Daily Archives: June 15, 2017

TechCrunch

Microsoft's AI beats Ms. Pac-Man TechCrunch As with so many things in the world, the key to cracking Ms. Pac-Man is team work and a bit of positive reinforcement. That and access to funding from Microsoft and 150-plus artificial intelligence agents as Maluuba can now attest. Last month, the ... Microsoft AI plays a perfect game of Ms Pac-ManBBC News Microsoft AI gets maximum score possible on Ms. Pac-ManCNET Sorry humans, Microsoft's AI is the first to reach a perfect Ms. Pac-Man scoreThe Verge Quartz -New Atlas -The Official Microsoft Blog - Microsoft -YouTube all 79 news articles »

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Microsoft's AI beats Ms. Pac-Man - TechCrunch

TechCrunch

Entelo steps up its AI game with $20M Series C TechCrunch The race to crown a winner in the AI-powered recruiting software space is on. With both Workey and Mya nabbing rounds in the last few weeks, the timing is prime for a few players to seek advantage in the form of growth capital. This seems to be exactly ... and more »

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Entelo steps up its AI game with $20M Series C - TechCrunch

Facebook has started deploying its artificial intelligence capabilities to help combat terrorists' use of its service.

Company officials said in a blog post Thursday that Facebook will use AI in conjunction with human reviewers to find and remove "terrorist content" immediately, before other users see it. Such technology is already used to block child pornography from Facebook and other services such as YouTube, but Facebook had been reluctant about applying it to other potentially less clear-cut uses.

In most cases, Facebook only removes objectionable material if users first report it.

Facebook and other internet companies face growing government pressure to identify and prevent the spread of terrorist propaganda and recruiting messages on their services. Earlier this month, British Prime Minister Theresa May called on governments to form international agreements to prevent the spread of extremism online. Some proposed measures would hold companies legally accountable for the material posted on their sites.

The Facebook post by Monika Bickert, director of global policy management, and Brian Fishman, counterterrorism policy manager did not specifically mention May's calls. But it acknowledged that "in the wake of recent terror attacks, people have questioned the role of tech companies in fighting terrorism online."

"We want to answer those questions head on. We agree with those who say that social media should not be a place where terrorists have a voice," they wrote.

Among the AI techniques used in this effort are image matching, which compares photos and videos people upload to Facebook to "known" terrorism images or video. Matches generally mean that either that Facebook had previously removed that material, or that it had ended up in a database of such images that Facebook shares with Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube.

Facebook is also developing "text-based signals" from previously removed posts that praised or supported terrorist organizations. It will feed those signals into a machine-learning system, over time, will learn how to detect similar posts.

Bickert and Fishman said that when Facebook receives reports of potential "terrorism posts," it reviews those reports urgently. In addition, it says that in the rare cases when it uncovers evidence of imminent harm, it promptly informs authorities.

But AI is just part of the process. The technology is not yet at the point where it can understand nuances of language and context, so humans are still in the loop.

Facebook says it employs more than 150 people who are "exclusively or primarily focused on countering terrorism as their core responsibility." This includes academic experts on counterterrorism, former prosecutors, former law enforcement agents and analysts and engineers, according to the blog post.

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Facebook deploys AI to fight terrorism on its network - ABC News

Disruption is inevitable, but also deeply feared. Weve seen this with every significant technological leap -- from the printing press to automobiles to computers. But, as we enter the next iteration of technology with AI, we know it will have a profound, transformative effect on global business and society. However, we must reflect on how we want this transformation to occur.

Early adoption has already begun: AI is transforming everyday activities and processes such as virtual assistants, fraud detection and driverless cars. Various forms of AI solutions are already in the market, including automation, speech recognition, machine learning, decision-making and natural language processing. Organizations that are already investing in these technologies are better positioned for long-term success.

Related: Why Small Business Should Be Paying Attention to Artificial Intelligence

As a society, we must accept the fact that AI is here to stay, and realize thoughtful adoption of the technology is critical.

But, what does this mean for the workforce? For software developers, data scientists, engineers and the full spectrum of information technology workers, AI is perceived to either be putting their jobs at risk, or changing their responsibilities to accommodate its rapid advancement. While its difficult to predict the pace of AI adoption, some of the technologys most influential leaders and early adopters agree that its advancing faster than anticipated. As AIs development accelerates and implementations spread, it raises the question for workers in tech and other industries: Are my skills still relevant?

A positive, counterintuitive side effect of early AI adoption is that its requiring companies to invest in their employees. Bringing AI into the enterprise calls for investments in software and technologies that support its implementation, but also in the training and skill building for employees working alongside it. Companies cant go all-in on AI without balancing the investment ratio between technology and human workers.

Recentresearchby Infosys revealed that globally, 76 percent of decision makers agree AI is fundamental to the success of their organizations strategy. More optimistically, 80 percent of respondents say theyll retrain or redeploy employees whose roles are replaced or plan to be replaced with new technologies. This is why its essential to rethink our approach to education and employee development and lay a foundation for continuous lifelong learning.

Related: How to Learn Anything in the Age of AI

This shift in learning is necessary not only for the workforce today, but for future generations. We are developing and deploying AI systems that will become so advanced they will become part of the fabric of every industry. Students, academics and workers will need the skills and expertise to work intimately with AI systems. This new mentality requires a curious mindset and a thirst for knowledge and learning.

