Despite recent reports of Chinese VCs pulling back AI investment, many top AI players continue to try and 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. More weekly news can be found below:
Company developments:
Huawei’s new AI app enriches story time for deaf children – Dec. 9, 2018 (China.org.cn)
- Chinese mobile giant Huawei recently launched StorySign, a free mobile app that translates children’s books into sign language, so as to enrich family story times and enhance learning experiences for kids with hearing problems
- According to the company, the app uses a combination of augmented reality and AI technologies. Image recognition enables StorySign to detect words even the phone is positioned at an angle and optical character recognition (OCR) increases accuracy
Amazon and Microsoft claim AI can read human emotions. Experts say the science is shaky – Dec. 9, 2018 (Quartz)
- “The problem is now AI is being applied in a lot of social contexts. Anthropology, psychology, and philosophy are all incredibly relevant, but this is not the training of people who come from a technical [computer science] background.” says Kate Crawford, co-founder of AI Now, distinguished research professor at NYU and principal researcher at Microsoft Research. “Essentially the narrowing of AI has produced a kind of guileless acceptance of particular strands of psychological literature that have been shown to be suspect.”
Montreal startup Stradigi’s AI game teaches people sign language – Dec. 8, 2018 (VentureBeat)
- Accessibility is another burgeoning area of what’s been coined “AI for good” research, and one which Montreal startup Stradigi AI is committed to advancing with a new tool for the deaf and hearing impaired
- At the NeurIPS 2018 conference in Montreal this week, the four-year-old startup — which its two cofounders, Carolina Bessega and Jaime Camacaro, pivoted from software development to AI research in 2016 — demoed a game that uses computer vision to help people learn American Sign Language (ASL)
Waymo launches first driverless car service – Dec. 5, 2018 (Market Watch)
- Waymo launched its first driverless-car service Wednesday in Arizona, vowing to proceed “carefully” with the technology and at least initially keeping a person in the driver’s seat in case of emergencies
- Waymo One, as the program is called, will first be offered to people in the company’s early-rider program, in which more than 400 Phoenix-area residents have signed up since last year to help test-drive driverless cars in their neighborhoods, Waymo said Wednesday, adding that some of those volunteers have already ridden in fully driverless cars
Uber’s Self-Driving Cars Are Set to Return in a Downsized Test – Dec. 5, 2018 (NY Times)
- Eight months after one of Uber’s self-driving cars struck and killed a pedestrian, the ride-hailing company is close to putting its autonomous vehicles back on the road in a drastically reduced version of earlier efforts
- Starting within a few weeks, it plans to run the vehicles on a mile loop between two company offices in Pittsburgh. They won’t operate at night or in wet weather, and they won’t exceed 25 m.p.h., Uber said
DeepMind claims early progress in AI-based predictive protein modelling – Dec. 3, 2018 (TechCrunch)
- Google -owned AI specialist, DeepMind, has claimed a “significant milestone” in being able to demonstrate the usefulness of artificial intelligence to help with the complex task of predicting 3D structures of proteins based solely on their genetic sequence
- DeepMind says the two methods it used relied on using deep neural networks trained to predict protein properties from its genetic sequence
NVIDIA teases the Titan RTX, its upcoming flagship GPU – Dec. 3, 2018 (Engadget)
- A bunch of social media personalities have teased the Titan RTX, NVIDIA’s next flagship GPU, in what looks like a coordinated campaign. Google Brain co-founder Andrew Ng showed off the card on Twitter in an otherwise vanilla recruiting photo, “slow mo guy” Gavin Free teased a shot of it on Instagram with his cat, and Linus from Linus Tech Tips “accidentally” pulled the card out twice on his YouTube show
- We still don’t know the date, specs or price, but we can take a guess at all three. The Titan RTX will likely pack 72 RT cores and 12GB of GDDR6 memory, according to previous leaks, besting the RTX 2080 Ti’s 68 RT cores and 11GB of GDDR6 memory. That’s a pretty modest bump over the current top-end model, but gamers who want the best will no doubt pay
Apple details Siri’s machine learning upgrades for better listening on HomePod – Dec. 3, 2018 (Apple Insider)
- Siri on the HomePod had to be upgraded to cope with loud music, ambient noise, and distant talkers, the journal entry notes. Accordingly the HomePod employs not just far-field microphones, but “mask-based multichannel filtering using deep learning” to strip out echo and background noise, and “unsupervised” learning to split up multiple sound sources and use only the one including “Hey Siri” as a trigger phrase
