Daily Archives: August 22, 2017

Soldiers march during a changing of the Guard at the Mamayev Kurgan World War Two memorial complex and Mother Homeland statue (back) in Volgograd, Russia

Mladen Antonov/AFP

Italian emergency workers rescue a baby (C) after an earthquake hit the popular Italian tourist island of Ischia, off the coast of Naples, causing several buildings to collapse overnight. A magnitude-4.0 earthquake struck the Italian holiday island of Ischia, causing destruction that left two people dead at peak tourist season, authorities said, as rescue workers struggled to free two children from the rubble

AFP/Mauro Pagnano

Damage to the portside is visible as the Guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) steers towards Changi naval base in Singapore following a collision with the merchant vessel Alnic MC. The USS John S. McCain was docked at Singapore's naval base with "significant damage" to its hull after an early morning collision with the Alnic MC as vessels from several nations searched Monday for missing U.S. sailors.

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A protester covers her eyes with a China flag to imply Goddess of Justice during the rally supporting young activists Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow in central in Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Pro-democracy activists Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow were jailed last week after being convicted of unlawful assembly.

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An extreme cycling enthusiast performs a stunt with a bicycle before falling into the East Lake in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. This activity, which requires participants to ride their bikes and jump into the lake, attracts many extreme cycling enthusiasts from the city.

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People gather around tributes laid on Las Ramblas near to the scene of yesterday's terrorist attack in Barcelona, Spain. Fourteen people were killed and dozens injured when a van hit crowds in the Las Ramblas area of Barcelona on Thursday. Spanish police have also killed five suspected terrorists in the town of Cambrils to stop a second terrorist attack.

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Participants take part in Panjat Pinang, a pole climbing contest, as part of festivities marking Indonesia's 72nd Independence Day on Ancol beach in Jakarta. Panjat Pinang, a tradition dating back to the Dutch colonial days, is one of the most popular traditions for celebrating Indonesia's Independence Day.

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Demonstrators participate in a march and rally against white supremacy in downtown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Demonstrations are being held following clashes between white supremacists and counter-protestors in Charlottesville, Virginia over the weekend. Heather Heyer, 32, was killed in Charlottesville when a car allegedly driven by James Alex Fields Jr. barreled into a crowd of counter-protesters following violence at the Unite the Right rally.

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South Korea protesters hold placards with an illustration of U.S. President Donald Trump during a during a 72nd Liberation Day rally in Seoul, South Korea. Korea was liberated from Japan's 35-year colonial rule on August 15, 1945 at the end of World War II.

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The Chattrapathi Shivaji Terminus railway station is lit in the colours of India's flag ahead of the country's Independence Day in Mumbai. Indian Independence Day is celebrated annually on 15 August, and this year marks 70 years since British India split into two nations Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan and millions were uprooted in one of the largest mass migrations in history

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A demonstrator holds up a picture of Heather Heyer during a demonstration in front of City Hall for victims of the Charlottesville, Virginia tragedy, and against racism in Los Angeles, California, USA. Rallies have been planned across the United States to demonstrate opposition to the violence in Charlottesville

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Jessica Mink (R) embraces Nicole Jones (L) during a vigil for those who were killed and injured when a car plowed into a crowd of anti-fascist counter-demonstrators marching near a downtown shopping area Charlottesville, Virginia

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White nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the alt-right clash with counter-protesters as they enter Lee Park during the Unite the Right in Charlottesville, Virginia. After clashes with anti-fascist protesters and police the rally was declared an unlawful gathering and people were forced out of Lee Park

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A North Korean flag is seen on top of a tower at the propaganda village of Gijungdong in North Korea, as a South Korean flag flutters in the wind in this picture taken near the border area near the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas in Paju, South Korea

Reuters

A firefighter extinguishes flames as a fire engulfs an informal settlers area beside a river in Manila

AFP

A rally in support of North Korea's stance against the US, on Kim Il-Sung square in Pyongyang.

