Marco’s Pizza Tests Automated Voice-to-Text Ordering Using Conversational AI

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March 30, 2022

America’s fastest-growing pizza brand, Marco’s Pizza, announces that it is testing a new automated voice-to-text ordering system using conversational AI.

Currently, the technology is being tested across 50 Marco’s Pizza stores, and it plans a systemwide rollout of the technology by the end of this year.

In its initial beta testing, the speech-enabled application used conversational artificial intelligence, which resulted in 100 percent order accuracy.

The significant advantage of this AI-powered system is that it drastically improves customer experience and satisfaction by making the ordering process simpler compared to traditional methods.

Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Marco’s Pizza, Rick Stanbridge, said, “There are places where AI makes sense within the business – where it creates a better experience for both team members and guests.”

He further added that this technology not only provides franchisees with a cost-effective, practical solution for reducing labor expenses and driving outcomes but it also supports team members while improving the visitor experience.

The company feels that deploying this AI-powered technology will be critical in achieving the brand’s goal of an 85 percent digital presence. Marco’s Pizza started the initial testing of the program back in 2021, intending to provide a seamless interaction experience with its customers.

According to the company, its artificial intelligence solution takes voice orders and automatically converts them to text in the point-of-sale system, which helps employees get started with customer orders quickly. It simulates a human-like interaction using conversational AI and can convert voice across different digital channels and technology platforms.

Additionally, the technology also helps employees significantly reduce their call abandonment rates.

“There are a lot of technologies on our radar, but our strategy is to hotly pursue those that we can bring to the market quickly and will have the biggest impact on customers, team members, and franchisees,” added Stanbridge.

However, not every Marco’s Pizza customer seemed to like the new technology and preferred to stick with the traditional method of ordering food.

Intel and MCCCD launches AI Incubator Lab

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Dipayan Mitra

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March 30, 2022

Global semiconductor manufacturing giant Intel partners with Arizona’s Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) to launch its new one-of-a-kind artificial intelligence (AI) incubator lab in the Chandler-Gilbert Community College (CGCC).

MCCCD partnered with Intel, Dell, and the state of Arizona to come up with this artificial intelligence incubator lab.

The newly launched AI incubator lab will considerably help students seeking to work in fields such as business, nursing, and healthcare, along with other professions that increasingly use artificial intelligence technology.

In addition to an AI curriculum, technical advice, and faculty training, Intel provided CGCC with a technology grant that allowed the community college to purchase $60 thousand in cutting-edge lab equipment, including state-of-the-art workstations, monitors, and open-source Intel AI software tools to implement new AI technology.

Chancellor of MCCCD, Steven Gonzales, said, “Within the last two years, we have been able to see our students gain new AI skills, and we are proud to have our first graduating class from the AI program this spring.”

He further added that this lab is crucial in providing the resources they need for their education, and they are grateful to Intel, Dell, and the State of Arizona for giving the designated area so that their professors and students may succeed.

The AI incubator lab draws on Intel’s AI for Workforce initiative, which began enrolling kids in schools across the United States in 2020, with the Maricopa district being the first to do so. The novel program allows students to gain skills like data collection, AI model training, coding, and investigating the societal impact of AI technology.

This collaboration and initiative of Intel is a step towards the company’s aim of helping Americans learn new skills, promote diversity and inclusion, and democratize future technologies like artificial intelligence.

According to Intel, it plans to make this unique program available in 50 states across the United States by 2023.

“We are grateful for our partners, including Maricopa County Community College District, Dell, and the State of Arizona, for joining with us to help increase the digital readiness of our future workforces,” said Intel executive vice president and general manager of the Client Computing Group, Michelle Johnston Holthaus.

Google Maps removes Fake Profiles using AI Technology

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Dipayan Mitra

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March 30, 2022

Google recently mentioned in a blog post that it used artificial intelligence and machine learning technology to remove millions of fake profiles from the platform to help stop scammers from spreading misinformation.

Google’s high-end machine learning algorithms increased the company’s ability to spot bot activity and identify unusual activity patterns, preventing more than 100 million of these fake edits from getting live in 2021.

According to the company, it blocked over 7 million fake business profiles, out of which 630,000 were reported directly to Google. Google stopped fake claimers attempting to construct 12 million fraudulent business profiles, and roughly 8 million attempted to claim business profiles.

