we continue to grow and capitalize on opportunities in this space.”

  • C3.ai Files For a Proposed IPO

    C3.ai Files For a Proposed IPO

    On the heels of news it had joined forced with Microsoft and Adobe to challenge Salesforce, C3.ai has announced its intention to file an IPO.

    C3.ai is an enterprise AI firm founded by CRM legend Tom Siebel. In late-October, C3.ai announced it had joined forces with Microsoft and Adobe to challenge Salesforce’s grip on the customer relationship management (CRM) market. The new product, C3 AI CRM, is built on Microsoft Dynamics and integrates with Adobe Experience Cloud, all the while using C3.ai to put AI first.

    The company is now filing for an IPO. The stock will trade under the ticker symbol “AI,” and will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The number of shares and price range have yet to be determined. Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan and BofA Securities will act as lead book-running managers.

    “Assessing the IT landscape at the beginning of the 21st century, it became apparent that a new set of technologies was destined to constitute another step function that would change everything about the information processing world, dramatically accelerating the growth of IT markets,” wrote Siebel in the filing. “This step function of technologies – substantially more impactful than anything we had seen before – included: elastic cloud computing, big data, the internet of things, and AI or predictive analytics. Today, at the confluence of these technology vectors we find the phenomenon of Enterprise AI and Digital Transformation, mandates that are rising to the top of every CEO’s agenda. The global IT market exceeds $2.3 trillion today.”

    Siebel was bullish on the company’s target market, as well as his company’s prospects within it.

    “We serve a large and rapidly growing market, estimated to be $174 billion in 2020, growing to $271 billion in 2024,” he continued. “Our goal is to establish a global market-leading position in this market as we did at Oracle and at Siebel Systems. The difference being that this market is an order of magnitude larger than either of those opportunities.”

  • AWS Moves Majority of Alexa to Custom Silicon

    AWS Moves Majority of Alexa to Custom Silicon

    Amazon has migrated the majority of Alexa to the next generation of its custom silicon chips.

    Last year, Amazon was reported to be working on the next generation of its ARM-based custom silicon, as it works to improve cost, performance and efficiency. The company’s latest effort is the AWS Inferentia, with four NeuronCores. The NeuronCores are designed to speed up deep learning operations, making them an ideal option for powering Alexa.

    “Today, we are announcing that the Amazon Alexa team has migrated the vast majority of their GPU-based machine learning inference workloads to Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) Inf1 instances, powered by AWS Inferentia,” writes Sébastien Stormacq. “This resulted in 25% lower end-to-end latency, and 30% lower cost compared to GPU-based instances for Alexa’s text-to-speech workloads. The lower latency allows Alexa engineers to innovate with more complex algorithms and to improve the overall Alexa experience for our customers.

    “AWS built AWS Inferentia chips from the ground up to provide the lowest-cost machine learning (ML) inference in the cloud. They power the Inf1 instances that we launched at AWS re:Invent 2019. Inf1 instances provide up to 30% higher throughput and up to 45% lower cost per inference compared to GPU-based G4 instances, which were, before Inf1, the lowest-cost instances in the cloud for ML inference.”

    This has been a big week for custom silicon, between Apple unveiling its first Macs running on its M1 chip Tuesday, and now AWS’ announcement.

  • Google Ends Unlimited Free Google Photos Storage

    Google Ends Unlimited Free Google Photos Storage

    Google has announced it will no longer offer free unlimited Google Photos storage, reversing a policy that has existed since 2015.

    Google Photos is one of the most popular photo storage services. According to Google, “more than 4 trillion photos are stored in Google Photos, and every week 28 billion new photos and videos are uploaded.” Google Photos tightly integrates with the company’s other services, and uses AI to organize photos and clips. One of the biggest selling points of the service, however, was its free unlimited storage.

    “Starting June 1, 2021, any new photos and videos you upload will count toward the free 15 GB of storage that comes with every Google Account or the additional storage you’ve purchased as a Google One member,” writes Shimrit Ben-Yair, Vice President, Google Photos. “Your Google Account storage is shared across Drive, Gmail and Photos. This change also allows us to keep pace with the growing demand for storage. And, as always, we uphold our commitment to not use information in Google Photos for advertising purposes. We know this is a big shift and may come as a surprise, so we wanted to let you know well in advance and give you resources to make this easier.”