AFP

Rocks from the collapsed wall of a hotel building cover a car after an earthquake outside Jiuzhaigou, Sichuan province

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People in Seoul, South Korea walk by a local news program with an image of US President Donald Trump on Wednesday 9 August. North Korea and the United States traded escalating threats, with Mr Trump threatening Pyongyang with fire and fury like the world has never seen

AP

A Maasai woman waits in line to vote in Lele, 130 km (80 miles) south of Nairobi, Kenya. Kenyans are going to the polls today to vote in a general election after a tightly-fought presidential race between incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta and main opposition leader Raila Odinga

AP

Pro-government supporters march in Caracas, Venezuela on 7 August

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Children pray after releasing paper lanterns on the Motoyasu river facing the Atomic Bomb Dome in remembrance of atomic bomb victims on the 72nd anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, western Japan.

REUTERS

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L), accompanied by defence minister Sergei Shoigu, gestures as he fishes in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia.

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A family claiming to be from Haiti drag their luggage over the US-Canada border into Canada from Champlain, New York, U.S. August 3, 2017.

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A disabled man prepares to cast his vote at a polling station in Kigali, Rwanda, August 4, 2017

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ATTENTION EDITORS -People carry the body of Yawar Nissar, a suspected militant, who according to local media was killed during a gun battle with Indian security forces at Herpora village, during his funeral in south Kashmir's Anantnag district August 4, 2017.

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A general view shows a flooded area in Sakon Nakhon province, Thailand August 4, 2017.

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A plane landed in Sao Joao Beach, killing two people, in Costa da Caparica, Portugal August 2, 2017

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Hermitage Capital CEO William Browder waits to testify before a continuation of Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 27, 2017

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TOPSHOT - Moto taxi driver hold flags of the governing Rwanda Patriotic Front's at the beginning of a parade in Kigali, on August 02, 2017. Incumbent Rwandan President Paul Kagame will close his electoral campaigning ahead of the August 4, presidential elections which he is widely expected to win giving him a third term in office

AFP

TOPSHOT - Migrants wait to be rescued by the Aquarius rescue ship run by non-governmental organisations (NGO) "SOS Mediterranee" and "Medecins Sans Frontieres" (Doctors Without Borders) in the Mediterranean Sea, 30 nautic miles from the Libyan coast, on August 2, 2017.

AFP

Two children hold a placard picturing a plane as they take part in a demonstration in central Athens outside the German embassy with others refugees and migrants to protest against the limitation of reunification of families in Germany, on August 2, 2017.

AFP

Flames erupt as clashes break out while the Constituent Assembly election is being carried out in Caracas, Venezuela, July 30, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

Reuters

People in the village of Gabarpora carry the remains of Akeel Ahmad Bhat, a civilian who according to local media died following clashes after two militants were killed in an encounter with Indian security forces in Hakripora in south Kashmir's Pulwama district, August 2, 2017. REUTERS/Danish Ismail

Reuters

- Incumbent Rwandan President Paul Kagame gestures as he arrives for the closing rally of the presidential campaign in Kigali, on August 2, 2017 while supporters greet him. Rwandans go the polls on August 4, 2017 in a presidential election in which strongman Paul Kagame is widely expected to cruise to a third term in office.

AFP

Soldiers of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) get ready for the military parade to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the foundation of the army at Zhurihe military training base in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China.

