NASA Confirms 301 new Exoplanets using Machine Learning Technology

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November 29, 2021

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) confirms 301 new exoplanets found with the help of machine learning technology. The recent discovery has increased the total exoplanets count to 4870 that revolves around a multitude of distant stars.

The data was collected from the Kepler space telescope and was fed to an artificial intelligence algorithm named Exominer. The algorithm analyzed existing data to generate results pointing out the real exoplanets among various candidates.

The machine learning algorithm was meticulously designed to mimic the process of manually confirming exoplanets by experts. The machine learning algorithm uses deep neural networks to automatically learn new tasks when fed with enough quantity of data.

Exoplanet scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, Jon Jenkins, said, “Unlike other exoplanet-detecting machine learning programs, ExoMiner isn’t a black box – there is no mystery as to why it decides something is a planet or not.”

He further added that they could easily control the features and requirements in the data that led Exominer to reject or confirm a planet’s validity as an exoplanet. The newly developed algorithm will considerably help scientists to identify new exoplanets as it speeds up the entire identification process.

Exominer project leader and machine learning manager at Universities Space Research Association, Hamed Valizadegan, said, “ExoMiner is highly accurate and in some ways more reliable than both existing machine classifiers and the human experts it’s meant to emulate because of the biases that come with human labeling.”

He also mentioned the machine learning algorithm is highly accurate and generates reliable results. All the newly discovered exoplanets were identified by Kepler Science Operations Center but got their validation only after Exominer generated the results.

According to NASA officials, they now plan to use Exominer in various other projects like TESS to help them by transferring the learnings of the algorithm.

South Korea to build a $330 million Artificial Intelligence Complex

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Dipayan Mitra

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November 29, 2021

South Korea Artificial Intelligence Complex

South Korea plans to build a $330 million national artificial intelligence complex named ‘The National AI Industrial Convergence Complex.’ According to officials, the AI complex will be built over the next three years.

The AI complex will provide office space and data center to more than 70 startups to help them develop new and highly scalable artificial intelligence solutions for enterprises. The AI complex will be built upon a massive area of 46,200 square meter in the southwestern Korean city of Gwangju.

This new development is a step towards accelerating South Korea’s beyond the information and communications powerhouse in the post-Covid-19 era into an artificial intelligence powerhouse.

According to a Minister of Korea, the AI complex will open windows to new job opportunities and foster new industries after the COVID-19 pandemic. The AI complex will mainly focus on developing solutions for the automobile and energy industries.

Invest Korea mentioned regarding the AI complex that it would “transform the regional industrial structure centred on the manufacturing industry into a future-oriented industrial structure by linking with Gwangju’s flagship industries such as automobile, energy, and healthcare.”

The national AI industrial convergence complex will help developers create new technologies for sustainable and stable future growth. Apart from this newly launched project, Gwangju houses various other technology companies, including Samsung, LG, and Kia automobiles. The AI complex will help the city in becoming a hub of artificial intelligence technologies that would benefit various industries across the world.

Laiye Partners with Huawei Cloud to Power Brazil’s Digital Transformation

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Dipayan Mitra

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November 28, 2021

Intelligent assistant solution developing company Laiye partners with Huawei Cloud to power Brazil’s digital transformation goal. The strategic partnership will focus on the deployment of various artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud computing solutions throughout Brazil to accelerate its digitization process.

According to the companies, this newly launched initiative will slowly roll out in other parts of Latin America soon. Both the companies acknowledge the exponential growth of artificial intelligence technologies and startup ecosystems in the entire world.

With their combined efforts, the companies believe that they can help Brazilian startups and organizations to bring innovations and develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence technologies.

General Manager of Laiye, Petter Dalen, said, “Latin America is a region rich in opportunity and growth, and working with HUAWEI CLOUD helps us serve this dynamic and fast-growing market and leverage AI, cognitive, and cloud capabilities.”

He further added that they are looking forward to working with Huawei Cloud in order to help tech companies build more high-end solutions for benefiting organizations working in various industries, including retail, education, logistics, healthcare, and many more.

Many Brazilian startups have started adopting AI solutions to increase their productivity and ease of operations. According to a report of Accenture, the artificial intelligence sector has the highest economic growth for Brazil, with an estimated worth of over $400 billion in Gross Added Value by 2035.