Decades from now, AI may replace cognitive tasks such as identifying and solving problems. Today, AI can identify patterns and anomalies in environments and production and notify humans about that information, which may not have been uncovered otherwise. However, human creativity and ingenuity will always be required tofindthe problems AI can solve in the first place.

After all, humans do not simply endure technological disruption -- they help shape it as part of our future. The advent of the automobile didnt just help us travel faster and further; rather, it led to roads, highways and entirely new industries.

Similarly, AI can be a great enabling force that amplifies and empowers people, improves the quality of life for all and opens up opportunities for the underprivileged. Its not a question of man versus machine, but manandmachine.

Related: Will a Robot Take My Job?

Providing employees with the opportunity to pursue learning and training programs to enhance their careers and help them understand new AI applications benefits employers as well. It encourages a more knowledgeable workforce thats inspired and motivated. It also creates the type of employees that become problem-finders seeking out the unknown unknowns, and begin the work of turning these problems into solutions. Increasingly, this will involve the aid of AI.

To reach the full human potential offered by AI, education and training must be a priority. For this to happen, digitalliteracy is fundamental for every future generation. Each child must have access to computer science courses. But, doing this requires a new perspective on education by both government and the private sector -- otherwise the education and skill sets of employees now and in the future wont rise to meet the rapid adoption of AI.

This also means rethinking education, recasting it as a life-long process,and deemphasizing rewarding memorization and routine in favor of curiosity and experimentation. We must modernize courses to encourage creative problem finding and solving, and learning through doing, with mandatory computer science learning as the bedrock for enabling digital literacy. Organizations also need to make life-long learning resources available for employees to enhance skills development and can dedicate a percentage of their annual revenue to reskilling staff.

Its a pivotal point in human history. AI is under construction before our eyes as the next great technological evolution, and we must be prepared to evolve alongside it.

Abdul Razack heads the Platforms Group at Infosys, focusing on overseeing platforms and reusable components across services, Big Data, automation, and the analytics business. Prior to Infosys, he worked at SAP, as senior vice president for...

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How to Prepare Employees to Work With AI - Entrepreneur

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA) and Intel Corp. (INTC) all participated in a round of fund raising for Element AI, the Canadian artificial intelligence startup, as the technology powerhouses go after the burgeoning market.

According to media reports, Microsoft made the investment via its venture capital arm Microsoft Ventures, while Intel did it via Intel Capital. The startup that developed a platform to help companies of all sizes build AI into their businesses, raised $102 million. The Series A round of funding was led by Data Collective, a San Francisco VC firm. Microsoft is a previous investor in Element AI, which splashed onto the scene just a mere eight months ago.

Element AI told ZDNet that it will use the funding to hire more employees, to invest in big AI projects and to acquire startups in the space. "Artificial Intelligence is a 'must have' capability for global companies," said CEO Jean-Franois Gagn in a statement. "Without it, they are competitively impaired if not at grave risk of being obsoleted in place."

For the Redmond, Wash., software giant, Element AI marks yet another instance where it recently backed a company focused on this new technology. In May it co-led a $7.6 million VC round of funding for Bonsai, the Berkeley, Calif.-based AI startup, and invested in Agolo, a New York City-based AI startup. Bonsais AI technology is designed to help manufacturing, retail, logistic and similar markets incorporate AI into their businesses. Agolo provides AI systems to some of the worlds biggest media companies to summarize their news on Facebook and via Amazons Alexa, voice-activated personal assistant. (See also: Sports Betting: The Next Big Thing for Artificial Intelligence.)

But its not just Microsoft that is setting its sights on the market. Chipmaker NVIDIA is also becoming a force, which has prompted Citigroup to predict the stock could hit $300 a share. In a recent research note, Citi analyst Atif Malik said the company is in the early stages of transitioning from a maker of PC graphics chips to a leader in AI, which could drive future growth.

"Element AI will benefit by continuing to leverage NVIDIA's high performance GPUs and software at large scale to solve some of the world's most challenging issues," Jeff Herbst, VP of business development at NVIDIA, said in a statement to ZDNet about its participation in the round of fundraising. Meanwhile Intel recently announced it is forming a separate AI business unit that will be led by former Nervana CEO Naveen Rao. (See also: Intel Forms New Unit to Zero in on AI.)

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Microsoft, Intel, NVIDIA Invest in Element AI - Investopedia

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Mac Rumors

Microsoft Pix can now turn your iPhone photos into art, thanks to ... TechCrunch Microsoft is rolling out an update to its AI-powered photo editing app, Microsoft Pix, that aims to give Prisma and others like it some new competition. While.. Microsoft Updates iOS Photo App 'Pix' With Artistic Filters Powered ...Mac Rumors all 7 news articles »

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Microsoft Pix can now turn your iPhone photos into art, thanks to ... - TechCrunch

TechCrunch

Conviva nabs $40M for AI-based video analytics, now valued ... TechCrunch As more video providers finding audiences directly through apps and the web and away from pay-TV-based packages we're seeing the emergence of ... and more »

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Conviva nabs $40M for AI-based video analytics, now valued ... - TechCrunch