REUTERS

Cyclists at the start of the first stage of the Tour de Pologne cycling race, over 130km from Krakow's Main Market Square, Poland

EPA

Israeli border guards keep watch as Palestinian Muslim worshippers pray outside Jerusalem's old city overlooking the Al-Aqsa mosque compound

Ahmad Gharabli/AFP

A supporter of Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif passes out after the Supreme Court's decision to disqualify Sharif in Lahore

Reuters/Mohsin Raza

Australian police officers participate in a training scenario called an 'Armed Offender/Emergency Exercise' held at an international passenger terminal located on Sydney Harbour

Reuters/David Gray

North Korean soldiers watch the south side as the United Nations Command officials visit after a commemorative ceremony for the 64th anniversary of the Korean armistice at the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) dividing the two Koreas

Reuters/Jung Yeon-Je

Bangladeshi commuters use a rickshaw to cross a flooded street amid heavy rainfall in Dhaka. Bangladesh is experiencing downpours following a depression forming in the Bay of Bengal.

Munir Uz Zaman/AFP

The Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft for the next International Space Station (ISS) crew of Paolo Nespoli of Italy, Sergey Ryazanskiy of Russia, and Randy Bresnik of the U.S., is transported from an assembling hangar to the launchpad ahead of its upcoming launch, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan

Reuters/Shamil Zhumatov

A protester shouts at U.S. President Donald Trump as he is removed from his rally with supporters in an arena in Youngstown, Ohio

Reuters

Indian supporters of Gorkhaland chant slogans tied with chains during a protest march in capital New Delhi. Eastern India's hill resort of Darjeeling has been rattled at the height of tourist season after violent clashes broke out between police and hundreds of protesters of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) a long-simmering separatist movement that has long called for a separate state for ethnic Gorkhas in West Bengal. The GJM wants a new, separate state of "Gorkhaland" carved out of eastern West Bengal state, of which Darjeeling is a part.

Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images

Demonstrators clash with riot security forces while rallying against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela. The banner on the bridge reads "It will be worth it"

Reuters

The Heathcote river as it rises to high levels in Christchurch, New Zealand. Heavy rain across the South Island in the last 24 hours has caused widespread damage and flooding with Dunedin, Waitaki, Timaru and the wider Otago region declaring a state of emergency.

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A mourner prays at a memorial during an event to commemorate the first anniversary of the shooting spree that one year ago left ten people dead, including the shooter in Munich, Germany. One year ago 18-year-old student David S. shot nine people dead and injured four others at and near a McDonalds restaurant and the Olympia Einkaufszentrum shopping center. After a city-wide manhunt that caused mass panic and injuries David S. shot himself in a park. According to police David S., who had dual German and Iranian citizenship, had a history of mental troubles.

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Palestinians react following tear gas that was shot by Israeli forces after Friday prayer on a street outside Jerusalem's Old City

Reuters/Ammar Awad

Ousted former Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra greets supporters as she arrives at the Supreme Court in Bangkok, Thailand

Reuters/Athit Perawongmetha

Marek Suski of Law and Justice (PiS) (C) party scuffles with Miroslaw Suchon (2nd L) of Modern party (.Nowoczesna) as Michal Szczerba of Civic Platform (PO) (L) party holds up a copy of the Polish Constitution during the parliamentary Commission on Justice and Human Rights voting on the opposition's amendments to the bill that calls for an overhaul of the Supreme Court in Warsaw

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AI is coming to war, regardless of Elon Musk's well-meaning concern - The Independent

It's considerably more flexible than many of its hard-coded rivals, too. It relies on a 'soft' dynamic neural network processing engine dropped into off-the-shelf FPGA chips where competitors often need their approach locked in from the outset. It can handle Microsoft's own AI framework (Cognitive Toolkit), but it can also work with Google's TensorFlow and other systems. You can build a machine learning system the way you like and expect it to run in real-time, instead of letting the hardware dictate your methods.

To no one's surprise, Microsoft plans to make Project Brainwave available through its own Azure cloud services (it's been big on advanced tech in Azure as of late) so that companies can make use of live AI. There's no guarantee it will receive wide adoption, but it's evident that Microsoft doesn't want to cede any ground to Google, Facebook and others that are making a big deal of internet-delivered AI. It's betting that companies will gladly flock to Azure if they know they have more control over how their AI runs.

