To coincide with the “Cloud AI” segment of its Cloud Next ’20: OnAir conference, Google today unveiled updates and new features across its portfolio of AI services. Contact Center AI, software that enables businesses to deploy virtual agents for customer service interactions, gained custom-generated voices and an agent assist module. As of this week, the file-analyzing Document AI will ship…
Location data analytics provider Cosmose AI today announced it raised $15 million in a funding round valuing the company at over $100 million. A spokesperson told VentureBeat the capital will be used to drive customer acquisition and product R&D.
Keeping apprised of…
Researchers at the Allen Institute for AI today launched AllenAct, a platform intended to promote reproducible research in embodied AI with a focus on modularity and flexibility. AllenAct, which is available in beta, supports multiple training environments and algorithms…
(Reuters) — At a factory south of Japan’s Toyota City, robots have started sharing the work of quality-control inspectors as the pandemic accelerates a shift from Toyota’s vaunted “go-and-see” system, which helped revolutionize mass production in the 20th century. Inside the auto parts plant of Musashi Seimitsu, a robotic arm picks up and spins a bevel gear, scanning its teeth against a…
Tesla Autopilot now detects speed limit signs
August 30, 2020
Tesla cars are now smarter about recognizing street signs. Electrek reports that the automaker is pushing a software update that lets Autopilot detect speed limit signs using the EV’s cameras. Your car should stick to the limit more accurately than it did before, when it…
China's new AI trade rules could hamper a TikTok sale
August 29, 2020
TikTok’s attempt to sell itself and avert a possible US ban may run into some complications. The Wall Street Journal reports that China has unveiled new restrictions on AI technology exports that could affect TikTok. The new rules bar the exports of tech like content…
Researchers built a data set for training AI to detect natural disasters from social media images
August 29, 2020
This week, people in California and Gulf Coast states experienced the impact of historic natural disasters. Called signs of climate change, both are unique: The California fires were started by hundreds of lightning strikes, creating some of the largest fires recorded in state history, and Hurricane Laura hit Louisiana harder than any hurricane in more than 150 years.
To assist humanitarian groups…
AI Weekly: Facebook’s discriminatory ad targeting illustrates the dangers of biased algorithms
August 29, 2020
This summer has been littered with stories about algorithms gone awry. For one example, a recent study found evidence Facebook’s ad platform may discriminate against certain demographic groups. The team of coauthors from Carnegie Mellon University say the biases exacerbate…
Google is making it easier for Assistant users to donate to an organization working to address racial bias in policing. Using your phone, ask Assistant to “donate to racial justice,” and the digital helper will then take you through contributing to the Center for…
As it has every year since around 2015, longtime U.S. Open sponsor and media partner IBM detailed the AI technologies it will use to support the tournament beginning on August 31. In a typical year, these technologies aren’t anything out of the ordinary. In 2019, IBM demoed AI that measures player performance and selects highlights, for example. But the pandemic introduced challenges that have…
