Wyze’s partner for the feature, Xnor.ai, made the decision to terminate their agreement.

In a post on its forums, Wyze explained its agreement with Xnor.ai included a clause allowing the contract to be terminated “at any moment without reason.”

A reason for the abrupt contract termination has not been provided. AI News has reached out to Xnor.ai for comment but is yet to receive a response.

“Person Detection will be temporarily removed from Wyze Cam beginning with a new firmware release planned for mid-January 2020, due to the unexpected termination of our agreement with our AI provider,” wrote Gwendolyn Evans, Social Media Manager at Wyze.

Xnor.ai specialises in edge-AI which means the AI runs directly on Wyze cameras instead of using the cloud and running on a server that charges recurring fees.

Wyze claims that the removal of the feature should only be temporary as the company is working on its own in-house version of the technology. The feature will remain free when it’s reintroduced but Wyze says it may use the cloud rather than run locally.

Person Detection was first added to the Wyze Cam v2 and Wyze Cam Pan back in July. The removal of the feature under half a year after its debut is unfortunate, to say the least.

One thing which may mean Wyze’s customers are more forgiving is the low cost of their smart cameras in comparison to rivals. The company’s entry-level camera is just $20, a bargain compared to Nest’s $199.

Wyze admits it has made “mistakes” and so perhaps the lesson for others is to learn from them and ensure contracts are robust.

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Chang played a major role in this year’s AI & Big Data Expo in Santa Clara last week, taking part in both a solo presentation on “Process Automation from IoT Data” and a panel discussion on “Data and the Customer”.

Following the event, AI News decided to catch up with Chang to discuss LG’s current experience in artificial intelligence and where the industry is heading next.

How important is AI becoming to differentiate from competing products?

With artificial intelligence gaining traction across a range of industries, it’s becoming important to allow differentiation among competing products. LG’s pursuit of “Evolve, Connect, Open” when it comes to AI and ThinQ offers enhanced convenience for users with diverse needs and tech preferences in their homes through personalised, proactive, easy, and efficient solutions. This approach allows the company to align with and offer the most expansive list of smart integrations on the market – whether with Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, or future partnerships.

Specifically, with our open approach, LG is progressing toward incorporating IoT technology throughout the entire journey – including the product design/concept, the launch of new helpful tools, and proactive OTA (Over-The-Air) updates. LG is working with world-class cloud partners from Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, and combining with in-house development to develop, customise, and operate our IoT platforms.

AI is key to differentiating your products on the market by offering more robust opportunities and offerings for the larger consumer base.

What challenges has LG faced moving into AI and how did it overcome them?

The biggest challenge we faced as a whole moving into AI was creating truly meaningful products that will help our customer base with their daily routines and truly improve their lives. Through listening to what they want, we were able to produce a line of help innovations that do just that. 

LG ThinQ products use voice control to interact with users, as well as sensor data and diverse features such as product recognition and learning engine technologies to enhance their performance.

Do you think the smart home is meeting expectations?  

The smart home is a growing trend within the AI industry thanks to the influx of helpful tools introduced across the field. While many advancements have been made in such a short timeframe, we are still in the first inning of this technology adoption.

LG is focused on delivering better consumer benefits with advanced technology that will continue to improve over time. We aim to make the home more proactive and personalised for users based on our behaviour data collected across the products servicing their many needs. Knowing more about our user and their life leads to enhanced performance and, ultimately, to a better life.

Will distributed ledger technologies be important for smart devices and are there any plans at LG ThinQ to use them? 

While we are actively looking at distributed ledgers, including blockchain technology, there is no specific timetable for implementation. We believe this would be useful to enable an open ecosystem where various companies and contributors can participate. 

Is there a specific area of the market you and the LG ThinQ team are excited about?

LG is committed to producing helpful innovations for consumers. One example is our new AI-infused customer service solution, Proactive Customer Care. It’s a new paradigm in customer satisfaction, one that ensures greater value and peace-of-mind for owners of our smart home appliances.  

When it rolls out in the United States next year, Proactive Customer Care will leverage ThinQ AI to provide personalised support, alerting users to issues with their LG appliance, and offering helpful tips and solutions to maximise performance and long product life. Using the latest in AI technology, LG Proactive Customer Care is designed to inform LG smart appliance owners of potential problems before they even occur – it can expedite technician visits, if needed, and offer guidance on how to keep LG’s products functioning optimally.

What did you speak about during this year’s AI Expo North America?

I was thrilled to take part in my first AI & Big Data Expo North America in Santa Clara. As part of my activities onsite, I welcomed interested attendees to visit the panel discussion on “Data and The Customer” where I was joined by fellow industry insiders to discuss in the relationship between the data collected from companies and its customers.  

