Canada announces new Laws for better Privacy Protection

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June 19, 2022

The government of Canada announces new laws as a step to strengthen the country’s privacy protection policies and build trust among citizens regarding the digital economy.

The Government of Canada is dedicated to ensuring Canadians can benefit from cutting-edge technology while knowing that their personal information is safe and secure and that companies are operating responsibly.

The new bill named C-27 was introduced by the country’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, François-Philippe Champagne, and Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada David Lametti. .

According to the government, the Digital Charter Implementation Act 2022 would considerably strengthen Canada’s private sector privacy law, set new standards for the responsible development and use of artificial intelligence (AI), and continue to advance Canada’s Digital Charter implementation.

David Lametti said, “We are committed to protecting the personal information of Canadians while encouraging responsible innovation for the public good. The Digital Charter seeks to bring essential online protections for individuals into the 21st century.”

He further added that their government is also updating the Privacy Act, Canada’s federal public sector personal information protection act, to ensure that the country’s privacy regulations keep up with technological development and reflect developing Canadian values.

The Consumer Privacy Protection Act, the Personal Information and Data Protection Tribunal Act, and the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act are all proposed legislation within the Digital Charter Implementation Act, 2022.

The government mentioned that the proposed Consumer Privacy Protection Act would address the demands of Canadians who rely on digital technology while also responding to criticism of prior proposed laws.

“In today’s economy, Canada’s competitiveness depends on our ability to use digital innovation to harness the power of data. Safety and trust must be the foundation of this new digital economy,” said François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry. Champagne also mentioned that they guarantee Canadians can trust when and how their information is used by adopting the Digital Charter Implementation Act, 2022.

NVIDIA DRIVE Orin Powers Intelligent Robo-01 Concept Vehicle by JIDU

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Disha Chopra

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June 19, 2022

The EV startup JIDU announced NVIDIA DRIVE Orin for its intelligent Robo-01 concept vehicle during the ROBODAY event. The EV company is backed by Baidu, a tech giant, whose metaverse platform showcased the ROBODAY presentation for Robo-01.

🚘JIDU unveiled its first concept production car #ROBO-01 today 😎 Integrating the leading intelligent driving capability powered by Baidu and a cutting-edge futuristic design, ROBO-01 is set to lead the way to an intelligent car era driven by AI. More at https://t.co/AYnUFZY0eh
— Baidu Inc. (@Baidu_Inc) June 8, 2022

The robocar would feature cutting-edge AI capabilities inspired by robots and powered by the high-performance NVIDIA platform. JIDU provided a glimpse of the sleep SUV and the upcoming lineup.

The cars would be capable of level 4 autonomous driving, driverless parking, and safe & sound operation at highway speeds. Robo-01 also features lidar sensors that can retract and extend from the hood. Besides, it will come with a retractable steering wheel that retracts under the dashboard when you switch to autonomous driving.

The concept vehicle would have the ability to enhance by appending new intelligent features throughout its life. NVIDIA DRIVE Orin will come into the picture when these updates are delivered over the air. This is why JIDU has debuted with a software-defined vehicle architecture built on the AI compute. Robo-01 comes with two NVIDIA DRIVE Orin systems-on-a-chip (SoC). These chips will provide ample computing for autonomous driving.

The two DRIVE Orin SoCs will aid in achieving redundancy and variation necessary for in-cabin AI technology. The lineup will be jam-packed with features and the scope to add even more. JIDU has already planned to launch a limited-production version of the concept later in the year.

The automaker plans to unveil the design for the same at Guangzhou Auto Show in November 2022.

It plans to start taking orders for Robo-01 in 2023 while the deliveries are scheduled for 2024.

Miso Robotics partners with Americana Restaurants at Wimpy in Dubai Mall

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Dipayan Mitra

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June 19, 2022

Miso Robotics Americana Restaurants Dubai

Artificial intelligence-powered robots developing company for the restaurant industry Miso Robotics partners with Americana Restaurants at Wimpy in Dubai Mall to deploy its Flippy 2 frying robots.

Americana Restaurants is a renowned F&B operator and master franchisee known for delivering famous worldwide brands to the Middle East and North Africa, such as KFC, Pizza Hut, Hardee’s, Krispy Kreme, and TGI Friday’s.