    Kudos to Google for making the change impact new photos, as opposed to retroactively applying the change to existing photos. Still, the change reduces some of the services’ appeal.

  • IBM and AMD Partnering On Cloud Confidential Computing and AI

    IBM and AMD Partnering On Cloud Confidential Computing and AI

    IBM and AMD have announced a joint development agreement to advance cloud confidential computing and artificial intelligence (AI).

    Cloud computing and AI are two of the most important and disruptive technology trends in today’s world. Especially as the pandemic swept the globe, companies raced to adopt cloud computing as a way to maintain productivity as employees worked from home.

    Confidential computing is widely considered to be an important step to further cloud adoption. Confidential computing focuses on protecting data while it is being accessed and processed, not just when it is stored or in transit.

    Similarly, AI is stands to be one of the transformational technologies of the 21st century. Companies all over the globe are racing to develop true AI, as well as the safeguards necessary to safely deploy it.

    IBM and AMD, two of the biggest names in tech, are partnering on both technologies in a multi-year joint venture.

    “The commitment of AMD to technological innovation aligns with our mission to develop and accelerate the adoption of the hybrid cloud to help connect, secure and power our digital world,” said Dario Gil, Director of IBM Research. “IBM is focused on giving our clients choice, agility and security in our hybrid cloud offerings through advanced research, development and scaling of new technologies.”

    “This agreement between AMD and IBM aligns well with our long-standing commitment to collaborating with leaders in the industry,” said Mark Papermaster, executive vice president and CTO, AMD. “AMD is excited to extend our work with IBM on AI, accelerating data center workloads, and improving security across the cloud.”

  • Honda Will Be First Automaker to Mass Produce Level 3 Autonomous Vehicles

    Honda Will Be First Automaker to Mass Produce Level 3 Autonomous Vehicles

    Honda has announced it will be the first automaker to mass produce Level 3 autonomous cars, beginning with the Honda Legend.

    Vehicle autonomy is ranked from 0 to 5. Level 2 cars are already widely in use and can control their speed and some steering. They are not designed to be unsupervised, however, and the driver must stay alert and be ready to take over. Tesla is working on fully autonomous Level 5 vehicles, although their efforts have been met with a large degree of criticism.

    Level 3 would be a step up from current vehicles, with vehicles able to handle more self-driving tasks. Even so, the driver would need to be ready to take over as needed.

    “Honda is planning to launch sales of a Honda Legend (luxury sedan) equipped with the newly approved automated driving equipment,” Honda said in a press release, according to Reuters. The Legend is expected to be available in Japan before the end of March 2021.

    Honda’s announcement illustrates how important autonomous vehicles are to the future of the industry.

  • Hyundai Select’s NVIDIA DRIVE For Infotainment and AI

    Hyundai Select’s NVIDIA DRIVE For Infotainment and AI

    Hyundai has announced it will be using NVIDIA DRIVE for infotainment and artificial intelligence across its entire vehicle lineup.

    Software has become an increasingly important component in the modern automotive industry. Artificial intelligence, autonomous cars, navigation and infotainment all require advanced software and services.

    NVIDIA DRIVE includes a hardware and software stack, combining “audio, video, navigation, connectivity and artificial intelligence (AI)-based ‘connected car’ services.”

    Hyundai plans to roll out NVIDIA DRIVE across its entire Kia, Hyundai and Genesis lineup, from entry-level cars to its premium models. The software will be deployed beginning in the 2022 model year. One of the main benefits of the system is that it will be perpetually updatable.

    “NVIDIA brought consumer electronic functionality and a graphics-rich user interface to infotainment systems more than a decade ago,” said Ali Kani, Vice President of Autonomous Vehicles at NVIDIA. “Now, we are once again transforming these systems through the power of AI, helping Hyundai Motor Group increase safety and value, along with enhancing customer satisfaction, throughout the lifetime of the vehicle.”

    “At Hyundai Motor Group, we are committed to delivering greater value, safety, functionality and enjoyment over the lifetime of the car,” said Paul Choo, Senior Vice President of Electronics Tech Unit at Hyundai Motor Group. “The NVIDIA DRIVE platform is proven – it is scalable, energy-efficient and has the performance to support our next generation of software-defined vehicles.”

    The announcement is a big win for NVIDIA as it diversifies its business and establishes itself as a leader in AI computing.

