Boston-based DataRobot, a startup developing an end-to-end enterprise AI platform, today raised $270 million in an equity funding round led by Altimeter Capital. DataRobot says the pre-IPO round — which included new and existing investors T. Rowe Price, Blackrock, Silverlake, NEA, and Tiger — values the company at over $2.7 billion.
The benefits of AI and machine learning can feel intangible…
Researchers investigate why popular AI algorithms classify objects by texture, not by shape
November 26, 2020
In a paper accepted to the 2020 NeurIPS conference, Google and Stanford researchers explore the bias exhibited by certain kinds of computer vision algorithms — convolutional neural networks (CNNs) — trained on the open source ImageNet dataset. Unlike humans…
InterVenn Biosciences raises $34 million to accelerate cancer test development with AI
November 26, 2020
InterVenn Biosciences today raised $34 million to further develop its platform for precision medicine. The New York-based startup says the funds will be used to accelerate its go-to-market, expansion, and ongoing product R&D efforts.
Mass spectrometry, a technique that…
Ride Vision raises $7 million for AI that alerts motorcycle riders to collision threats
November 26, 2020
Ride Vision, a startup developing “collision aversion” technology for motorcycles, today emerged from stealth with a $7 million round led by investment platform OurCrowd. Ride Vision also unveiled an AI-driven safety alert system called Ride Vision 1 that will go on sale in several European countries in early 2021. A spokesperson said the fresh capital will be used for marketing, distribution…
Facebook says it’s using AI to prioritize potentially problematic posts for human moderators to review as it works to more quickly remove content that violates its community guidelines. The social media giant previously leveraged machine learning models to proactively take…
Emerging technology fields need industrywide metrics to measure progress. So a pun-loving chatbot startup called Pandorabots decided to put on a flashy Bot Battle. The Bot Battle consisted of two virtual beings chatting 24 hours a day, seven days a week for two weeks (unlike…
AI Weekly: Tech, power, and building the Biden administration
November 26, 2020
After the defeat of Donald Trump, there was little time between Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ celebratory speeches and the start of conversations about transition team members and key administration appointments.
Some of the first names to emerge include people with tech backgrounds like former Google CEO Eric Schmidt who may be tapped to lead a tech industry panel in the White House. Since…
Many real-world problems require complex coordination between multiple agents — e.g., people or algorithms. A machine learning technique called multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) has shown success with respect to this, mainly in two-team games like Go, DOTA 2…
As the pandemic wears on, humanoid robots that can perform general tasks could become increasingly important. They can move heavy objects in warehouses, assist with last-yard deliveries, and potentially be involved in other tasks where low human-to-human contact is…
Why AI can’t move forward without diversity, equity, and inclusion
November 26, 2020
The need to pursue racial justice is more urgent than ever, especially in the technology industry. The far-reaching scope and power of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) means that any gender and racial bias at the source is multiplied to the nth power in businesses and out in the world. The impact those technology biases have on society as a whole can’t be…
