Sandbox AQ teams up with EY and Deloitte for Quantum Tech and AI

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May 4, 2022

Enterprise Software as a Service provider Sandbox AQ teams up with Ernst & Young (EY) and Deloitte for quantum tech and artificial intelligence (AI).

As a part of this partnership, customers of EY and Deloitte will now enjoy the benefits of Sandbox’s quantum AI options.

Sandbox AQ, according to the company, will enable partnered organizations to add practical AI and quantum technology solutions from Sandbox AQ to their systems integration and implementation experience.

The newly announced collaboration aims to assist organizations of various sizes in addressing computationally intensive challenges, along with creating competitive advantages for their businesses.

CEO and Global Chairman of EY, Carmine Di Sibio, said, “Advances in quantum computing and AI technologies are happening with remarkable speed and have the potential to address the most complex business challenges across all industries. EY operates at this intersection of business and technology, and I am looking forward to welcoming the Sandbox AQ team to the EY ecosystem of alliance partners.”

Sibio further added that they could provide global clients with the vision and expertise required to leverage advanced computation to drive and protect business value.

United States-based enterprise SaaS company that provides AI and quantum computing solutions, Sandbox AQ, was founded in 2016. Sandbox AQ modules enable post-quantum cryptography in line with emerging standards in this field. Sandbox AQ also provides simulation software to help speed up material science development, drug discovery, and other HPC tasks.

“Today’s largest multinationals are looking for innovation breakthroughs while simultaneously combatting security threats,” said CEO of Sandbox AQ, Jack D. Hidary. He also mentioned that their strategic partnership with EY will bring advanced technology, deep quantum expertise, and value-added solutions to their global customer base, assisting in resolving computationally-intensive problems while mitigating critical threats.

“Leveraging Sandbox AQ’s advanced technology, deep quantum knowledge, and solutions together with Deloitte’s seasoned cybersecurity and quantum advisory professionals and complementary technology-enabled solutions will help organizations mitigate risk and protect operations during the quantum transformation,” added Hidary.

India and Germany to work together on AI Startups and Research

By

Dipayan Mitra

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May 4, 2022

On Tuesday, India and Germany agreed to collaborate on artificial intelligence (AI) startups and AI research.

Jitendra Singh, Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, and his German counterpart Bettina Stark-Watzinger revealed this new development during a meeting.

Artificial intelligence (AI) holds promise for #StartUps, healthcare and Data procurement. During bilateral talks, proposed to German Minister for Education & Research, Ms. Bettina Stark-Watzinger, Indo-German collaboration in joint projects related to AI. pic.twitter.com/EbOeeprdCb
— Dr Jitendra Singh (@DrJitendraSingh) May 3, 2022

In addition to supporting AI startups and research, both the countries also promised to join hands to increase the adoption of a higher degree of application of AI in sustainability and healthcare.

Jitendra Singh expressed satisfaction at the meeting in Berlin with the ongoing science and technology cooperation between India and Germany, which is one of the strategic pillars of the bilateral relationship.

According to officials, an Indo-German call for proposals will be issued soon, which will invite proposals from researchers and industry. The two countries have already begun mapping each other’s strengths in areas such as artificial intelligence application in sustainability and healthcare.

Officials said, “There are a lot of scopes to work together in Artificial Intelligence, for which experts on two sides have already met. An Indo-German call for proposals for this would be raised soon, inviting proposals from researchers and industry.”

Apart from artificial intelligence, India and Germany are also working closely together in multiple areas such as electric mobility, cyber-physical systems, quantum technologies, future manufacturing, green hydrogen fuel, and deep ocean research, mentioned Dr. Jitendra Singh.

Moreover, both Ministers expressed satisfaction with the recently signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India and the German Research Foundation (DFG) to aid the International Research Training Groups (IRTG) program, which will help strengthen cooperation in capacity building for Indian and German students pursuing Ph.D.

Registrations are open for the IIT Delhi DS ML course

By

Osheen Jain

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May 4, 2022

Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, has opened registrations for its data science and machine learning online certificate program. This is IIT Delhi’s fourth online course in DS and ML and launched under IIT Delhi’s Continuing Education Program.

