Battling the Coronavirus: Alibaba and Baidu AI Accelerate Vaccine and Drug R&D
The crucial step now is to develop matching vaccines and drugs to uproot its existence, and China’s big tech companies have stepped up to help.
Tag: Alibaba
Extreme E-Commerce: Shipping 2.8 Billion Singles’ Day Parcels
China’s National Post Bureau forecasts some 2.8 billion parcels will be shipped between November 11-18th. While robots will do much of the heavy lifting, an average human warehouse worker will cover 42 kilometers per day, equivalent to a full, sweaty marathon.
Alibaba Open-Sources Its MCU to Boost AI Research
Alibaba’s chip subsidiary Pingtouge (平头哥) has become the first Chinese company to open-source its Microcontroller (MCU) design platform.
Alibaba’s New AI Chip Can Process Nearly 80K Images Per Second
At the Alibaba Cloud (Aliyun) Apsara Conference 2019, Pingtouge unveiled its first AI dedicated processor for cloud-based large-scale AI inferencing. The Hanguang 800 is the first semiconductor product in Alibaba’s 20-year history.
AI vs AI: ‘FakeSpotter’ Studies Neurons to Bust DeepFakes
“Adversaries and strategic competitors probably will attempt to use deep fakes or similar machine-learning technologies to create convincing — but false — image, audio, and video files to augment influence campaigns directed against the United States and our allies and partners.”
Alibaba Is Open-Sourcing Its Powerful New RISC-V Processor for 5G and AI
Alibaba’s chip subsidiary Pingtouge (平头哥) yesterday introduced its first product, an RISC-V (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) processor.
The 10 Biggest Semiconductor M&A Deals in 2018
The semiconductor industry took off in the 1960s, when most companies were still IDMs (integrated device manufacturers) who designed, manufactured, packaged, tested and sold ICs (integrated circuits).
AI Fools’ Day: Tech Giants’ Top Pranks
Today is April Fool’s Day, and despite Microsoft’s efforts to ban such pranks, many tech companies could not resist joining in the centuries-old spoofing tradition. However, given the already incredible achievements of cutting-edge AI technologies, some of today’s hoaxes actually look pretty convincing.
Robots Vs Robocalls
Robots pitching politics, charities, sales, surveys, and scams of every stripe and in every tongue. Increasingly that’s the voice on the other end of a global citizen’s next incoming telephone call.
Caffe Pioneer & AI Infrastructure Director Leaves Facebook
Facebook AI Infrastructure Director Yangqing Jia is leaving his position with the company, a person familiar with the matter told Synced. The Facebook team confirmed his departure yesterday.
AI Is Personalizing Hotel Services
Synced surveyed several “future hotels” that are already applying AI in hospitality, to see how the tech can provide guests with a unique and satisfying experience.
Alibaba AI Detects Pig Pregnancies
While previous pregnancy detection techniques relied heavily on human labour, Alibaba’s new “pregnancy diagnosis algorithms” can help. The AI system was developed by Alibaba Cloud engineers in a joint effort with pig farming scientists.
Alibaba Healthcare AI Targets Macau’s Flu Season
Alibaba is using artificial intelligence to predict the upcoming flu season in Macau.
Alibaba DIEN AI Boosts E-Commerce Ad Effectiveness
The winter holiday shopping season has begun, and just as department stores are dressing up their window displays, so are e-commerce companies working on the product recommendation systems they use to identify and target online shoppers’ wants and needs.
Alibaba Open-Sources Its X-Deep Learning Framework
Alibaba has announced it will open-source X-Deep Learning (XDL), the algorithm framework behind its marketing technology and big data platform Alimama. The source code and support documents’ release is slated for December.
Will Alibaba’s Smart Roads Pave the Way for L5 Autonomous Vehicles?
In the 1950s the philosophy informing the futuristic vision of autonomous vehicles was to “make the road guide the car” via electronics and mechanical devices embedded in high tech roadways.
Visual Search Is Revolutionizing E-Commerce
Visual search is an important new business tool that is changing the way people interact with E-commerce and social media platforms. Instead of entering a text query, visual search engines enable users to identify and locate items via photos snapped with their smartphone cameras.
Alibaba Launches Chip Company “Ping-Tou-Ge”; Pledges Quantum Chip
Chinese Internet mogul Jack Ma has a flair for naming new businesses: Alibaba originates from a character made famous in the One Thousand and One Nights collection of Arabian folk tales; while the company’s R&D arm Damo Academy derives from the name of a Chinese Buddhist monk instrumental in the creation of Shaolin Kung Fu.
Alibaba’s Cainiao Flexes its Logistics Muscles at GSLS 2018
Cainiao, the logistics arm of leading Chinese e-commerce platform Alibaba Group, hosted the 2018 Global Smart Logistics Summit (GSLS) in Hangzhou on May 31st. Speaking at the event, Alibaba founder and executive chairman Jack Ma called for tens of billions of US dollars in investment to build a national internet-based intelligent logistics backbone in China.
Alibaba and RoboSense Announce First Solid-State LiDar-Driven Logistics Robot Cart
At the 2018 Global Smart Logistics Summit (GSLS) in Hangzhou on May 31st, Alibaba’s Cainiao and RoboSense jointly announced the G Plus, which they say is the world’s first unmanned logistics vehicle integrated with solid-state LiDAR.
