China’s SZ DJI Technology, a leading global producer of unmanned aerial vehicles, has come under scrutiny as a national security threat. The Shenzhen-based company is suspected of turning unwitting Americans into surveillance operatives by harvesting data about U.S. infrastructure from their drones. Last week, the Biden administration imposed a U.S. investment ban against DJI and seven other companies for enabling China’s military-industrial complex. Although the Treasury Department says human rights violations are behind the ban, reports say the FCC wants DJI’s products completely removed from the U.S. market. Continue reading Chinese Drone Maker DJI Suspected of U.S. Data Harvesting

TikTok is tweaking its For You feed so users won’t be recommended too much of the same content. The move follows a global spate of regulatory hearings that took social media companies to task for promoting content that intentionally polarizes adults and potentially harms children. In addition to “diversifying recommendations” in order to “interrupt repetitive patterns” around topics that may provide negative reinforcement, like “loneliness or weight loss,” the popular ByteDance platform said it is also introducing a new feature that will allow users to avoid specific topics or creators. Continue reading TikTok Adjusts Feed to Curb Repetition, Offers Users Control

The 8K Association was founded about three years ago to draw attention to the nascent 8K value chain and now, says executive director Chris Chinnock, that entire ecosystem, from production and post to live-to-air events, has become a reality. TV brands, panel makers and chip set providers are the 8K Association members that will primarily be at CES 2002 in January. The Association will not have a booth at the confab, but Chinnock will be making the rounds to tout some of the highlights of 8K’s progression over the last few years. Japan has been broadcasting 8K since December 2018, for example, and the Summer Olympics in 8K were “a big hit.” Continue reading CES 2022: 8K Association Promotes the High-Res Ecosystem

Intel has raised a red flag regarding the metaverse, warning that more processing power is needed to support the vision. “Immersive computing, at scale and accessible by billions of humans in real time” will require a 1,000x increase in computational capability from today’s state of the art, says Intel senior vice president Raja Koduri, general manager of the company’s Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics Group. Intel remains enthusiastic about the metaverse, however, conceding in the company’s first official statement on the matter it “may be the next major platform in computing after the world wide web and mobile.” Continue reading Intel Says the Metaverse Needs 1,000x More Compute Power

Advances in language comprehension for artificial intelligence are issuing from San Francisco’s OpenAI and London-based DeepMind. OpenAI, which has been working on large language models, says it now lets customers fine-tune its GPT-3 models using their own custom data, while the Alphabet-owned DeepMind is talking-up Gopher, a 280-billion parameter deep-learning language model that has scored impressively on tests. Sophisticated language models have the ability to comprehend natural language, as well as predict and generate text, requirements for creating advanced AI systems that can dispense information and advice or that are required to follow instructions. Continue reading Advances by OpenAI and DeepMind Boost AI Language Skills

British lawmakers are seeking “major changes” to the forthcoming Online Safety Bill that cracks down on Big Tech but apparently does not go far enough. Expansions under discussion include legal consequences for tech firms and new rules for online fraud, advertising scams and deepfake (AI-generated) adult content. Comparing the Internet to the “Wild West,” Damian Collins, chairman of the joint committee that issued the report, went so far as to suggest corporate directors be subject to criminal liability if their companies withhold information or fail to comply with the act. Continue reading UK Lawmakers Are Taking Steps to Toughen Online Safety Bill

Top corporations have agreed to improve their AI-driven hiring programs. As artificial intelligence has been applied to assist in the often arduous process of screening candidates, it is reported that the software may be adversely affecting the potential of diversity in the workforce. A group of companies is designing algorithmic safeguards to improve AI screening software as part of an initiative to solve this issue. The companies hope that system upgrades will ultimately help improve decisions involving areas such as hiring, promotion, compensation and a more diverse workforce. Continue reading Companies Join Forces to Minimize Algorithmic Bias in Hiring