Interested candidates can apply for this online program up to 16th May 2022. The course duration is 6 months, and candidates will be awarded a certificate on completion. To apply for this course, candidates will have to register themselves on the IIT Delhi portal and upload all the required documents.

IIT Delhi will announce a list of shortlisted candidates by 21st May 2022. The shortlisted candidates will have to pay a booking amount to block their seats within 5 days of the announcement. The booking amount is INR 19,000 + GST, whereas the complete program fee is INR 1,25,000 + GST which will be due in two installments of INR 50,000 + GST on July 10, 2022, and Oct 10, 2022.

The eligibility criteria for this IIT Delhi DS ML course is that candidates should have completed their class 12th examination or hold a diploma as of June 30, 2022. Candidates who have completed their class 12th examination must have passed with at least 50% marks to be eligible for this course.

This program will cover the following modules: Data science essentials, statistics for data science, optimization for machine learning, machine learning and deep learning, and communicating data and analysis. The course also has a project component. Interested candidates can learn more about this program by reading the official brochure.

This program is for early and mid-level professionals interested in gaining a cutting-edge perspective on data science and machine learning technologies. Professionals who undertake or oversee software development or machine learning projects in their companies can also apply for this course.

Indian AI Interviewing platform BarRaiser secures $4.2 million funding

By

Dipayan Mitra

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May 4, 2022

Indian AI-powered recruitment and interviewing platform providing startup BarRaiser secures $4.2 million in its recently held seed funding round led by 021 Capital and Global Founders Capital. Several other angel investors also participated in the funding round.

According to the company, it plans to use the freshly raised funds to expand its market reach and scale its engineering and data science teams to meet the rising demand for its SaaS and Interview community products.

Bengaluru-based startup BarRaiser was founded in 2020 with the goal of helping organizations hire exceptional talent faster while conducting structured and fair interviews.

To make the interviewing process smarter and more effective, BarRaiser employs an innovative interviewing platform, data-driven analytics, and the assistance of hundreds of experts from various parts of the world.

Founder of 021 Capital, Sailesh Tulshan, said, “BarRaiser is creating an awesome candidate experience with their transparent and structured interview process. Companies can now hire at a significantly faster pace without putting pressure on internal teams.”

He further added that this has also aided their rapid growth, with top brands gaining access to BarRaiser’s rockstar team of interviewers.

The company’s high-end platform allows its clients to schedule candidate interviews at any hour, utilizing a global community of more than 800 recognized experts from leading companies.

BarRaise’s platform comes with multiple features such as interview templates, auto-scheduling features, video interviews, debriefs, and AI-powered analytics that allows companies to conduct quick, fair, transparent, and efficient interviews. Interested individuals can visit the official website of BarRaiser to book a demo of the platform.

“We are working with 250+ leading tech companies and are seeing continuously growing demand across the globe. This financing round will help us expand our reach and make additional investments in technology that helps close the gap between talent and opportunity,” said CEO of BarRaiser, Avinash Saxena.

ISMC to set up a $3 billion Semiconductor Fabrication Unit in Karnataka

By

Osheen Jain

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May 4, 2022

ISMC Semiconductor fabrication unit India

The state government said that the International Semiconductor Consortium (ISMC) would invest $3 billion to set up a semiconductor fabrication unit in Karnataka. ISMC is a joint venture between Israel’s Tower Semiconductor and Abu Dhabi-based Next Orbit Ventures. Intel Corp, the U.S. chip giant, has announced plans to acquire Tower.

ISMC has proposed a 65-nanometer analog semiconductor fabrication unit in Karnataka that will generate over 10,000 indirect and 1,500 direct jobs in Karnataka over the next seven years. The ISMC has requested 150 acres of land in Mysuru’s Kochanahalli Industrial area to build the plant. This will be the first and largest semiconductor fab unit to be set up under the Central Government’s Semiconductor Mission.

India has been trying to strengthen its position in the sector and get major semiconductor firms to set up in the country. The Indian government has also established a production-linked incentive scheme (PLI) for Rs. 76,000 crores for large chip manufacturers.

