CEBR: Automation increases US/UK business revenues, boosts economic resilience

Research conducted by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), in conjunction with SnapLogic, has found that automation is having a profound impact on the monthly revenues of UK businesses.

Within three months of investment in automation technologies, UK companies saw an average increase of five percent – or £14 billion – per month.

The impact on US businesses was even higher. Over the same three-month period, US companies witnessed an average...

GTC 2021: Nvidia debuts accelerated computing libraries, partners with Google, IBM, and others to speed up quantum research

Nvidia has unveiled 65 new and updated software development kits at GTC 2021, alongside a partnership with industry leaders to speed up quantum research.

The company’s roster of accelerated computing kits now exceeds 150 and supports the almost three million developers in NVIDIA’s Developer Program.

Four of the major new SDKs are:

ReOpt – Automatically optimises logistical processes using advanced, parallel algorithms. This includes vehicle routes, warehouse...

Tencent Cloud unveils three world-class AI chips

AI Chips

Tencent Cloud claims to have developed three world-class AI chips that substantially outperform rivals, although details at this point are scarce.

The third largest cloud services company in China, following Alibaba and Huawei, Tencent recently revealed the three chips at its 2021 Digital Ecology Conference.

Current information on the three chips can be summarised as follows:

Zixiao – an “AI reasoning” chip that supposedly offers 100 percent better...

GlobalData: China is ahead of global rivals for AI ‘unicorns’

China is pulling ahead of global rivals when it comes to innovative AI “unicorns” that are pushing the technology forward.

Research from GlobalData has found that – of the 45 international AI unicorns identified – China has the largest share with 19 based in the country.

Priya Toppo, Analyst of Thematic Research at GlobalData, comments:

“China is a leading player in AI, with a number of established companies such as Baidu, Hikvision, iFlytek, Tencent,...

AI provides imaging solution for the Moon’s shadowy craters

The Moon

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany have published a paper highlighting their AI solution for imaging the Moon’s shadowed craters.

HORUS (Hyper-effective nOise Removal U-net Software) is a machine learning algorithm that enables these dark craters to be mapped out at far higher resolutions than ever before.

The software uses more than 70,000 calibration images taken on the dark side of the Moon by NASA’s Lunar...

Rishabh Mehrotra, research lead, Spotify: Multi-stakeholder thinking with AI

AI & Big Data Expo Speaker

Streaming behemoth Spotify hosts more than seventy million songs and close to three million podcast titles on its platform.

Delivering this without artificial intelligence (AI) would be comparable to traversing the Amazon rainforest armed with nothing but a spoon.

To cut - or scoop - through this jungle of music, Spotify's research team deploy hundreds of machine learning models that improve the user experience, all the while trying to balance the needs of users and...

UN calls for ‘urgent’ action over AI’s risk to human rights

UN Assembly

The United Nations’ (UN) head of human rights has called for all member states to put a moratorium on the sale and use of artificial intelligence systems.

UN high commissioner for human rights Michelle Bachelet acknowledged that AI can be a “force for good” but that it could also have “negative, even catastrophic, effects” if the risks It poses are not addressed.

Bachelet’s comments come alongside a new report from the Office of the High Commissioner for...

NIST: VisionLabs, IDEMIA, and CloudWalk lead in facial recognition accuracy

A report from the US government’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) reveals the accuracy of various facial recognition algorithms.

The latest edition of the report currently has VisionLabs, IDEMIA, and CloudWalk in the lead:

Higher numbers are better as they indicate a lower prevalence of false positives.

The “N” values represent the number of individuals enrolled in each simulation of aircraft boarding. The N = 42,000 simulation,...

Cognizant: A “vicious cycle” is holding AI deployments back

A new study from Cognizant’s Center for the Future of Work has found that a “vicious cycle” is holding AI deployments back, with just 20 percent considered leaders that are powering ahead.

Few businesses are at the top of the “AI maturity curve,” according to Cognizant’s framework. Just 20 percent are considered AI leaders while the majority (61%) are “implementers” (defined as making progress, but not yet mature) or beginners (19%).

Respondents in the...

Going for gold: Britain can set the standard in ethical AI

A study by BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT has found the UK can set the “gold standard” in ethical artificial intelligence.

The UK – home to companies including DeepMind, Graphcore, Oxbotica, Darktrace, BenevolentAI, and others – is Europe’s leader in AI. However, the country is unable to match the funding and support available to counterparts residing in countries like the US and China.

Many experts have instead suggested that the UK should tap its...