Gartner serves up 2018 Hype Cycle with a heavy side of AI

The Hype Cycle can serve as an early warning system for executives, and jumping on technologies in the two to five year range could pay big dividends down the road.

By Alex Hickey • Aug. 20, 2018

Salesforce takes ML library behind Einstein to open-source

Data scientists and developers are in-demand in tech today. Both jobs focus on improving different aspects of business operations, but AI and ML could greatly impact that.

By Samantha Schwartz • Aug. 17, 2018

Amazon is breaking down Alexa's language barriers

What's in a name? Amazon researchers are working on Alexa's ability to translate nouns in complex languages. 

By Samantha Schwartz • Aug. 10, 2018

Google makes accessible cloud, AI capabilities for hybrid environments

Intelligent communication and productivity tools, security controls and services, and data analysis tools rounded out Google Cloud Next announcements. 

By Alex Hickey • July 27, 2018

Process improvement — not cost savings — drive AI adoption

The use of robotics and artificial intelligence is an "inevitable evolution," and businesses who ignore it will quickly fall behind the curve. 

By Shefali Kapadia • July 26, 2018

America's in a cyberwar and 'I am not convinced we're winning,' former House intel chair says

There's a machine learning arms race taking place between system defenders and hackers, and the advantage boils down to who has the most training data.

By Alex Hickey • July 23, 2018

Accenture, Amazon partner on Alexa development

The consulting firm is expanding its collaboration with Amazon to help companies create new voice experiences for customers.

By Robert Williams • July 20, 2018

Watermarking AI models holds protection for theft, misuse

Just like embedding a word on top of a photograph, digital watermarking works by discreetly slipping a backdoor into a model — ideally without others realizing it is there.

By Alex Hickey • July 20, 2018

Is your company really ready for AI? Why proactive self-regulation makes sense

While transparency in AI is critical to preserving trust with consumers, "perverse" market incentives undermine the need for companies to proactively self-regulate and avoid problems down the road.

By Alex Hickey • July 19, 2018

UPS working to consolidate data points on single platform with analytics, machine learning

The company has been developing the predictive tool for months and will use it to analyze over 1 billion data points daily, including packages' metrics and customer data.

By Samantha Schwartz • July 19, 2018

Just in time for All-Star Game, MLB signs AWS as official AI provider

The cloud provider also expanded its cloud infrastructure and artificial intelligence partnerships with 21st Century Fox and Epic Games.

By Alex Hickey • July 17, 2018

Salesforce grows marketing footprint with Datorama acquisition

The marketing intelligence and analytics platform will bolster Salesforce's data integration and AI capabilities — areas set for improvement for 2018. 

By Alex Hickey • July 17, 2018

Can AI match human abstract reasoning capabilities?

Google's DeepMind unit developed an abstract reasoning test for neural networks based on human IQ tests. 

By Alex Hickey • July 13, 2018

Uncle Sam — and AI — need you

Including academia, industry and civil society in the process is important as legislators parse out what to do (or, perhaps more importantly, what not to do) for AI.

By Alex Hickey • July 12, 2018

How to level the playing field between the haves and have nots of AI

The sectors — industry, academia and government — are displacing AI talent and creating an uneven distribution of the technology. 

By Samantha Schwartz • July 11, 2018

PetSmart puts fraudsters in the dog house with AI

The company's fraud detection program saved $12 million last year, helped solve a murder and furthered a human trafficking investigation. 

By Alex Hickey • July 9, 2018

RPA is having a moment: What you need to know about the automation technology

Robotic process automation gained steam in the past few years as vendors worked to automate rote tasks, such as data entry or financial calculations.

By Naomi Eide • July 9, 2018

Industry creating a 'robot reserve army' with influx of automation, economists say

Technology has been a contributor to "modern economic growth" since the Industrial Revolution, but it's been met with "technological anxiety."

By Samantha Schwartz • July 5, 2018

IBM's AI debater doesn't get stage fright

Without having been trained on the topics ahead of time, IBM's system took on two accomplished human debaters in a live setting — and outperformed them. 

By Alex Hickey • June 20, 2018

Zara stocks up on AI, big data, analytics partnerships and investments

The push to incorporate technology is working. Last week, the fashion retailer's parent company, Inditex, posted record Q1 sales. 

By Alex Hickey • June 18, 2018

Why the FCC, EU are convening AI experts

Chairman Ajit Pai is looking to convene a panel of experts to examine the effects of AI and ML on consumers and the communications market. 

By Alex Hickey • June 15, 2018

What's going on underneath your AI?

From hiring to customer service, artificial intelligence rules many domains that once required the delicate human touch. 

By Alex Hickey • June 14, 2018

AI, blockchain top this season's companies to watch hot list

Both domains are surrounded by more hype than meaningful application, but early innovators are setting the standards and roadmap for the technologies.

By Alex Hickey • June 14, 2018

How viable is machine learning for cybersecurity?

Business professionals who have been riding the ML high may be in store for a "hangover" when the trough of disillusionment hits. 

By Alex Hickey • June 5, 2018

TIL how Reddit transformed its data culture and processes

Underneath the company's UX redesign was a shift in data culture and a back-end transition from legacy systems to leverage advanced technologies.

By Alex Hickey • May 23, 2018