In addition to business pages, 190 million photographs and 5 million videos that were blurry, low quality, or violated the company’s content policies were also deleted by Google’s AI algorithms and its capable team.

“As the world reopened throughout 2021, people relied on Google Maps reviews to get the information they needed about places before visiting them — like what health and safety protocols were enforced or if there was outdoor dining and open spaces,” said Google.

The blog further mentioned that individuals and groups have also attempted to use fraudulent reviews to harm local businesses, frequently responding to the public spotlight on differing viewpoints.

These attackers are able to trick users into paying for things online or even capturing their payment credentials by changing phone numbers or addresses of certain businesses.

Google Maps is one of the world’s most popular platforms to search for locations, working hours, contact numbers, and other related information. Hence it becomes crucial that the data available on the platform is reliable, up to date, and accurate.

Google encourages users to constantly update their platform to make it more informative. However, the work of scammers degrades the reputation of the platform and helps spread misinformation, which in the end, troubles users.

Researchers use Statistics and AI to correct Systematic Errors of Weather Models

By

Dipayan Mitra

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March 30, 2022

Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) are now using a novel approach using statistics and artificial intelligence to correct systematic errors in weather models.

The new approach can accurately forecast wind gusts much more reliably when compared to other traditional methods.

According to the researchers, incorporating geographical information along with extra meteorological variables such as temperature enhances forecast quality dramatically.

They were able to achieve the best results while utilizing artificial intelligence methods based on advanced neural networks.

This one-of-a-kind technique can drastically help in raising quick alerts in disastrous conditions like squalls, which have a speed of more than 65 kilometers per hour and have the potential to cause massive damage to the region.

A doctoral researcher at the KIT’s institute of Stochastics, Benedikt Schulz, said, “Wind gusts are difficult to model, as they are driven by small-scale processes and are locally limited.”

He further added that their capacity to anticipate the weather using numerical weather forecast models utilized by weather agencies is limited and unpredictable. Therefore, the new approach can turn out to be of great value in accurately predicting dangerous wind gusts.

The researchers want to use AI to address different systematic flaws, enhance forecasts, and more accurately predict catastrophic weather events. Researchers said that they scrutinized available methods for statistical post-processing of numerical weather forecasts and systematically compared their forecast qualities.

Dr. Sebastian Lerch, head of the junior research group named AI Methods for Probabilistic Weather Forecasts, said, “Yet, AI methods are far superior to classical statistical approaches and produce far better results, as they allow for a better consideration of new information sources, such as geographical conditions or other meteorological variables, such as temperature and solar radiation.”

He also mentioned that, on average, AI approaches to cut the forecasting errors of weather models by 36 percent.

Meta plans to Bring 3D Ads to Metaverse: Promises and Concerns

By

Preetipadma K

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March 30, 2022

The migration of marketing from the physical world to online spaces is not new. However, since the metaverse buzzword took the world by storm last year, the anticipation is building about having new forms of ads generation and consumption for the users. While it is defined as the blend of virtual reality, augmented reality, and web3 to create a 3D virtual world, with ever-evolving aspects, where brands can create their personalized digital universe for customer interaction, we are still far from achieving it. Nevertheless, companies are already coming up with fresh solutions and perspectives to create digital experiences that boost brand visibility.

The user inhabits a borderless virtual environment in the metaverse. While seamlessly accessing virtual communities, activities, and events, there are no abrupt transitions requiring logging off and signing in. Being platform-independent and offering a seamless experience, are major components of the metaverse that will work in its favor for a user-centric approach. You can visit a virtual shopping mall as a virtual avatar of yourself, go to a cafe to have your macchiato latte, have fun at the bowling alley or walk around at the virtual pet store, waving at adorable puppies. All of these can be done while sitting in the warmth and comfort of your own home, without commuting through congested urban areas.

Metaverse is currently chasing the notion that instead of the unwanted pop-ups and forced commercials that you encounter today, brands will revolutionize the way they promote, creating a memorable experience. In-world ads will be cleverly positioned to draw user attention so that consumers can willingly interact with the ad, making it more compelling and interesting than today’s distracting commercials.

Companies are investing in the metaverse in the hopes of reaching new customers, and Meta is at the forefront. The metaverse has sparked public interest when Mark Zuckerberg, the concept’s most outspoken supporter, renamed Facebook to Meta last year. Meta is now planning to announce three-dimensional (3D) advertisements to help customers get a better picture of the things they’re interested in. Meta is cooperating with an e-commerce technology agency named VNTANA, to make it easier for companies to publish three-dimensional adverts to their Instagram and Facebook accounts.

