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Machine Learning Crunches Cheetos Data; Smart-Cloud Burst Threatens Chip Makers
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Welcome back. Need further proof that artificial intelligence is poised to invade every aspect of our daily lives? PepsiCo is tapping AI to make the perfect Cheeto, with a system that automatically improves performance through trial and error. It also uses an emerging technique called machine teaching, where the input of subject-matter experts is used to improve AI algorithms. These and other advanced tools have the potential to transform everything from snacks to deep-space probes.
Note to readers: This is our last newsletter of the year. WSJ Pro AI Weekly returns Jan. 5. Have a good holiday season, and see you in 2021.
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PepsiCo hopes a new artificial-intelligence system will help ensure its Cheetos cheese puffs all have the same texture, crunch and shape. PHOTO: PEPSICO
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PepsiCo Inc., maker of Cheetos, Doritos, Lay’s and other snack brands in addition to soda, is conducting a test run of AI-powered software to ensure Cheetos cheese-puff snacks have the right fluorescent-orange color, crunch and shape, WSJ’s John McCormick reports.
Smart food. The system, developed by Neal Analytics using Microsoft’s Project Bonsai AI platform, monitors the production process to assess the quality of each cheesy puff as it is made, automatically adjusting equipment to meet specifications.
A teachable moment. Among other advanced tools, the system uses a new capability called “machine teaching,” which helps self-learning AI systems master tasks with expert coaching. The goal is to apply the approach to other types of Cheetos, snack foods and beverages.
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Semiconductor companies like Intel, Nvidia and AMD are facing competition from some of their best customers, as tech giants increasingly make custom chips in-house tailored to cloud-computing and artificial intelligence offerings, The Wall Street Journal reports.
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Time to process. Amazon this month unveiled a new chip designed to speed up the ability of AI algorithms to learn from data, and previously rolled out central processing units for Amazon Web Services, its cloud-computing unit.
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The Covid effect. Microsoft, Amazon and Google have benefited from the rise of cloud-computing during the pandemic and a growing appetite among businesses for AI-powered analytics to make sense of vast amounts of cloud-stored data.
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18,000
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The estimated number of organizations that fell victim to the SolarWinds hack, including AI-market vendors like Cisco Systems, Intel and VMware. (WSJ)
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Werner Vogels, chief technology officer of Amazon.com, at a conference in Lisbon last year.
PHOTO: PEDRO FIUZA
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Digital Insider Sees AI Boom
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Werner Vogels, Amazon’s chief technology officer and all-around tech guru, says in the year ahead large corporations will pursue a much broader distribution of digital technology, including an acceleration of machine learning, as more devices and systems become interconnected, WSJ’s Thomas Loftus reports.
Why now? Machine-to-machine connections are already expanding with the widespread adoption of sensors and devices connected to the cloud, on pace to make up 50% of internet connections, from 33% in 2018, Dr. Vogels says.
Fighting fire with firewire. As an example, he cites the ability of firefighters on the line in California to use machine-to-machine connections to predict the path of wildfires.
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“In this world of quantum in the coming year, I think that we will definitely see a revolution in how software and support software is being built.”
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— Amazon Chief Technology Officer Werner Vogels
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WSJ Pro AI Exclusive: Venture Capital
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Despite shaky markets, AI startups raised an estimated $9.9 billion in the second half of 2020, up 15% from the same period last year, according to data compiled by brokerage BuyShares. All told, AI startups raised a total of $17.7 billion this year, down from $19.3 billion in 2019. Here are this year’s biggest funding rounds, as reported by BuyShares:
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Relativity Space, which builds rockets from 3D-printed parts, last month raised $500 million in a Series D funding round led by Tiger Global Management, lifting its valuation to $2.3 billion.
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In the same month, TuSimple, a self-driving trucks startup, raised $350 million in a Series E funding round, with investors including Goodyear, Union Pacific and CN Rail.
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Machine learning-enabled biotechnology startup Zymergen in September raised $300 million in a Series D funding round. Investors included Baillie Gifford and Baron Capital.
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PHOTO: TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
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Robotics startup changes name. In a bid to distance itself from blacklisted China-based parent company CloudMinds, the SoftBank-backed robotics firm changed the name of its U.S. unit to Wright Robots. (Reuters)
Covid safety check. RealNetworks, a Seattle-based software firm, says it has developed an app that uses AI and a digital camera to detect if someone is not wearing a mask, or wearing one improperly, offering store and restaurant operators a tool for screening customers. (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)
Cognizant to buy AI consultancy. Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. announced plans Monday to buy U.K.-based Inawisdom, a privately-held AI, machine-learning, and data analytics consultancy, marking the San Francisco information-technology firm's ninth acquisition this year. (Business Insider)
Drone maker joins blacklist. The U.S. government added Chinese robotic-drone maker SZ DJI Technology Co. to its economic blacklist of China-based tech firms, citing “wide-scale human rights abuses” within China through high-tech surveillance and other tools. (Reuters)
Identifying malaria-carrying mosquitos. Researchers at the University of Rhode Island have applied an advanced AI system called a convoluted neural network to a library of 1,709 two-dimensional images of adult mosquitos, as a way to locate species that transmit malaria. (Science Daily)
Bringing chips home. The U.S. Defense Department plans to create incentives to encourage semiconductor manufacturers, like Apple and Qualcomm to make more chips in U.S.-based facilities, rather than rely on outside operators, typically in Taiwan or South Korea. (Reuters)
Cat’s outta the bag. Scientists at Freie Universität Berlin say they have developed an AI-enabled method to calculate Schrödinger's equation, a formula devised by Austrian-Irish physicist Erwin Schrodinger for describing the wave or state function of a quantum-mechanical system. (Phys.org)
The force is strong with this one. The U.S. Air Force says a robot successfully piloted a U-2S Dragon Lady spy plane using an AI algorithm called Artu, after the Star Wars droid R2-D2, over a California airbase. (Fox Business)
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Facebook and Google agreed to “cooperate and assist one another” if they ever faced an investigation into their pact to work together in online advertising, according to an unredacted version of a lawsuit filed by 10 states against Google last week. (WSJ)
The suspected Russian hackers behind breaches at U.S. government agencies also gained access to major U.S. technology and accounting companies, at least one hospital and a university, a Wall Street Journal analysis of internet records found. (WSJ)
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed Russia for the SolarWinds hack that compromised numerous federal agencies and U.S. corporations, while President Trump said he was skeptical of a growing consensus in Washington about the country’s role. (WSJ)
Shares of Tesla declined in their S&P 500 debut Monday as the massive wave of demand that had propelled the stock ahead of its inclusion subsided. (WSJ)
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Reddit Inc. on Dec. 13 said it bought video-sharing app Dubsmash. An item in last week's newsletter incorrectly said the deal was announced Dec. 14.
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