Alibaba Cloud Farming Automation Wants Pigs That Can Run 200km
At the Computing Conference 2018 Shanghai Summit today, Alibaba Cloud announced the launch of its AI program ET Agricultural Brain, a step towards the interactive automation of pig farming, aiming at continuously embedding AI technologies into modern agriculture.
Law Schools Are Catching Up With AI Legaltech
Chinese tech conglomerate Alibaba announced in April that it would launch Alibaba Law School, integrating big data teaching methods with legal education. As we await updates, law programs around the world have already begun re-designing their curriculums to better fit the age of big data and AI.
Testing Smart Speakers: A Look Inside the Alibaba Acoustic Lab
Each spring, tech hobbyists visit Alibaba for its annual open tour. This May 10, Synced toured the company’s acoustic lab, which is dedicated to R&D for its voice assistant Tmall Genie.
Alibaba Says Its New “Tai Zhang” Is the World’s Most Powerful Quantum Circuit Simulator
Yaoyun Shi’s Team at the Aliyun Quantum Laboratory (AQL) today announced that they have developed the world’s most powerful quantum circuit simulator: “Tai Zhang.”
AI Biweekly: 10 Bits from Apr W 4 – Apr W 5
Google introduces starter kits designed to help people learn and experiment with AI solutions.
Tencent’s Smart Speaker Tingting Brings WeChat to the Entire Family
Tencent today officially launched its first-ever smart speaker, Tencent Tingting (腾讯听听), which can send or receive voice messages via WeChat.
Alibaba Unveils Ali-NPU; Acquires Chipmaker C-Sky Microsystems(Updated)
Alibaba’s R&D arm DAMO Academy announced yesterday that it is developing a new neural network chip called Ali-NPU for AI inferencing in the field of image processing, machine learning, etc.
Alibaba Gears Up for Self-Driving Road Tests
China’s self-driving industry has just welcomed another major player: Alibaba Group is developing Level 4 autonomous driving technology and is ready to test its self-driving cars on public roads, Chinese media reported today.
China’s SenseTime Scores US$600 Million in Funding to Become the World’s Most Valued AI Startup
China’s computer vision company SenseTime today announced it had raised a staggering US$600 million in Series C funding, setting a world record for an AI company and bringing its value to an estimated US$4.5 billion to make it the world’s most valued AI startup.
Alibaba to Connect 10 Billion Devices in 5 Years
In a world of increasingly connected humans, the new frontier is devices and the Internet of Things (IoT). Alibaba Cloud wants to secure its position in this rapidly growing market by connecting ten billion devices over the next five years.
Fintech’s New Big Player: JD Finance Adds $2B, Hits $26-30B Valuation
According to a China Securities Journal report, the China International Capital Corporation (CICC) and China’s largest food processor, manufacturer and trader China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO) are looking to invest US$2 billion (CNY 13 billion) in JD Finance, the fintech spinoff of online retailer JD.com.
Alibaba Discounted its Top Smart Speaker to $15; Sold 1 Million
I purchased a Tmall Genie X1 — Alibaba’s flagship smart speaker — at the discounted price of US$15 during China’s November 11 “Singles Day” shopping festival. I was given order number 560,000-ish, and received the product a month later. The speaker is regularly priced at US$79, about the same as its American counterpart Google Mini.
Alibaba Launches 11-Qubit Quantum Computing Cloud Service
Alibaba took a big step towards quantum computing yesterday when its cloud service subsidiary Aliyun (“Alibaba Cloud”) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences jointly launched an 11-qubit quantum computing service.
Alibaba City Brain Goes Rural: AI Pig Farming in Sichuan
Sichuan pig farming corporation Dekon Group and pig feed supplier Tequ Group’s new partnership with Alibaba Cloud to apply its AI-powered “ET Brain” to pig farming. The trio are investing tens of millions of USD in the project, which was announced on February 6, 2018.
Kuala Lumpur Gets Alibaba AI’s First Brain Implant
Alibaba’s cloud computing division Alibaba Cloud announced today that its AI-powered “ET City Brain” will be deployed in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur in partnership with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), the country’s digital economy development agency, and Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL).
Amazon Go vs Alibaba Tao Cafe: Staffless Shop Showdown
Amazon and Alibaba’s brick-and-mortar-but-no-staff shops offer very different user experiences. To bring you first-hand feedback, Synced visited them.
Ubiquitous Virtual Assistants and AI Homogenization at CES 2018
CES exhibitors promoted everything from AI-powered vehicles to smart refrigerators and robot puppies. But the tech driving these diverse products was the same: the virtual assistant, a conversational AI that can understand human speech and generate humanlike responses.
China’s Smart Speaker Market Heats Up
The lack of Mandarin interface in Echo and Google Home has prompted a number of Chinese companies to get in the game with their own smart speakers.
11.11: Alibaba’s AI-Powered Shopping Extravaganza
With so many sales in so little time, it’s no surprise that artificial intelligence is playing a growing role in the largest online shopping event in human history.
Video Understanding is a New Vista for AI
The success AI has achieved in image recognition has prompted tech companies to explore the new field of video understanding, in which machines are trained to answer questions like “Who is in this video?” or “What are the cats in the video doing?”