- The entry goes into considerable technical detail, being oriented mainly towards professionals in the machine learning field. It does however mention that multichannel signal processing happens “continuously” on the HomePod’s A8 processor, even in low-power states, and is able to adjust to both changing environments and moving talkers
Fundraising / investment:
TikTok parent ByteDance said to raise $1.45 billion for AI and content – Dec. 7, 2018 (TechCrunch)
- ByteDance, the Chinese company behind the immensely popular video app TikTok, is in talks to raise $1.45 billion for a new fund, The Information reported on Friday, citing sources. The fresh vehicle will help power artificial intelligence and media content for the $75 billion startup, which reportedly leapfrogged Uber’s valuation after raising $3 billion in October
- The Chinese startup has set off an aggressive global expansion that sees it merge teen video app Musical.ly into TikTok, which has 100 million and 500 million users, respectively. The upstart has compelled Tencent to up the ante in short videos and Facebook to make a clone
China’s Tsinghua University to invest $584m in Japanese AI, robotics ventures – Dec. 7, 2018 (Deal Street Asia)
- The Chinese university’s investment arm, Tus-Holdings, set up an office with UTokyo Innovation Platform late last month, with an aim to advance both markets by promoting joint research and staff exchange between Japanese and Chinese startups
- The Japanese report said that the target fields of the investment will include fintech, the intersection of information technology and finance. The Beijing-based university will also consider managing buildings that house cutting-edge companies down the road, and launching a major investment fund
Forge.ai raises $11 million to help companies structure data and predict outcomes – Dec. 6, 2018 (VentureBeat)
- Forge.ai today announced the close of an $11 million funding round to grow its data labeling and predictive insights platform. The money will be used to improve the Forge.ai platform and double the number of employees from 20 to 40 over the next year, CEO Jim Crowley told VentureBeat in a phone interview
- The company intends to hire additional engineers, AI scientists, and staff to bring its solution to market. Forge.ai works by hoovering up news, social media, websites, SEC regulatory filings, and other text-based information in the world and using it to train a general AI model. That model can then be combined with a customer’s data to serve up predictive insights and help them make better decisions
Workato raises $25M for its integration platform – Dec. 5, 2018 (TechCrunch)
- Workato, a startup that offers an integration and automation platform for businesses that competes with the likes of MuleSoft, SnapLogic and Microsoft’s Logic Apps, today announced that it has raised a $25 million Series B funding round from Battery Ventures, Storm Ventures, ServiceNow and Workday Ventures
- Combined with its previous rounds, the company has now received investments from some of the largest SaaS players, including Salesforce, which participated in an earlier round
Google invests in Japanese AI and machine learning startup ABEJA – Dec. 5, 2018 (TechCrunch)
- The deal amount is undisclosed but a little digging suggests that it is likely a single-digit million U.S. dollar figure. That’s because six-year-old ABEJA did confirm that it has now raised JPY 6 billion ($53 million) from investors to date. The company has raised $45 million in disclosed capital, according to Crunchbase, which leaves around $8 million unaccounted for — although that covers both the Google investment and a previous Series A deal in 2014, which was also undisclosed
- ABEJA’s core offering is a ‘platform as a service’ that uses machine learning to help more than 150 companies develop business analysis and insight from their data piles. There is a specialist product for retail stores which hones in on customer and retail data — that’s used by some 100 corporate customers, according to ABEJA
FortressIQ raises $12M to bring new AI twist to process automation – Dec. 4, 2018 (TechCrunch)
- FortressIQ, a startup that wants to bring a new kind of artificial intelligence to process automation called imitation learning, emerged from stealth this morning and announced it has raised $12 million. The Series A investment was led by Light Speed Venture Partners. Previous investors Boldstart Ventures, Comcast Ventures and Eniac Ventures also participated in this round. Today’s investment brings the total raised to $16 million
- Pankaj Chowdhry, founder and CEO of FortressIQ, says that his company basically replaces high-cost consultants who are paid to do time and motion studies and automates that process in a fairly creative way. It’s a bit like Robotics Process Automation (RPA), a space that is attracting a lot of investment right now, but instead of simply recording what’s happening on the desktop, and reproducing that digitally, it takes it a step further in a process called “imitation learning.”
Freeletics raises $45M for its AI-powered mobile fitness coach – Dec. 4, 2018 (TechCrunch)
- Freeletics, headquartered in Munich, Germany, is today announcing its first round of private capital after bootstrapping since 2013. The $45 million Series A was co-led by FitLab, Causeway Media Partners and JAZZ Venture Partners, with participation from Courtside Ventures, Elysian Park Ventures and ward.ventures. Sports teams including the San Francisco 49ers and the Boston Celtics also invested, though Freeletics chief executive officer Daniel Sobhani declined to comment on any partnerships that may be in the works between the startup and the athletes
Partnerships:
Israeli AI tech to help avert accidents in China by tracking drivers’ drowsiness – Dec. 9, 2018 (Times of Israel)
- Herzliya-based eyeSight Technologies has teamed up with Chinese GPS and telematics firm Exsun in a bid to make trucking safer, helping commercial trucks comply with new Chinese regulations that have come into force to cut accidents caused by driver drowsiness and inattentiveness
- eyeSight’s solution uses an infrared sensor together with computer vision to help monitor drivers’ direction of sight, pupil dilation, eye openness, blink rate and head position to see in real-time if they show signs of drowsiness, are inattentive or not focused on the road. Once drowsiness or distraction is detected, eyeSight provides an alert in real time
Formula 1 To Use Artificial Intelligence TV Graphics In Partnership With Amazon For 2019 Season – Dec. 6, 2018 (Forbes)
- One of the initiatives announced earlier this week at the Amazon Web Services (AWS) re:Invent 2018 Conference is that Formula 1 will be using AI to help power a number of new television graphics that it plans to debut during its 2019 season. Formula 1 had already entered into a partnership with AWS and debuted some graphical changes in the 2018 season, but it plans to increase its offerings next year
- During the ‘F1 Insights’ portion of the AWS conference, Formula 1 shared a bit about the fan experience changes that will tap into a wide range of car data at its disposal, in order to give fans unique insight into the race and car right in the heat of competition
Hyundai partners with AI start-up to make HD maps for autonomous cars – Dec. 4, 2018 (ZDnet)
- Hyundai Mnsoft, a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Group focused on navigation solutions, will leverage Netradyne’s crowd-sourced deep vision technologies for the development of HD maps
- Netradyne said its crowdsourced deep vision analytics for HD map generation was more affordable compared to the light detection and ranging (LIDAR)-based mapping of other companies. Its vision-based driver recognition safety program, dubbed Driveri, captures the driving experience and delivers the view of the driver to safety managers
Carnegie Mellon and Western Governors Building Career Coaching Agents – Dec. 5, 2018 (Campus Technology)
- Two universities will be working together on a research project to help students explore jobs. The National Science Foundation awarded almost $700,000 over three years to Western Governors University (WGU) and Carnegie Mellon University to create “intelligent coaching agents” for non-traditional students pursuing work in STEM
- The agents will use a combination of human-computer interaction, artificial intelligence, machine learning and education to guide students to practical resources that can help them improve their chances of success in finding good jobs. Those resources will include human career coaches or peers to help participants build their confidence and motivation in problem-solving and decision-making related to their career hunts
Research / studies:
First Artificial Intelligence Lab Opens in EU, Challenging US and China – Dec. 7, 2018 (Sputnik International)
- Earlier this year, it was announced that the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems, or ELLIS, would to be established in order for the EU to be able to take part in shaping changes stemming from the research of “machine learning and modern AI”
- ELLIS will operate physical laboratories and a pan-European Artificial Intelligence PhD program in a bid to prepare the next generation of AI researchers. The organisation will focus on research of modern AI, relying on “machine learning methods such as deep neural networks that allow computers to learn from data and experience”, according to the statement issued by the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems
Machine learning helps predict worldwide plant-conservation priorities – Dec. 3, 2018 (Ohio State News)
- A new approach co-developed at The Ohio State University uses data analytics and machine learning to predict the conservation status of more than 150,000 plants worldwide. Results suggest that more than 15,000 species likely qualify as near-threatened, vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered
