Narrative: Google is Ahead in AI
Each narrative page (like this) has a page describing and evaluating the narrative, followed by all the posts on the site tagged with that narrative. Scroll down beyond the introduction to see the posts.
Microsoft Veteran Will Help Run Chinese Search Giant Baidu – Bloomberg (Jan 17, 2017)
Qi Lu was very well respected at Microsoft and throughout the industry, and many were sad to see him step down from his role there due to health reasons a few months back. Now, he’s shown up at Baidu, the Chinese search engine, both to run much of the business but also apparently to spearhead a big push into AI. Given Google’s prominent role in pushing the boundaries of AI here in the US, it’s interesting to see its Chinese counterpart so far behind, and it makes sense that it wants to catch up. A single hire at the top (and one who will be very busy with other things) won’t get them there, but it can certainly demonstrate that Baidu is taking this initiative seriously, and help hire more of the best to assist in the work. The fact that he brings both significant US business and technology experience and Chinese nationality to bear on the role will also help bridge some of the gaps that might otherwise exist.
via Microsoft Veteran Will Help Run Chinese Search Giant Baidu – Bloomberg
Google RAISR Intelligently Makes Low-Res Images High Quality – PCMag.com (Jan 13, 2017)
This is a great example of the practical benefits of machine learning, which is where the focus should be as companies tout their AI/ML credentials. On-stage demos of new capability at the research level are impressive but ultimately meaningless unless they lead to real-world benefits for end users such as this image processing technique which can reduce file sizes by 75%.
via Google RAISR Intelligently Makes Low-Res Images High Quality – PCMag.com
DeepMind is thrashing some of the world’s best Go players – Business Insider (Jan 4, 2017)
I tweaked one part of the headline – it later emerged that Alphabet’s DeepMind subsidiary’s AlphaGo technology was the one beating all comers. This is the best possible kind of publicity for AlphaGo, DeepMind, and Alphabet around AI – creating massive organic buzz before it is even known the company is behind it. Alphabet’s Go experiments have been great advertising in general, but of course the key remains putting this same technology to work in ways that benefit ordinary people in their everyday lives.
via An unknown entity is thrashing some of the world’s best Go players – Business Insider
This Is How Google Wants To Make The Internet Speak Everyone’s Language – BuzzFeed News (Dec 30, 2016)
This is a great example of putting AI to work doing something useful. Too much of the conversation in the tech industry around AI is still about specs and methodologies rather than real, tangible benefits, but this is a wonderful exception. Companies need to show rather than tell around their AI capabilities if they want the message to stick.
via This Is How Google Wants To Make The Internet Speak Everyone’s Language – BuzzFeed News