Nirmala Sitharaman, India’s Union Finance Minister, recently visited the United States and urged the semiconductor companies such as Western Digital Micron tech and AMD to consider investing in India while also enjoying the PLI incentive.

Vedanta, an Indian company, has also applied for the PLI scheme besides ISMC. The government reported that five more semiconductor companies have applied to set up their industries in February alone, bringing a total investment of Rs. 1.53 trillion.

ISMC director Ajay Jalan and EV Ramana Reddy, the additional chief secretary for IT and biotechnology, signed the MoU in the presence of Basavaraj Bommai, Karnataka’s chief minister. Bommai said that the MoU is a significant step considering the rising competition among Indian states to attract semiconductor fabrication units.

Korean Startup Mars Auto is all set to launch Self-driving Trucks next year

By

Dipayan Mitra

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May 4, 2022

Mars Auto launch Self-driving Trucks next year

Korean self-driving technology developing startup Mars Auto announces that it plans to launch its self-driving trucks next year. Mars Auto has successfully tested its first self-driving truck.

The company’s vehicle was equipped with a camera and a computer, allowing it to drive securely for 5 hours and 30 minutes on the highway from Seoul to Busan.

Additionally, the movements of the autonomous truck did not require any human interference. Mars Auto has partnered with Logi Square to test the efficiency of the pilot operation by expanding it to ten semi-large trucks on the Gyeongbu Expressway section from the metropolitan area to Busan.

Logi Square is a transportation company that specializes in corporate cargo and operates a domestic trunk transportation logistics business using truck autonomous driving technology.

According to the companies, this joint venture plans to focus on trunk transportation and middle mile activities to develop a structure that benefits the transportation sector, including borrowers, drivers, logistics businesses, and shippers.

Mars Auto said that the joint venture would be established by the end of this month, with Lodge Square Chief Technology Officer Lee In-Gyu and Mars Auto Vice President Kim Yong-soo serving as co-representatives.

“If manned autonomous driving trunk logistics become full-fledged in the second half of the year in the metropolitan area and Busan, Mas Auto’s goal of ‘reducing freight transportation costs’ will be proven in the market. We want to innovate the market,” said Kim Yong.

South Korea-based autonomous driving tech development company Mars Auto was founded by Gyuri Im and Ilsu Park in 2017. The company is working towards developing self-driving trucks that completely automate warehouse-to-warehouse truck operations. To date, Mars Auto has raise3d more than $11 million from investors like Y Combinator and Kakao Ventures over multiple funding rounds.

Bosch Global Software Technologies announces AIShield as a global Startup

By

Dipayan Mitra

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May 4, 2022

Bosch Global Software Technologies (BGSW), formerly known as Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions (RBEI), announced its AIShield program as an autonomous global startup.

According to the company, AIShield will be focusing on the AI security sector as a part of BGSW’s effort to enter this market. Bosch AIShield is a patent-backed, ready-to-deploy solution with over 20 patents in the AI security domain.

AIShield is available as a Software as a Service (SaaS) product along with consulting-led AI security services for embedded, cloud, and on-premises deployments. Businesses can use AIShield to evaluate the vulnerabilities of their deployed AI solutions effectively.

Head of Technology and Innovation at Bosch Global Software Technologies (BGSW), Vadiraj Krishnamurthy, said, “The adoption of Artificial Intelligence has increased over the years to the point that it is now a mainstream technology across industry verticals. Bosch is committed to making AI trustworthy and building digital trust in AI.”

He further added that AIShield is a crucial product offering that protects artificial intelligence systems from potential adversary threats.

According to Bosch, AIShield has received multiple market validations from industry experts in the previous four months, including AI-first enterprises, platform partners, and security standards and regulatory agencies.

This new development gives the AIShield startup full autonomy in the burgeoning AI security sector. AIShield will now be able to acquire new customers, attract new tech talent in AI and security, engage with the global startup ecosystem, etc.

Using in-depth analysis and threat detection, Bosch AIShield performs vulnerability analysis of AI systems and generates customized endpoint defense against external threats. Therefore, the SaaS platform significantly reduces security difficulties and manages associated risks for AI systems.

