Welcome back. Covid-19 is reshaping private businesses and public spaces alike, as the world comes to grips with a second wave of coronavirus infections. The pandemic is accelerating the use of AI-enabled tools designed to help companies better understand customers' changing behavior. It is also prompting efforts by cities to allay fears over the growing use of AI in public-sector services, including facial recognition tools enlisted to monitor social distancing in public spaces.

Providers of customer-relationship management software in recent weeks have brought out new artificial-intelligence tools as they try to meet businesses’ increasing demand for products that can improve their sales operations, WSJ’s John McCormick reports.

Big players. Oracle and Salesforce.com this year have embedded more AI predictive capabilities into their CRM systems, while C3.ai, Adobe and Microsoft have brought out a line of CRM systems, called C3 AI CRM.

Big money. The worldwide market for CRM application software market is projected to go from $60.29 billion in 2019 to $61.95 billion this year, a 2.75% increase, according to International Data Corp. 

Local European governments are undertaking an effort to allay public concerns over bias and privacy in the AI algorithms used to help run city services, WSJ Pro AI's Catherine Stupp reports.

Portal of Amsterdam. The Netherlands capital in September launched a website listing four algorithms used by city services, including a camera system to monitor social distancing in public spaces during the pandemic. 

European tour. European Union officials plan to propose legislation next year that addresses privacy or discrimination risks associated with the use of AI in public services, such as facial recognition.

Auto-grading robots designed to help teachers handle the shift to remote learning are assigning failing grades to students whose correct answers don’t exactly match their teacher’s answer key, WSJ’s Julie Jargon reports.

Capital offense. A learning platform developed by software maker Canvas has flagged exam responses as incorrect due to capitalization discrepancies, even though a human could easily see the answers are correct.

A teachable moment. The makers of such educational software acknowledge the problems with auto-grading and say many teachers didn’t have enough time to properly train on how to use the online platforms.

China is investing heavily in computer chips and stepping up efforts to cultivate homegrown talent as it accelerates its quest for technological self-sufficiency, the WSJ's Liza Lin reports.

The numbers. Chinese semiconductor companies have raised the equivalent of nearly $38 billion this year, while more than 50,000 local companies have registered as semiconductor-related businesses, according to corporate registration tracker Tianyancha.

A scramble. A Trump administration move to block exports of critical technologies to China, the world’s largest importer of semiconductors, set off a scramble by domestic companies to build up domestic sources.

Facebook leans on AI for content moderation. The social media giant is using machine-learning algorithms to prioritize which posts human content moderators should review first, rather than dealing with them in chronological order, the Verge reports.

Shutterstock buys AI music company. Shutterstock Inc. has acquired Amper Music, an AI platform that helps users create original music, Digital Music News reports. The deal will allow users to create new tunes based on more than a million samples.

Snapchat acquires voice assistant startup. Snap Inc. recently paid $70 million to purchase Voca.ai, which offers AI-based voice agents for call centers, aiming to build out more business services into its app, TechCrunch reports.

Doctors paid to use AI algos. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said it plans to pay for doctors using AI systems used in diabetes diagnoses and stroke detection, a move that could help drive much wider use of AI in health care, Wired reports.

Shares in AI. Artificial intelligence services company C3.ai on Friday filed for an initial public offering with JPMorgan, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley as lead underwriters, to be listed under the ticker "AI," CNBC reports.

Down on the farm. Telus Corp., the Canadian telecommunications company, created a division offering AI technology to help farmers and ranchers improve operations, food tracking and connections between production levels, Bloomberg reports.

Bringing AI to bear. Churchill, Manitoba, a 900-person town in northern Canada, is using AI-enabled radar to track polar bears, a system developers say can work even in the worst snowstorms, Reuters reports.

Lack of transparency decried. Scientists say large tech firms are reluctant to share the underlying code and processes in AI developments, making it more difficult for experts to assess AI models for bias and safety, MIT Technology Review reports.

Benefits of ‘data trusts’. Privacy concerns that inhibit data-sharing efforts and limit the potential of AI projects could be addressed by an independent entity, dubbed a data trust, that “serves as a fiduciary for the data providers and governs their data’s proper use,” according to Harvard Business Review.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. has set Nov. 27 as the new deadline for a deal to turn TikTok into an American company. (WSJ)

Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched four astronauts into orbit, marking the company’s first full-fledged operational mission with humans on board and beginning regularly scheduled commercial flights to the International Space Station. (WSJ)

Write to Enterprise Technology Editor Steven Rosenbush and Pro AI Deputy Editor Angus Loten.

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