artificial intelligence - page 3

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 is looking for psychologist to improve Siri

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Sorry, Alexa: Siri still the most widespread AI assistant
Siri could become a lot more empathetic.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple’s digital assistant Siri could soon become your new psychologist.

According to a new job listing posted by Apple, the company is searching for a software engineer that also has some previous experience in psychology or counseling. Why? Because people are starting to talk to Siri like its a human.

Alibaba undercuts Echo and HomePod with $73 smart speaker

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Aliba
It's only available in China for now, though!
Photo: Alibaba

China’s Alibaba Group has launched a cut-price smart speaker to compete with the Amazon Echo, Google Home, and Apple’s forthcoming HomePod, as announced at WWDC.

Called the “Tmall Genie,” after Alibaba’s e-commerce platform Tmall, the China-only device represents the company’s first step into artificial intelligence hardware. It is priced at 499 yuan ($73.42), which makes it significantly cheaper than the aforementioned rivals.

Former Apple product design engineer reveals how Apple runs its factories

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Instrumental CEO Anna-Katrina Shedletsky
Anna Katrina Shedletsky is a former Apple product design engineer who is using her experience to build AI that helps companies streamline manufacturing.
Photo: Instrumental

On this week’s Apple Chat (the podcast formerly known as Kahney’s Korner): I talk with former Apple product design engineer Anna-Katrina Shedletsky about her take on modern manufacturing and how AI will revolutionize factories. She introduces us to her new company, Instrumental, which is using machine learning to help manufacturers identify and fix problems on their assembly lines.

Using her hard-earned experience at Apple overseeing the production of the first Apple Watch and several generations of the iPod, Shedletsky says machine learning is coming fast to manufacturing. Amazingly, almost all consumer electronics products are still assembled by hand — including hundreds of millions of iPhones.

But that’s changing. Manufacturing is undergoing a huge sea change with the advance of robotics and AI.

Macphun adds AI power to photo editing app

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neptune
Macphun adds artificial intelligence to Luminar with its Neptune update.
Photo: David Pierini/Cult of Mac

When Macphun entered the imaging software game, it wanted to make products as powerful as Photoshop, Aperture or Lightroom yet with fewer clicks to well-styled photos.

Today, Macphun released an update to its all-in-one editing app Luminar that can make a photo beautiful in still fewer steps.

How does one sound?

Apple finally proves it’s serious about AI

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Apple AI
Apple's ready to embrace machine learning.
Photo: Gordon Johnson/Pixabay CC

Sitting on a cash pile of billions, Apple’s not a company that’s used to being left behind. But when it comes to artificial intelligence, that’s exactly what has happened in recent years. While companies like Google and Facebook led the way with cutting-edge AI, Apple lagged. It was embarrassing for a company in Apple’s position to miss out on the single best tech revolution taking place at the moment.

But during Monday’s WWDC 2017 keynote, Apple went a long way toward making amends.

Apple is developing a special AI chip for iPhone

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A10 Fusion
Custom AI-powered silicon could be Apple's next big thing.
Photo: Apple

Apple is allegedly planning to take its Artificial Intelligence game to an all-new level an AI-powered iPhone chip.

In a race to catch up with the competition at Amazon and Google, Apple has a team of engineers working on a new piece of silicon that’s dedicated to processing artificial intelligence commands which could lead to improved battery life.

Will Siri ever be as good as the Google Assistant? [Friday Night Fights]

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The gap is getting wider.
The gap is getting wider.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Google brought its Google Assistant to iOS this week, finally giving iPhone fans a taste of the best virtual assistant on the planet. But those on Android are in for so much more, with major improvements on the way, including impressive Google Lens integration.

Friday Night Fights bugThe changes make it harder than ever for Siri to catch up. Despite the improvements Apple made with iOS 10, it still feels like Siri is well behind its rivals. Is that gap now too big, or can Apple catch up? Will Siri ever be as good as the Google Assistant?

Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we wage war over virtual assistants.

Apple’s new AI acquisition will help it make sense of data

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screen-shot-2017-05-13-at-13-56-34
Dark data isn't as sinister as it sounds.
Photo: Lattice Data

Apple has acquired an AI company as part of its continued push to embrace artificial intelligence.

The company in question is the Menlo Park-based Lattice Data, which specializes in taking unstructured, “dark” data and transforming it into more useful, structured information. Apple acquired around 20 engineers as part of the deal.

Forget replacing humans, Apple wants AI to improve our memory

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Sorry, Alexa: Siri still the most widespread AI assistant
Siri may soon remember every detail of your life.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

If Apple has its way in the field of artificial intelligence, robots and algorithms won’t just be used to replace you at work, they could help fix your brain too.

Apple executive and Siri co-creator, Tom Gruber, laid out a different vision for artificial intelligence today while speaking at the TED 2017 conference in Vancouver, Canada. During his remarks, Gruber told the crowd how he thinks AI could become more helpful than harmful.

