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AI - page 10

Instagram uses AI to make app accessible to visually impaired users

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Instagram fact checking
Instagram will use fact-checking teams to identify false information.
Photo: Instagram

Instagram will be more accessible to the visually impaired thanks to new changes the photo-sharing platform launched today.

“With more than 285 million people in the world who have visual impairments, we know there are many people who could benefit from a more accessible Instagram,” the company wrote on its Info Center page announcing two new tools.

Apple acquires AI startup with a focus on privacy

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Silk Labs
Silk Labs' privacy policy reads like it was written by Tim Cook.
Photo: Silk Labs

Apple has reportedly acquired an artificial intelligence startup that specializes in on-device machine learning software.

Silk Labs’ technology processes data without sending it to the cloud, which is a perfect fit for Apple’s privacy-conscious approach to AI. It’s not clear how much Cupertino paid for the company when the deal was struck earlier this year.

Hey Siri, find me a soulmate

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Siri Alexa in voice report
So selfless, that Siri.
Photo: Apple

Tinder co-founder Sean Rad says advances in artificial intelligence could give Siri an exciting new role — matchmaker.

Apple’s virtual assistant is good at simple asks, like serving up the time, the weather forecast or the score from last night’s Warriors game. But the internet is loaded with stories, from frustrating to funny, about Siri’s fails. Siri might get to know your team, but your type?

Pixel 3 camera taps into Google’s AI to top iPhone

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Pixel 3 camera
The Pixel 3 camera has an eye on the competition.
Photo: Google

Google called its new Pixel 3 “the best end-to-end photography experience” Tuesday and has adopted features and marketing strategies that made the iPhone a global success and camera industry game-changer.

But marketing and megapixels will not be where these two smartphone cameras do battle. The competition shifts to artificial intelligence and how it makes each phone camera perform.

AI basketball app gets trash-talked after Apple showcase

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HomeCourt
Logos in the lineup.
Screenshot: Hutch Kitchen/Twitter

A kitchenware company and an app for tracking shots on a basketball court couldn’t be more different. Yet, somehow the two wound up with nearly identical logos.

Such is the case for HomeCourt, whose shining moment Wednesday at the Steve Jobs Theatre got upstaged on social media after Australian company Hutch Kitchen pointed out the similarities.

New A12 Bionic chip makes 2018 iPhones into AI powerhouses

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A12 processor
The Neural Engine gives the iPhone a super smart brain.
Photo: Apple

Apple called the new iPhones‘ A12 Bionic chip “the smartest and most powerful chip ever in a smartphone.” And despite the company’s occasional hyperbole and frequent marketing wizardry, it’s not kidding around.

Here’s why the A12 is so exciting — and what that means for Apple’s Core ML machine learning platform.

Smartphones covered in camera lenses will change everything

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multi-camera smartphones
Take a picture or nine with this smartphone prototype from Light.
Photo: Light via Photo Rumors

Mobile phone photography has been through a mostly meaningless megapixel war. Now on to the next battle – the smartphone with the most cameras.

Apple, true to its playbook, will watch while other companies fire opening salvos with smartphones packing three or more lenses.

How Apple’s AI gurus made Siri an expert in local businesses

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Siri Alexa in voice report
Siri knows the name of your local pizza joint, making it much easier to get directions when you have a craving.
Photo: Apple

Siri is quite good at recognizing what we say, but used to run into difficulties with the names of small businesses. That was until Apple developers found a way to make her much better at this task.

In fact, the new system is more than 40 percent less likely to come up with the wrong business name. 

Ex-Google AI expert will fix Siri’s serious flaws

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Meet Siri's new boss, John Giannandrea.
Siri's new boss, John Giannandrea, has the job of making this voice assistant less terrible.
Photo: Apple

Craig Federighi is no longer in charge of Siri. Responsibility for Apple’s troubled voice assistant has been given to John Giannandrea, who is now in charge of all Apple’s artificial intelligence efforts.

Siri is seen as poor competition for Amazon Alexa, Microsoft Cortana, and Google Assistant. Its weakness is hurting sales of Apple products, including the HomePod.

Cinematic photo app uses AI to fix your snaps

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Relonch camera app
Relonch Alfred plans to add cinematic style to its AI-fueled photo app.
Photo: Relonch

In 2016, a startup called Relonch started a camera club and next-day image editing service that was largely panned online by photographers.

Who would pay $99 per month to use a camera they will never own plus $1 per professionally retouched photo? The iPhone and other capable smartphone cameras now dominate photography, helping novices and pros make great pictures instantly styled with the touch of an app.

Get in on the AI gold rush with these essential skills [Deals]

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This massively discounted lesson bundle offers a great primer on the lucrative fields of machine learning and AI.
This massively discounted lesson bundle offers a great primer on the lucrative fields of machine learning and AI.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

The artificial intelligence industry is exploding. Machines might be coming to take our jobs, but working in AI is also one of the most lucrative gigs you can get, with salaries that reach into the 6 figures. But before you get in on AI, there’s a lot to learn.

All the important stuff revealed at Google I/O

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Google I/O 2018 was full of AI surprises.
Google I/O 2018 was full of AI surprises.
Photo: Google

Google just took the wraps off its big software lineup for 2018. If Apple executives were watching, there’s a lot they should be worried about.

Artificial intelligence has always been one of Google’s strengths over Apple. But in 2018, the search company is going all out, putting AI in everything. Pretty much every app the company has is getting some new machine-learning tricks in the next few weeks that make certain iOS features look ancient.