Miso Robotics claims that its Flippy 2 can accomplish the duty of a complete fry station on its own, streamlining operations in quick-service restaurants (QSRs). The robot has demonstrated its ability to optimize operations at QSRs and will be integrated and expanded across more Americana Restaurants locations in the coming months.

Melvin Michael, Brand Director of Wimpy, said, “Americana Restaurants’ partnership with Miso Robotics marks a significant milestone for the company as we continue to strive to address shifting customer behaviors and preferences through state-of-the-art, innovative solutions.”

He further added that as the first QSR operator in the MENA region to integrate robots in its kitchens, Americana Restaurants displays its dedication to providing consumers with new eating experiences at their most iconic brands. According to the company, Flippy 2 will provide a customizable robotic fry station to Wimpy’s kitchen, resulting in a reduction in order-to-delivery time, an increase in food uniformity, and a better working environment for human team members.

Mike Bell, CEO of Miso Robotics, said, “In the past year, we’ve announced partnerships with some of the largest brands in the U.S., and that momentum has led to us being pulled internationally to introduce our technology on a global scale.”

Recently, Bakery chain Panera Bread also started to deploy Miso Robotics’ new automated coffee brewing system, CookRight Coffee, at its outlets. The one-of-a-kind robot ensures a quality cup of coffee and a more efficient team member experience by monitoring indicators such as volume, temperature, and time data and combining it with predictive analytics.

TigerGraph launches new machine learning modeling tool

By

Sahil Pawar

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June 19, 2022

TigerGraph launches machine learning modeling tool

TigerGraph, a California-based company, has launched a new machine learning capability explicitly designed to boost the development and improve the accuracy of data science models.

The graph database vendor, founded in 2012, announced the TigerGraph ML Workbench in a preview during the Graph + AI Summit, the spring edition of the biannual open conference hosted by TigerGraph, virtually.

The new capability will act as a platform for developing and deploying machine learning models with the latest graph technology. It works with leading third-party machine learning platforms.

The platform by TigerGraph uses graph technology that enables data points within databases to simultaneously connect to multiple other data points, instead of just one data point at a time as in the case of a traditional relational database. Users can more easily discover relationships between data by connecting to multiple data points simultaneously. This results in speed and accuracy, days the vendor.

The tool is compatible with TigerGraph 3.2 and versions succeeding that. It can be deployed as either a fully managed cloud service or on-premises and will be available in June 2022.

More typical use cases for graph technology include the development of social media platforms and fraud detection, which rely heavily on discovering relationships.

TigerGraph ML Workbench aims to make data science, explicitly developing machine learning models, faster, easier, and more accurate. According to Victor Lee, vice-president of machine learning and AI at TigerGraph, Graph technology is boosting the analytics process and enabling users to reach insight and action more accurately than they could with relational databases.

Veritone acquires AI-powered Voice Creator VocaliD

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Dipayan Mitra

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June 19, 2022

Machine learning and artificial intelligence company Veritone acquires AI-powered voice creator firm VocaliD. Neither company provided any information regarding the valuation of this acquisition deal.

Veritone Voice can now offer the capacity to oversee and manage the entire voice generation lifecycle for efficiency and scale, using the expertise of VocaliD.

Integrating VocaliD’s powerful voice models, patented vocal correction, and audio mixing features with Veritone Voice expands the enterprise-grade solution while lowering complexity, cost, and administrative time.

Veritone Voice, based on Veritone’s aiWARE, comes with the unique ability to effortlessly integrate third-party AI models, allowing the VocaliD model to be used immediately.

Ryan Steelberg, Veritone President and Co-founder, said, “Veritone Voice brings enormous value to our enterprise clients and IP owners of all sizes. With such a large addressable market, Veritone is able to meet consumer demands for content, at scale, with localization, and without sacrificing quality.”

He further added that he is delighted to bring in VocaliD to enhance their Voice service and deliver even more capabilities to current and potential clients from both a people and a technology standpoint.

United States-based voice artificial intelligence company VoacliD was founded by Rupal Patel in 2014. Using machine learning techniques, proprietary voice mixing algorithms, and a crowdsourced Voicebank, VocaliD’s award-winning technology delivers high-quality, natural-sounding voices in hours. To date, the company has raised more than $3 million from multiple investors over several years.

Rupal Patel said, “We are thrilled to join forces with Veritone, to bring our vision of leveraging AI voice to create more equitable, just, diverse, inclusive, expressive, and engaging user experiences to life.”