Ex-NASA engineers lead Apple’s self-driving car team

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lexus
The 2015 Lexus RX450h is Apple's vehicle of choice.
Photo: Lexus

Apple is tapping into some of the brilliant minds behind NASA’s recent project for its self-driving car concept, according to new documents that unmask some of the scientists on the team.

A new filing from the California DMV reveals the identity of the six drivers listed on Apple’s self-driving permit, some of whom weren’t even known to be working for Cupertino.

iPhone 8 may not be as expensive as predicted

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iPhone 8 concept
Apple is already driving an OLED boom.
Photo: iDropNews

The next iPhone Apple unveils may not prove as expensive as some have speculated, according to a new research note from investment firm UBS.

Early rumors for the iPhone 8 claimed it will cost upward of $1,000. However, UBS analyst Steve Milunovich says the real price tag will most likely be a lot less than that. And fans might have Samsung to thank.

Microsoft’s new iOS camera uses AI to spice up photos

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Sprinkle is Microsoft's newest app for iOS.
Sprinkle is Microsoft's newest app for iOS.
Photo: Microsoft

Microsoft is the latest tech giant to get in on the craze of fun camera apps like Snapchat, which are currently all the rage among teens.

The company’s new app, Sprinkles, launched today on iOS as a featured app. While it looks like just another Snapchat wannabe on the outside, Microsoft threw in some crazy AI technology that makes it easier than ever to create and share silly photos.

Top Apple analyst says Wall Street underestimates iPhone 8

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iphone
We hope the next iPhone is this beautiful.
Photo: AlHasan Husni

Sales of the upcoming iPhone 8 could be even bigger than most people are expecting, according to Morgan Stanley’s top Apple analyst, Katy Huberty.

In a recent interview, the Wall Street analyst said that the new iPhone will have so many innovative new features is will trigger an avalanche of upgrades that will likely shatter Apple’s old records.

Apple’s A.I. hub in Seattle is about to get a lot bigger

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Sorry, Alexa: Siri still the most widespread AI assistant
Siri needs better machine learning skills.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple plans to deepen its roots in Microsoft’s backyard by expanding operations at its Seattle center that specializes in AI and machine learning technology.

Details about the new Seattle hub were shared by Apple in a recent interview that also announced the iPhone-maker has created a $1 million endowed professorship in artificial intelligence at the University of Washington.

Apple may join Amazon, Google and Facebook in AI partnership group

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Screen Shot 2017-01-26 at 13.07.45
Apple is embracing artificial intelligence for the first time in years.
Photo: Partnership on AI

Apple is reportedly set to join an artificial intelligence research group, Partnership on AI, which also includes Amazon, Alphabet, Google, Facebook and Microsoft among its members.

Apple being admitted into the group could be announced as early as this week, claim sources familiar with the story.

Apple’s next iPhone may come with enhanced Siri

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Sorry, Alexa: Siri still the most widespread AI assistant
Sorry, Alexa: Siri still the most widespread AI assistant
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Siri may be set to get a serious upgrade when Apple launches its next iPhone later this year.

According to the latest rumor out of Asia, Apple is planning to catch up with the likes of Alexa and Google Assistant by creating a better version of Siri that comes with more artificial intelligence skills.

Apple invests $1 billion in world’s biggest tech fund

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tim cook in a car
Apple invested $1 billion in Didi Chuxing last year.
Photo: Tim Cook/Twitter

Apple confirmed today that is getting into the venture capital game by investing in one of the world’s largest tech funds.

SoftBank’s new Vision Fund received $1 billion from Apple, according to a company spokesperson that revealed the company is investing in the $100 billion fund to gain access to future technology.

Apple offers first glimpse at its secretive AI work

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photos in ios 10
iOS 10's Photos app can automatically recognize content in images.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Researchers on Apple’s artificial intelligence team have published the first ever research paper ever from the iPhone-maker, ending Apple’s long standing ban that safeguarded company secrets.

The paper details methods on how to train AI algorithms to recognize images. Apple’s researchers reveal that they have tried using both computer-generated images as well as real-world images to train to algorithm, but each have serious drawbacks.

Apple is finally ready to spill some of its AI secrets

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Apple is opening up about its AI work.
Photo: Hardmaru/Twitter

In a break from its ultra-secretive attitude toward R&D, Apple is set to start engaging more with the AI academic community by allowing its researchers to publish their work in machine learning journals.

The news was announced by Russ Salakhutd, director of AI research at Apple and a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania. He made the announcement at the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS) conference earlier today.

iPhone camera is the key to Apple’s AR future

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iPhone 7 iSight camera
The iPhone's camera will be an AR portal.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

A secret team of Apple employees are working on a project that will turn iPhone cameras everywhere into a portal for augmented reality.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has said he’s bullish on the future of AR, and according to a new report the company is working on a total game changer.