With a namesake like Atlas, you wouldn’t think Boston Dynamics’ bipedal robot would be the most lithe specimen on the planet. But then we’ve already seen it has a knack for parkouring, and now you can add dancing to its list of talents. In its latest sure-to-be viral video, we see Atlas and the entire Boston Dynamics family, including the dog-like Spot and box-stacking Handle, dance to “Do…
Graphcore raises $222 million to scale up AI chip production
December 30, 2020
Graphcore, a Bristol, U.K.-based startup developing chips and systems to accelerate AI workloads, today announced it has raised $222 million in a series E funding round led by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board. The investment, which values the company at $2.77…
AI jobs in 2021: here are some key trends
December 29, 2020
There’s no doubt about it – Artificial Intelligence has been a bit of a buzzword this year. Artificial intelligence has been established as the main driver of emerging technologies such as big data, robotics, and the IoT. So, what do the next 12 months look like for…
AI Weekly: The trends that shaped 2020
December 29, 2020
A few days ago, I published a story about books that I read throughout the year to improve and inform my job covering artificial intelligence and adjacent industries. In all, the multi-part review contains nine books published in 2020 that explore subjects like business strategy, policy, and geopolitics, as well as the human rights consequences associated with AI deployments.
Too Smart, for…
Researchers find evidence of bias in art-generating AI systems
December 28, 2020
As research pushes the boundaries of what’s possible with AI, the popularity of art created by algorithms — generative art — continues to grow. From creating paintings to inventing new art styles, AI-based generative art has been showcased in a range of applications.
DeepMind’s big losses, and the questions around running an AI lab
December 28, 2020
Last week, on the heels of DeepMind’s breakthrough in using AI to predict protein-folding came the news that the UK-based AI company is still costing its parent company Alphabet Inc hundreds of millions of dollars in losses each year.
A tech company losing money is nothing…
AI research survey finds machine learning needs a culture change
December 26, 2020
The machine learning community, particularly in the fields of computer vision and language processing, has a data culture problem. That’s according to a survey of research into the community’s dataset collection and use practices published earlier this month.
What’s needed is a shift away from reliance on the large, poorly curated datasets used to train machine learning models. Instead, the…
13 acquisitions highlight Big Tech’s AI talent grab in 2020
December 25, 2020
It’s no secret that Big Tech has for years nabbed top technology talent through product acquisitions and acqui-hires. In fact, this is something the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is currently looking into through ongoing antitrust investigations. So it should come as…
An AI reporter’s favorite books of 2020
December 24, 2020
The older I get, the more I wish I could stop time so I could read more books. Books that earn my time and attention are those that promise to enrich me as a person and deepen my understanding of AI for the work I do as senior AI staff writer at VentureBeat.
This year, I…
Let this eerily accurate AI dunk on your Spotify habits
December 24, 2020
If you’re a Spotify user, you might have checked out your 2020 listening data with Spotify Wrapped. It’s a straightforward celebration of your year in music and podcasts, a judgement-free overview of what you listened to. The Pudding, however, is distorting that mirror a bit, with a bot that roasts you for the music that got you through 2020.
In Spotify’s book (and mine)…