  • Massachusetts Passes Ballot Opening Auto Industry Repair Data

    Massachusetts Passes Ballot Opening Auto Industry Repair Data

    Voters in Massachusetts have approved a ballot that would force automakers to allow independent shops to access extensive vehicle data and make repairs.

    As vehicles have become more complicated, with more functions being controlled by computers and artificial intelligence, automakers have restricted access from third-party shops. Instead, automakers have increasingly required car owners to use dealerships and approved shops.

    Massachusetts voters have just dealt one of the first major blows to automakers, requiring them to make their vehicle data available, via an open platform, beginning with the 2022 model year.

    “The Auto Care Association is extremely pleased that Massachusetts voters have overwhelmingly supported passage of Question 1 on this year’s ballot,” said Bill Hanvey, president and CEO, Auto Care Association. “Approval of Question 1 ensures that car owners can control the mechanical data that is being transmitted by their vehicle through telematics. This referendum also means that despite advances in technology, owners will be able to have their repair data shared directly with their trusted independent shops. Not only is this a clear win for the Right to Repair Coalition that is comprised of thousands of shops throughout the state, it is also a victory for the car owners of the commonwealth who saw through the scare tactics from the manufacturers. The people of Massachusetts have decidedly favored competition in auto repair. Furthermore, we are greatly appreciative of each and every aftermarket company around the country that stepped up in support of this important campaign.”

    Massachusetts’ initiative will likely encourage other states to enact similar measures, potentially changing how vehicles are repaired.

  • AI May Improve Smart Speakers by Detecting Voice Direction

    AI May Improve Smart Speakers by Detecting Voice Direction

    Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have created a machine learning model to detect the direction of an incoming voice.

    Current smart speakers and voice-activated devices rely on activation keywords to listen and then respond to commands. While largely effective, it can create problems when there are multiple devices that use the same keyword, or when someone uses that keyword in normal conversation.

    The researchers at Carnegie Mellon University set out to solve this problem by using machine learning to help address the problem of addressability. In other words, help devices know if a command was directed at them specifically.

    The research aimed to recreate elements of human-human communication, specifically how people can address a specific person in a crowded room. If computers can learn directional conversation, it will make it much easier to control devices and interact with them much like interacting with a human being.

    “In this research, we explored the use of speech as a directional communication channel,” write (PDF) researchers Karan Ahuja, Andy Kong, Mayank Goel and Chris Harrison. “In addition to receiving and processing spoken content, we propose that devices also infer the Direction of Voice (DoV). Note this is different from Direction of Arrival (DoA) algorithms, which calculate from where a voice originated. In contrast, DoV calculates the direction along which a voice was projected.

    “Such DoV estimation innately enables voice commands with addressability, in a similar way to gaze, but without the need for cameras. This allows users to easily and naturally interact with diverse ecosystems of voice-enabled devices, whereas today’s voice interactions suffer from multi-device confusion.”

    This research is an important development and could have a profound impact on how humans interact with everything from smart speakers to more advanced AIs.

  • Soccer AI Fooled By…A Ref’s Bald Head

    Soccer AI Fooled By…A Ref’s Bald Head

    Artificial intelligence has made some amazing advances in recent years, but there’s nothing like a bald head to highlight its limitations.

    A soccer match involving Caledonian Thistle FC from Inverness, Scotland, was using an AI-driven camera to keep track of the ball. Unfortunately for fans, the camera kept panning back to the linesman’s bald head.

    The situation was made worse by COVID-19 restrictions prohibiting any fans from being in the arena. As a result, fans were relying on the televised broadcast to catch the game, and were no doubt disappointed to have a play-by-play view of the referee’s head.

    The following highlight reel shows just how much the AI was fooled, and just how far AI has yet to improve.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zoJP2FkpgU&feature=emb_title

  • Consumer Reports: GM’s Super Cruise Takes Top Spot, Tesla Autopilot ‘Distant Second’

    Consumer Reports: GM’s Super Cruise Takes Top Spot, Tesla Autopilot ‘Distant Second’

    Consumer Reports has ranked 17 active driver assistance programs, and GM’s Super Cruise has taken the top spot.

