Tech Mahindra partners with Avaamo to develop conversational AI platform

IT company Tech Mahindra Friday announced partnership with Avaamo to develop and deliver conversational artificial intelligence (AI) platform for global enterprises.

"Conversational AI is the next frontier of enhanced intelligence as humans and machines harmonise to enable connected experiences. Virtual assistants are already disrupting the customer experience space. Avaamo and Tech Mahindra have a shared vision - to implement cutting-edge AI solutions, specifically in the banking, telecom, retail and healthcare industries," Jagdish Mitra, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer, Tech Mahindra, said in a statement.

This partnership will include developing and delivering conversational AI solutions for global enterprises.

"Tech Mahindra will evangelise Avaamo's enterprise products and build solutions around platforms in areas such as the internet of things, artificial intelligence, and machine learning," the statement said.

Fake news: Companies say top bosses may quit over persecution fears

The blow-hot-blow-cold relationship between the government and social media and technology-backed firms seems to have taken a turn for the worse. Some companies now fear exits of their India heads and senior management if the government goes ahead with its plans to carry out criminal proceedings against top bosses over spread of fake news via their platforms.

Apart from global technology giants Google and Facebook (which together have four to five social media platforms), Twitter, LinkedIn, smaller social media portals and payments apps with chat capabilities are planning to approach the government on putting back its plans of booking their top bosses.

While it has not been decided if they would form a common front, the public policy teams in these firms are getting ready for a long discussion with the government. “We are constantly in touch with government officials. We want them to know that we are taking steps to prevent spreading of fake news and such drastic actions are unnecessary,” said a senior public policy executive at one of the tech firms.

From AI to enhanced security, here is what's new in Google Android 9 Pie OS

Search engine and technology giant Google on August 6 announced the Android 9 Pie, a next iteration of its operating system for smart devices. The new OS is currently rolling out as an update to Google Pixel phones and other phones from brands such as OnePlus, Nokia, Xiaomi, Sony, Oppo, Vivo and Essential would get it by this fall.

Android Pie, Android 9, Google
The Android 9 Pie brings major improvements in terms of usability and user interface. Importantly, it brings native support for artificial intelligence, which learns usage patterns to predict tasks, optimise battery consumption by apps and show relevant information. The new OS also bring native gesture-based navigation control that would allow phone manufacturers to remove aged old key-based navigation.

Google is betting big on cloud services to woo Indian companies

In the face of rising competition from Amazon Web Services and Microsoft, global tech giant Google is betting big on its cloud services to woo 44 million small and medium enterprises (SMEs), more than 20,000 start-ups and hundreds of major companies. Google’s cloud customers in India include Ashok Leyland, goibibo.com, Hero MotoCorp, Policybazaar.com, Quikr, Yaatra, SBI Cards, Hike Messenger, Vistara and ShareChat. The company, which currently has three data centres in Mumbai, is on an expansion spree. Knowing that the demand is set to increase from the fintech sector in over the next couple of months as banks and non-banking financial institutions hurry to meet Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) directive to bring financial data back to India, the company is hoping for a rise in demand.

NRI Google techie held for molesting US woman at 5-star New Delhi hotel

A 22-year-old NRI, working as a software engineer for Google on contract basis, has been arrested for allegedly molesting a US woman in a five-star hotel in New Delhi, police said on Friday.

Police said Anmol Singh Kharbanda met and struck a conversation with the 52-year-old woman at the hotel bar around 10 p.m. on January 8.

"Kharbanda, a California-based Non-Resident Indian, met the victim in the lounge and introduced himself to her. He offered her drinks and a smoke in his hotel room," Additional Commissioner of Police B. K Singh told IANS.

"Kharbanda took her to his room and groped her.

She pushed him away and ran out," Singh said.

The shocked victim, staying in another room of the hotel, locked herself in for the entire night. The next day, she went away for a meeting in Jaipur and returned in the evening.

After her return from Jaipur, she complained against Kharbanda to the Chanakyapuri police station and hotel security.

"We registered an FIR under Sections 354 and 328 of the Indian Penal Code and got her statement recorded before the City Magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC," the officer added.

Unaware of the legal action against him, Kharbanda was busy in his official work. He visited the Gurugram office (Google head office in India).

"When he returned to the hotel room on January 9 night, the hotel security informed the police and he was arrested," the ACP added.

He has since been sent to judicial custody.

Beijing plans to build $2 billion artificial intelligence development park

Beijing is planning to build a 13.8 billion yuan ($2.12 billion) artificial intelligence development park in the city's west, the official Xinhua news agency reported, as China pushes ahead to fulfil its ambition to become a world leader in AI by 2025.

