Google’s old AI boss is now at Apple in charge of Siri and ML efforts

Google's poached head of search and artificial intelligence is now leading Siri and machine learning efforts at rival Apple. John Giannandrea joined Google back in 2010 before stepping down in April this year. He announced he'd been hired by Apple the following day, but in what position had been a mystery until now. It was obvious Giannandrea would be stepping into a big role at Apple, and that's exactly what's happened. AI is becoming increasingly important and an area where Google is seen...

11 July 2018 | Apple

Google has an AI which predicts death better than doctors

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Google has unveiled a new AI which it believes can predict if and when a patient is going to die more reliably than doctors. The algorithm can quickly access a patient’s medical records for important data which could indicate the likelihood of their survival. Death comes for us all, the best we can hope for is that it’s later rather than sooner and we get the chance to say goodbye. Google’s AI would reduce the chances of a death occurring suddenly while in the care of a hospital. A...

19 June 2018 | Healthcare

Amnesty International warns of AI ‘nightmare scenarios’

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Human rights campaigners Amnesty International have warned of the potential ‘nightmare scenarios’ arising from AI if left unchecked. In a blog post, one scenario Amnesty foresees AI being used for is autonomous systems choosing military targets with little-to-no human oversight. Military AI Fears The development of AI has been likened to another arms race. Much like nuclear weapons, there is the argument if a nation doesn’t develop its capabilities then others will. Furthermore,...

14 June 2018 | Ethics

Don’t Be Evil: Google publishes its AI ethical principles following backlash

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Following the backlash over its Project Maven plans to develop AI for the US military, Google has since withdrawn and published its ethical principles. Project Maven was Google’s collaboration with the US Department of Defense. In March, leaks indicated that Google supplied AI technology to the Pentagon to help analyse drone footage. The following month, over 4,000 employees signed a petition demanding that Google's management cease work on Project Maven and promise to never again...

8 June 2018 | Ethics

Google launches cross-platform ML Kit APIs to simplify AI integration

Google is going all in on AI going by this year’s I/O conference, and it’s helping developers access some of these capabilities with its ML Kit set of APIs. ML Kit is a new suite of cross-platform APIs from Google enabling app developers to use machine learning for things such as face recognition, text scanning, reading barcodes, and even identifying objects and landmarks. From the ML Kit documentation page:

“We want the entire device experience to be...

9 May 2018 | Developers

Apple has poached Google’s AI chief

A mere day after we reported Google’s head of AI was stepping down, it’s emerged Apple has given him a position leading their efforts. John Giannandrea stepped down on Monday but was expected to be staying at Google. He reportedly wanted to be in a position that allowed him to be “more hands-on with technology” than in his previous role. It seems that Apple offered him the opportunity he was looking for. Apple is often regarded in tech circles as trailing Google when it comes to...

4 April 2018 | Apple

Google’s AI and search chief is stepping down – his role splitting into two

Google has announced its AI and search chief, John Giannandrea, will be stepping down and his role will be splitting into two. AI has been in Google’s DNA since it began life as a humble search engine. Since then, it’s aimed to be a part of every aspect of our lives. Part of Google’s success in achieving this ubiquity has been its ability to move with the times and take advantage of the next big thing. Google started as being ‘web first’ as the internet grew, became ‘mobile...

3 April 2018 | Google

Google CEO is (unsurprisingly) impressed with AI in China

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, has expressed how impressed he is with AI in China during a forum attended by senior government officials and leading executives in Beijing. “China is already playing a big part in how AI will shape our futures," said Pichai at the annual China Development Forum in Beijing. "When we build together, we get to better ideas faster." Google is known for the vast amount of data it collects, and the powerful services having access to such large pools of information...

26 March 2018 | Government

AI can now beat those pesky CAPTCHAs

We’ve all had to prove we’re not “a robot” at some point, but it turns out the robots can now fact beat those pesky CAPTCHA checks. Until now we’ve come to accept them as a necessary evil, but it seems CAPTCHAs are quickly becoming a waste of time. Whether it’s one that asks you to solve a simple math equation, copy a jumbled (and often utterly illegible) set of characters, or choose select blocks from a grid. At least, that’s according to research published in the journal...

27 October 2017 | Bots

AI to fuel cloud computing growth, says ACCA chairman

Bernie Trudel, chairman of the Asia Cloud Computing Association (ACCA), while addressing the audience at the Cloud Expo Asia conference in Singapore, said that he expects AI to fuel cloud computing growth. He said that although AI only accounts for 1% of the global cloud computing market currently, its share of the overall IT market is growing at 52%. Trudel added, “We’re starting to see AI having a significant impact on cloud computing. If you extrapolate what the analysts are saying,...

13 October 2017 | Cloud