AI Biweekly: 10 Bits from February (Pt 1)

January 21st – Amazon Go Opens in Seattle
The staffless Amazon Go opens to the public in downtown Seattle. Just like a normal convenience store, this intelligent store sells pre-cooked food, snacks, drinks , etc. — but there’s no cashier scanning the goods. Integrating an AI system and computer vision technology, Amazon Go uses weight detecting sensors and hundreds of ceiling-mounted cameras to monitor stock flow. Once customers check in with their ID, they can literally grab what they need and go.

January 22nd – Paris Is Becoming an AI Tech Center
Paris is attracting attention from tech giants. Facebook and Google both plan to increase investment in labs and talent recruiting in the French capital. Facebook announced it will double the number of employees at its Paris AI research center to 100; while Google will create an AI lab focusing on fundamental research such as automatic learning, NLP and computer vision.

January 22nd – Intel Providing VR Content for Motorsports
Intel is determined to ride the rising wave of AI. In the ten months since the company created its dedicated Artificial Intelligence Products Group lead by Naveen Rao, Intel has secured several development deals in AI-driven immersive experiences for sports, including the NFL and now Motorsports. With a VR headset, viewers will be able to choose their own camera feeds for the upcoming Ferrari Challenge North America series.

January 22nd – How RBC Uses AI in Decision Making
The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) is using artificial intelligence technologies in their capital-markets research to detect the effect of social media sentiment on corporate brands (Chipotle Mexican Grill, etc). By using AI to quantify the measurement of effectiveness, a company can track sentiments resulting from marketing strategies, etc. A company’s earnings, sales predictions and analysis can benefit from the research, as can trading and investestment strategies.

January 24th – iFLYTEK’s Translator and the Intelligence Behind It
Chinese tech company iFLYTEK releases a pocket-size instant translation device called Speak to Me. Based on advances in deep learning inferencing, the portable translator is accelerated by the NVIDIA Tesla P4 and P40 GPUs. iFLYTEK’s performance data shows 97% accuracy and efficiency 15 times higher than CPUs. This technology will not only be used for translation, iFLYTEK is also collaborating with Chinese hospitals and medical institutions to improve patient experience

January 26th- Africa Will Hold an AI Expo 2018
Artificial Intelligence Expo Africa 2018 will be held this September in South Africa. The event aims at promoting AI business opportunities. More than 400 delegates are expected to attend the Expo, which will feature 27 speakers along with 28 AI exhibitors. There will also be an innovation cafe housing 20 AI startups. The Expo comprises six themes and three tracks emphasizing real enterprise AI case studies and applications.

January 29th – Nvidia Collaborate with BHGE on AI for Oil and Gas
GE’s Baker Hughes and Nvidia are bringing an AI-based end-to-end solution to their business customers. This new solution will leverage advanced GPU and Supercomputer hardware and deep learning technologies to locate and maximize returns on resources. The project will also include maintenance, predication and operation functions for the oil and gas industry.

January 31st – Sony’s Immersive Gaming Experience at SXSW
South by Southwest (SXSW) is one of the largest creative festivals in the US, and Sony is expected to demonstrate its new immersive gaming technology at the upcoming Austin, Texas event. According to a leak, Sony will exhibit AR Air Hockey, which combines the classic arcade table game with augmented reality; and Hero Generator, a VR generator that enables visitors to create their own personalised VR avatars. Sony will also showcase other immersive experiences such VR soccer, etc.

February 1st – Amazon Bans Google Feature in Alexa
With the competition between virtual assistants Alexa and Google Assistant heating up, Amazon removes the command “Google” from the Alexa skillset. Alexa app developers will no longer be able to have Alexa respond to the verbal command “Google”. Amazon says the reason for the prohibition is that Alexa “should not promote Google Home.”

February 2nd – Microsoft Launches the Cortana Intelligence Institute in Australia
Microsoft announces a collaboration with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) to establish the Cortana Intelligence Institute. RMIT researchers will collaborate with Microsoft personnel to apply AI to challenges that remain unsolved by neural networks. For specialization and cooperation, the Cortana Institute comprises two separate groups: A 1000-strong Microsoft Research division; and Cortana Research, a younger team focusing on virtual assistant technology.