Japanese Company SEGA to Launch the First Blockchain Game

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October 6, 2022

Japanese company Sega to launch the first blockchain game

Sega, one of the largest and most popular Japanese gaming companies, will launch the first blockchain game in partnership with Double Jump Tokyo, another Japanese gaming company. Sega’s plan to initiate non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and blockchain games has been unclear. As of January 2022, the company declared that it would not use these technologies in the games if customers discern it as money-grubbing. However, Sega implied the possibility of including NFTs and metaverse components in their “Super Game” development series.

The “Super Game” project is based on Sega’s Sangokushi Taisen franchise, a famous arcade game in Japan that will be developed with Oasys, a Japanese scaling-focused gaming project. With this launch, Sega expects to make its appearance in the AAA gaming circle.

The Sangokushi Taisen franchise comprises a series of strategy games allowing players to use virtual cards in a virtual field, and the structure of the game has assets and trading cards, making the implementation of blockchain elements easier.

There is no official announcement of how the blockchain elements will be incorporated into the game mechanics. Additionally, there is no provisional release date for the game yet, and Sega has not reported any improvement in any similar undertaking. However, depending on the game’s release, it may be Sega’s first blockchain game.

Several entertainment powerhouses and crypto companies are contributing to the project, including Bandai Namco, Sega, Jump Crypto, Ubisoft, and Square Enix. All these companies have gained popularity for their work in the past, starting from Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog to Bandai Namco’s legendary Pac-Man and Tekken, and so on.

DeepMind unveiled AlphaTensor, the first AI to solve matrix multiplication algorithms

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Disha Chopra

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October 6, 2022

deepmind alphatensor for matrix multiplication

DeepMind has unveiled a new machine learning and AI-based model, AlphaTensor, the first AI to solve matrix multiplication algorithms. It was released in a paper published in Nature and is an extension of AlphaZero, the model which searched for new optimized algorithms for matrix multiplication.

Today in @Nature: #AlphaTensor, an AI system for discovering novel, efficient, and exact algorithms for matrix multiplication – a building block of modern computations. AlphaTensor finds faster algorithms for many matrix sizes: https://t.co/E18DezRPTL & https://t.co/SvHgsa0SNV 1/ pic.twitter.com/bsVEAljvSQ
— DeepMind (@DeepMind) October 5, 2022

Matrix multiplication is a mathematical branch that is trivial to perform but traditionally challenging to perfect. The majority of computing devices, in particular GPUs and those designed for machine learning, place a high priority on effective matrix multiplication.

The traditional algorithms for multiplying 2×2 matrices consisted of 8 multiplication steps believed to be optimal. However, more efficient algorithms with 7 multiplication steps were discovered later on. The novel method innovated by AlphaTensor uses lesser multiplication steps. Despite the new method having many more addition and subtraction steps, for computers, those are insignificant in comparison to the multiplication step that was saved.

AlphaTensor considers the search for new multiplication algorithms like a game. And to make things more interesting, depending on the size of the matrices, AlphaTensor’s complicated game of matrix multiplication algorithm optimization has larger game state magnitudes.

AlphaTensor aims to identify efficient algorithms, and it accomplishes this by learning how matrix multiplication functions. Over time, it improves until it begins to recognize the technological advancements, at which point it moves beyond.

RBI to use AI/ML to improve regulatory supervision on banks and NBFCs

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Sahil Pawar

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October 6, 2022

RBI to use AIML and advance analytics to improve regulatory supervision

The Reserve Bank of India is planning to extensively use advanced analytics and artificial intelligence/machine learning to analyze its vast database and improve regulatory supervision for banks and non-bank financial companies (NBFCs).

For this purpose, the central bank will hire external experts. While the RBI is already using AI/ML in supervisory processes, it now aims to upscale it to ensure that the advantages of advanced analytics can be accrued to the Department of Supervision in the Reserve Bank.

The department has been using linear and a few machine-learned models for supervisory examinations. The supervisory jurisdiction of the RBI extends over small finance banks, local area banks, credit information companies, urban cooperative banks (UCB), NBFCs, payment banks, and select Indian financial institutions.

It undertakes continuous supervision of such entities with the help of on-site inspections and off-site monitoring. The central bank has floated an expression of interest (EoI) for engaging consultants in the use of Advanced Analytics and AI/ML for generating supervisory inputs.

RBI said that taking note of the global supervisory applications of AI/ML, this Project has been conceived for the use of Advance Analytics and AI/ML to expand the analysis of enormous data repositories with RBI. This will be done externally through the engagement of external experts, which is expected to enhance the effectiveness and sharpness of supervision significantly.

Among other things, the selected consultant will be required to explore and profile data with a supervisory focus. The objective is to improve the data-driven surveillance capabilities of the Reserve Bank of India.

MIT WPU collaborated with TCS iON to offer online certificate programs to upskill the future workforce

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Disha Chopra

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October 5, 2022

MIT WPU with TCS iON to offer certificate programs

MIT WPU collaborated with TCS iON, a Tata Consultancy unit, to offer online certificate programs that impart practical and industry-relevant knowledge. These courses will include the latest data technologies to prepare professionals for a data-oriented future.

