AI might soon be an ally in the quest to banish wake words from voice assistants. Carnegie Mellon University researchers have developed a machine learning model that estimates the direction a voice is coming from, indicating your intent without the need for a special phrase or gesture. The approach relies on the inherent properties of sound as it bounces around a room.
The system recognizes that…
AI can detect COVID-19 by listening to your coughs
November 26, 2020
It’s easy to be worried when you cough these days — is it COVID-19, or are you just clearing your throat? You might get a clearer answer soon. MIT researchers have developed AI that can recognize forced coughing from people who have COVID-19, even if they’re otherwise…
Save hundreds on these Python, AI and data science courses
November 26, 2020
In this age of big data, companies worldwide need to sift through the avalanche of information at their disposal to enhance their products, services and overall profitability. As such, there’s a growing demand in today’s job market for specialists who have the…
Tesla has taken another bruising for the quality of its driver assistance tech. Consumer Reports has conducted (via Reuters) a driver assistance study where Tesla’s Autopilot placed a “distant second” to GM’s Super Cruise, with a Model Y scoring 57 versus the Cadillac CT6’s 69. The key, CR’s Kelly Funkhouser said, was the Cadillac’s infrared camera to ensure your eyes are focused on…
Grimes and Endel made an AI-powered lullaby
November 26, 2020
Synth-pop artist and Cyberpunk 2077 cast member Grimes has teamed up with mood music startup Endel to create an AI-powered soundscape designed to help you drift off. “AI Lullaby” blends vocals and original music from Grimes with personalized sounds that an…
Add another AI startup to Apple’s growing list of 2020 acquisitions. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the company bought a firm called Vilynx earlier this year. The startup had been training an AI that could understand the content of a video by looking at its…
How Hasty uses automation and rapid feedback to train AI models and improve annotation
November 26, 2020
Computer vision is playing an increasingly pivotal role across industry sectors, from tracking progress on construction sites to deploying smart barcode scanning in warehouses. But training the underlying AI model to accurately identify images can be a slow, resource-intensive endeavor that isn’t guaranteed to produce results. Fledgling German startup Hasty wants to help with the promise of…
This is how we’ll merge with AI
November 26, 2020
The relationship between humans and AI is something of a dance. We and AI come close together operating collaboratively, then are pushed away by the impossibility, only to stumble but return attracted by the potential. It is perhaps fitting that the dance community is…
Training AI algorithms on mostly smiling faces reduces accuracy and introduces bias, according to research
November 26, 2020
Facial recognition systems are problematic for a number of reasons, not least of which they tend to exhibit prejudice against certain demographic groups and genders. But a new study from researchers affiliated with MIT, the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya in Barcelona, and…
UC Berkeley researchers say they are the first to train AI using using silently mouthed words and sensors that collect muscle activity. Silent speech is detected using electromyography (EMG), with electrodes placed on the face and throat. The model focuses on what researchers call digital voicing to predict words and generate synthetic speech.
Researchers believe their method can enable a number…
