Tag Archives: Google

What’s happened in AI: February 25th-March 3rd

By | March 4, 2019

Big news this week is centered around the AI chip industry. Out in China, Horizon Robotics has raised a massive $600mm series B led by SK China. They’re already backed by Intel and will use the proceeds to continue expanding their capabilities in what’s known to be a very competitive space.

Meanwhile in the U.S., Google Ventures has invested in Lightmatter, an AI chip startup out of Boston. More weekly news can be found below.

What’s happened in AI: February 18th-24th

By | February 25, 2019

Lots of news out of China this week. Biggest story was Victor Gevers, a security researcher for the GDI Foundation, finding a database belonging to SenseNets. The Shenzen based company provides facial recognition and other monitoring systems to the Chinese police. Everyone knows that China is utilizing AI to enhance the government’s surveillance capabilities, but this was the first insight we’ve gained into the scope of the government’s operations in the Xianjiang province. It’s looking quite Orwellian there. It’s also notable that SenseTime divested their stake in SenseNets right after finding out about the security breach.

What’s happened in AI: February 11th-17th

By | February 18, 2019

This week the autonomous trucking world added another Unicorn. TuSimple raised a $95mm Series D round to expand its autonomous truck fleet to over 50 vehicles by June. Definitely a player to look out for in this area. Other weekly news can be found below. Company developments: Waymo’s autonomous vehicles leave Apple in the dust… Read More »

What’s happened in AI: January 7th-13th

By | January 14, 2019

Extremely busy week in the AI world, particularly because of the 2019 annual CES conference. Lots of companies announced new product developments, partnerships, and investment in their AI strategy.

One of the biggest CES developments came from Xiaomi, who announced a $1.5bn investment in AI and smart devices. The recently IPO’d tech company is looking to expand aggressively, likely driven in part from the Chinese stock market’s recent sell off. Other weekly news can be found below.

What’s happened in AI: January 1st-6th

By | January 7, 2019

We’ve finished up our first week in 2019 with numerous AI developments to kick things off. In the autonomous vehicle arena we witnessed perhaps the most bizarre developments as Waymo’s vehicles continue to face attacks from pedestrians. It’s quite a situation and just another reminder of how weird humans can be (let’s hope the AI doesn’t fully resemble us!). It seems like although these are random incidents, they pose a threat to public perception of the safety of autonomous vehicles.

What’s happened in AI: December 17th-23rd

By | December 24, 2018

Anthony Levandowski is back in the news again. This time it’s for his new autonomous trucking startup Pronto.ai, where he completed a 3,099 mile cross-country trip in one of his trucks. If verified it would be the longest known journey for an autonomous truck. Levandowski just keeps finding ways to stay relevant. 

What’s happened in AI: December 3rd-9th

By | December 10, 2018

Despite recent reports of Chinese VCs pulling back AI investment, many top AI players continue to raise large amounts of cash. ByteDance, the $75bn unicorn that has now surpassed Uber’s valuation, is in talks to raise another $1.45bn. The use of proceeds is to pursue their aggressive global expansion plans. 

Meanwhile in the U.S., Republican Senator John Thune and Democratic Senator Gary Peters circulated a draft of a revised self-driving vehicle bill aimed at breaking a legislative stalemate. With the pace of innovation in the field, let’s hope they get this passed sooner rather than later.