VNTANA is the world’s first three-dimensional content management system (CMS), which automatically translates, enhances, and distributes three-dimensional content over the internet. This company offers high-resolution images and allows clients to virtually interact with the goods without leaving their house. Some companies utilize this platform to promote their goods and make them available to individuals all around the world.

Brands can now submit their current 3D designs from programs like Browzwear, Clo, Keyshot, and Modo and have them instantly converted for Facebook and Instagram, thanks to Meta and VNTANA’s new alliance. These 3D models may then be instantly uploaded to Meta, allowing firms to speed up the development of 3D advertisements. Prior to this 3D artists had to manually optimize their work for Facebook and Instagram ad requirements. Now, brands can use VNTANA to easily upload and convert the files into ads.

This is the first in a series of anticipated new features and capabilities, according to VNTANA, and both parties intend to enhance the interaction between their two platforms. According to VNTANA Chief Executive Ashley Crowder, this move is a stepping stone towards advertising in the metaverse, which is a futuristic concept of a collection of virtual worlds that can be accessed by devices such as headsets. Meta previously teamed with augmented reality (AR) startups Modiface and PerfectCorp to make 3D and AR advertising more accessible for beauty and cosmetic brands. Users who encounter a 3D ad while surfing on their PC or phone on Facebook or Instagram can interact with an image of a handbag, for example, and move it about to examine it from all angles.

“In a way, this offers a glimpse of what you might expect on future devices like AR glasses,” said Chris Barbour, director of augmented reality partnerships at Meta’s Reality Labs unit.

Mark Zuckerberg rebranded Meta to introduce people to shared virtual worlds and experiences across multiple software and hardware platforms, betting big on the metaverse’s promise to alter immersive experiences and the internet. Since then, Meta has undertaken radical changes on a larger scale to bring the metaverse closer to the fundamental premise being marketed to impress brands. The company is already planning to invest billions of dollars in its development over the next several years, as well as attempting to recruit developers and artists. While technical limits will always exist, questions about accessibility must also be addressed. Interactive 3D commercials, for example, must be built in such a manner that persons with limited mobility and vision impairments can interact with them. Metaverse 3D Ads that rely on offering too much sensory input can be overstimulating for neurodivergent persons.

Meta and other companies should also focus on building 3D ads with basic information about products for users that want a hassle-free non-immersive checkout process. This will be immensely helpful for users who have a poor internet connection and don’t want to wait for an animation to load.

IBM to provide Digital Skill training to Girls in Nagaland Schools

By

Dipayan Mitra

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March 29, 2022

Global technology giant IBM announces that it plans to provide digital skill training to girl students in schools across Nagaland.

The program aims to aid more than 12,000 girl students in the state. IBM has collaborated with the Nagaland school education department to deliver digital training in more than 250 secondary and higher secondary schools across 15 districts of the Indian state.

According to the company, the newly announced program named IBM STEM, which stands for Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics, will help girl students acquire the required knowledge and skills in those fields.

Officials mentioned, “The curriculum will supplement the state’s efforts towards quality education. This program will help enable more than 12,000 girls studying between classes VIII to X with access to digital fluency, coding skills training, 21st-century skills, including life and career skills.”

Apart from Nagaland, the IBM STEM program is currently active in multiple states of India, including Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Odisha, Assam, Bihar, and Uttarakhand.

The company says that this initiative is part of a three-year cooperation between IBM and the Nagaland government, with the QUEST Alliance and YouthNetas serving as implementation partners. IBM STEM’s primary motive is to increase the involvement and engagement of women in STEM fields.

Additionally, around 1,400 teachers in the participating schools will be allowed to engage and train children in computational thinking as part of a program.

Managing Director of IBM India, Sandip Patel, said, “With the expansion of our STEM for Girls program in Nagaland, we have increased our footprint to 12 states across India.”

He further added that this is part of IBM’s commitment to providing new skills to 30 million people of all ages around the world by 2030 in order to prepare them for the jobs of the future.

AI Chip Company Syntiant raises $55 million in Funding

By

Dipayan Mitra

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March 29, 2022

Artificial intelligence sensors and chip providing company Syntiant raises $55 million in its recently held funding round.