Patel further added that they are well-positioned to set industry norms and establish new monetization models that benefit all stakeholders, given their common commitment to responsible and ethical AI.

AIDOC Raises $110M to Expand AI-enabled Imaging Platform

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Disha Chopra

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June 18, 2022

AIDOC: Series D funding round raises $110M for the AI-enabled imaging platform. In a series D round by TCV and Alpha Intelligence Capital, the company now lands a total of $250M. AIDOC’s platform would help the hospitals to handle their most persistent challenges like rising supply costs and the ever-changing economic environment.

We closed a $110 million series D—a huge milestone for us, with an important purpose! Future hospitals will be data-driven, requiring an intelligence layer. We're building that. Thanks to our investors, medical partners and all Aidocees! #healthcare https://t.co/EtqVgl8OE9
— Elad Walach (@elad_walach) June 16, 2022

The company came into existence in 2016 and provided AI-driven healthcare solutions to help medical specialists find acute anomalies in no time. Its products and services mainly assist radiologists in imaging. AIDOC’s products are FDA-cleared, the most recent of which is the software used to find and triage potential brain aneurysms in CT scans.

Besides radiology, it provides coordination software for cardiovascular care and stroke management.

The CEO, Elad Walach, said, “We are building the kind of breadth and depth in AI that is allowing hospitals to fundamentally change the way they do business and provide the solutions needed to successfully compete during these challenging times.”

Before the Series D funding round, AIDOC had already landed $56M in Series C last year in July. AIDOC used the investment to integrate more cross-specialty AI in imaging. The recent investment aims to ramp up the AI Care Platform continuum by covering hospital service lines and clinical workflows.

Walach said, “Aidoc is already the leading imaging AI platform, but with this new round of investment, our aim is to massively ramp up our AI Care Platform to cover both the various hospital medical service lines and the depth of integration into the clinical workflows, empowering hospitals to activate cross-specialty care teams and deliver the best quality of care in a scalable, efficient way to patients.”

Reddit to acquire machine learning platform Spell

By

Sahil Pawar

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June 18, 2022

Reddit to acquire machine learning platform Spell

Reddit has announced that it plans to buy Spell, a platform for running machine learning experiments. The amount for which it is being bought is yet to be disclosed.

Founded by Serkan Piantino in 2016, Spell aims to provide a cloud computing solution that allows anyone to perform resource-intensive machine learning experiments without the high-end hardware which is usually necessary.

According to the website, Spell aims to be the best platform for developing robust, reliable, and safe software using machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Reddit uses machine learning for personalized recommendations and the Discover Tab, introduced by the app last year. The company also uses AI technology for its targeted advertising and safety works.

Spell will close access to its new commercial customers throughout the acquisition. Some Spell team members will shift to Reddit and will work on machine learning projects of Reddit like customization of ad placements, defining contextual relevance, and keeping its communities safe.

In the announcement, Reddit Chief Product Officer Pali Bhat said that the Spell team is a great fit. Reddit is looking forward to seeing how its capabilities and talent help make Reddit simpler, richer, and more relevant.

Reddit’s acquisition aligns with its mission to ensure that any artificial intelligence the company undertakes is transparent and does not perpetuate bias. In a blog post, Spell said that it would provide Reddit with a platform that can better understand content, communities, and users.

Lightning AI Unveils an Open-source Platform and Raises $40M in Series B Funding

By

Disha Chopra

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June 18, 2022

lighting ai platform raises $40M funding

The creator of PyTorch Lightning, Lightning AI, unveils its new open-source platform backed by $40M series B funding. The company is introducing the platform to offer a frictionless way to enhance its AI-powered products and services.

Lightning AI, previously known as Grid.ai, is serving as an “operating system” in the new era of accessibility in AI technology. The framework introduces a novel method to build AI-powered products in a unified manner that accelerates the deployment of AI across enterprise and academic use cases.

William Falcon, Co-founder and CEO of Lightning AI, “From day one, I wanted to reimagine the experience of building artificial intelligence beyond the current surfeit of tools and systems. Until now, there hasn’t been a way to build production-grade AI apps that takes into account the entire pipeline from development to production.”

Lightning AI is the result of strategic work in 2018 in the New York University CILVR Lab and Facebook AI Research. Falcon worked as a Ph.D. student alongside advisers Yann LeCun and Kyunghyun Cho to create the renowned PyTorch Lightning framework. The success and growth of the project led him to build a specific platform that focuses on widespread AI adoption.

