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AI acceleration startup Xnor.ai collects $2.6M in funding
I was excited by the promise of Xnor.ai and its technique that drastically reduces the computing power necessary to perform complex operations like computer vision. Seems I wasn’t the only one: the company, just officially spun off from the Allen Institute for AI (AI2), has attracted $2.6 million in funding from its parent company and Madrona Venture Group. Read More
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H&R Block is now using IBM Watson to find tax deductions
Getting your taxes done is miserable. It’s complicated, time-consuming and costly — particularly for people whose financial situation requires them to seek help from tax professionals. The process is such a mess, even for said professionals, that H&R Block, one of the largest tax services providers, is partnering with IBM Watson to help make the process go more smoothly. Read More
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How Facebook plans to evaluate its quest for generalized artificial intelligence
One of the biggest misconceptions about artificial intelligence is the belief that today’s AIs possess generalized intelligence. We are really good at leveraging large data sets to accomplish specific tasks, but fall flat at replicating the breadth of human intelligence. If we’re going to move toward generalized intelligence, Facebook wants to make sure we know how to… Read More
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Boston Dynamics adds wheels to its already chilling robots
Alphabet subsidiary Boston Dynamics doesn’t have much to prove when it comes to producing the robots of your nightmares. Previous iterations of the company’s prototypes have been kicked over by humans only to stand right back up, for example. But at an event this week, founder Marc Raibert managed to unveil something simultaneously more unsettling and technologically… Read More
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MXNet accepted to the Apache Incubator
MXNet, Amazon Web Services’ preferred deep learning framework, was accepted to the Apache Incubator today. Admission to the incubator is the first step necessary for the open-source initiative to officially become part of the Apache Software Foundation. The Apache Software Foundation supports the efforts of thousands of developers maintaining open-source projects around the world. Read More
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Crunch Network
Is a master algorithm the solution to our machine learning problems?
Machine learning is not new. We have witnessed it since the 1990s, when Amazon introduced a new “recommended for you” section for its users to display more personalized results. When we search for something on Google, machine learning is behind those search results. The “Friends” recommendations or the suggested pages on Facebook or a product recommendation depend… Read More
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Crunch Network
The new A-Team: Agile teams of machines
One of the most popular shows on television 30 years ago was “The A-Team” — the story of five rogue military commandos who teamed together to form an elite fighting unit. Now, a generation later, DARPA and the U.S. military are in search of a new “A-Team” — only this team won’t be comprised of just humans, it will include a few machines, as well. Read More
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The sound of impending failure
If we can find a way to automate listening itself, we would be able to more intelligently monitor our world and its machines day and night. We could predict the failure of engines, rail infrastructure, oil drills and power plants in real time — notifying humans the moment of an acoustical anomaly. This has the potential to save lives, but despite advances in machine learning, we… Read More
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Crunch Network
Artificial intelligence and the law
Laws govern the conduct of humans, and sometimes the machines that humans use, such as cars. But what happens when those cars become human-like, as in artificial intelligence that can drive cars? Who is responsible for any laws that are violated by the AI? This article, written by a technologist and a lawyer, examines that future of AI law. Read More
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Apple aims to up its AI smarts with iCloud user data in iOS 10.3
The next version of Apple’s mobile platform will include an opt-in for iOS users to share their iCloud data in order to help the company improve software products, such as its voice-powered virtual assistant, Siri. Read More
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Apple joins Amazon, Facebook, Google, IBM and Microsoft in AI initiative
Following Bloomberg’s report, the Partnership on AI to Benefit People and Society (what a name) officially announced that Apple is joining other tech companies as a founding member of the AI initiative. Companies will work on research projects, AI best practices and more. The Partnership on AI was officially unveiled back in September 2016. At the time, Amazon, Facebook, Google, IBM… Read More
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H2O’s Deep Water puts deep learning in the hands of enterprise users
To complement existing offerings like Sparkling Water and Steam, H2O.ai is releasing Deep Water, a new tool to help businesses make deep learning a part of everyday operations. Deep Water will open up new possibilities for the TensorFlow, MXNet and Caffe communities to engage with H2O.ai. This also means that the GPU is set to become a greater part of business operations for the… Read More
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Jiobit finds $3 million for kid trackers that work indoors, not just at the park
Chicago startup Jiobit wants to use wireless technology to bring parents peace of mind whenever and wherever their kids may roam. Its flagship product is a location tracker that can stand up to the rough and tumble activities of a toddler or a tween, with a long battery life, and mobile app that sends alerts to parents when a kid has gone outside an expected range. Jiobit CEO and founder… Read More
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Google Translate now provides live translation of Japanese text
Google Translate could already translate Japanese text into English from a captured photo, but now the app skips a step, letting you point your camera at signs, menus and other things that might contain printed Japanese words, and get a translation to English on the fly (and vice versa). The feature is available via Word Lens in both the iOS and the Android versions of the Google Translate… Read More
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Your smartphone could soon be the first step for diagnosing skin cancer
If caught early, skin cancer isn’t particularly deadly. But unfortunately for many, signs and symptoms go unnoticed until health has irreversibly deteriorated. Research findings published in Nature today hint at a future where anyone, anywhere, might be able to perform a basic skin cancer screening on a smartphone. Utilizing machine learning, a Stanford team, including… Read More
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Elon Musk could soon share more on his plan to help humans keep up with AI
In nearly the same breath as he shared updates on his plans to dig tunnels, Elon Musk also noted he’s looking to hopefully share more on his progress with developing a “neural lace” next month. That’s a technical term for direct cortical interface, and it’s something that the SpaceX and Tesla CEO takes very seriously, in case you thought he might just be having… Read More
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D-Wave ups its quantum annealing game to 2000 qubits
Universal quantum computers don’t exist, but that hasn’t stopped D-Wave from carving out its own place in the quantum computing market. Today, the 17-year-old company is announcing its forth quantum chip, the 2000Q, doubling the number of qubits on its exiting 1000Q chip. The Burnaby, British Columbia based company’s chips fall under a specific class of quantum… Read More
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Why even the best tech couldn’t give us a precise inauguration headcount
Alternative facts aside, attendance at President Trump’s inauguration was low. Citing crowd scientists from Manchester Metropolitan University in Britain, the New York Times reported an estimated 160,000 people attended Mr.Trump’s speech. Yet the administration continues to unrealistically assert that attendance was considerably higher. The President claimed between a million… Read More
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Chan Zuckerberg Initiative acquires and will free up science search engine Meta
Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan’s $45 billion philanthropy organization is making its first acquisition in order to make it easier for scientists to search, read and tie together more than 26 million science research papers. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is acquiring Meta, an AI-powered research search engine startup, and will make its tool free to all in a few months after enhancing… Read More
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