Renesas Electronics Corporation, Millennium Technology Value Partners, Mirae Asset Capital, and multiple other investors participated in the funding round of Syntiant.

The company plans to use the fresh funds to improve software capabilities and speed up the implementation of Syntiant’s third-generation Syntiant Core 3TM architecture, which it plans to launch by next year.

According to the company, as its technology continues to make edge artificial intelligence accessible to any battery-powered device, this new round of funding will help it accelerate full production deployments among more than 50 current customer engagements.

CEO of Syntiant, Kurt Busch, said, “We are at a pivotal point of our company’s growth and development, having shipped more than 20 million of our Neural Decision Processors as global market demand for edge AI rises among device manufacturers.”

He further added that they had created a solid customer base that represents the leading suppliers from earphones to autos and nearly everything in between.

United States-based deep learning technology company Syntiant was founded by Jeremy Holleman, Kurt Busch, Pieter Vorenkamp, and Steph Bailey in 2017.

The startup specializes in developing chips that combine deep learning and semiconductor design to create ultra-low-power, high-performance deep neural network processors for battery-powered devices, including smartphones, smart speakers, earbuds, hearing aids, and laptops. To date, Syntiant has raised over $100 million from many prominent investors such as Applied Ventures, M12-Microsoft Venture Funds, and other new investors.
“Edge AI is inevitable, and we are seeing current product market trends catch up to our technology, especially among our largest customers, which are expanding their deep learning deployments across new industrial and consumer applications,” added the CEO of Syntiant.

NTT DATA Launches Women-only Hackathon For AI Innovations In Healthcare

By

Dipayan Mitra

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March 29, 2022

Information technology services and solutions providing company NTT Data announces the launch of its new women-only Hackathon program named Bridge The Gap for developing artificial intelligence (AI) innovations in the healthcare industry.

NTT Data has collaborated with NLB Services to offer this novel program. The newly announced Hackathon program aims to break down barriers and close the gender gap in the information technology industry by recognizing promising women in technology.

According to the companies, this event calls participants, including developers and IT enthusiasts from all around the world, to design breakthrough healthcare solutions.

The finalists and winners will receive the opportunity to interview with leading Indian tech organizations, including NTT DATA.

Vice President of Marketing, Communications, and CSR at NTT Data, Ankur Dasgupta, said, “We are excited to partner with TechGig to launch the NTT DATA AI Hackathon. As artificial intelligence is intertwined with everything around us, the hackathon offers an opportunity for bright young minds to develop meaningful ideas and solutions to solve healthcare issues.”

He further added that they are thrilled to launch the Bridge the Gap program, and this platform will also assist them in attracting top talent into their company.

Additionally, NTT DATA plans to hire over 1,000 women in its workforce as part of a campaign to create awareness about employment options for women in the technology profession.

It is a two-phase program in which the first phase would include a coding challenge in Java and .NET, while the second phase would involve an MCQ challenge conducted by ClearedTalent, in which the selected participants from phase one would appear.

“The upcoming hackathon is all about making diversity a part of the technology domain. It will be a huge step towards bias-free hiring and offering opportunities to those who get overlooked the most,” said CEO of NLB Services, Sachin Alug.

He also mentioned that women coders would not only be able to demonstrate their abilities at the hackathon, but they will also get an opportunity to help close the gender gap.
Interested candidates can register for this program till 8th April from the websites.

Alphabet’s Sandbox AQ announces Split and Bags Funds for developing Quantum Computing Technologies

By

Preetipadma K

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March 29, 2022

Alphabet Sandbox AQ — Image Credits: Analytics Drift Design Team

Last Tuesday, Alphabet’s quantum technology branch, Sandbox AQ, announced its separation into an independent firm. Sandbox AQ, which aims to assist companies in embracing quantum computing in the long run, has also secured undisclosed “nine figures” in investment and recruited multiple clients for its cybersecurity services.

The company, which is based in Palo Alto, California, has already attracted a number of high-profile investors and clients and is working on enterprise software that incorporates quantum technology to a certain extent. It provides a set of APIs called Floq that allow developers to simulate quantum computing workloads using tensor processing units (TPUs). Sandbox AQ, which is helmed by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, has completed an oversubscribed financing round with Breyer Capital, Schmidt, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff’s TIME Ventures, and other investors.

