Bits & Bytes

IBM researchers have developed DeepLocker, a new breed of highly targeted and evasive attack tools powered by AI. The malware remains dormant until identifying its target through indicators like facial recognition, geolocation and voice recognition. The project is meant to raise awareness of the possibilities when AI is combined with current malware techniques.

Microsoft has updated ML.NET, its cross-platform, open-source machine learning framework for .NET developers. This initial preview release of ML.NET enables simple tasks like classification and regression and brings the first draft of .NET APIs for training and inference. The framework can be extended to add support for popular ML libraries like TensorFlow, Accord.NET, and CNTK.

Tesla confirmed that it has developed its own processor for AutoPilot and other on-vehicle AI workloads. The company mentioned that the new processor is 10 times faster than the one it was using from Nvidia, and the linked article’s author estimates the company could save billions by developing its own.

The companies have partnered to launch an AI data trial on the blockchain. doc.ai will attempt to identify models for predicting allergies based upon collected phenome (e.g., age, height, weight), exposome (e.g., exposure to weather/pollution based on location) and physiome (e.g., physical activity, daily steps) data.

NetApp introduced the NetApp® ONTAP® AI architecture, powered by NVIDIA DGX™ supercomputers and NetApp AFF A800 cloud-connected all-flash storage to simplify, speed, and scale the deep learning data pipeline.

Getty Images launched Panels by Getty Images, a new artificial intelligence tool for media publishers that recommends the best visual content to accompany a news article.

Dollars & Sense

Malong Technologies, a Shenzhen, China-based computer vision startup, received a minority investment from Accenture
Test.ai, which AI to the challenge of testing apps, has raised an $11 million Series A round led by Gradient Ventures
Skyline AI, a New York based real estate investech firm using AI and data science, raised $18M in Series A funding
DefinedCrowd, which provides crowd-sourced data for training AI, has raised a $11.8 million funding round led by Evolution Equity Partners
Dbrain, whose platform links crowdworkers and data scientists via the blockchain, has raised a $3 million funding round
Racetrack.ai, which applies AI to accelerating business sales, has raised $5 million in a pre-Series A round