Why the critics are wrong who think Apple's lost its touch. Photo: Apple
Apple’s always been the company that promised us the world. Steve Jobs’ genius was his ability to convince us that every single thing Apple did shifted the Earth on its axis.
Recently, that feeling of magical futurism has faded. Apple events have been preceded by a feeling of “been there, done that.”
Forget the “wireless future” that Apple talked up at yesterday’s iPhone 7 event as it tried to convince us that we really want AirPods and a dongle rather than a headphone jack. If Apple has a strategy in 2016, it’s underpromise and overdeliver.
Apple's catching up when it comes to all things AI. Photo: Universal
Don’t tell Tim Cook, but the perception of Apple is that it’s been lagging behind other tech companies like Google and Facebook when it comes to cutting-edge artificial intelligence research.
Things are unlikely to stay that way for long, however, since Apple is currently in the midst of a massive recruitment drive to hire machine learning experts for a variety of different posts throughout the company.
Apple is investing heavily in machine learning. Photo: Scott Schaut/Mansfield Memorial Museum
When it comes to the incredibly hot field of AI, Apple has been racing to catch up with Google and Facebook. A new article reveals exactly when Apple’s interest in this area began paying off: July 30, 2014, a.k.a. the date Siri switched over to deep learning.
A type of machine learning built around brain-like “neural networks,” the switch drastically improved on Siri’s accuracy. However, as is typical for ultra-secretive Apple, the company didn’t boast about — or even publicize — its success.
Turi could make Siri smarter than ever. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Apple’s latest acquisition could play a big role in the iPhone maker’s future artificial intelligence products.
Turi, a Seattle-based startup specializing in machine learning and AI, was reportedly acquired by Apple for around $200 million. The startup creates software that gives developers the ability to add AI capabilities that scale automatically, which could certainly be an attractive addition to Apple’s platforms.
Apple is getting deeper into the AI game with iOS 10, which will require users to share some data with Apple so it can make intelligent suggestions, but the company says it will be totally optional.
Starting in iOS 10, Apple plans to use differential data as a way to track users and make Siri better at predicting what you want, while not being a major creeper at the same time. The company hasn’t been very clear about exactly what data it will be collecting, but according to a new report, we now know you will have to opt-in to the service.
Apple is making a new push into artificial intelligence, giving developers access to the company’s neural network technology in a move that should mean big things for apps you’ll use in the future.
While opening up Siri to third-party developers was the most attention-grabbing news coming out of yesterday’s Worldwide Developers Conference keynote, Apple has also revealed that it is will allow developers to tap into the company’s artificial neural network technology. And once the dust is settled, this could turn out to be the biggest development of WWDC, bar none!
Google won't let the robots take over. Photo: Google
Google’s DeepMind team has been working with scientists to create a way in which humans can kill artificial intelligence agents before they can turn on us.
It’s a concern many have as the AI systems being developed by tech giants become more intelligent and more capable — but Google has us covered.
Dag Kittlaus and Adam Cheyer, creators of the artificial intelligence technology that brought Siri to the iPhone, today showcased a new virtual assistant that’s even more amazing.
Viv, which has been secretly in development for the past four years, is a much more open platform that works closely with a whole bunch of different services to be even more powerful than its predecessor, and to take AI to a whole new level.
The Apple execs of the future? Photo: TriStar Pictures
Rightly or wrongly, Apple’s stock taking a prolonged plunge has opened the floodgates for people to hold court about what it is that Apple’s apparently doing wrong — and how the company can be righted again.
Today it was the turn of venture capitalist Fred Wilson, founder and managing partner of Union Square Ventures. His answer: that Apple is failing to invest enough in artificial intelligence and cloud cloud computing.
Good call. We definitely want to teach the machines love before they become self-aware. Photo: Mike Matas (via YouTube)
We may be a small step closer to the robot wars thanks to former Apple designer Mike Matas.
Matas’ previous work includes user interfaces for Apple’s Maps, Photos, and Camera apps, as well as the Nest smart thermostat. And he showed off his latest creation, an artificial brain called (appropriately enough) The Brain, via a quick demo on YouTube. It’s a neural network that with an expectedly sharp and clean interface, and in the video, he shows how he can teach The Brain to spit out emojis based on different shapes that he draws.
We don't know if A.I. plus RealDolls would make Spike Jonze's film Her more or less creepy. Photo: Warner Bros.
This might be the most divisive news of the day: RealDoll creator Matt McMullen is currently working with artificial-intelligence scientists to create a fusion between digital assistants like Apple’s Siri and synthetic companions. It could be the most amazing news you’ve ever heard, or it might be terrifying and make you feel like spiders are crawling on you.
Regardless of how much or little it creeps you out, however, it’s definitely interesting.
Less emojis, more AI. Photo: Evan Killham/Cult of Mac
Apple’s latest acquisition is of a small artificial intelligence company called Emotient. The startup has technology that analyzes people’s emotions through their facial expressions.
