Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning will create computers so sophisticated and godlike that humans will need to implant “neural laces” in their brains to keep up, Tesla Motors Inc and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk told a crowd of tech leaders this week.
While Musk’s description of an injectable human-computer link might sound like science fiction, top tech executives repeatedly said that AI was on the verge of changing everyday life at a conference by online publication Recode this week.
It is no secret that tech companies are diving into AI analytics research, an industry that is forecast to grow to US$70 billion by 2020 from just US$8.2 billion in 2013, according to a Bank of America report, citing International Data Corp research.
AI is already used in Web search systems, marketing recommendation functions and security and financial trading programs. The technology will spread to driverless cars and service robots in the future, the report said.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai said he sees a “huge opportunity” in AI.
Google first started applying the technology through “deep neural networks” to voice recognition software about three to four years ago and is ahead of rivals such as Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc and Microsoft Corp in machine learning, Pichai said.
However, he and others acknowledged that the work of building machines that teach themselves is still in its infancy.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said that the company has been working on AI for at least four years and now has 1,000 employees working on Alexa, the company’s voice-based smart assistant software system.
Bezos predicted a profound impact on society over the next 20 years.
IBM CEO Ginni Rometty said the company has been working on artificial technology, which she calls a cognitive system, since 2005 when it started developing its Watson supercomputer.
“I would say in five years, there’s no doubt in my mind that cognitive AI will impact every decision made” from healthcare to education to financial services, Rometty said.
However, it was the comments by Musk, on how he would potentially develop the technology to implant humans with technology to augment brains, that captured the imagination of attendees.
“It got people thinking on a philosophical level and away from what Google or Tesla will come out with next year,” said Adam Burrows, senior vice president of emerging businesses at HomeAdvisor.
“It brings up the question, are we human anymore if we are part computer?” he said.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained