Toyota and Stanford University Join Hands to Research on Automotive Safety Improvements
Researcher from Toyota Research Institute announce joint efforts with Stanford’s Dynamic Design Lab, to research on automotive safety improvements.
Category: Global News
AI highlights.
2020 in Review: 10 AI Failures
This is the fourth Synced year-end compilation of “Artificial Intelligence Failures.” Our aim is not to shame nor downplay AI research, but to look at where and how it has gone awry with the hope that we can create better AI systems in the future.
2020 in Review: 8 New AI Regulatory Proposals from Governments
As part of our year-end series, Synced has compiled a global list of proposals, rules and regulatory frameworks for AI introduced in 2020.
Baidu Releases ML Bio-computing Framework PaddleHelix
At the Wave Summit 2020 held on December 20, Baidu unveiled the company’s newest ML-based bio-computing framework named “PaddleHelix”.
Singapore Coffee Shop Builds a Robot Barista With Intel AI
At Crown Coffee, a small-yet-homey coffee bar in downtown Singapore, the autonomous robot barista “Ella” never gets your order wrong.
AI “Sounce” is the Noise Detector to Porsche Cars
Porsche Digital, the subsidiary of the Stuttgart-based sports car manufacturer, has unveiled digital assistant ‘Sounce’ offers an improved ability to detect noise – for example, during vehicle component tests.
Zhengzhou China Launches Urban-Brain to Triage and Park 4.5 million Vehicles
China’s east-central city Zhengzhou has successfully used AI to triage parking for over 4.5 million vehicles in the area.
Multilingual AI News Presenter Broadcasts New Year’s Greeting on Behalf of Chinese Embassy in Trinidad and Tobago
Chinese Embassy in Trinidad and Tobago rolled out a multilingual AI presenter named “Xiao Ai” to broadcast New Year’s greeting in Chinese, English, French and Spanish.
MSRA Forms “OpenNetLab” Alliance with Top Asian Universities to Advance Network Research
Microsoft Research Asia announced the establishment of “OpenNetLab” network in alliance with top Asian academic institutions.
Zhou Ming, Assistant Director of Microsoft Research Asia NLP Resigns and to Join Kai-fu Lee’s VC Fund Innovation Works
NLP maverick Zhou Ming’s next stop is VC Fund Innovation Workshop funded by former colleague Kai-fu Lee.
Alphabet Pledges to Keep Funding AI Subsidiary DeepMind, Which Has Reported GBP 477 Million Loss in 2019
DeepMind, the UK-based AI arm of Google’s parent company Alphabet, has lost GBP 477 million in 2019 which is 1.5 percent increase from one year prior.
Report by IDC and Inspur Shows China’s AI Infrastructure Reaches USD 3.93 Billion in 2020, with YoY Increase of 26.8 Percent
Market research company IDC and Inspur jointly released the 2020-2021 China Artificial Intelligence Computing Power Development Report.
Spanish Startup to Launch the World’s First Cybersecurity Lab Dedicated for Robotics in Munich
Spanish startup Alias Robotics and ElevenPaths are to set up the world’s first lab dedicated to cybersecurity for robotics in Munich.
Japan’s Kobe city utilizes AI to aid unemployment effected by COVID-19
The municipal government of Japan’s Kobe city has spent more than JYP 40 million to develop an AI employment support system “SODAMO” jointly with a career support company.
NeurIPS 2020 | Conference Watch on Self-Supervised Learning
This year, NeurIPS is hosting two workshops dedicated to self-supervised learning: Self-Supervised Learning for Speech and Audio Processing on Friday, December 11; and Self-Supervised Learning — Theory and Practice on Saturday, December 12.
University of Cambridge Launches the UK’s First Master’s Degree in AI Ethics
University of Cambridge has launched the UK’s first Master’s Degree in AI Ethics and Society (MSt AI Ethics)
Japan Government Allocates USD 19M to Boost AI Matchmaking in 47 Prefectures
With annual birth rate plummeting to 5.8 percent in 2019, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s government pledges to allocate USD 19 Million in the next fiscal year to help local authorities run AI matchmaking.
NeurIPS 2020: NVIDIA Achieves AI Training Breakthrough Using Limited Datasets of 1,500 Images
NVIDIA blog introduced company’s latest NeurIPS presentation: applying a novel neural network training technique, adaptive discriminator augmentation, to the popular NVIDIA StyleGAN2 model.
LG Launches AI Research Institute, Invests KRW 200 Billion to Foster 1,000 AI Experts by 2023
South Korean conglomerate LG announced the setup of “LG AI Research Institute”.