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Microsoft built a hardware platform for real-time AI - Engadget

Will artificial intelligence bring a utopia of plenty? Or a dystopic hellscape? Will we, jobless and destitute, scavenge for scraps outside the walls of a few techno-trillionaires? Or will we work alongside machines, achieving new levels of productivity and fulfillment? The tech world has no lack of prognosticators: Bill Gates and Elon Musk, for example, see in AI an existential threat to the human species, while Ray Kurzweil thinks it cant come soon enough.

Silicon Slopes and big data

In fact, artificial intelligence is already here, and has been for some time. While many mistakenly equate AI with consciousnessHollywood has done the robot-gains-consciousness plot to deaththe two are distinct phenomena. As Noah Yuval Harari discusses in Homo Deus, AI need not be conscious to possess superhuman intelligence. Nor is it likely to be. Already, in domain-specific tasks, non-conscious computers are far beyond humans in intelligence. Watson beat humans at Jeopardy back in 2011; more recently, Googles AlphaGo AI beat Korean Grandmaster Lee Sodol for the fifth consecutive time at the incredibly complex game of Go. And, to those who point out the narrow scope within which such AIs can function, just remember how rapidly the scope has expanded in only a few years.

AI depends on intelligent algorithms, and such algorithms depend on the analysis of vast amounts of data. Which is why Utah is on the map with regard to AI advancement. The so-called Silicon Slopes has become, per Mark Gorenberg, a world leader in data analytics. Gorenberg should know. He serves as managing director of Zetta Venture Partners, an AI-focused venture capital firm based in San Francisco, and has invested in a number of Utah companies. The notion of analytics has become a cornerstone of Utah technology, he says.

Utah boasts high-profile data firms like Domo, Omniture (now part of Adobe) and Qualtrics, to be sure. But it also has an ecosystem of lesser-known players. Teem, for example, started by putting software on an iPad so that corporate teams could book conference rooms, Gorenberg explains. In the process, they gathered a ton of data that allows them to predict the digital workplace of the future. One Click Retail (my employerfull disclosure) uses machine learning and Amazon.com data points to help sellers optimize ecommerce operations. InsideSales employs data analytics to accelerate sales productivity by identifying the highest ROI accounts, contacts and action steps. Verscend, a healthcare analytics company, utilizes data in meaningful ways to bring our customers smarter and more effective analytics, per the company website.

But will robots dispossess us of gainful employment?

Utahs tech sector is clearly positioned to benefit from the emergence of data-driven intelligent algorithms. Well and goodbut were still left with the trillion-dollar question: Will smart machines eventually take our jobs? Are we fated to be like the typewriterthe human being as obsolete technologywhile artificial intelligence becomes, metaphorically, the word processor and laser printer? In many areas, yes. According to Gorenberg, however, there will be just as many areas in which the new AI frontier creates jobs. Sure, well lose jobs, he says. But what people arent seeing is the jobs well be gaining.

Take autonomous vehicles, Gorenberg continues by way of example. Sure, a lot of people who drive for a livingtaxi drivers, truckers, etc.will no longer be needed. At the same time, think of the downtown areas of cities. Traffic-congested urban centers no longer need be congested; sophisticated algorithms will route traffic for maximum flow. Intelligent cars, free from human errorand human distractionwill travel faster and in tighter formations, with far fewer accidents.

Then theres the issue of parking. The average downtown area uses 30 percent of its space for parking, Gorenberg notes. Those cars just sit there all day while their owners work. If the hive mind of the autonomous vehicle system knows exactly what transit is needed, and when, it can provide it at a moments notice. Fewer cars will be needed, and they can be kept outside the city center and brought in to meet demand.

Thirty percent of a citys downtown is a lot of area. Gorenberg describes the construction frenzy that will occur as the whole nature of downtowns change from all that prime acreage suddenly available. He imagines a city center could include gardens, urban manufacturing and much more.