The AI park will house up to 400 enterprises and have an estimated annual output of 50 billion yuan, Xinhua said, citing a report from authorities in Beijing's Mentougou district.

Zhongguancun Development Group, the developer of the project, will look to partner with foreign universities and build a "national-level" AI lab in the area, Xinhua added.

Zhongguancun Development and representatives for Beijing's Mentougou district could not be immediately reached for comment.

China's plan to fast-track AI development comes amid heightened tensions between Beijing and the United States over the competitive applications of AI in military technology.

China aims to grow the local industry to over 150 billion yuan by 2020 and 400 billion yuan by 2025, according to the State Council.

Locally, China has unveiled a series of plans to bolster talent, investment and research in AI, urging private, public and military firms to cooperate on national AI goals in a development roadmap released in 2017.
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Using AI, Nasa discovers another solar system like ours; has 8 planets

A solar system with as many planets as our own has been discovered with the help of NASA's Kepler space telescope and artificial intelligence, the US space agency said.

"Our solar system now is tied for most number of planets around a single star," NASA said in a statement yesterday.

However, none of the planets are expected to be hospitable to life.

The eight-planet system -- the largest known outside of ours -- orbits a star called Kepler 90 some 2,545 light-years away.

"The Kepler-90 star system is like a mini version of our solar system," said Andrew Vanderburg, an astronomer at the University of Texas at Austin.

"You have small planets inside and big planets outside, but everything is scrunched in much closer."

The newly identified planet, Kepler-90i, is a rocky planet like Earth, but orbits its star once every 14.4 days, meaning a full year there is the same as two weeks on Earth.

"Kepler-90i is not a place I'd like to go visit, though," said Vanderburg.

"Its surface is likely far too hot."

NASA calculated its average temperature at about 426 degree Celsius -- as hot as Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun.

Scientists found it by using machine learning from Google.
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How Blade Runner 2049 prepares us to welcome robots for real

The idea of dangerous, inhumane artificial intelligence taking over the world is familiar to many of us, thanks to cautionary tales such as the Matrix and Terminator franchises.

But what about the more sympathetic portrayals of robots? The benevolence of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator character in the later movies of the franchise may have been the exception in older portrayals of AI, but human-like machines are often represented more positively in contemporary films. Think of Ex Machina, Chappie or A.I. Artificial Intelligence.
This shift is very likely representative of a wider shift in how we think about these technologies in reality. Blade Runner 2049, long-anticipated sequel to the original 1982 Blade Runner film, is a part of this shift.

The ability of science fiction to inspire technological innovation is well-known. A lot of science fiction writers are scientists and technologists (Arthur C Clarke and Geoffrey Landis are two examples), and ideas from science fiction have sparked more serious scientific research (touch screens and tablet computers are common examples). But science fiction serves other purposes too. It can be a tool for exploring the social and ethical implications of technologies being developed now – a fictional laboratory for testing possible futures. It can also prepare us to deal with certain technologies as they arise in the real world.
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Google may get access to genomic patient data - why we should worry

Artificial intelligence is already being put to use in the NHS, with Google’s AI firm DeepMind providing technology to help monitor patients. Now I have discovered that Google has met with Genomic England – a company set up by the Department of Health to deliver the 100,000 Genomes Project – to discuss whether DeepMind could get involved.

If this were to happen, it could help bring down costs and speed up genetic sequencing – potentially helping the science to flourish. But what are the risks of letting a private company have access to sensitive genetic data?

Genomic sequencing has huge potential – it could hold the key to improving our understanding of a range of diseases, including cancer, and eventually help find treatments for them. The 100,000 Genomes Project was set up by the government to sequence genomes of 100,000 people. And it won’t stop there. A new report from the UK’s chief medical officer, Sally Davies, is calling for an expansion of the project.

However, a statement by the Department of Health in response to a freedom of information (FoI) request I made in February reveals this decision has already been made. The department said in this response that the project will be integrated into a single national genomic database. The purpose of this will be to support “care and research, and the acceleration of industrial usage”. Though it will “inevitably exceed the original 100,000 genomes, we do not anticipate that there will be a set target for how many genomes it should contain”, the statement reads.

The costs of sequencing the genome on a national scale are prohibitive. The first human genome was sequenced at a cost of US$3 billion. However, almost two decades later, Illumina, which is responsible for the sequencing side of the 100,000 Genomes Project, produced the first “$1,000 genome” – a staggering reduction in cost. Applying machine learning to genomics – that is, general artificial intelligence – has the potential to significantly reduce the costs further. By building a neural network, these algorithms can interpret huge amounts of genetic, health, and environmental data to predict a persons health status, such as their level of risk of heart attack.
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China launches drone swarm of 119 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles

China has launched a record-breaking swarm of 119 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles, authorities said on Sunday.

