Category: Artificial intelligence

SenseTime sets up autonomous driving site in Japan

Leading China-based AI company SenseTime has unveiled an autonomous driving park in Joso, Japan.  The testing course will be used to develop autonomous driving technology and conduct road tests of autonomous vehicles.

China: Quick adopter, widespread use of technology

By Edward Lim

In the early 2000s, I visited Beijing for the first time and was amazed to see a taxi using a global positioning system (GPS) to get me to my destination. To put things in perspective, this was before the arrival of smartphones and GPS wasn’t even used in Singapore.

NVIDIA unleashes powerful ‘T-Rex’ GPU

The NVIDIA Titan RTX delivers up to 130 terflops of deep learning performance.
The NVIDIA Titan RTX delivers up to 130 terflops of deep learning performance.

It’s no dinosaur but the newly-announced NVIDIA Titan RTX, dubbed T-Rex, is certainly very powerful — to the tune of 130 teraflops of deep learning performance and 11 GigaRays of ray-tracing performance.

Amazon takes on big guns in machine learning

A new player has entered the machine learning arena. While big players such as Google, Intel and NVIDIA have been slugging it out, Amazon has thrown its hat into the ring with its newly-launched Inferentia chip.

Ecozen impresses at inaugural Rabobank Food Loss Challenge

Prateek Singhal, Co-founder and COO of Ecozen Solutions (fourth from right) with Rabobank executives and the panel of judges

Big data and artificial intelligence (AI) are not usually associated with food and agriculture but five startups have shown that such technologies can play a major role in minimising food loss. Some 1.3 billion tonnes of food are lost worldwide each year.

NVIDIA GPUs power a quarter of Top 500 supercomputers

NVIDIA DGX-2 AI supercomputer
The NVIDIA DGX-2 AI supercomputer powers the 61st placed NVIDIA POD.

The world’s top two supercomputers — – the US Department of Energy’s Summit, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Sierra, at Lawrence Livermore National Lab. — pack a combined total of more than 40,000 NVIDIA V100 Tensor Core GPUs, according to the latest of the Top 500 list released in conjunction with SC18.

Huawei ups the ante on AI

Huawei has upped the ante with an ambitious US$140 million investment in developing one million artificial intelligence (AI) talents in three years. Under its AI Developer Enablement Programme, the China telecoms giant will work with universities and research institutions as well as partners and developers to build an ecosystem with AI resources, platforms, courses, and joint solutions to better support AI development.

Googles turns 20

By Edward Lim

It may have seemed like forever but Google just celebrated its 20th anniversary today. It’s not even an adult yet by human age but the search giant has grown massively over the past two decades.

China wins battle for AI investments

A battle of sorts is taking place in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). It has been widely reported that China is ramping up its focus on the technology that is expected to transform businesses and industries. Numbers from ABI Research point to a swing in favour of China.

NVIDIA AI Conference keynotes: Transforming industries, creating AI infrastructure

The first NVIDIA AI Conference in Sydney on September 4 will kick off with two keynote addresses. Marc Hamilton, Vice President of Solutions Architecture and Engineering, NVIDIA, will talk about Transforming Industries With AI. Jason Humphrey (right), Head of Retail Risk, ANZ Bank, will then share on Creating the Infrastructure to Undertake Deep Learning.

NetApp rolls out NVIDIA-powered NetApp ONTAP AI architecture

NetApp has introduced NetApp ONTAP AI proven architecture to simplify, accelerate and scale the data pipeline across edge, core and cloud for deep learning deployments and to help customers achieve real business impact with AI.

Making autonomous vehicles more perceptive

Training neural networks to read human behaviour for safe self-driving.
Training neural networks to read human behaviour for safe self-driving.

Perceptive Automata, a startup which had its beginnings in Harvard University, is leveraging deep intelligence to give human intuition into autonomous vehicles. The technology will be able to observe body language of pedestrians and react accordingly to enable safer self-driving.

Google Maps motorcycle mode now available in Singapore

Google Maps has enabled its motorcycle mode feature for Singapore and elsewhere in the region in due time. Originally launched in India in December 2017, the app will give motorcyclists routes that are more suitable for two-wheelers.

NVIDIA brings premier AI conference to Sydney

A global line-up of artificial intelligence (AI) experts will be heading to Sydney to speak at the NVIDIA AI Conference. Researchers and developers will also get training from the NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute (DLI) during the event.

100m smart speakers by end of 2018

The Amazon Echo Dot and its siblings account for more than half of installed smart speakers.
The Amazon Echo Dot and its siblings account for more than half of installed smart speakers.

Smart speakers are picking up steam with the installed base expected to hit 100 million by the end of this year, according to Canalys. That’s 2.5 times the size of end 2017.

Suning Tesco opens first UAV logistics route in Wuhan

China e-commerce firm Suning Tesco has opened the first pilot route for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) logistics and transportation in Wuhan, China. Its logistics arm Suning Logistics and Ewatt Aerospace jointly developed two UAVs for this purpose.

Alibaba leverages AI for copywriting

Text generated by The AI Copywriter.
Text generated by The AI Copywriter.

Copywriters, beware! A new tool dubbed “The AI copywriter” by Alimama can generate an astounding 20,000 lines of copy in a second. Alimama is the digital marketing arm of China e-commerce giant Alibaba.