The programs being offered are:

Certificate Programme in Mechatronics and Smart Industry

This 480-hour course will focus on Industry 4.0 technologies and train future professionals in Mechatronics, a multidisciplinary field in manufacturing, and IIoT, Industrial Internet of Things. Using a mixed learning model, students will learn through online lectures and practical instruction at the Learning and Assessment (L&A) Centre at the MIT-WPU campus in Kothrud, Pune.

The Mechatronics and Smart Industry program candidates must have finished Class X or be accepted in a B.Tech./B.Sc. or a diploma program.

Certificate Programme in Competitive Coding Using Data Structures

Students who complete the curriculum will become knowledgeable in coding fundamentals, including data structures and algorithms. The course will be a combination of self-paced learning, live lectures, and hands-on learning. Students will have the opportunity to apply for over 6,000 relevant jobs on the market and pursue professions in industries like IT, finance and banking, healthcare, etc.

Students need a Diploma in Engineering and/or an active B.Tech/B.Sc./BCA degree to take part in this program.

Advanced Diploma in Electric Vehicle Technology

The course will help the professionals to fit the requirements of knowledgeable EV professionals who are to accelerate the newest developments. Students who enroll in the program will gain comprehensive industrial knowledge of important EV procedures, including production, upkeep, retrofitting, battery management, etc.

The Advanced Diploma in Electric Vehicle Technology is only eligible for candidates who have successfully passed their 10+2 from an approved board.

Venguswamy Ramaswamy, Global Head at TCS iON, said about the collaboration, “we are happy to partner with MIT World Peace University, bringing together the best of our offerings in these new programmes.”

Intel’s self-driving company Mobileye files for an IPO

By

Gareema Lakra

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October 4, 2022

Intel's self-driving company Mobileye files for an IPO

Mobileye, a self-driving technology company founded in 1999 and owned by Intel, files for an IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Intel has been planning to publicize Mobileye since December 2021. Finally, Mobileye will go public in a deal that has reportedly valued it at around $30 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Mobileye produces chips and software used in autonomous vehicles and is best known for the EyeQ system-on-a-chip, which behaves as the brains of the company’s self-driving technology. Over the years, the company has partnered with Audi, BMW, GM, Ford, and Volkswagen in projects developing advanced driving and safety features and software. Mobileye’s CEO Amnon Shashua mentioned in the filing that 50 companies are using Mobileye’s technology across 800 vehicle models.

The company is working on its agile autonomous vehicles for delivery and ride-hailing services. Mobileye has previously announced the launch of a driverless taxi service by 2024 and is presently testing autonomous vehicles in New York.

Intel intends to retain a majority stake in Mobileye after it goes public. The company has not specified the cost of shares and the portions of the proceeds Mobileye will get, though at first, the portions will be used to pay debts. Intel’s CEO Pat Gelsinger said taking Mobileye public would allow it to grow more efficiently and build more chip factories with some of the funds raised from the IPO.

The company also gave a brief note of its history, talking about how the revenue grew from $879 million in 2019 to $1.4 million in 2021, with a growth rate of 43% through the years, and also mentioned the losses that shrunk from $328 million in 2019 to $75 million in 2021.

Tesla shares fall after production and deliveries lag due to logistic hurdles

By

Sahil Pawar

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October 4, 2022

Tesla shares fall after production and deliveries lag

Tesla’s shares fell 7% on Monday after the company sold fewer-than-expected vehicles in quarter three as deliveries lagged way behind production because of logistic hurdles.

The shares opened at a more than two-month low, and if losses hold, Tesla will lose about $58 billion in market capitalization in a single day. It will be more than the market value of General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co.

Tesla produced a record 365,923 EVs in the quarter and delivered a new high of 343,830, but still missed market expectations, with a huge gap between production and deliveries raising investor worries.

The company said it could not secure enough transportation during the peak time at a reasonable cost for vehicles made. Chief Executive Elon Musk has vouched for steadier deliveries in the current quarter to reduce the last-minute rush.

Due to the increased prices of Tesla vehicles, higher borrowing costs, and a dull outlook for global economic growth, the shortfall in deliveries comes with demand worries among investors and analysts.

Tesla will need to deliver more than 450,000 vehicles in the fourth quarter to meet its goal of growing deliveries by 50% annually. The company aims to produce about 495,000 Model Y and Model 3 during the period. Shares of smaller electric-vehicle makers, including Rivian Automotive Inc, Fisker Inc, and Lucid Group, were also down between 2.7% and 6.8% in early trading.

Kim Kardashian fined $1.26m for promoting cryptocurrency on Instagram

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Sahil Pawar

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October 4, 2022

Kim Kardashian fined $1.26m for promoting cryptocurrency

Kim Kardashian has agreed to pay $1.26m to settle charges from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that she promoted a cryptocurrency on Instagram without disclosing she had been paid $250,000 to do so. The post has now been removed.

The SEC said that the reality TV star has agreed to comply with its ongoing investigation. The SEC said Kim Kardashian failed to disclose that she was being paid to publish a post on her Instagram handle about EMAX tokens, a crypto asset security offered by EthereumMax.