Sure, well lose jobs. But what people arent seeing is the jobs well begaining. Mark Gorenberg, managing director, Zetta Venture Partners

And, in his vision of urban reconfiguration, Gorenberg sees beyond the myriad blue-collar jobs that such massive projects will create. Not only will you need construction workers and the like; youll need architects, city designers and planners, software development and IOT implementation, he says. There will be a need for energy experts and water experts and all of the various disciplines it takes to make a city highly functional. In short, the reuse of urban space for the next generation of cities will be a multi-trillion-dollar opportunity and will create millions of jobs at all levels.

Would you like your automation full or partial?

Economist James Bessen would agree with Gorenberg. In his article How computer automation affects occupations: Technology, jobs and skills, he concedes that full automation might indeed result in job losses. However, most automation ispartialonly some tasks are automated. In fact, as he details in his study, out of 270 occupations listed in the 1950 Census, only onethat of elevator operatorhas disappeared. Bessen claims that most job losses are not the result of machines replacing humans, but of humans using machines to replace other humans, as graphic designers with computers replaced typesetters. Or, as Mark Gorenberg puts it, this [artificial intelligence revolution] is no different than any other technology wave.

Are Bessen and Gorenberg overly optimistic, perhaps even nave, about the potential of artificial intelligence to replace humans? Or are AI alarmists a bunch of Luddites? Such questions can only be answered retrospectively. In the present, however, the incontrovertible fact is that intelligent algorithms are helping humans get better at their jobs. We dont know whether, as Alibaba CEO Jack Ma predicts, algorithms will one day be CEOs. What we do know, in the words of Gorenberg, is that a [human] CEO empowered with data is a better CEO.

So the short-to-medium-term prognosis is that human plus machine equals a better work unit than either on its own. Humans empowered by machine learning, data and sophisticated algorithms can outcompete regular old humans in the knowledge economy.

InsideSales has a dataset of over 100 billion sales interactions, says CEO Dave Elkington. The firms intelligent algorithms use this ocean of data to guide salespeople. Often, the lift provided by our software is so extreme as to make our users wonder if there might have been a reporting error. Data-powered, AI-guided salespeople. How can regular salespeople, doing things the old-fashioned way, compete? Most likely, they wont be able to.

Intelligent machines will also extend human abilities in important ways. To illustrate: the developed world (to say nothing of the developing world) faces a shortage of doctors, both generalists and specialists. I believe that AI augmenting healthcare will allow more people to perform healthcare services that today only a few can do, says Gorenberg, adding that, for example, an AI could work side by side with nurses and allow them to take expert ultrasounds and other medical images that today have to be done by a select set of experts. Thousands of high-skill nursing jobs would open up. Whats more, if lower-level professionals can do advanced medical work that is currently the exclusive domain of doctors, doctors will be free to focus on aspects of medicine for which a human with 710 years of medical training is uniquely suited.

Often, the lift provided by our software is so extreme as to make our users wonder if there might have been a reporting error. Dave Elkington, CEO, InsideSales.com

The third wave of tech revolution

If steam power was the first technological wave, and software/internet the second, artificial intelligence could well be the third. In Gorenbergs vision, the huge number of new data science and analytics positions that this upheaval will demand will compare with the millions of developer jobs created by software 25 years ago.

Over the next 510 years and beyond, well see in exactly which ways AI revolutionizes industry and business. One thing, however, is clear: Its happening, and its going to be big. And, here in Utah, were smack in the technological middle.

Jacob Andra is a writer andcontent marketing consultantin Salt Lake City, Utah. You can find him onLinkedInandTwitter.

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How will AI shape the workforce of the future? - Utah Business

One of the worlds most famous living artists is headed to New York City this fall, and hes bringing a massive public art project with him.

