Weekly News Recap #3

16/07/2018

1. Facebook to design own chips

In their latest move to develop more consumer hardware, Facebook poached a top Google chip developer, Shahriar Rabii, to help them build their very own silicon. Facebook is following the example of many tech giants that are bringing chip design in-house rather than relying on big-name suppliers like Intel and Qualcomm.

The new chips will potentially replace Qualcomm’s own, currently used in Facebook’s Oculus VR and Echo Show-like smart speakers with AI features. A custom-made chip may give Facebook a competitive advantage in the home. Another use for these chips is the provision of better training of the AI algorithms that Facebook has patrolling its site for hate speech, fake accounts, and potentially dangerous content.

Source: The Verge

2. Full Photoshop on Ipad

The iOS 11 update from Apple aimed to bring the Ipad closer to an actual working PC. Unfortunately, one of the many desktop apps that were unavailable for the mobile device was the full version of Photoshop. In October of this year, Adobe is rumored to be planning to announce the release of the full version of Photoshop for the iPad and to release the app in 2019. The Chief product officer for Creative Cloud, Scott Belsky, has confirmed the cross-platform edition of Photoshop, but sadly not the timeline of its release.

Adobe is looking to entice hobbyists and casual users as well as image-editing professionals as there’s been high demand from Photoshop users for the ability to make quick edits. By allowing the mobile use of Photoshop on the Ipad, Adobe will be able to tap in, into the specific market of social media influencers that are prevalent with Instagrammers, bloggers, novice photographers, etc.,

Source: The Verge

3. Clean energy in China

Apple launches a $300 million fund to power 1 million homes.
Apple has announced a new investment fund to boost clean energy in China by connecting suppliers with “renewable energy sources,”.

By working with ten other suppliers to jointly invest $300 million over the next four year, “the China Clean Energy Fund,” which will “invest in and develop clean energy projects” that total more than 1 gigawatt of renewable energy in the country will be enough to power 1 million homes. A third party, DWS Group will handle the investment and management. By 2020, more than 4 gigawatts of clean energy would have been generated by Apple and its suppliers.

Over the past few years, Apple has already previously dived into renewable energy projects. In 2015, the Supplier Clean Energy Program was launched, causing 23 of Apple’s manufacturing partners to use entirely clean energy. Apple has also claimed to have purchased enough green energy to offset the global power consumption at its facilities worldwide.

Source: The Verge

4. Microsoft raises alarm for stricter A.I. face-recognition regulation

Microsoft is joining the movement for face-recognition technology regulation to protect peoples privacy and freedom of expression. The tech giant makes a bold call to the government to impose rules on this type of technology. A blog post published by its president Brad Smith outlines the company’s objections. The AI facial- recognition technology raises issues that go to the heart of fundamental human rights protections. The broad use of this technology needs to be regulated by the government. Otherwise, a world not so far off the likes of “1984” may become a reality. This software could allow governments to track the movement of people and for instance, even share information about consumer shopping habits. Smith said companies have a responsibility to police their own innovations, control how they are deployed and ensure that they are used in an “a manner consistent with broadly held societal values.”

Source: Mashable

5. Alibaba presents an AI copywriter tool

The Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba’s digital marketing arm Alimamahas developed an AI tool capable of producing 20,000 lines of content per second passing The Turing Test. The AI uses deep learning and natural language processing technologies learned from millions of top-quality existing samples to generate copy for products. The company has emphasized its stance that the product has been designed to complement, rather than replace, the work done by human marketers. “[The AI copywriter] significantly changes the way [copywriters] work: They will shift from thinking up copy – one line at a time – to choosing the best out of many machine-generated options, largely improving efficiency,” Alimama said in a statement

The group’s general manager, Christina Lu, added; “AI systems will never be able to replace human creativity – but can enable people to focus their major energies towards richly-creative work, and the machines can take over the repetitive, low-value work involved in writing.”

Source: Marketing Tech News