Meta Platforms is restructuring its internal research department, drawing on employees from individual divisions like Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram to staff a centralized unit that will provide services to the entire company. The research will span everything from societal topics of politics, equity, health and climate to credibility topics like misinformation and account safety. The new division will be managed by Meta head of research Pratiti Raychoudhury. Additionally, Meta is deploying the new Few-Shot Learner artificial intelligence system to help moderate content, identify trends, monitor data and implement rules. Continue reading Meta Reorganizes Research Team and Deploys ‘Few-Shot’ AI

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are technologies with lots of heat behind them, and some controversy. Organizations (including the Entertainment Technology Center at USC) are working to better understand the ramifications of AI and how to hold its users accountable. Among the criticisms is that AI disproportionately exhibits bias against minority groups — the so-called “discrimination feedback loop.” In November, the New York City Council became the first in the nation to pass a law requiring that the hiring and promotion algorithms of employers be subject to audit. Continue reading Guidelines, Accountability Considered as AI Becomes Priority

The Federal Trade Commission is suing to block Nvidia’s $40 billion acquisition of UK-based semiconductor IP firm Arm, claiming it would stifle competition and hurt consumers. In October, the European Commission cited like reasoning when it launched an investigation into the purchase. Arm licenses its chip and software technology to a about 500 companies, including Apple, Qualcomm, Samsung, TSMC and Nvidia. The major concern is whether the purchase would provide Nvidia an unfair competitive advantage. The global chip shortage and opposition on both sides of the pond dim the deal’s prospects. Continue reading FTC Files Lawsuit to Block $40 Billion Nvidia Purchase of Arm

The European Parliament and EU Member States have reached an agreement on the Data Governance Act, clearing the way for final approval on legislation. The Data Governance Act is a framework designed to encourage sharing under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), consumer protection laws and competition rules. The goal is to develop common European data spaces in areas such as manufacturing, cultural heritage and health. The Data Governance Act is the first of two steps. The EU’s Data Act — which promotes data sharing among EU member states, businesses and government — will soon be formally proposed. Continue reading EU’s Data Governance Act Targets Growth of Digital Economy

Last month, Meta Platforms announced it would delay until 2023 the introduction of end-to-end encryption (E2EE) by default on Messenger and Instagram. Now the company is shedding light on its decision, which walks the line between issues of privacy and public safety. Child advocates said the change would help abusers avoid detection. Since the purpose of encryption is to shield sensitive information for things like financial and health information, it wouldn’t do to have human monitors poking around there. Meta is using artificial intelligence in an attempt to prevent bad behavior before it happens. Continue reading Meta Says User Safety Prompts Delay for Default Encryption

The 10th Amazon Web Services re:Invent cloud computing conference showcased faster chips, better developer tools, smarter AI and two new automotive initiatives. AWS CEO Adam Selipsky’s keynote led with the company’s next-generation processor, the Arm-based Graviton3, and culminated with a peek under the hood at AWS Automotive and AWS IoT FleetWise. Collecting data and spotting trends are enterprise priorities, and AWS is doing its part to advance artificial intelligence and machine learning across that matrix in the cloud. “We know your data is on a journey — and all the stops on this journey matter,” Selipsky said. Continue reading AWS re:Invent Showcases Sizzling Chips, New Tools for Cars

Google Cloud recently unveiled a new AI-powered service product named Bot-in-a-Box. The feature, available via Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Business Messages, will help enterprises easily manage conversations with their customers. Bot-in-a-Box creates chatbots that can naturally respond to customers’ questions by using Google’s Dialogflow software. The conversational bot does not require any additional coding but will learn directly from businesses’ customer service data. The new product is expected to cut the customer service budget for businesses and improve the service level of chat function on GCP Business Messages. Continue reading Google’s Bot-in-a-Box Brings Conversational AI to Enterprises

TikTok parent ByteDance has announced the establishment of six new divisions to monitor the worldwide dissemination of its short-form video apps. The units include online learning; collaboration tool Lark, (the ByteDance version of Slack); game development arm Nuverse; and B2B division BytePlus, selling white-label versions of  proprietary algorithms to enterprise customers. ByteDance also operates Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. The change from a flat hierarchy and haphazard business approach is prompting speculation that ByteDance aspires to be known for much more than video sharing. Continue reading TikTok Owner ByteDance Aspires to Become a Global Leader