Ai Weiwei, the prolific Chinese artist and activist famously profiled in the documentary Never Sorry, is behind the ambitious Good Fences Make Good Neighbors project set to take over NYC this October. Commissioned by the Public Art Fund, the five-borough exhibition will involve over 300 locations and hundreds of individual artworks, turning the sprawling city into an unconventional canvas for his collage-like experiment.

According to a statement announcing the projects specific locations on Tuesday, Ais upcoming intervention was inspired by the international migration crisis and current global geopolitical landscape. The exhibition will use the concept of a security fence, something long touted by President Donald Trump, as its central visual element.

Ai Weiweis work is extraordinarily timely, but its not reducible to a single political gesture, Nicholas Baume, the director and chief curator of Public Art Fund, told HuffPost. The exhibition grows out of his own life and work, including his childhood experience of displacement during the Cultural Revolution, his formative years as an immigrant and student in NYC in the 1980s, and his more recent persecution as an artist-activist in China. It reflects his profound empathy with other displaced people, particularly migrants, refugees and victims of war.

The exhibition has been in development for several years, he added, so the election of President Trump has only added to its relevance.

In an earlier interview with The New York Times, Ai explained more directly that the work is a reaction to a retreat from the essential attitude of openness in American politics, though he did not explicitly mention Trumps desire to erect a wall on the border between Mexico and the U.S.

The fence has always been a tool in the vocabulary of political landscaping and evokes associations with words like border, security, and neighbor, Ai said in a statement on Tuesday. But whats important to remember is that while barriers have been used to divide us, as humans we are all the same. Some are more privileged than others, but with that privilege comes a responsibility to do more.

The name Good Fences Make Good Neighbors comes from a Robert Frost poem called Mending Wall, which Baume sent to Ai early in the projects development.The poem includes the ambiguous phrase Ai used as his title, as well as the line, Before I built a wall Id ask to know / What I was walling in or walling out / And to whom I was like to give offence.

He loved the clarity and directness of Frosts writing, and the subtle irony of this famous refrain, Baume added.

Physically, the exhibition will involve large-scale, site-specific, freestanding works, some described as sculptural interventions that will be installed in public spaces like Central Park, Washington Square Park and Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, as well as on private walls and buildings. Beyond the sculptures, Ai will display a series of 200 two-dimensional works on lamppost banners and 100 documentary images on bus shelters and newsstands. The photos were taken during the artists travels to research the international refugee crisis, and they will be coupled with text about displaced people around the world.

This is clearly not an exhibition of conventional, off-the-shelf fences, Baume said.[Ai] has taken the familiar and utilitarian material of metal fencing, which has many forms, as a basic motif. He has created multiple variations on that theme, exploring the potential of the material as a sculptural element, adapted to different locations in very site-responsive ways. Some installations are more straightforward, some more complex, but they all share this basic DNA.

Good Fences will open to the public on Oct.12 and will run until Feb. 11, marking the Public Art Funds 40th anniversary. Since its inception, the organizations mission has revolved around providing public access to contemporary art, a goal Baume said is more relevant than ever. In the past, the Fund has organized projects like Anish Kapoors Sky Mirror (2006) at the Rockefeller Center and Tatzu Nishis Discovering Columbus (2012) at Columbus Circle.

See a detailed list of the locations for Good Fences by downloading the available press releaseon Public Art Funds website. Ai Weiwei: Good Fences Make Good Neighbors will be on view from Oct. 12, 2017, to Feb. 11, 2018.

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Ai Weiwei Is Building Fences All Over NYC In A Powerful Public Art Project - HuffPost

Artificial intelligence labs race to develop processors that are bigger, faster, stronger.

With major companies rolling out AI chips and smaller startups nipping at their heels, theres no denying that the future of artificial intelligence is indeed already upon us. While each boasts slightly different features, theyre all striving to provide ease of use, speed, and versatility. Manufacturers are demonstrating more adaptability than ever before, and are rapidly developing new versions to meet a growing demand.

In a marketplace that promises to do nothing but grow, these four are braced for impact.