SenseTime makes triple signing in Singapore

Sealing the deal: Professor Hui Shen (SenseTime), Associate Professor Tan Tin Wee (NSCC), Professor Lam Khin Yong (NTU), Kiren Kumar (EDB), Bill Chang (Singtel), Professor Xiao’ou Tang, Peter Ho (NSCC), Arthur Lang (Singtel), Professor Louis Phee (NTU), Jeff Shi (SenseTime), and Martin Huang (SenseTime)
Sealing the deal (from left): Professor Hui Shen (SenseTime), Associate Professor Tan Tin Wee (NSCC), Professor Lam Khin Yong (NTU), Kiren Kumar (EDB), Bill Chang (Singtel), Professor Xiao’ou Tang, Peter Ho (NSCC), Arthur Lang (Singtel), Professor Louis Phee (NTU), Jeff Shi (SenseTime), and Martin Huang (SenseTime)

China artificial intelligence (AI) company SenseTime has inked memoranda of understanding (MOU) with Nanyang Technological University (NTU), National Supercomputing Centre of Singapore (NSCC) and Singtel.

Glitch with Google Home and Chromecast

OK Google…

By Edward Lim

“Sorry, something went wrong. Try again in a few seconds.” and “There was a glitch. Try again in a few seconds.” are not messages most Google Home and Home mini users are familiar with, but these messages kept repeating themselves most of yesterday.

Man vs machine in Dota 2

Machine learning and deep learning are two expressions of artificial intelligence (AI) that have been widely written about. But, another approach to AI called reinforcement learning is coming to the fore. One of the first applications of reinforcement learning is in training AI bots to beat humans in the highly popular game Defense of the Ancients 2 (Dota 2).

Machine vs Machine

Singapore blogger Daryl Aiden Yow created a storm when he manipulated stock images and posted them on his Instagram account. The 27-year-old has since apologised but his action has cast more doubt on the blogging community.

One step closer to the World Cup

With World Cup fever in full force right now, many budding players are hoping for the day when they could be under the global spotlight. Well, a little help from artificial technology (AI) may help take them a step closer.

Intel tweet that launches a new GPU war

On June 13, Intel had the GPU world in a flurry when it tweeted “Intel’s first GPU coming in 2020”. The media were quick to post stories of this incoming new GPU, which would add interesting competition to a market dominated by NVIDIA with AMD a distant second.

Royal Holdings launches 3D image scanner for smartphones

Security checks have become the norm in airports, malls and many public places. While screening devices are often bulky, a more portable alternative is now available following the launch of SWORD, a mobile 3D image scanner that can be used with smartphones.

Giant notebook and graphics card spotted at Computex

A gigantic version of the ASUS Zenbook Pro — thankfully, the real thing is a lot smaller and lighter.

By Edward Lim

Computex seems to have mellowed down over the years. While the show floor used to be filled with booth girls and exhibitors literally pushing bags and tchoichke in the past, this is no longer the case.

NVIDIA announces platform to build intelligent robots

NVIDIA has announced the availability of NVIDIA Isaac, a new platform to power the next generation of autonomous machines, bringing artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to robots for manufacturing, logistics, agriculture, construction, and many other industries.

Taiwan’s MOST and NVIDIA to collaborate on AI efforts

The MOST booth getting ready for Computex tomorrow.
The MOST booth getting ready for Computex tomorrow.

Taiwan is going big on artificial intelligence (AI) and its Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) will be collaborating with NVIDIA on AI initiatives.

Power efficient chipsets to drive edge AI

The NVIDIA Jetson TX2 is a credit card-sized platform that puts AI computing on the edge.
The NVIDIA Jetson TX2 is a credit card-sized platform that puts AI computing on the edge.

Power efficient chipsets are set to be the main driver as artificial intelligence (AI) moves makes a significant shift from the cloud to the edge, according to ABI Research.

SenseTime raises US$620m in funding

SenseTime has raised US$620 million in series C+ funding from Fidelity International, Hopu Capital, Silver Lake, Tiger Global, Qualcomm Ventures, other investment firms, and strategic investors.

Google moves to top of smart speaker market in Q1

Google has ousted Amazon from the perch of the global smart speaker market. According to Canalys, Google shipped 3.2 million units with its Google Home and Google Home mini series , surpassing the 2.5 million units of the Amazon Echo series for the first time in Q1.

NVIDIA researchers head to Brisbane for ICRA

Dubbed “the brains behind the bots”, NVIDIA researchers will be heading to the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) at Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre in Australia from May 21 to 25.

Panasonic powers facial recognition solution with NVIDIA deep learning technologies

Security is a major concern in airports, government buildings and major infrastructures around the world. Governments need to be able to quickly identify potential threats among the many people that enter and exit their countries daily. An effective facial recognition system is critical in safeguarding the country and critical infrastructures.

Spotting insurance claim and eye anomalies using GPU-powered AI

What does a fraudulent insurance claim and eye problem have in common? Well, both can be identified, thanks to powerful NVIDIA GPUs deployed by AIDA Technologies, a Singapore-based artificial intelligence (AI) startup which began in 2016.

Gaming and VR focus at Computex

With the global gaming market expected to touch US$128.5 billion in 2020, this year’s Computex will have gaming and virtual reality (VR) as a focus area, alongside artificial intelligence (AI), 5G, blockchain, Internet of Things, and innovations and startups.

Leadtek releases NVIDIA Quadro GV100 for workstations

Leadtek has released the Volta-based NVIDIA Quadro GV100 with 32GB of HBM2 memory, delivering more than 40 percent the double precision compute performance and over 2.5 times the deep learning procession performance of the previous-generation Quadro GP100.

SenseTime becomes most valuable AI company

China-based SenseTime Group has become the world’s most valuable artificial intelligence (AI) startup following a US$600 million from Alibaba Group Holding and other investors for a valuation of more than US$3 billion.