“Bosch AIShield reflects our ‘Invented for life’ ethos and our commitment towards Digital Trust by securing AI Systems. AIShield venture is a step towards building an ecosystem of trustworthy AI worldwide and accelerating AI adoption for enterprises and consumers alike,” said CEO, President, and Managing Director, Bosch Global Software Technologies, Dattatri Salagame. He also mentioned that they intend to make AI security accessible to the public.

Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs Stolen Via Instagram Hack

By

Preetipadma K

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May 3, 2022

BAYC NFTs hack opensea — Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT Collection

A hacker stole NFTs worth millions of dollars last week after accessing the official Instagram account of Yuga Labs’ Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and posting a phishing link that moved tokens out of users’ crypto wallets. According to reports, the BAYC NFTs hack resulted in the theft of NFTs valued between $1 million and $14 million, depending on the source. Using the phishing link, the hacker tricked many followers into linking their crypto wallets to the hacker’s “smart contract” — a method for carrying out a crypto transaction. The attacker was able to take the assets housed in the wallets, gaining control of four Bored Apes including the Bored Ape, Mutant Ape, and Bored Ape Kennel Club projects, and a slew of other NFTs like 6 Mutant Apes, and 3 BAKC worth a total of $3 million.

This morning, the official BAYC Instagram account was hacked. The hacker posted a fraudulent link to a copycat of the BAYC website with a fake Airdrop, where users were prompted to sign a ‘safeTransferFrom’ transaction. This transferred their assets to the scammer's wallet.
— Bored Ape Yacht Club (@BoredApeYC) April 25, 2022

The profile page linked to the hacker’s wallet address is no longer accessible on OpenSea due to the violation of platform OpenSea’s terms of service that forbid fraudulently obtaining items or taking them without consent. However, since NFT is decentralized, the content of the hacker’s wallet can be accessed on other sites. The wallet had 134 NFTs, according to the NFT platform Rarible.

Based on the most recent sale price, each of the stolen BAYC NFTs is valued well into the six figures. The cheapest Ape, #7203, last sold for 47.9 ETH, four months ago. Ape #6778 was most recently sold for 88.88 ETH, while Ape #6178 was finally sold for 90 ETH. The most valuable Ape, Bored Ape #6623, was sold three months ago for 123 ETH, bringing the total worth of the four stolen BAYC NFT Apes to a little over $1 million.

The phishing email was disguised as an airdrop link for the company’s new metaverse project, Otherside (a future Bored Ape-themed online world), which is set to launch later last week. The primary goal of a crypto airdrop is to raise awareness for new initiatives or services. The goal is to transfer tokens or NFTs to thousands of crypto addresses in the hopes that more people would get interested in the project and promote it. Users must link their crypto wallet (here MetaMask) where their NFTs are stored in order to receive an airdrop. Unfortunately, the fake link took the digital assets from the consumers’ wallets and transferred them to the hacker’s wallet.

The hack was disclosed on Twitter by BAYC just before 10AM ET on Monday last week. According to BAYC co-founder, the Gargamel hack occurred even when two-factor authentication was enabled on the account.

The Bored Ape Yacht Club is a 10,000-strong NFT collection of digital artworks launched by Yuga Labs in April 2021. These digital artworks feature images of ‘bored apes’ with a variety of fashionable accessories. Each bored ape is minted with different accessory combinations at random in such a way that each artwork is unique and only one of each exists. These apes were once purchasable for $250 per NFT, but their price (min $300,000) has risen with the NFT boom in 2021.

Meanwhile, scams involving BAYC NFTs are on the rise. Last month, a bored ape holder known as ‘s27’ lost $567k worth of bubble gum ape and matching mutants after trading NFTs via an exchange known as “Swap.kiwi.” This platform enables direct NFT exchanges between collectors with cheap transaction fees. The fraudster had made fresh NFTs that looked exactly like BAYC photos, except they had a green tick over them, which mimicked the platform’s “verified” mark.

Yuga Labs, in other news, has raised $285 million in cryptocurrency by selling tokens that represent land in a virtual world game it claims to be developing. Yuga Labs sold NFTs named “Otherdeeds” in an online sale on April 30, claiming that they could be swapped for plots of virtual property in “Otherside.” The “Otherdeeds” can only be purchased with ApeCoin, the project’s associated cryptocurrency that launched in March.