Apple “buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” Apple’s spokeswoman told TheWall Street Journal. That’s the typical statement Apple gives when snatching up small companies.
It’s not clear yet what Apple has in mind for Emotient, but we sure can speculate.
Siri's ability to recognize different voices could be big for technology like Apple TV. Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
As Apple rolls out Siri beyond the iPhone and into shared devices like the iPad and, most recently, Apple TV, Cupertino’s engineers have been working on a way of letting its voice activation technology pick up individual users, and offer them customized options based on their past preferences.
Published today as the patent “User profiling for voice input processing,” the technology would allow Apple to make better use of Siri (and voice recognition in general) as it moves into new fields like home automation and vehicles.
Less iRobot than I, Robot it seems. Photo: 20th Century Fox
Apple’s desire to compete with companies like Facebook and Google in terms of artificial intelligence research is being hurt by… (drum roll) its obsessive secrecy, according to a new report.
Next year's WWDC, anyone? Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures
Apple is ramping up its hiring of artificial intelligence experts in an attempt to compete with companies like Google.
According to a new report, Apple’s number of machine learning gurus has tripled or quadrupled in the past few years, and Cupertino is currently in the middle of a hiring spree for even more.
Legos and pre-school toys today, your iPhone tomorrow. Photo: UC Berkeley Robot Learning Lab
UC Berkley researchers have hit a major milestone in the creation of usable AI. They’ve created a new set of algorithms that will allow robots to learn through trial and error — much like humans learn new tasks.
With this kind of educated automaton, there’s nothing they won’t be able to do. Think of mechanical beings assembling your next iPhone, building skyscrapers, or exploring Mars.
Is this where we see the first inklings of the robot apocalypse?
IBM has announced a new alliance with Apple (among other companies) to utilize its acclaimed Watson artificial intelligence system to provide personalized insights regarding health data.
By linking up with Watson, Apple not only solidifies its existing relationship with IBM, but also gains a very powerful ally in its quest to revolutionize the way we think about mobile health with the Apple Watch and iOS 8 Health app.
Woz, doing his part to help computers takeover the world. Photo: Apple
Tech pioneers like Bill Gates, Stephen Hawking, and Elon Musk have warned humanity of the dangers of AI for years, and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak says he’s finally a beliver in the doomsday scenarios.
“Computers are going to take over from humans, no question,” Woz told the Australian Financial Review in a recent interview from his US home.
The man who sparked the personal computer revolution with the invention of the Apple II says ‘the future is scary and very bad for people’ because computers will eventually get faster than us and wipe us out.
Ultron is up to no good in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Photo: Marvel Studios
There’s plenty of carnage and goofy talk about artificial intelligence in the new for Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer. But, just like any Marvel Studios movie, you’ll want to stay till the end: That’s when you’ll get your first peek at The Vision, the android that eventually becomes an Avenger.
Siri couldn't be more excited about the Apple Watch. Photo: Apple
Siri’s starting work — or at least something like that. SRI International, the brains behind the Siri standalone app bought by Apple back in 2010, has announced the creation of Kasisto, a business version of Apple’s virtual assistant.
Kasisto will enable companies to integrate their own branded Siri-style assistants within apps, providing a way of letting helping consumers navigate complex tasks through a conversational Artificial Intelligence program. While SRI International has yet to release many details, this means that it should be possible to harness the regular Siri interactions for more specialized tasks within apps, allowing specific businesses to “train” their own version of Siri to become an expert in a variety of areas, from medical advice to, say, movie rentals.
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Google has beaten out Facebook to acquire London-based Artificial Intelligence company DeepMind — for an amount alleged to be in excess of $500 million.
DeepMind was founded by neuroscientist and chess prodigy Demis Hassabis, as well as Skype and Kazaa developer Jaan Tallin, and researcher Shane Legg. While it is unknown exactly what the company is working on, it describes itself as a “a cutting edge artificial intelligence company” to build general-purpose learning algorithms for simulations, e-commerce, and games.
LAS VEGAS — Remember Anki, the little iOS-powered toy car app that Apple brought up on stage for its World Wide Developers Conference last year?
We got to catch up with them at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show to talk about the app, the AI-controlled toy cars, and how they’ve created the latest must-have toy gadget with Apple’s help.
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This might well be the future of news content consumption.
Finding stuff on the web is pretty easy. Finding stuff you don’t already know about, surprising stuff, is hard. That’s what the developers behind Trapit are trying to fix.
Trapit for iPad allows you to discover things you’re already interested in as well as stuff you may not even know you’re looking for using algorithms that run in the app behind the scenes. What that means is that once you start using Trapit, it will learn what you’re into, and start finding stuff that might be of interest to you, based on what you’re already checking out as well as new stuff that might be cool for you to see.
The app also curates its own content into a Featured Traps section, which will help you discover even more content for that surprise factor.
