Bits & Bytes
Google announces TensorFlow 2.0 Alpha, TensorFlow Federated, TensorFlow Privacy.
- At the 3rd annual TensorFlow Developer Summit, Google announced the first alpha release of TensorFlow 2.0 and several other new releases such as: TensorFlow Federated – a new open-source framework that allows developers to use all the ML-training features from TF while keeping the data local; TensorFlow Privacy – which uses differential privacy to process data in a private manner; extensions to TensorFlow Extended (TFX), a platform for end-to-end machine learning; and Activation Atlases – which attempts to visualize and explain how neural networks process images.
Google open sources GPipe, a library for parallel training of large-scale neural networks.
- GPipe, which is based on the Lingvo (a TensorFlow framework for sequence modeling), is applicable to any network consisting of multiple sequential layers and allows researchers to “easily” scale performance. [Paper]
Facebook AI researchers create a text-based adventure to study how AI speak and act.
- Researchers from Facebook and University College London specifically investigated the impact of grounding dialogue – a collection of mutual knowledge, beliefs, and assumptions essential for communication between two people–on AI agents.
Google announces Coral platform for building IoT hardware with on-device AI.
- Coral targets developers creating IoT hardware from prototyping to production. It is powered by a TPU that is specifically designed to run at the edge and is available in beta.
Google and DeepMind are using AI to predict the energy output of wind farms.
- Google announced that it has made energy produced by wind farms more viable using DeepMind’s ML algorithms to better predict the wind output.
Ben-Gurion U. develops new AI platform for ALS care.
- Researchers at Ben-Gurion University have used ML models to develop a new method of monitoring and predicting the progression of neurodegenerative and help identify markers for personalized patient care and improve drug development.
Google rolls out AI grammar checker for G Suite users.
- Google applies ML techniques to understand complex grammar rules and identify “tricky” grammatical errors by G Suite users.
Dollars & Sense
-
PolyAI, a London, UK-based platform for conversational AI, raised $12M in Series A funding
-
Wade & Wendy, a NYC-based AI recruitment platform, closed a $7.6M Series A funding
-
Brodmann17, a Tel Aviv, based provider of vision-first technology for automated driving, raised $11M in Series A funding
-
Paradox.ai, a Scottsdale-based assistive intelligence platform raised $13.34M series A funding
-
Apple acquires patents from AI security camera maker Lighthouse
-
Horizon Robotics, China-based AI chip maker raises $600M
-
ELSA, US-based AI language learning app, raised $7M
-
Modulate, a Cambridge-based ML startup raised $2M in seed funding
-
Zone7, which uses AI to predict injuries in sports, has secured $2.5M
-
DataRobot acquires a data collaboration platform company, Cursor
-
Splice Machine announced that it has raised $16M for unified ML platform
-
Senseon has raised $6.4M to tackle cybersecurity threats with an AI ‘triangulation’ approach
-
Ctrl-labs, a New York startup announced that it has raised $28M in a funding round led by GV, Google’s venture capital arm
-
Armorblox, a Sunnyvale, CA-based provider of a natural language understanding platform for cybersecurity, raised $16.5M Series A funding
-
ViSenze, Singapore-based AI startup, has raised $20M in series C funding
-
BlackBerry announces the acquisition of Cylance, a cybersecurity and AI firm