BAYC is also busy with other ambitious projects to establish itself as a bigger brand. A trilogy of BAYC films named “The Degen Trilogy is on the way, according to cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. The first will arrive in June, coinciding with Coinbase’s long-awaited NFT marketplace launch.

A “degen” is a phrase used in the crypto community to characterize someone who buys coins or NFTs without performing any substantial investigation into what they’re actually buying. The first part will be unveiled during NFT NYC, a nonfungible tokens event held in New York every year between June 20 and June 23.

Google Fires yet another AI Researcher

By

Dipayan Mitra

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May 3, 2022

The New York Times reported that technology giant Google had fired yet another artificial intelligence researcher from the Brain unit who wanted to challenge the findings of a research paper published by Google in 2020.

The research paper was related to the benefits of artificial intelligence-assisted chip design. The employee who got fired by Google, Satrajit Chatterjee, was terminated soon after he, along with his team, questioned the findings of Google’s research paper.

According to the New York Times, Chatterjee contested some of the paper’s claims in an internal email in which he also questioned whether the technology had been thoroughly tested.

Google rejected a paper written by Chatterjee and his team in response to the original paper, and the researchers then attempted to escalate the issue to Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, Google’s parent company.

However, Google came in front and defended its actions. Zoubin Ghahramani, a vice president at Google Research, said, “We thoroughly vetted the original Nature paper and stand by the peer-reviewed results.”

He further added that they also thoroughly investigated the technical claims of a subsequent submission, which did not meet their publication standards.

Earlier this year, two of Google’s ethical AI team members also left the company and joined Timnit Gebru’s new nonprofit research institute. Alex Hana, one of those Google employees, said that she was dejected because of the toxic work culture at Google and also pointed out the underrepresentation of black women in the company.

The gravity of the episode was demonstrated when Google’s parent company Alphabet’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, was forced to take the matter into his own hands and launch an investigation.

upGrad acquires Data Science Institute INSOFE

By

Dipayan Mitra

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May 3, 2022

EdTech unicorn startup upGrad acquires data science institute INSOFE in a $33 million share swap deal. INSOFE’s management and investors will take a fraction of a percent stake in upGrad, valued at $2 billion, as part of the deal.

This acquisition will allow upGrad to offer more and better courses in AI, ML, and data analytics to learners across the globe.

Indian EdTech startup upGrad was founded by Mayank Kumar, Phalgun Kompalli, Ravijot Chugh, and Ronnie Screwvala in 2015.

upGrad is one of the most popular learning platforms that offer online courses in subjects like digital marketing, product management, entrepreneurship, data analytics, data-driven management, and digital technology management.

Some of the other notable acquisitions of upGrad include companies such as Work Better Training, KnowledgeHut, The Gate Academy, Talentedge, Global Study Partners, etc. upGrad has a global learner base of over 2 million people from over 100 countries, around 300 university partners, and strong enterprise business with more than 1000 companies as clients.

Co-founder and MD of upGrad, Mayank Kumar, said, “INSOFE adds a strong R&D component in AI and ML to upGrad’s large education service basket and helps upGrad create very exciting novel services for corporates and students globally.”

He further added that INSOFE is the gold standard of excellence in these specialized areas, and their combined powers provide tremendous value to upGrad.

Hyderabad-based educational institute INSOFE was founded by Dakshinamurthy V Kolluru, Ganapathy Kumar, and Sridhar Pappu in 2010. INSOFE is one of the most sought-after destinations for an undergraduate to doctoral education in machine learning, artificial intelligence, and data science globally.

Apart from India, INSOFE also has facilities in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Canada.

“INSOFE’s depth in AI and ML coupled with upGrad’s partner and student base makes a powerful combination to assume a leadership position in AI education and research worldwide,” said Co-founder and CEO of INSOFE, Dr. Murthy.

He also mentioned that they are enthusiastic about collaborating and using their excellence centers in Hyderabad and Bangalore, which will compete with anyone in the world in some of the most sought-after areas of specialization.