Google is using artificial intelligence to make it easier for you to find the files you need inside Google Drive. Its next update will add an interface that predicts the people and files you’re most likely to want and makes them more visible, speeding up your workflow.
Top tech trends of 2017
2017 was an exciting year for consumer technology. It brought us big advancements in areas like machine learning and biometric security, as well as a big boost for augmented reality, and some not-so-satisfying changes to smartphone price tags.
Here are the top technology trends of 2017.
Quick tip: How to make Face ID more accurate
What do you do when Face ID doesn’t recognize your face? Do you reposition your face? Reposition the iPhone? Stare a little harder at the camera, to tell it you really mean business?
Stop! Instead of acquiescing to your iPhone X’s silent demands, you should use this as a teaching moment (and show your phone who’s boss at the same time). Face ID learns how your face changes over time, but you can also teach it to recognize you better. Here’s how.
Apple is turning to India to recruit its next AI whiz kids
To help with its machine learning and artificial intelligence research, Apple is reportedly scouting for possible new employees straight out of an engineering college in India.
It’s a move which not only helps further Apple’s A.I. ambitions, but also shows its continued focus on India, a market which Apple is desperate to expand into.
No, Apple’s not building a massive archive of bra pictures
Is Apple building up a massive centralized archive of bra pictures belonging to its female users? To invoke Betteridge’s law about attention-grabbing headlines that end with a question mark, no, it’s not.
The internet went crazy yesterday after a tweet from one internet user pointed out that typing “brassiere” into the Photos app search bar of her iPhone brought up what appeared to be a folder showing various images of her in a state of undress. As it turns out, though, that’s not exactly the case.
Apple reveals AI magic behind ‘Hey Siri’
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.”
Apple dives deeper into AI with latest acquisition
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.
How the movie Her inspired Apple to create a better Siri
For its next act with Siri, Apple is taking some cues from one of the tech world’s biggest sources of inspiration: Hollywood.
With the release of iOS 11 later this month, Siri is set to get some big upgrades. The most notable will be the AI helper’s silky-smooth voice. And according to one Apple exec, the movie Her played a big role in helping the company figure out the changes they should make.
Apple’s machine learning blog sheds light on Siri’s secrets
Apple has updated its recently-launched machine learning blog to include three new papers, describing Apple’s use of artificial intelligence to improve Siri.
Check out the details below.
Apple’s new machine learning blog underlines its focus on AI
For a long time, Apple segregated itself from the rest of the artificial intelligence community, refusing to attend conferences, or to let its researchers publish their work in existing journals.
Today, Apple got around this second problem in the most Apple way possible: by launching a machine learning journal of its own.
How to add new Faces to Photos in iOS 11
If you’re using the iOS 11 beta, you may be enjoying the new Faces and Memories features in the Photos app. But, even while the facial recognition has improved, Photos has lost the ability to recognize new people. If you look in the People album, you’ll see that Add People button has gone. How, then, do you add new faces to your library? Fear not — it’s still easy, although a little less obvious.
Former Apple product design engineer reveals how Apple runs its factories
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.
Hands on: macOS High Sierra packs tons of surprising features
macOS High Sierra doesn’t pack as many updates as iOS 11, but Apple’s latest desktop software delivers plenty of new features worth drooling over.
After using the first High Sierra beta for the last few days, I’ve been blown away. Check out what’s new in the macOS High Sierra hands-on video below:
Apple finally proves it’s serious about AI
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
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.
Apple’s new AI acquisition will help it make sense of 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
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
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.
Apple training documents leak details of self-driving car project
Getting behind the wheel of one of Apple’s self-driving cars requires drivers to pass a series of tests, based on new information about the secretive project that leaked out today.
Details of Apple’s self-driving car program have been revealed by documents filed with the California DMV that shed light on the “Apple Automated System” currently under development.
Siri could soon recognize your voice for added security
Siri may soon respond to your voice and your voice alone, according to a recently-published patent application from Apple.
The security feature would essentially expand the biometric security system of Touch ID to voice, so that Siri’s voice recognition could also be used to unlock devices or potentially even confirm payments on Apple Pay.
Microsoft’s new iOS camera uses AI to spice up photos
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.
Apple’s A.I. hub in Seattle is about to get a lot bigger
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’s next iPhone may come with enhanced Siri
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.
This company built an AI for helping customer service teams
This post is brought to you by Agent.ai.
Not all businesses can afford a full-time staff of phone operators. And let’s be honest: Frustration with automated systems can leave customers looking for another place to do business.
Agent.ai has created something that bridges the gap — a customer relationship management (CRM) system that’s powered by machine learning. It comes in two forms: Co-Pilot and Auto-Pilot.
Apple is finally ready to spill some of its AI secrets
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.