Become a modern-day Bach with Google’s AI-powered doodle

Google is honouring the 334th birthday of famous German composer Johann Sebastian Bach with an AI-powered ‘doodle’ that mimics his musical style.

Users can input their own melody and the AI will create a harmony in the Baroque style of Bach.

“Bach was a humble man who attributed his success to divine inspiration and a strict work ethic,” wrote Google in a post. “He lived to see only a handful of his works published, but more than 1,000 that survived in...

21 March 2019 | Google

UK government investigates AI bias in decision-making

The UK government is launching an investigation to determine the levels of bias in algorithms that could affect people's lives.

A browse through our ‘ethics’ category here on AI News will highlight the serious problem of bias in today's algorithms. With AIs being increasingly used for decision-making, parts of society could be left behind.

Conducted by the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI), the investigation will focus on areas where AI has tremendous...

20 March 2019 | Ethics

Toy around with deep learning in Nvidia’s AI Playground

Nvidia launched an online space called AI Playground on Monday which allows people to mess around with some deep learning experiences.

AI Playground is designed to be accessible in order to help anyone get started and learn about the potential of artificial intelligence. Who knows, it may even inspire some to enter the field and help to address the huge skill shortage.

The experience currently features three demos:

Imagine InPaintingArtistic Style...

19 March 2019 | Deep Learning

Surprise! Machine learning jobs are high-paying and in-demand

According to a report from job site Indeed, machine learning engineer is the best job of 2019 due to growing demand and high salaries.

The career boasts a current average salary of $146,085 with a growth rate of 344 percent last year.

Tech-related jobs, in general, continue to be winners. Indeed set out to find the top 25 jobs for 2019 in their report and nine of them are comprised of tech roles.

Roles such as software developer continue to rank highly due to a...

15 March 2019 | Machine Learning

Ben Dias, Royal Mail: On building out data science teams and ensuring deep mathematical understanding

For Ben Dias, head of advanced analytics and data science at Royal Mail, there are three non-negotiables when it comes to looking for prospective data scientists. Candidates need to want to learn, and be able to pick things up quickly, be able to program, and have a deep understanding of mathematics.

The latter is not overly surprising given Dias (left) describes himself as a ‘computational mathematician’ and that his undergraduate studies were in mathematics and...

14 March 2019 | Big Data

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