The feat broke the previous record of a swarm of 67 drones, the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) said.

The 119 drones performed catapult-assisted take-offs and formations in the sky.

According to the CETC, "swarm intelligence" is regarded as the core of artificial intelligence of unmanned systems and the future of intelligent unmanned systems.

Zhao Yanjie, an engineer with CETC, said that since drones were invented in 1917, intelligent swarms have become a disruptive force to "change rules of the game".

Reports in the Chinese official media in the recent past said Chinese military is also testing to launch mass armed drones as a new technique in battle conditions.

China is currently the largest maker of drones.

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Samsung voice-assistant Bixby to debut with new Galaxy S8 smartphone

Samsung announced on Monday that a voice-powered digital assistant named "Bixby" will debut with a flagship Galaxy S8 smartphone set to be unveiled by the South Korean consumer electronics giant.

Bixby enters a crowded field of digital assistants powered by artificial intelligence that includes Apple's Siri, Google Assistant, Microsoft Cortana and Amazon's Alexa.

Samsung said Bixby will focus on letting people control mobile apps with spoken directives.

"Bixby will be our first step on a journey to completely open up new ways of interacting with your phone," Samsung Electronics head of research and development Injong Rhee said in a release.

"Bixby will be a new intelligent interface on our devices."

A Galaxy S8 smartphone expected to be unveiled next week will have a set of pre-installed applications that will work with Bixby, according to Samsung.

Samsung late last year bought Viv, an artificial intelligence startup with co-founders who were part of the team that built virtual assistant Siri, which Apple bought some seven years ago.

Bixby will differ from digital aides already on the market in ways that include controlling nearly all tasks in applications instead of limited sets, and being flexible when it comes to understanding what users are saying, according to Samsung.

"We do have a bold vision of revolutionizing the human-to-machine interface, but that vision won't be realised overnight," Rhee said.

Amazon, Apple, Samsung, Google and Microsoft are all vying to develop the most sophisticated connected assistant -- working to give software the ability to understand what people say and even anticipate desires or needs.

Amazon virtual assistant Alexa was a star at the Consumer Electronics Show gadget gala early this year in Las Vegas but faces fierce competition.

Chinese giant Baidu also used the show to showcase virtual assistant "Little Fish" that it was preparing for a debut in China.

Microsoft recently bought Maluuba, a Montreal startup focused on making machines able to think the way people do. (READ MORE)

Embracing the bots: How direct to consumer advertising is about to change

LATEST NEWS - The tech revolution is coming to advertising. Chatbots are replacing humans, big data threatens our privacy, and the blockchain is linking it all together. In our series on tech and advertising, we’re taking a look at how the industry is being reshaped.

Soon, advanced computers won’t just be driving you to work, they’ll be selling you stuff as well. We can already see this in the form of chatbots.

Chatbots are artificially intelligent pieces of software, capable of maintaining a conversation with a human. While they aren’t perfect yet, they have markedly improved in recent years, leading some to claim 2017 will be the year that we finally see mass adoption.

Chatbots can already do some incredible things, such as operating a medical helpline, helping you plan your vacation, and even talking with you when you can’t sleep.

In the world of advertising, this represents a huge step. Chatbots are personalised, to the point, and all knowing, thanks to consumer tracking, big data, and machine learning. With the likes of Facebook jumping aboard, all of this is right in your pocket.

The rise of chatbots

According to American research firm Gartner, 85% of customer interactions will be managed without a human by 2020. Given this, businesses are beginning to invest and experiment in the space. Their bots have the capacity to do a great many things - provide personalised support for many customers at once (not just VIPs), recommend products and services, and assist during and after a sale. All without the need for humans.

The strength of bots is their ability to have tailored conversations, give personalised offers, and offer convenient purchases. Armed with data and serious computing, they can analyse patterns in our speech to decide when and what to advertise. They can also increase engagement and bring your brand personality to life.

In addition to all of that, bots are novel and a little bit human. This means we are less likely to get distracted than we would be with other digital options, like banner ads. (READ MORE)

Ola appoints Badri Raghavan as chief data scientist

Latest News - "This team will work across various business units and departments, to gain operational and business efficiencies, ranging from demand and supply prediction, driver behaviour and performance management, location Intelligence, to name a few," Ola said in a statement.

"Ola is moving on a much larger scale towards building technology based on deep insight into the Indian psyche, and for this, Big Data is a must," Ola CTO and co-founder Ankit Bhati said.

With over a million trips on the platform every day, an enormous amount of data is (Read More)