I also conducted a solo presentation on the topic of “Process Automation from IoT Data.” I helped to define process automation for IoT data and how it is key to use not only the right platform for your business, but also one that allows true process integration and automation for optimisation. This is essential to our work at LG and helps shape our future product launches.

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Announced during this year’s Baidu Create conference, the companies say they will focus on areas such as the smart home, intelligent connectivity, smart mobility, and e-commerce.

Geely is a privately held global automotive group headquartered in the city of Hangzhou and is most well-known for owning the Volvo and Lotus car brands.

The long-term goal of Baidu and Geely is to accelerate the adoption of connected vehicles in both China and the rest of the world. Li Shufu, Chairman of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely Holding), and Robin Li, Founder and CEO of Baidu, were at the announcement.

Li said: “The major advances in the history of mobility are accompanied by new changes brought about by cutting-edge technology. Geely Holding, through their years of achievements and innovations, has become a leader in China’s automotive industry.

“This strategic cooperation between Baidu and Geely, focusing on AI technology empowerment, will not only bring about more natural and convenient human-car interaction but also accelerate the intelligentisation of the automobile and mobility service industry, helping the Chinese automotive industry become a leader in the era of smart mobility.”

Shufu and Li interacted with Geely’s latest connected SUV, the Bo Yue Pro, on-stage during the event. The intelligent new vehicle is equipped with Baidu’s AI system through Geely’s SKU19 Smart Ecosystem which helps to connect people, cars, and homes.

Geely has plans to roll out the SKU19 across its portfolio.

Shufu commented: “China’s intelligent connected vehicle technology is now at the forefront of the world, bringing consumers a safe and convenient travel experience. Baidu is a leader within the AI industry in China, and also a pioneer in promoting industrial intelligence with their globally leading AI R&D capability and deep technical insight in the field of intelligent driving.

“Through strategic cooperation and resource collaboration, the two sides are committed to jointly building an intelligent mobility ecosphere to lead the future, and create a brand-new experience for users.”

Baidu continues to double-down on its AI efforts. Just last week, AI News reported that Baidu will lend its AI expertise to help with the development of Intel’s Nervana neural processor.

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Current digital assistants listen for a wakeword such as “Ok, Google” or “Alexa,” before recording speech for processing. Especially for companies such as Google and Amazon which thrive on knowing everything about users, this helps to quell privacy concerns.

There are some drawbacks from this approach, mainly context. Future AI assistants will be able to provide more help when armed with information leading up to the request.

For example, say you were discussing booking a seat at your favourite restaurant next Tuesday. After asking, “Alexa, do I have anything on my schedule next Tuesday?” it could respond: “No, would you like me to book a seat at the restaurant you were discussing and add it to your calendar?”

Today, such a task would require three separate requests.

Amazon’s patent isn’t quite as complex just yet. The example provided in the filing envisions allowing the user to say things such as “Play ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’ Alexa, by the Beatles,” (Note the wakeword after the play song command.)

David Emm, Principal Security Researcher at Kaspersky Lab, said:

“Many Amazon Alexa users will likely be alarmed by today’s news that the company’s latest patent would allow the devices – commonplace in homes across the UK – to record everything a person says before even being given a command. Whilst the patent doesn’t suggest it will be installed in future Alexa-enabled devices, this still signals an alarming development in the further surrender of our personal privacy.

Given the amount of sensitive information exchanged in the comfort of people’s homes, Amazon would be able to access a huge volume of personal information – information that would be of great value to cybercriminals and threat actors. If the data isn’t secured effectively, a successful breach of Amazon’s systems could have a severe knock-on effect on the data security and privacy of huge numbers of people.

If this patent comes into effect, consumers need to be made very aware of the ramifications of this – and to be fully briefed on what data is being collected, how it is being used, and how they can opt out of this collection. Amazon may argue that analysing stored data will make their devices smarter for Alexa owners – but in today’s digital era, such information could be used nefariously, even by trusted parties. For instance, as we saw with Cambridge Analytica, public sector bodies could target election campaigns at those discussing politics.

There’s a world of difference between temporary local storage of sentences, to determine if the command word has been used, and bulk retention of data for long periods, or permanently – even if the listening process is legitimate and consumers have opted in. There have already been criticisms of Amazon for not making it clear what is being recorded and stored – and we are concerned that this latest development shows the company moving in the wrong direction – away from data visibility, privacy, and consent.”

There’s a joke about Uber that society used to tell you not to get into cars with strangers, and now you’re encouraged to order one from your phone. Lyft has been able to ride in Uber’s wake relatively negative PR free.

Getting the balance right between innovation and safety can be a difficult task. Pioneers often do things first and face the backlash before it actually becomes somewhat normal. That’s not advocating Amazon’s possible approach, but we’ve got to be careful outrage doesn’t halt progress while remaining vigilant of actual dangers.

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