EU’s New Financing Instrument Grants Up to EURO 150 Million to Support AI Companies
To support AI companies across Europe, the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund have co-investment of up to EURO 150 million.
Ukraine Approves Concept for the Development of AI and Allocates UAH 14.39 Million to the Plan
The Ukrinian Cabinet of Ministers has approved the Concept for the Development of Artificial Intelligence and instructed the Ministry of Digital Transformation to develop a plan for its implementation within three months.
AAAI 2021 Announces Paper Totals – ‘Amazingly High Technical Level’
AAAI 2021 received a record-high 9034 submissions and over 7911 papers went to review and a total of 1692 papers made it, for an acceptance rate of 21 percent
AI in South Korea’s Asan Medical Center Aids Dermatologists in Detecting 43 Types of Skin Cancers and Diseases
A research team from Asan Medical Center (AMC) in Seoul has verified a deep learning-based algorithm for detecting up to 43 types of skin cancer and diseases.
CMU Professor Eric Xing Appointed President to AI University MBZUAI in UAE
The Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) has appointed Professor Dr. Eric Xing as President.
MIIT: China’s Industrial Robot Output in October Increased 38.5 Percent YoY
According to official statistics released by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), from January to October 2020, the nationwide industrial robots production grew to 183,447 units
Toshiba Debuts Logistic Robot for Overlapping Piled Luggage in Distribution Warehouse
Japanese conglomerate Toshiba announced it will launch a logistics robot that accurately recognizes randomly piled luggage utilizing AI in 2021.
Government Agency DGA Debuts the Thailand’s First National AI Centre
As part of the Thai government’s digital transformation roadmap for 2020-22, the Digital Government Development Agency (DGA) has launched the first national AI centre.
Tesla Puts Additional USD 6.3 Million in New Factory; Builds New R&D Center in Shanghai
Tesla confirmed to invest an additional USD 6.3 million in Shanghai to build a supercharging pile factory.
Do We Really Need Green Screens for High-Quality Real-Time Human Matting?
Researchers from the City University of Hong Kong and SenseTime propose a lightweight matting objective decomposition network (MODNet) that can smoothly process real-time human matting from a single input image with diverse and dynamic backgrounds.
AI Helps Qatar Make Pre-Emptive Decisions to Secure Food Supply
The Qatar Center for Artificial Intelligence at Qatar Foundation’s Hamad Bin Khalifa University is developing the latest AI tools and technologies to enhance food production in Qatar.
Oracle opens cloud data centre in Dubai to accelerate digital transformation in UAE
Oracle has launched a regional cloud data centre – the Zayed Innovation and Artificial Intelligence Hub – in Dubai.
New AI APP by Singapore Government Pledges to Block Scam Calls and SMS
Recent report by telecommunications giant Singtel show that scam calls have doubled from last year and that customers have received more than 5,000 calls so far in 2020.
40 Projects Worth Over USD 9 Billion Signed at the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen
On November 24, the World Internet Conference Digital Economy Industry Cooperation Conference was held in Wuzhen, China.
JD.com Set Up JD Exploration Research Institute to Further Research in Six Areas Including AI
At the JDDiscovery-2020 Global Technology Discovery Conference, the Chinese e-commerce giant announced a new research institute to further research in areas including AI, quantum computing and so on.
MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory establishes Biotechnology and Human Systems Division; Spearheads AI and Biology Research
MIT Lincoln Laboratory has established a new research and development division, the Biotechnology and Human Systems Division.
Tencent Robot X’s Jamoca Takes on Kung Fu Master Challenge to Walk on Quincunical Piles
Tencent Robotics X Lab announced new developments in mobile robot research – the four-legged mobile robot Jamoca.
TUM Receives EURO 50 Million to Form AI Research Institute in the Construction Industry with Nemetschek Innovation Foundation
The Nemetschek Innovation Foundation will provide approximately EURO 50 million over the next ten years to fund an AI research and teaching institute at TUM.
China Drafts 14th Five-Year Digital Economy Plan; AI Industry Scale in 1H 2020 Reach USD 11.7 Billion
China is accelerating the preparation of the “14th Five-Year” digital economy plan, which will be the country’s first designated plan for the digital economy.
Microsoft Announces Strategic Cooperation with Spinoff XiaoIce; XiaoIce Wraps Up Pre-A Round Financing
Microsoft China and XiaoIce announced a strategic partnership, jointly launching 2B AI and cloud computing solutions in three areas: finance, automotive and content production.
IEEE: AI, ML, 5G and IoT will be the Most Important Technologies in 2021
Recent IEEE study released the results of a survey of Chief Information Officers and Chief Technology Officers in the U.S., U.K., China, India and Brazil.