Gigaom Minute – June 18

Transcript

• Researchers at Facebook have trained their AI models to recognize images at 40,000 images a second. Using Facebook’s custom GPU hardware and some new algorithms, the breakthrough allows Facebook to start working on even larger datasets, helping them to better understand the vast content contributed daily by users. Read more.

• In a recent article published in the National Review, titled “Embrace the Robots,” journalist Rich Lowry addresses the perceived threat of job loss in the face of innovation. He summarizes the American economy as “not a tale of stasis but of gales of technological change constantly making the economic landscape anew … It’s hard to see,” he writes, “how anyone would want it any other way.” Read more.

• TechCrunch recently reported Japanese telecom giant SoftBank has acquired Boston Dynamics and the robotics firm Schaft from Google owner Alphabet. This acquisition is one of many bets Softbank is making in the future of computing — TechCrunch notes other Softbank acquisitions include a $24 billion acquisition of chip maker ARM Holdings. Read more.

• Offshoremag.com reports Beyond Limits, an AI and cognitive computing company, has secured $20 million in Series B funding from BP Ventures, the corporate investment arm of BP. Beyond Limits reports it will use the funds to “combine human knowledge with machine learning and provide the energy sector with new levels of operational insight.” Read more.