President of Huawei Cloud Brazil, Qin Dan, said, “Together with Laiye, our mission is to deliver value to the industry and society through innovation and help our customers go digital with innovative and reliable products and solutions.”

He also mentioned that they are incredibly thrilled to join hands with Laiye to serve their customers in Latin America by helping them in their digital transformation.

Tech Mahindra Partners with Cogniac to develop AI-powered Visual Data solutions

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Dipayan Mitra

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November 27, 2021

Tech Mahindra Partners Cogniac AI solutions

Information technology service and solution providing company Tech Mahindra partners with AI visual observation firm Cogniac to develop new artificial intelligence-powered visual data solutions to help organizations at a global level.

The partnership aims to build solutions that would simplify data management for companies using machine vision technology. It is a similar kind of technology that is used in robotics guidance and other related fields.

The developed product will help increase the productivity of companies operating in various industries, including manufacturing, railway, automotive, logistics, government, and many others. The companies will couple their expertise in data analysis, cloud computing, and big data management capabilities to develop solutions that maximize the productivity of companies with the use of artificial intelligence and convolutional neural networks.

The Vice President and Head of Emerging Business at Tech Mahindra, Rahul Bhuman, said, “With an aim to deliver transformative enterprise machine solutions that are highly agile and scalable, we have re-aligned our strategy and delivery model to accelerate the customer’s transformation journey, in sync with NXT.NOWTM framework.”

With the new solutions, companies across the globe will be able to accelerate the operational use of visual data and analytics that will drastically increase their business productivity.

Cognac is a San Francisco-based artificial intelligence solutions developing startup founded by Amy Wang and Bill Kish in 2015. The company specializes in providing AI services that let companies extract more data from videos and images using deep learning technology.

Till date, Cogniac has raised more than $40 million over six funding rounds from investors like National Grid Partners, Autotech Ventures, London Technology Club, Wing Venture Capital, and many more.

Chief Partnership Officer of Cogniac, Vahan Tchakerian, said, “With Tech Mahindra’s data synthesis capabilities, we will be able to provide necessary and relevant information to customers and enable them to make data-informed business decisions.”

He further added that often the data exists but is not appropriately tapped. This new partnership will help them bring in innovations that would benefit their customers.

193 countries adopt the first global agreement on the Ethics of AI

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Dipayan Mitra

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November 26, 2021

The United Nations recently announced that 193 countries across the globe have agreed to adopt the world’s first recommendation for ethics of AI implementation. This development is believed to be a significant step towards regulating the deployment of artificial intelligence solutions for the betterment of humanity.

In recent years, there have been many instances where artificial intelligence solutions have been accused of violating fundamental human rights, including privacy. Hence it was much needed to have a standardized guideline across countries to keep a check on the deployment of AI technologies.

UNESCO mentioned in a statement, “We see increased gender and ethnic bias, significant threats to privacy, dignity and agency, dangers of mass surveillance, and increased use of unreliable AI technologies in law enforcement, to name a few. Until now, there were no universal standards to provide an answer to these issues.”

This new development is a step towards achieving a global consensus for the use of artificial intelligence technologies. Another motive of this agreement is to protect citizens’ data by improving transparency, control, and security for personal data.

Assistant director-general for Social and Human Science, Gabriela Ramos, said, “Decisions impacting millions of people should be fair, transparent and contestable. These new technologies must help us address the major challenges in our world today, such as increased inequalities and the environmental crisis, and not deepening them.”

The UN also mentioned that developers must consider the power consumption of AI technologies so that new innovations do not pose any threat to our environment and promote sustainable development goals. UNESCO has urged all the 193 Member countries to regularly report their progress and practices regarding the agreement to concerned authorities.

Honda to use Artificial Intelligence technology for making roads safer

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Dipayan Mitra

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November 26, 2021

Honda Artificial Intelligence Roads Safer

Automobile manufacturing giant Honda revealed its motive to use artificial intelligence technologies in making roads safer for every individual. The announcement was made during Honda’s recently held ‘World premiere of advanced future safety technologies’ event.

Honda plans to equip its upcoming vehicle with advanced AI solutions that would help in reducing accidents that occur on roads mainly due to traffic rules violations and human errors while driving. The artificial intelligence driving assistant will analyze real-time data and provide assistance suited to particular traffic situations.