Kardashian’s Instagram post contained a link to the EthereumMax website, which provided instructions for potential investors to purchase EMAX tokens. Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC’s division of enforcement, said that the federal securities laws clearly state that any celebrity or other individual promoting a crypto asset security must disclose the source, amount, and nature of compensation they received in exchange for the promotion. Kardashian has agreed not to promote any crypto asset securities for three years.

Kim Kardashian’s lawyer said that she has fully cooperated with the SEC from the very beginning and remains willing to do whatever is expected of her to assist the SEC in this matter. Kardashian wanted to get the matter behind her to avoid any protracted dispute. Her agreement with the SEC allows her to do the same and move forward with her many business pursuits.

Cryptocurrency is facing increasing attention from the US Congress. The latest bipartisan proposal on crypto came in August from Senators Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat from Michigan, and John Boozman, a Republican from Arkansas. It would hand the regulatory authority over Bitcoin and Ether to the Commodities Futures Trading Commission.

Meta launches AI software tool AITemplate to switch between underlying chips

By

Sahil Pawar

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October 4, 2022

Meta launches AI software tool AITemplate

Meta AI has developed and is open-sourcing AITemplate (AIT), a unified inference system with separate acceleration back-ends for both AMD and NVIDIA GPU hardware.

AITemplate delivers close to hardware-native Tensor Core (NVIDIA GPU) and Matrix Core (AMD GPU) performance on various widely used AI models such as convolutional neural networks, transformers, and diffusers. With AIT, it is now possible to run performant inference on hardware from both GPU providers.

Meta said its open-source AI platform is based on an open-source machine learning framework called PyTorch. According to Meta, AITemplate can help code run up to 12 times faster on Nvidia’s A100 chip or up to 4 times faster on Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) MI250 chip.

The software has become a battleground for chipmakers looking to build up an ecosystem of developers that utilize their chips. Nvidia’s CUDA platform continues to be the most popular so far for AI work.

Once developers tailor their code for Nvidia chips, running it on graphics processing units or GPUs from Nvidia competitors like AMD is not easy. AITemplate is designed to quickly swap between chips without being locked in, Meta said in a blog post.

Meta said that the GPU back-end support gives deep learning developers more hardware vendor choices with minimal migration costs. The company added that proprietary software toolkits such as TensorRT provide ways of customization, but they are often insufficient to satisfy software developers’ needs. AITemplate can help with that.

Deloitte Acquires SFL Scientific to Enhance AI

By

Disha Chopra

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October 4, 2022

Deloitte, an industry leader in consulting and financial services provision, acquires SFL Scientific, an award-winning AI strategy firm, to enhance AI. The acquisition is a part of Deloitte’s dedication to enhancing consumer experience by technologically transforming the company.

Integrating SFL Scientific’s expertise in AI and analytics with Deloitte’s capabilities, industry depth, and experience strengthens the latter’s position, improves its capacity to carry out AI-driven transformations for clients, and hastens the growth of its US AI market share.

Dan Helfrich, CEO and chairman of Deloitte Consulting LLP, said, “As our clients advance their enterprise AI journeys, they require the comprehensive and sophisticated experience that SFL Scientific delivers.”

SFL Scientific has a record of effectively executing high-quality, unique, and challenging projects while providing scientific capabilities to the private and governmental sectors. The skilled AI strategists at SFL Scientific serve as trusted consultants to CEOs, guiding them to comprehend and assess emerging areas for AI investment and spot opportunities to improve the companies.

Helfrich added that the acquisition would reinforce the company as a career destination leveraging artificial intelligence to foster a technically growing environment of data scientists, AI strategists, and technologists.

Hoopr.ai Launches the #HarGharCreator Campaign to Empower Content Creators

By

Disha Chopra

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October 4, 2022

Hoopr.ai, a music licensing platform, launches the #HarGharCreator campaign to empower content creators and help them find the right Indian music for their videos. In a commercial, a teenage boy tells his conservative father he would like to be a content creator rather than an engineer. But the father does not seem to budge, given the prejudice against the former. Hoopr.ai wants to redefine how people view creators with their #HarGharCreator campaign.

In December 2021, Hoopr.ai received $1.5 million seed funding from backers, including Venture Catalysts and Ashneer Grover. The company offers music tracks by musicians like Monali Thakur, Ash King, Nikhil D’souza, and others in Hindi, English, Punjabi, and other regional languages. After going live, Hoopr.ai reports that more than 15,000 creators use the platform.

According to the company, India has a creator community of over 80 million people who produce audio-visual content on various subjects. This community includes vloggers, podcasters, gamers, filmmakers, live-streamers, and influencers.

According to the company, the number of people who directly depend on the creator ecosystem for their livelihood is currently over six lakh, which is expected to rise. Additionally, people are more aware of concerns like copyrights. Thus, there is an increased awareness of the necessity for licensed music.

Gaurav Dagaonkar, CEO and co-founder of Hoopr.ai, said, “Apart from individual creators, the music on Hoopr.ai is also being used by brands, enterprises, and OTT platforms.” He also added that Hoopr’s music is wholly licensed and free from copyright strikes or potential takedowns.