- Currently, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature — which produces the world’s most comprehensive inventory of threatened species (the “Red List”) — more or less works on a species-by-species basis, requiring more resources and specialized work than is available to accurately assign a conservation-risk category to every species
Government / policy:
Canada, France plan global panel to study the effects of AI – Dec. 6, 2018 (Wired)
- In Montreal on Thursday, the governments of France and Canada said they will establish a similar group to study and respond to the global changes being wrought by artificial intelligence technology. They say the panel is needed to rein in unethical uses of AI and minimize the risk of economic disruption such as job losses caused by automation
- Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau announced plans for the International Panel on Artificial Intelligence with the French minister for digital affairs, Mounir Mahjoubi. Trudeau has launched several programs to advance Canadian investment in AI in recent years, and he said he also wants to lead in considering the technology’s potential downsides. “If Canada is to become a world leader in AI, we must also play a lead role in addressing some of the ethical concerns we will face in this area,” Trudeau said
Microsoft calls on companies to adopt a facial recognition code of conduct – Dec. 6, 2018 (TechCrunch)
- Over the summer, Microsoft President Brad Smith called for governments to take a closer look at how facial detection technology is being implemented across the globe. This week, he returned with a similar message — only this time the executive is calling out fellow technology purveyors to help address myriad issues around the technology before it becomes too pervasive
- Smith points to a trio of potential pitfalls for the tech: biased outcomes, invasion of privacy and mass surveillance. The ACLU has been raising red flags on that first point for some time, asking Congress to implement a moratorium on surveillance technologies. The group found that Amazon’s Rekognition software wrongly associated headshots of members of Congress with criminal mugshots
Secret Service tests facial recognition surveillance system outside White House – Dec. 4, 2018 (NBC News)
- The U.S. Secret Service on Nov. 19 started testing a facial recognition system that uses security cameras to capture images of people outside the White House and then tries to match them to “people of interest.” The move has heightened concerns of the government using high-tech tools to expand its monitoring of the public
- In this case, the “people of interest” ─ at least for now ─ are Secret Service workers who have volunteered to take part in the test. But the security cameras take video of people on the sidewalk and street, and there is no way for them to avoid having the system run their faces against the facial recognition program. Those who don’t want that to happen “may choose to avoid the area,” the Secret Service said in a document published last week
UK Commissioner opens investigation into police use of facial recognition – Dec. 4, 2018 (Biometric Update)
- UK Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham has launched a formal investigation into the legality and effectiveness of facial recognition technology used by police in Britain, The Daily Telegraph reports
- Denham warned the government’s Home Office and the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) earlier this year in a blog post that if her concerns about the technology’s intrusive use were not addressed, she would consider legal action. Police are piloting the technology in London, Humberside, South Wales, and Leicestershire
Self-Driving Vehicle Regulation Bill Gets Late Push in Senate – Dec. 4, 2018 (Insurance Journal)
- Key U.S. senators are making a last-ditch effort to win approval of a bill to speed the use of self-driving cars without human controls, but face an uphill battle on Capitol Hill. Staff for Republican Senator John Thune and Democratic Senator Gary Peters circulated a draft of a revised bill aimed at breaking a legislative stalemate
- The pair have been working for more than a year to try to win approval of the bill by the Senate and have said they may try to attach the measure to a bill to fund U.S. government operations. A key sticking point has been whether the measure would limit the ability of companies to compel binding arbitration for consumers using autonomous vehicles. The aides’ draft limits the use of those clauses in death or serious injury crashes, while the bill that passed the House did not include the limitation
Events:
AWS Introduces 13 New Machine Learning Options at reInvent – Dec. 3, 2018 (Solutions Review)
- At this year’s AWS re:Invent, AWS announced 13 new machine learning services and capabilities. The company introduced SageMaker features to help developers build, train, and deploy machine learning modules
- They also revealed services, framework enhancements, as well as a custom chip to speed up machine learning training and inference. Additionally, AWS announced new AI services that extract text from almost any document, read medical information, and provide customized personalization, recommendations, and forecasts