The Verge reports that Qualcomms processors account for approximately 40% of the mobile market, so their entry into the AI game is no surprise. Theyre taking a slightly different approach thoughadapt existing technology that utilizes Qualcomms strengths. Theyve developed a Neural Processing Engine, which is an SDK that allows develops to optimize apps to run different AI applications on Snapdragon 600 and 800 processors. Ultimately, this integration means greater efficiency.

Facebook has already begun using its SDK to speed up augmented reality filters within the mobile app. Qualcomms website says that it may also be used to help a devices camera recognize objects and detect object for better shot composition, as well as make on-device post-processing beautification possible. They also promise more capabilities via the virtual voice assistant, and assure users of the broad market applications--from healthcare to security, on myriad mobile and embedded devices, they write. They also boast superior malware protection.

It allows you to choose your core of choice relative to the power performance profile you want for your user, said Gary Brotman, Qualcomm head of AI and machine learning.

Qualcomms SDK works with popular AI frameworks, including Tensor Flow, Caffe, and Caffe2.

Googles AI chip showed up relatively early to the AI game, disrupting what had been a pretty singular marketplace. And Googles got no plans to sell the processor, instead distributing it via a new cloud service from which anyone can build and operate software via the internet that utilizes hundreds of processors packed into Google data centers, reports Wired.

The chip, called TPU 2.0 or Cloud TPU, is a followup to the initial processor that brought Googles AI services to fruition, though it can be used to train neural networks and not just run them like its predecessor. Developers need to learn a different way of building neural networks since it is designed for Tensorflow, but they expectgiven that the chips affordabilitythat users will comply. Google has mentioned that researchers who share their research with the greater public will receive access for free.

Jeff Dean, who leads the AI lab Google Brain, says that the chip was needed to train with greater efficiency. It can handle180 trillion floating point operations per second. Several chips connect to form a pod, that offers 11,500 teraflops of computing power, which means that it takes only six hours to train 32 CPU boards on a portion of a podpreviously, it took a full day.

Intel offers an AI chip via the Movidius Neural Compute Stick, which is a USB 3.0 device with a specialized vision processing unit. Its meant to complement the Xeon and Xeon Phi, and costs only $79.

While it is optimized for vision applications, Intel says that it can handle a variety of DNN applications. They write, Designed for product developers, researchers and makers, the Movidius Neural Compute Stick aims to reduce barriers to developing, tuning and deploying AI applications by delivering dedicated high-performance deep-neural network processing in a small form factor.

The stick is powered by a VPU like what you might find in smart security cameras, AI drones, and industrial equipment. It can be used with trained Caffe framework-based feed-forward Convolutional Neural Network or the user may choose another pre-trained network, Intel reports. The Movidius Neural Compute Stick supports Cnn profiling, prototyping, and tuningworkflow,provides power and data over a single USB Type A port, does not require cloud connectivity, and runs multiple devices on the same platform.

From Raspberry Pi to PC, the Movidius Neural Compute Stick can be used with any USB 3.0 platform.

NVIDIA was the first to get really serious about AI, but theyre even more serious now. Their new chipthe Tesla V100is a data center GPU. Reportedly, it made enough of a stir that itcaused NVIDIA's shares to jump 17.8% on the day following the announcement.

The chip stands apart in training, which typically requires multiplying matrices of data a single number at a time. Instead, the Volta GPU architecture multiplies rows and columns at once, which speeds up the AI training process.

With 640 Tensor Cores,Volta is five times faster than Pascal and reduces the training time from 18 hours to 7.4 and uses next generation high-speed interconnect technology which, according to the website, enables more advanced model and data parallel approaches for strong scaling to achieve the absolute highest application performance.

Heard of more AI chips coming down the pipe? Let us know in the comments below!

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Intel, Qualcomm, Google, and NVIDIA Race to Develop AI Chips and Platforms - All About Circuits