    While fully autonomous cars are still being developed, the vast majority of automakers offer active driver assistance programs that help drivers stay alert and drive safely. While Tesla’s system gets the lion’s share of media attention, Consumer Reports labeled it a “distant second,” when compared with GM’s Super Cruise.

    Even after two years, Cadillac’s Super Cruise remained our top-rated system because, when turned on, it uses direct driver monitoring to warn drivers that appear to have stopped paying attention to the road. General Motors told CR that Super Cruise will be on 22 GM vehicles by 2023.

    One of the key differentiating features is Super Cruise’s ability to monitor a driver’s eyes and make sure they’re watching the road.

    “Even with new systems from many different automakers, Super Cruise still comes out on top due to the infrared camera ensuring the driver’s eyes are looking toward the roadway,” says Kelly Funkhouser, CR’s head of connected and automated vehicle testing.

    In the final score, Cadillac Super Cruise scored a 69, while Tesla came in second place with a score of 57. Lincoln/Ford Co-Pilot 360 rounded out the top three with a score of 52.

    The full, rather long, report is well worth a look.

  • More Evidence Apple Is Working On Its Own Search Engine

    More Evidence Apple Is Working On Its Own Search Engine

    More evidence would suggest that Apple is working on its own search engine to help challenge Google’s dominance.

    In many ways, the new report doesn’t add much to previous reports from August. When the news first broke, Coywolf founder Jon Henshaw noticed a web crawler called AppleBot crawling his website. At the same time, AppleInsider noticed changes in how iOS 14 handled search vs iOS 13.

    Now the Financial Times says that multiple search experts are saying that Applebot is showing a steep increase in activity. The company also points to Apple’s poaching of John Giannandrea, Google’s head of search, two and a half years ago. He currently serves as Apple’s senior vice president of Machine Learning and AI Strategy, putting him in a strategic position to have a significant impact on the company’s efforts.

    Other experts believe Apple has the technical expertise to build a successful search engine.

    “They [Apple] have a credible team that I think has the experience and the depth, if they wanted to, to build a more general search engine,” said Bill Coughran, Google’s former engineering chief, according to FT.

    The timing may ultimately work in Apple’s favor as the company’s deal with Google, to make its search engine the default on iOS, is one of the factors in the government’s antitrust lawsuit against Google.

  • Salesforce Beware: Microsoft, Adobe and C3.ai Reinvent CRM

    Salesforce Beware: Microsoft, Adobe and C3.ai Reinvent CRM

    Microsoft, Adobe and C3.ai have joined forces to use artificial intelligence (AI) to reinvent customer relationship management (CRM).

    The new product, C3 AI CRM, is powered by Microsoft Dynamics and fully integrates with Adobe Experience Cloud. The goal is to deliver “the first enterprise-class, AI-first customer relationship management solution is purpose-built for industries.”

    Salesforce, in particular, should be worried by this development. Microsoft has been trying for years to dethrone Salesforce as the CRM king, with little success. While Dynamics 365 has certainly carved out a corner of the market, Salesforce is still the undisputed leader.

    The combination of Dynamics’ foundation, C3.ai’s artificial intelligence and Adobe’s “AI-driven solutions for marketing, analytics, advertising, and commerce” may be just the winning combination Microsoft has been looking for.

    “This year has made clear that businesses fortified by digital technology are more resilient and more capable of transforming when faced with sweeping changes like those we are experiencing,” said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft. “Together with C3.ai and Adobe, we are bringing to market a new class of industry-specific AI solutions, powered by Dynamics 365, to help organizations digitize their operations and unlock real-time insights across their business.”

    The companies made a point of highlighting how the digital transformation had changed the requirements for a CRM solution, with general-purpose software no longer meeting customers’ needs.

    “Microsoft, Adobe, and C3.ai are reinventing a market that Siebel Systems invented more than 25 years ago,” said Thomas M. Siebel, CEO of C3.ai. “The dynamics of the market and the mandates of digital transformation have dramatically changed CRM market requirements. A general-purpose CRM system of record is no longer sufficient. Customers today demand industry-specific, fully AI-enabled solutions that provide AI-enabled revenue forecasting, product forecasting, customer churn, next-best product, next-best offer, and predisposition to buy.”

    Microsoft’s open approach to data and integration have already been labeled a big advantage over Salesforce’s approach. Should this new partnership deliver on its promise, Salesforce may soon find itself scrambling to catch up.