The $40M series B funding brings the company to $58.6M. The investment will fuel further innovation in AI technology and research. The innovation and research will aim to lower the barriers to AI adoption, given the global AI market is skyrocketing.

Dr. Kristof Schum, Global Segment Leader of ML at Amazon Web Services, said, “We are excited about the development Lightning AI is leading by allowing AI-driven applications relevant to specific verticals come to life in a simple way. The partnership will bring further ease-of-use to customers and fit well with AWS’s industry, use-case and business problem driven approach.”

WEKA Unveils the WEKA 4, Fourth-gen Multi-cloud Platform for AI and Next-generation Workloads

By

Disha Chopra

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June 18, 2022

WEKA is a multi-cloud data platform for AI-based working environments. It has recently announced the fourth generation of its software-based solutions. Calling it “WEKA 4”, the platform aims to deliver a new reality of running workloads anywhere without compromise.

The market has seen a seismic shift to cloud computing and shared working environments to harness the power of digital strategies with AI and ML. WEKA aims to process and manage scalable data for organizations seeking innovation and first-to-market results with AI and ML. The unveiling of the fourth generation will deliver hyper-scale integrations to run previously impossible workloads in the cloud of the user’s choice.

You may have heard, #WEKA4 was announced yesterday.

Check out the blog for the full scoop.https://t.co/LH69LvNuxU
— WEKA (@WekaIO) June 16, 2022

Other capabilities that WEKA 4 introduces:

A Unified multi-cloud platform: The new release integrates with Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Series (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). It gives a unified deployment alternative that performs irrespective of the location.

Entirely Restructured User Interface: WEKA 4 improves the ease of use and simplifies day-to-day tasks. It streamlines recurrent operations in multi-tenant environments for better scale management.

Top-of-the-line Economics: WEKA 4 offers three overlapping methods to optimize their workloads for availability, costs, scale-tiering, a new choice of capacity, NVMe drives, and cloud object storage.

Enhanced Multi-Protocol Assistance: WEKA 4 habituates Sever Message Block (SMB) and NFSv4 for higher performance windows workloads. It allows the user to substitute many legacy systems with a single zero-copy and zero-tuning WEKA deployment.

Pricing Options for New Software Packages: WEKA 4 simplifies users’ buying experience. It has released four new packages aligned to primary use cases with an option of consumption-based pricing and a subscription.

Liran Zvibel, Co-founder and chief executive officer at WEKA, said, “Hyperscale public clouds like AWS, Azure, GCP and OCI can provide the requisite agility and economies of scale needed to fuel these critical transformations and innovation engines, but the WEKA Data Platform is the key to unlocking that value for AI/ML workloads in hybrid and now multi-cloud environments. WEKA can uniquely help enterprises to avoid cloud lock-in and run their businesses with unparalleled economics.”

TSA selects Pangiam’s AI solution to improve Airport Security

By

Dipayan Mitra

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June 18, 2022

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) of the United States selects transport security services providing company Pangiam’s artificial intelligence (AI)-powered solution to improve airport security.

Officials claim that the new AI-driven accessible screening technology has the potential to revolutionize airline security throughout the world.

In December 2021, the Transportation Security Administration’s Innovation Task Force (ITF) released a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for transportation security solutions to find innovative ideas that are thoroughly reviewed and subsequently presented in a live operational environment.

Pangiam has partnered with Google Cloud to initiate its Project Dartmouth. The project employs artificial intelligence and pattern analysis tools to process and analyze massive volumes of data in real-time to discover potentially forbidden goods in carry-on luggage.

TSA’s System Integration Facility (TSIF), a 128,000-square-foot facility that acts as a testing ground for state-of-the-art technology for prospective adoption at airport security checkpoints, will kick off the first phase of Project DARTMOUTH experiments.

Alexis Long, Product Director, Pangiam, said, “As TSA and other security agencies adopt 3D Computed Tomography (CT), this application of AI represents a potentially transformative leap in aviation security, making air travel safer and more consistent while allowing TSA’s highly trained officers to focus on bags that pose the greatest risk.”

Long further added that their goal is to use AI and computer vision technologies to improve security by giving TSA and security officers powerful tools to detect prohibitive items that could pose a threat to aviation security. This is a significant step toward establishing a new security standard with global implications.