In June, the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) division of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) revealed the Automated Vehicle Transparency and Engagement for Safe Testing (AV TEST), a program that provides an online, public-facing forum for sharing automated driving system on-road testing activities. After an underwhelming debut in September, the NHTSA today announced […]
Dina raises $7 million for its AI-powered at-home care platform
Dina, a Chicago-based startup developing an AI-powered at-home care platform, today announced it has raised $7 million. The company says the capital will be used to expand its products and support its mission to help the health care industry transition to in-home care. In response to the pandemic, companies like Current Health and Twistle have teamed […]
AI Weekly: The future of tech policy after an attempted coup
On Wednesday, we witnessed a coup attempt fueled by racism, disinformation, and the President of the United States. Video of the U.S. Capitol breach shows that Trump supporters were permitted to violate multiple federal laws, desecrate the people’s house, undermine national security, and violently oppose the largest exercise of the right to vote since the […]
Blue Prism launches venture fund to expand global use of cloud RPA
Last April, robotic process automation firm Blue Prism bolstered its own balance sheet with a $124 million financing round, enabling the maker of enterprise-class software robots to expand its suite of AI agents and dashboards. Now the company is launching a venture fund to bring RPA technologies to new clients, starting with the Asia-Pacific region […]
Uber researchers propose AI language model that emphasizes positive and polite responses
AI-powered assistants like Siri, Cortana, Alexa, and Google Assistant are pervasive. But for these assistants to engage users and help them to achieve their goals, they need to exhibit appropriate social behavior and provide informative replies. Studies show that users respond better to social language in the sense that they’re more responsive and likelier to […]
AI Weekly: The argument in favor of regulation in 2021
2020 was an eventful year, not least of which because of a pandemic that shows little sign of abating. The AI research community experienced its own tribulations, capped off by Google’s firing of ethicist Timnit Gebru and a spat over AI ethics and “cancel culture” involving retired University of Washington professor Pedro Domingos. Facebook chief […]
DeepMind’s MuZero picks up the rules of games as it plays
In a paper published in the journal Science late last year, Google parent company Alphabet’s DeepMind detailed AlphaZero, an AI system that could teach itself to master the game of chess, a Japanese variant of chess called shogi, and the Chinese board game Go. In each case, it beat a world champion, demonstrating a knack for […]
COVID-19 vaccine distribution algorithms may cement health care inequalities
Earlier this month, following the U.S. Federal Food and Drug Administration’s emergency approval, the federal government began distributing doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to health systems throughout the country. With Moderna’s vaccine to follow, the Trump administration aims to deliver the first shots to 20 million people by year’s end. But shipments must be prioritized […]
Anomalo nabs $5.95 million for AI data validation tools
Anomalo, a provider of data validation and documentation services for developers, today announced that it raised $5.95 million in venture capital. First Round Capital and Foundation Capital participated in the seed funding round, which is Anomalo’s first since its founding in 2018. Data validation is a top concern for businesses reliant on big data analysis […]
From whistleblower laws to unions: How Google’s AI ethics meltdown could shape policy
It’s been two weeks since Google fired Timnit Gebru, a decision that still seems incomprehensible. Gebru is one of the most highly regarded AI ethics researchers in the world, a pioneer whose work has highlighted the ways tech fails marginalized communities when it comes to facial recognition and more recently large language models. Of course, […]