Global artificial intelligence revenue in 2021, including software, hardware and services, is forecast to grow 16.4% year over year to $327.5 billion, reported IDC Tuesday. It projects the market will surpass $500 billion by 2024. Software generated 88% of 2020 AI revenue, though its projected 17.3% five-year annual growth rate makes it the lowest growth category in this sector, said IDC. "The global pandemic has pushed AI to the top of the corporate agenda," said analyst Ritu Jyoti. “AI is becoming ubiquitous across all the functional areas of a business.”
CTA convened five dozen tech brands, startups and healthcare organizations to develop an ANSI-accredited “trustworthiness” standard for using artificial intelligence for connected health, said the association Wednesday. “AI is providing solutions,” from diagnosing diseases to enabling “advanced remote care options,” said CTA President Gary Shapiro. “It’s critical patients and health care professionals trust how these tools are developed and their intended uses.” The standard, ANSI/CTA-2090, “identifies the core requirements and baseline for AI solutions in health care to be deemed as trustworthy,” said CTA. It also explores the impact of AI healthcare trustworthiness “through the lens of the end user,” it said.
On Semiconductor bowed the RSL10 Smart Shot camera with cloud-based artificial intelligence for IoT endpoints such for surveillance equipment and smart homes, said the chipmaker Monday. A companion smartphone app is the user interface for the platform and the gateway to AI-enabled object recognition services, said the company. In vehicles, smart cameras will be used to monitor the occupants, such as small children in rear seats, to provide early warning of any safety issues; in the home smart cameras can scan the contents of cupboards to build shopping lists, it said. Images are transferred using Bluetooth Low Energy.
Colby College in Waterville, Maine, received a $30 million alumnus gift to establish the cross-disciplinary Davis Institute for Artificial Intelligence, said the school Friday. “Addressing the complex questions surrounding AI requires a holistic analysis and response that can only come from a broad liberal arts perspective,” said benefactor Andrew Davis, president of investment firm Davis Selected Advisors. The institute is slated to open this fall. Colby students will become programmers and designers who will “shape the capacity and influence of AI and influence policy decisions regarding the social and ethical implications of AI and its uses for the common good,” said the college.
The opportunity in hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence is “enormous” due to the digital transformations due to the pandemic, said IBM CEO Arvind Krishna on a Q4 call Thursday. “We see the hybrid cloud opportunity at a trillion dollars,” with fewer than 25% of “workloads” having moved to the cloud so far, he said. The AI market opportunity also is “massive,” he said. Though AI deployment rates remain “in the single digits,” customers are “at the point where they are moving from experimenting with AI to deploying it at scale,” he said.
High-performance computing (HPC) “resources” haven’t kept pace with growing demand, reported the Center for Data Innovation Monday. It said Congress should increase HPC funding by $10 billion over the next years, including $1.5 billion a year in allocations to the Department of Education, three times more than now. Academic researchers need “immense” HPC to solve tough “data-intensive” problems, it said. “HPC has fueled various applications at the forefront of artificial intelligence,” including natural language processing and machine learning, it said. “Limited access to HPC is hampering the ability of AI researchers to develop new products and services that are vital in maintaining U.S. competitiveness.”
The Senate passed legislation Wednesday meant to give federal agencies technical expertise in procuring artificial intelligence technology. Introduced by Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., the Information Technology Modernization Centers of Excellence Program Act (S-4200) codifies an AI Center of Excellence within the General Services Administration to “provide technical expertise to relevant government agencies.” The bill awaits President Donald Trump’s signature.
Chatbots’ inability to express emotion, attitude or opinion, especially if they can’t solve a consumer’s problem, leads to user frustration and cessation of use, said Strategy Analytics Monday. Research shows a customer’s emotions have significant influence on their satisfaction with a service chatbot, said analyst Diane O’Neill. Despite some success in development of empathetic chatbots, human-level intelligence “is still not fully understood,” said analyst Kevin Nolan. Further advances are needed for chatbots to diversify into critical health-related services such as mental support systems.
The U.S. and U.K. signed an artificial intelligence R&D agreement, announced the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Friday. The agreement will involve regulatory recommendations, coordinated programming for research and promotion of AI R&D focused on “fundamental advances and challenging technical issues such as explainability and fairness,” OSTP said. “America and our allies must lead the world in shaping the development of cutting edge AI technologies and protecting against authoritarianism and repression,” said U.S. Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios. The joint declaration was released during the inaugural Special Relationship Economic Working Group meeting. It provides a “welcome counterweight to China’s growing power” with AI, said Policy Analyst Hodan Omaar of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation's Center for Data Innovation.
The U.S. should recruit global talent to ensure it keeps its advantage with artificial intelligence technology, National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) Chairman Eric Schmidt told the House Intelligence and Emerging Threats Subcommittee on Thursday. Chairman James Langevin, D-R.I., questioned whether limitations on foreigners studying in the U.S. plays into China’s hands, since workforce talent determines a country’s AI development. Many Chinese graduate students are responsible or partly responsible for the top academic papers on AI, Schmidt said. He recommended recruiting top talent from all countries and working to keep them in the U.S., producing research and helping create defense companies: “I’d much rather have them creating successes in America.” Responding to Langevin about AI investment, Schmidt said the U.S. isn’t overinvested in anything AI-related but underinvested in underlying infrastructure. NSCAI Commissioner Mignon Clyburn noted the commission’s first-quarter recommendations are filled with opportunities for the federal government to embrace AI as a “way of life, a way of your job” and a national strategic priority. Rep. Elisa Slotkin, D-Mich., asked about a structural change to ensure these recommendations and innovation are incorporated. NSCAI Vice Chairman Robert Work noted the commission recommended a technological steering group with intelligence and defense officials to examine how to integrate technology for the military’s advantage. Rep. Anthony Brown, D-Md., drew attention to the report’s recognition that AI needs to account for racial diversity, citing his concerns about bias. AI algorithms need to be built by design to avoid racial bias issues, said NSCAI Commissioner Jose-Marie Griffiths. She recommended R&D for algorithm development.