Chinese AI chipmaker Horizon endeavours to raise $700M to rival NVIDIA

AI chipmaker Horizon Robotics is seeking to raise $700 million in a new funding round.

Horizon is often seen as potentially becoming China’s equivalent of NVIDIA. The company is founded by Dr Kai Yu, a prominent industry figure with quite the credentials.

Yu led Baidu’s AI Research lab for three years, founded the Baidu Institute of Deep Learning, and launched the company’s autonomous driving business unit.

Furthermore, Yu has taught at Stanford...

22 December 2020 | China

WIC: Baidu CEO remains bullish of company’s AI investments

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Baidu CEO Robin Li says he remains bullish on his company’s AI investments despite recent troubles.

This year, Baidu’s stock price has dropped 36 percent. Li used the Game of Thrones phrase that “winter is coming” following a first-quarter loss.

Baidu has since not only been asking employees to fly economy rather than business, and not to stay in five-star hotels, but even to reduce the number of paper towels and cups they’re using in the office.

AI...

21 October 2019 | Baidu

US adds Chinese AI firms to ban list citing abuses against Muslims in Xinjiang

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A collection of Chinese AI and facial recognition firms have been added to a US blacklist citing rights abuses against Muslims in Xinjiang.

28 Chinese firms have been added (PDF) to the “entity list” of the US government which prohibits American companies from continuing any links with them.

The US government said the firms were blacklisted for playing a role in the "implementation of China's campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, and high-technology...

8 October 2019 | China

Chinese university recruits ‘patriotic’ students to build AI weapons

A university in China has recruited 27 boys and four girls to become the world’s youngest AI weapons scientists. All of the students are under 18 and were picked from a list of 5,000 candidates by the Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT). Beyond academic prowess, the BIT sought other qualities in the candidates. "We are looking for qualities such as creative thinking, willingness to fight, a persistence when facing challenges," a BIT professor told the South China Morning Post. The...

9 November 2018 | China

Chinese AI darling SenseTime wants facial recognition standards

The CEO of Chinese AI darling SenseTime wants to see facial recognition standards established for a ‘healthier’ industry. SenseTime is among China’s most renowned AI companies. Back in April, we reported it had become the world’s most funded AI startup. Part of the company’s monumental success is the popularity of facial recognition in China where it’s used in many aspects of citizens’ lives. Just yesterday, game developer Tencent announced it’s testing facial recognition to...

2 October 2018 | China

Microsoft’s AI can translate Chinese on parity with a human

Microsoft believes its AI is able to translate Chinese as well as a human translator. The company says the development represents a “major milestone” and was achieved by regularly feeding the AI with news stories often used across the AI industry for testing purposes. Microsoft claims its AI translated the articles to the same level as two human bilingual translators. The researchers aimed to replicate the ‘trial and error’ approach to how humans learn. With this in mind, the AI...

16 March 2018 | Machine Learning