Apple bolsters its AI talent with Laserlike acquisition

Apple has announced the acquisition of AI company Laserlike to add to its growing roster of in-house talent.

Laserlike is known for its AI-powered app which makes it easier for users to follow news topics. Most notably, it was founded by former Google engineers.

Few people think of Apple as an AI leader. The firm’s closest rival, Google, has invested heavily in AI for many years (as much for its cloud and search businesses as mobile).

Apple is, therefore,...

14 March 2019 | Apple

IBM causes a stir after releasing Flickr photos it used for AI training

IBM has caused something of a stir after releasing thousands of photos it obtained from Flickr to train its AI.

The computing giant was technically within its rights to obtain and use the photos as they were posted by users under a Creative Commons license allowing free use.

Flickr CEO Don MacAskill sent a couple of tweets on Tuesday about IBM’s use of the photos:

"We love & support photographers and their right to choose their own licenses for their...

13 March 2019 | IBM

Microsoft wants to get business leaders up to speed on AI

Microsoft is launching AI courses to help business leaders understand how they can harness the technology and gain a competitive advantage.

Last week, AI News reported on a Microsoft study which highlighted that high-growth companies are over twice as likely to be using AI. 41 percent of high-growth companies are using AI compared to just 19 percent of low-growth.

This divide needs to change or small businesses risk falling even further behind. However, overall, less...

12 March 2019 | Enterprise

IBM hopes machine learning is the key to solving Alzheimer’s

IBM has developed a machine learning algorithm which shows promise for detecting and slowing the progress of Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer’s is a brutal disease not just for sufferers, but their loved ones too. The disease currently has no cure and causes an increasing loss of memory, confusion, and difficulty completing once familiar tasks.

IBM Australia published a paper today providing details of how machine learning and AI can be used to predict the severity of...

11 March 2019 | Healthcare

Microsoft study indicates US businesses are slow to adopt AI

A Microsoft survey of business leaders from various nations has found US firms are particularly slow to adopt AI technology.

One standout result of the study is that German, British, Russian, Dutch, Swiss, and Italian business leaders are – on the whole – reporting they’re “actively implementing” AI ahead of the US.

In fact, of business leaders from the countries surveyed, only France was behind the US.

The survey did not include all countries and is...

8 March 2019 | Microsoft

Website checks if you can tell a real face from an AI fake

A new website has gone live to check if you can tell a real face from an AI-generated fake in this world of uncertainty.

The website, WhichFaceIsReal.com, is created by Jevin West of the Information School and Carl Bergstrom of the biology department at the University of Washington.

West and Bergstrom gained some degree of fame after presenting a class titled ‘Calling Bullshit in the Age of Big Data’ back in 2017.

Their website continues along these lines...

7 March 2019 | Society

McAfee: Keep an eye on the humans pulling the levers, not the AIs

Security firm McAfee has warned that it’s more likely humans will use AI for malicious purposes rather than it going rogue itself.

It’s become a cliché metaphor, but people are still concerned a self-thinking killer AI like SkyNet from the film Terminator will be created.

McAfee CTO Steve Grobman spoke at this year’s RSA conference in San Francisco and warned the wrong humans in control of powerful AIs are his company’s primary concern.

To provide an...

6 March 2019 | Security

Comcast acquires AI-powered cybersecurity technology developer BluVector

Comcast has announced the acquisition of BluVector, a company making use of advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning to provide cybersecurity protection to companies and government agencies.

With the help of a proprietary machine-learning engine, BluVector detects, analyses, and contains a wide range of sophisticated cyber-threats including “fileless malware,” zero-day malware and ransomware. Both companies will work together to grow BluVector’s existing...

6 March 2019 | Security

Almost half of Europe’s AI startups have no actual AI

A new report highlights many of Europe’s AI startups appear to be cashing in on the hype and have no actual AI to speak of.

The fact you can add ‘AI’, ‘IoT’, or ‘blockchain’ to your company name/description and it will skyrocket your valuation has become something of a running joke in the industry. Shares in Long Island Iced Tea, for example, infamously shot up almost 200 percent after changing its parent company name to ‘Long Blockchain Corp.’

European...

5 March 2019 | Europe

Callum Staff, Marks & Spencer: On the need to fail fast, machine learning models and universal data quality challenges

“Amazon and Ocado have given the rest of the retail sector a real kick up the ass when it comes to applying innovative tech,” explains Callum Staff, lead data scientist at Marks & Spencer (M&S). “Retail businesses are having to be transformational in at least parts of their business models to survive, and I think data science is increasingly forming a big part of that.”

Staff (left), who has been at M&S for just under 12 months having previously been in the...

4 March 2019 | Machine Learning