Sandbox AQ’s AQ stands for AI and quantum, and the project intends to investigate the junction of quantum, physics, and AI to aid in sustainable energy, medicinal research, and cybersecurity. The company intends to develop enterprise software that employs quantum technology to “address important global concerns.” Earlier, the company was catering to sectors like telecommunications, financial services, health care, security, and other industries that demand elegant solutions. Vodafone Business, SoftBank Mobile, and the Mount Sinai Health System are among the clients that have already paid Sandbox for its computational efficiency.

Reuters reports that Sandbox AQ’s initial focus will be on providing software for post-quantum cryptography — a novel data encryption technology that is engineered to defy cyberattacks by quantum computers.

If hackers gain the cryptographic key used to encrypt the data, they can read it. While in theory, hackers can get a cryptographic key by having a computer guess it. However, in reality, acquiring a key via this method necessitates making so many guesses that even a supercomputer would be unable to complete the process.

It is speculated that future large-scale quantum computers might possibly be able to decipher encrypted data. As a result, researchers are working on new encryption methods that can survive quantum computer hacking efforts. These new technologies are part of a new sector called post-quantum cryptography, which Sandbox AQ is focusing on as part of its initial go-to-market program.

The 55-person company was founded in 2016 by Jack Hidary, who was formerly the director of AI and quantum at Sandbox and is a longstanding X Prize board member. Apart from Eric Schmidt, Sandbox has collected an impressive team of advisors, including Blythe Masters, a former JPMorgan Chase executive who was instrumental in the development of credit default swaps, and John Seely Brown, the former Xerox PARC chief scientist. The company’s current long-term objectives are in line with Gartner’s Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies 2021. According to Gartner, Quantum technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) are two of the main emerging technologies promoting innovation via trust, growth, and change.

Sandbox is also finalizing agreements to market quantum simulation software, which might help speed up medication and material research, according to Hidary. Using AI to evaluate data from quantum-based sensors to improve medical imaging and navigation by following magnetic fields instead of GPS satellites are two projects that might be commercialized in the next three years, he noted.

Hidary stated that improving ethnic, gender, and other diversity was also one of top priorities for the company, and therefore that one method to achieve that target was to hire people from the top institutions.

Hence, Sandbox AQ is collaborating closely with its academic partners at top institutions to support PhD students and postdoctoral researchers. Graduate students from Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College, Max Planck Institute, Caltech, UC Berkeley, Columbia, ASU, Yale, and other prestigious universities have also received training from the company.

EU Targets Big Tech with Landmark Digital Markets Act

By

Osheen Jain

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March 29, 2022

The European Union agreed on digital rules to target in Big Tech online “gatekeepers” such as Facebook’s parent company, Meta and Google. EU officials agreed on the Digital Markets Act (DMA), part of long-awaited digital regulations with significant implications for the global tech market. The act seeks to prevent the most prominent tech firms from dominating digital markets through the possibility of a company breakup or the threat of fines.

The regulation targets companies with a market capitalization of at least €75bn ($82bn) that act as “gatekeepers,” including well-known firms like Microsoft, Meta, Google, Amazon, and Apple and sites like Booking.com.

Such companies would face tighter restrictions on using people’s data for targeted online ads, a primary revenue source for organizations like Google and Facebook. These new rules emphasize how Europe has become a global pacesetter in efforts to curb the power of BigTech companies through an onslaught of stringent regulations on data privacy, antitrust investigations, and proposed rules for technologies like AI.

“What we have been deciding about yesterday will start a new era in tech regulation,” European Union lawmaker Andreas Schwab said at a press conference on Friday.

Tech companies like Apple, Google, and Amazon have shown disappointment and concern about how parts of the DMA will create unnecessary privacy and security vulnerabilities for our users. Google mentioned how some of the rules could reduce innovation and the choice available to Europeans, while Apple said that some laws could prohibit them from charging for intellectual property.

The DMA act includes several eye-catching benchmarks that could shake up how big tech companies operate in the EU. For example, companies won’t be able to rank their products or services higher than others in online search results or reuse user data collected from different services. Companies cannot use personal data for targeted ads unless the user provides “explicit consent.” The DMA act also mentions hefty fines for violations – up to 10% of a company’s annual income. A fine of up to 20% of its worldwide turnover may be imposed for a repeat offense.