According to the company, it will achieve ‘zero traffic collision fatalities involving Honda motorcycles and automobiles globally by 2050.’ Honda’s new artificial intelligence-enabled driving assistant system uses various kinds of camera modules and high-end sensors to minimize any chance of road accidents.

Head of Automaker’s research Aem at Honda, Keiji Otsu, said, “For the realization of a collision-free society where all road users care for each other and the freedom of mobility becomes possible, we will further accelerate our industry-wide and public-private initiatives.”

Apart from Honda’s ‘Intelligent Driver-assistive technology,’ the company has also collaborated with SoftBank to develop a new system named ‘Safe and Sound Network Technology.’ The jointly developed system will use telecommunication to connect the people present on roads and automobiles in order to make roads safer and accident-free.

A press release mentioned, “Striving for a collision-free society for everyone sharing the road, represented by the global safety slogan Safety for Everyone.” Honda is currently working on both hardware and software products to provide better safety to automobile passengers and pedestrians. Honda aims to reduce the global traffic collision fatalities involving Honda automobiles to half by the end of 2030.
The press release also mentioned, “Honda will strive to offer the new value of ‘error-free’ safety and peace of mind which are suited to the driving behavior and situation of each individual driver and keep them away from any potential risks.”

NVIDIA announced a Strategic Investment and Partnership with Kore.ai

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Dipayan Mitra

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November 24, 2021

Computing platform company NVIDIA announces its new strategic investment partnership with conversational AI product developing firm Kore.ai. NVIDIA has invested in Kore.ai’s Series C funding round that raised the AI company’s financing to over $73 million.

This new partnership aims to develop new and innovative artificial intelligence-powered conversational solutions for enterprises operating in various sectors worldwide. Kore.ai noticed the rapidly growing demand for customer care solutions and hence wants to develop cutting-edge AI-enabled customer support solutions to help companies prove a better, quick, and reliable experience to their customers.

Industry general manager for financial services and technology at NVIDIA, John Ashley, said, “Expanding our relationship with Kore.ai will help us work towards the mutual goal of building domain-specific and real-time voice assistants with impressive voice quality that can be adapted by every company to represent their brand.”

He further added that this collaboration would help organizations tackle key challenges involved in speech recognition. Kore.ai plans to integrate its technology with NVIDIA’s GPU accelerated SDK Riva to provide higher accuracy and low latency to end customers.

Both the companies will combine their expertise in natural language processing and speech artificial intelligence to bring in new innovations in the conversational AI domain. Kore.ai will use NVIDIA AI software to offer best-in-class performance customization options at a low cost to its customers.

Kore.ai is a United States-based AI software developing firm founded by Raj Koneru in 2013. The company specializes in developing artificial intelligence-powered conversational virtual assistants for many industries, including banking, IT support, insurance, HR, and many more. Apart from NVIDIA, the company has received funding from many investors like Sterling National Bank, PNC, and Vistara Growth.
“NVIDIA brings an industry-leading team and advanced AI technology. We will work together to expand best-in-class support to enterprise customers so that they can leverage conversational AI modules to power their customer and internal workforce applications,” said the founder and CEO of Kore.ai Raj Koneru.

Lloyd’s Register launches the first ever Artificial Intelligence Register

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Dipayan Mitra

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November 23, 2021

Lloyd’s Register Artificial Intelligence Register

Engineering, technical, and risk consultancy service providing company Lloyd’s Register launches its first-ever industry-leading artificial intelligence register. The newly launched product is a standardized register of LR (Lloyd’s Register) certified AI providers and solutions meant for the maritime industry.

The LR artificial intelligence-powered register comes with various one-of-a-kind capabilities like human-level observation and decision making. The product will provide accurate recommendations to maritime stakeholders to help them choose the right solution for tackling business challenges.

The register will allow users to access existing solutions that are currently available in the market effortlessly. According to Luis Benito, the director of innovation at Lloyd’s Register, there has been a significant boost in the deployment of artificial intelligence technologies in the maritime industry. However, there is still a risk of maritime stakeholders investing in untested technologies that can lead to substantial financial losses.

Many industry-leading artificial intelligence solutions providers like Samsung Heavy Industries, Hyundai Heavy Industries, Furuno Hellas, HAT Analytics, and Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering are currently listed on the newly launched AI Register of LR.