Check out the biggest announcements from this morning’s Google I/O keynote.

Apple doubles down on AI in Seattle

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Siri
Siri needs all the AI talent it can get.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple’s is slowly invading the home turf of some of its biggest rivals in Seattle.

The iPhone-maker has reportedly secured more office space in one of the biggest skyscrapers in Seattle, where Amazon, Microsft and Facebook all fight for top tech talent.

Name your price for a dive into deep learning and AI [Deals]

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Name your price for a jumpstart course on coding for AI and deep learning.
Name your price for a jumpstart course on coding for AI and deep learning.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Every day, the fields of deep learning and artificial intelligence grow more relevant. Machine learning is still in its infancy, so now is a great time to start learning. And if you’re interested in gaining some new coding skills for this exploding industry, we’ve got a deal for you.

IBM and Apple combine their AI powers to make apps smarter

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IBM
Apple and IBM are working together to make artificial intelligence apps more impressive.
Photo: Apple

Apple has been ramping up its interest in artificial intelligence for the past few years — and its continuing business-focused partnership with IBM is going to help.

Late Monday, one-time rivals Apple and IBM announced that business apps running on Apple devices will soon be able to take advantage of the ability to combine IBM Watson technology with Apple Core ML to create more intelligent apps.

6 things Apple should do to fix Siri

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Siri display
"I don't have these features. Would you like me to search the web for you?"
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Siri kind of sucks, despite its increasingly prominent role in the Apple ecosystem.

With the general verdict on the HomePod being “great speaker, shame about Siri,” what does Apple need to do in order to catch up with its rivals? Here are six Siri improvements we’d love to see Apple implement as soon as possible.

HomePod may sound great, but Siri still sucks

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HomePod Close Up
HomePod sounds great, but right now it doesn't have some of the AI tricks of its rivals.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple has been pretty outspoken about marketing HomePod as a high-end speaker that just happens to have Siri, as opposed to a smart speaker built around its AI assistant, like the Google Home or Amazon Alexa.

A new study published by Loup Ventures suggests one reason why: Because Siri is seriously lagging behind its rivals in terms of its functionality and ability to answer questions.

Apple’s self-driving car fleet gets way bigger

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Project Titan
Apple is invested heavily in self-driving tech.
Photo: Idiggapple/Twitter

Apple is revving up its efforts to catch its competitors in the self-driving car market.

The company has aggressively expanded its fleet of vehicles used to test its autonomous driving systems, according to a new filing that shows the company added nine times as many cars over the last year.

Every Apple Car on the road will make the others smarter

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Project Titan
Apple is invested heavily in self-driving tech.
Photo: Idiggapple/Twitter

Apple is investigating new ways to make self-driving care systems drive more like humans, based on a recent patent filing from the iPhone-maker.

The USPTO finally published Apple’s first patent application related to autonomous vehicle systems today, giving some insight into the strategies Apple might use to make its mark in the emerging self-driving car market.

Foxconn could soon use AI to help identify faulty iPhone parts

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Foxconn Wisconsin
New technology was designed by former Google AI expert.
Photo: Foxconn

Apple manufacturer Foxconn is planning to adopt artificial intelligence image recognition systems for quality control in its factories, a new report claims.

The tech could help identify faulty circuit boards or other components, thereby improving Foxconn’s efficiency when it comes to assembling devices. The AI system was developed by Andrew Ng, a machine learning expert who has previously headed up major projects for both Google and Baidu.

You can now search eBay using images

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gretsch guitar ebay
Find that sweet vintage guitar on eBay just by snapping a photo.
Photo: Freebird/Flickr CC

It just got a whole lot easier to find odd items on eBay. Now, instead of typing in your search criteria, you can just snap a photo of an object, and eBay will search across the site and return any results that look like your photo.

This is great for those times that you have no idea how to describe something, but you totally have to buy it. Or when you see something in an image and don’t know how search for it on Amazon. Or when you see a super-cool vintage blouse/jacket/bag and want to find something similar.

Apple reveals AI magic behind ‘Hey Siri’

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Siri do not disturb
Apple puts a lot of AI tech into Siri.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

A tiny, low-power auxiliary processor that constantly listens for the phrase “Hey Siri” enables one of the most basic features of Apple’s AI assistant.

The processor, embedded in the iPhone’s motion coprocessor, keeps the “Hey Siri” command from running on the device’s main processor all day. That revelation comes in a research paper published today by Apple’s machine learning team. The paper dives deep into how Apple uses AI to power “Hey Siri.”

AI powers this bike light to make cycling safer

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See.Sense Ace bike light
Ace is the ultimate bike light.
Photo: See.Sense

When you’re out on your bike, you need to be as visible as possible — especially at night. See.Sense ACE is a bike light that uses artificial intelligence that reacts to every moment of your journey, making cycling safer and simpler.

The light improves visibility when you need it most, and ensures you’re seen on the road. It also connects to your smartphone to provide things like theft alerts and cycling stats.

Apple dives deeper into AI with latest acquisition

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photos in ios 10
Regaind could give iOS Photos an AI boost.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple has quietly made another acquisition of a little-known startup that could bring some big benefits to iPhone and iPad users in the future.

A small France startup called Regaind was reportedly acquired by Apple. The company specializes in using machine learning to recognize what’s in a photo, which could boost some features Apple already created in its photos app.