Posts Categorized: Artificial intelligence

Hopper raises $100M more for its AI-based travel app, now valued at $780M

Posted by & filed under App Economy, Artificial intelligence.

Hopper — a mobile-only travel booking app cofounded by a former Expedia executive in Montreal, Canada that uses artificial intelligence to help you search for and book hotels and flights — has gained a little elevation of its own today. The startup has raised another $100 million in funding, money that it plans to use to… Read more »

Google Ad Chief Ramaswamy Exits; Search, AI Veteran Replaces Him

Posted by & filed under Artificial intelligence, Google.

Google is replacing its top advertising executive, Sridhar Ramaswamy, the first major management shakeup at the company’s most important business in half a decade. Prabhakar Raghavan, head of Google’s business-applications unit, will step into the role on Friday, the company said. A veteran of search technology and artificial intelligence research, Raghavan will now oversee product… Read more »

Litigation gone digital: Ottawa experiments with artificial intelligence in tax cases

Posted by & filed under Artificial intelligence.

The Justice Department has quietly launched an artificial intelligence experiment as the Trudeau government prepares to use such sophisticated software to help make decisions in cases involving immigration, pension benefits and taxes. The 18-month pilot project, which involves the Canada Revenue Agency, was started even though the government has yet to establish clear ethical guidelines… Read more »

The world’s most prolific writer is an algorithm

Posted by & filed under Artificial intelligence, bots, Ethical Issues, ethics.

“Inflatable duck baby pool with canopy.” “Hot selling colourful temporary full arm tattoo for men.” “Splendid reusable dog pee pad (minimum order: 500).” Load up the homepage for e-commerce giant, Alibaba – a wholesale shopping site that’s more or less China’s answer to eBay – and you’ll find images and descriptions of anything you could wish to… Read more »

Is AI more than just a buzzword?

Posted by & filed under Artificial intelligence.

Artificial Intelligence – a rapidly advancing technology promising to transform whole industries in the next five years with profound implications for how we live and work. Or, as we hear on this week’s Tech Tent, a massively overhyped buzzword for quite a mundane field of computer science which has not made any great leap forward… Read more »

Deepfakes are coming. Is Big Tech ready?

Posted by & filed under Artificial intelligence, Ethical Issues, Fake News.

Platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have been moving recently to deal with the threats posed by misinformation and meddling that they didn’t see coming, but now they face an emerging form of disinformation they know is on the horizon: Deepfakes — doctored videos that will eventually fool even the sharpest eyes. As the technology to create… Read more »

Artificial Intelligence Is Coming for Hiring, and It Might Not Be That Bad

Posted by & filed under Artificial intelligence.

Artificial intelligence promises to make hiring an unbiased utopia. There’s certainly plenty of room for improvement. Employee referrals, a process that tends to leave underrepresented groups out, still make up a bulk of companies’ hires. Recruiters and hiring managers also bring their own biases to the process, studies have found, often choosing people with the “right-sounding” names and educational background. Source: Bloomberg… Read more »

University of Toronto researchers developing tool to jam facial recognition software

Posted by & filed under Artificial intelligence, Biometrics, Civil Liberties, Consumer Technology, Ethical Issues, FaceBook, Instagram.

While your selfie might get lots of “likes” on social media, companies and perhaps even fraudsters may like your face even more — because they can profit from it. But a University of Toronto researcher has found a way for internet users to opt out by very slightly distorting images, and he’s working on an app that will help them do just… Read more »

An AI System for Accomplishing Real-World Tasks Over the Phone

Posted by & filed under Artificial intelligence, Augmented Reality, Automation.

Google recently announced Google Duplex, a new technology for conducting natural conversations to carry out “real world” tasks over the phone. The technology is directed towards completing specific tasks, such as scheduling certain types of appointments. For such tasks, the system makes the conversational experience as natural as possible, allowing people to speak normally, like… Read more »