The register will automatically categorize the listed AI solutions into various segments based on their LR certification status. The categories include Digital Twin Ready, Digital Twin Approved, Digital Twin Commissioned, and Digital Twin Live.

Technology innovation manager of Lloyd’s Register, Joseph Morelos, said, “LR’s new AI Register, the first of its kind for the maritime industry, has been designed to help maritime stakeholders find safe and proven providers and solutions, so they can successfully benefit from these technology advances, by ultimately improving business outcomes and competitive advantage.”

According to the company, LR’s AI register would help its clients and partners to drive business outcomes through the safe deployment of artificial intelligence technologies. “The AI Register articulates the value of our AI technology to both existing and potential clients enabling their buying decision,” said Theodoros Katemidis, MD of Furuno Hellas.

Microsoft and Heathrow announces AI model to detect illegal wildlife trafficking

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Dipayan Mitra

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November 20, 2021

Microsoft and Heathrow announced that their developed one-of-a-kind AI model to detect illegal wildlife trafficking named Project SEEKER is ready to be deployed at airports. The newly developed system aims to combat the challenge of illegal wildlife trafficking that has become a $23 billion business.

The system will scan the cargo luggage at airports to detect any evidence of wildlife trafficking. During the testing process of SEEKER, it showed a dependable accuracy rate of over 70%. The artificial intelligence-powered model has a maximum capacity of scanning 250,000 bags in a single day. Once SEEREK detects any abnormalities, it automatically sends a notification to the necessary departments to help them resolve the problem in a short time.

CEO of Microsoft UK, Clare Barclay, said, “The untapped potential of AI and machine learning can help solve some of the world’s most complex environmental challenges. Our first-of-its-kind multispecies AI model Project SEEKER can help tackle the wildlife trafficking trade, while protecting animal ecosystems.”

She further added that this collaboration with Heathrow could not be more significant as they share a common aim of protecting the world’s most endangered species. The Royal Foundation’s United for Wildlife will be working closely with its partners to support the global rollout of this new technology developed by Microsoft.

As authorities will receive alert notifications earlier than usual, they will have more time to plan and take action against any illegal activity related to wildlife trafficking. Project SEEKER mainly focuses on identifying the trafficking of Pangolins, rhinos, elephants, tigers, and other vulnerable animals.

Chairman of the United for Wildlife taskforce, Lord William Hague, said, “The illegal wildlife trade is among the five most lucrative global crimes and is often run by highly organized criminal networks who exploit our transport and financial systems to move illegal animal products and their criminal profits around the world.” He also mentioned that this partnership is crucial in order to solve the issue of wildlife trafficking for good.

Grammarly raises over $200 million in recent Funding Round

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Dipayan Mitra

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November 19, 2021

Artificial intelligence-powered writing assistant tool Grammarly raised over $200 million in its recent funding round led by Baillie Gifford. The latest funding has increased Grammarly’s market valuation to $13 billion.

With the new funds, Grammarly wants to further invest in artificial intelligence technologies to expand the capabilities of its assistant. According to company officials, Grammarly is prioritizing its efforts to accelerate the process of improving the platform to help people communicate in this ‘digital-first world.

Grammarly uses natural language processing and machine learning technologies to display suggestions and rectifications for writing mistakes in documents, emails, and many others. The platform provides over 100 million writing suggestions to more than 30 million users every month.

CEO of Grammarly, Brad Hoover, said, “Grammarly’s latest funding round underscores the importance of our mission and the broad need for effective communication. By enabling clear and confident communication, Grammarly’s platform helps people excel both personally and professionally.”

He further added that the funding coming a week after the launch of Grammarly’s desktop version for Windows and macOS is a big step towards breaking down technological barriers in order to achieve effective communication.

Grammarly is a San Francisco-based software firm that was founded by Alex Shevchenko, Dmytro Lider, and Max Lytvyn in 2009. Since the launch, Grammarly has brought in many innovations in the writing assistant domain, which has made the company the most widely used writing assistance platform.

“Since our last funding round two years ago, we’ve doubled down on our investments in security so our customers can rest assured their data is safe and secure,” added Hoover. Grammarly will also use this funding to strengthen its backend AI tasks to provide better-personalized feedback to users about their writing.