AI & RoboticsNews

Google Assistant’s latest feature is a personalized audio news feed

November 20, 2019
Starting today, you can ask Google Assistant to “play me to the news” and it’ll create a curated playlist of audio news stories. The feature, called Your News Update, is available on any phone or smart speaker with access to Google Assistant. Each update will start with a couple of short, general interest news bites before transitioning to longer-form stories. For example, if…
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AI & RoboticsNews

Xiaomi’s Xiao AI assistant passes 49.9 million users

November 20, 2019
Today marked the kickoff of Xiaomi’s annual Mi Developer conference in Beijing, and the tech giant wasted no time in announcing updates across its AI portfolio. It took the wraps off the latest release of Mobile AI Compute Engine (MACE), its open source machine learning…
AI & RoboticsNews

Sony AI unit launches to push R&D in gaming, cameras and food

November 20, 2019
Ever since Sony announced the return of Aibo in 2016, it’s increasingly focused on developing AI technology to push its products. Now it’s established Sony AI which will have offices in Japan, Europe and the US focused on bringing “world class fundamental research and development with Sony’s unique technical assets.” While that includes robotics like its…
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AI & RoboticsNews

Wayve raises $20 million to give autonomous cars better AI brains

November 18, 2019
Wayve, a U.K.-based startup that’s developing artificial intelligence (AI) that teaches cars to drive autonomously using reinforcement learning, simulation, and computer vision, has raised $20 million in a series A round of funding led by Palo Alto venture capital (VC) firm Eclipse Ventures, with participation from Balderton Capital, Compound Ventures, Fly Ventures, and First Minute…
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AI & RoboticsNews

Is AI in a golden age or on the verge of a new winter?

November 16, 2019
The global rush forward of AI development continues at a breakneck pace and shows no signs of stopping. Stanford University recently called on the U.S. government to make a $120 billion investment in the nation’s AI ecosystem over the course of the next 10 years, and…
AI & RoboticsNews

How power and transformative tech reshape our world

November 15, 2019
This week, VentureBeat launched a quarterly magazine. Like the AI Weekly, the special issue gives our editorial team a chance to reflect on important transformative technology influencing business, technology, and society. The first issue focuses on the relationship between power and AI. Power can shape AI, from how we define ethical use of artificial intelligence and protect personal data to how…
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