Global revenue from AI software, hardware and services is forecast to grow 19.6% year over year in 2022 to $432.8 billion, topping the $500 billion milestone in 2023, reported IDC Tuesday. AI is "the next major wave of innovation,” with advancements in language, voice and vision technologies “revolutionizing human efficiencies," said IDC analyst Ritu Jyoti. IDC projects AI software revenue will decline slightly in 2022, as spending for AI hardware and services grows more quickly. It forecast AI services will deliver the fastest spending expansion over the next five years with a 22% compound annual growth rate, compared with a 20.5% CAGR for AI hardware spending through 2026.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission will host an online test and evaluation forum March 31 at 9 a.m. EDT on consumer products using AI and machine-learning technologies, said Friday’s Federal Register. The forum “will focus on existing testing and evaluation capabilities and the need to establish an adequate methodology to determine if AI/ML-related technologies contribute to an unreasonable risk that could injure consumers,” said CPSC. Those interested in presenting information at the forum should register by Feb. 25, all others by March 21, it said.

Comcast Technology Solutions launched Video Artificial Intelligence, a service to help content providers, MVPDs and advertisers analyze live and on-demand video, audio and closed captions to improve advertising efficacy and manage new content. The 24x7 service identifies and tags onscreen elements such as hard cuts, black frames and transitions, or specific sounds, to provide enhanced understanding of video content, it said Thursday. The underlying technology for VideoAI has been applied across millions of video assets to create metadata segmentation for dynamic ad insertion, segmentation detection and automated on-screen highlight reels during live sporting events. Companies can use VideoAI to work with Comcast to develop their own use cases, it said.

Global AI software revenue is forecast to grow 21.3% next year, exceeding $62.5 billion, reported Gartner Monday. Knowledge management, virtual assistants, autonomous vehicles, digital workplace and crowdsourced data will be the top five “use case categories” for AI software spending in 2022, it said. AI software spending from virtual assistants, the top 2021 category at $6.21 billion, is projected to grow 14.7% next year to $7.12 billion but still come in second to knowledge management, which Gartner sees growing 31.5% to $7.19 billion. Enterprises demonstrate a strong interest in AI, with 48% of chief information officers responding that they have deployed or plan to deploy AI and machine learning technologies within 12 months. While organizations “commonly experiment” with AI, many “struggle to make the technology a part of their standard operations,” it said.

EU governments generally back the European Commission's proposed AI act, said EU Council telecom officials Thursday after a virtual debate on the legislation. Everyone agreed there must be a systematic, unified approach to AI in the single market based on fundamental rights, said Bostjan Koritnik, public administration minister for Slovenia, which holds the current EU presidency. Officials want a horizontal regulatory framework that covers use of AI in all sectors. The vast majority of ministers support the EC's risk-based approach but said many issues need further discussion, such as the scope of the measure, law enforcement aspects and definitions of key terms, the Council said. The debate raised two key questions, said EC Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton: The need for a unified approach that generates trust and the necessity of balancing innovation against citizens' confidence in using AI. EU rules will also have to apply to AI producers outside the EU, he said. Rules must be proportionate, limited to what's necessary, adaptable to emerging risks and respectful of values, and must stimulate investment, he said. Governments must ensure access to the data on which AI depends, Breton added. Discussions will continue in the Council's telecom working party, with a compromise proposal expected in November.

Augmented reality will leverage AI to “engage” 200 million active users by 2026, reported ABI Research Wednesday. It expects nearly 20 million pairs of AR smart glasses with “local on-device” AI chipsets will ship in 2026, for 70% of total smart glasses shipments that year. “Many companies in the AR space have been leveraging AI in numerous ways for years, and this usage is growing both in number of companies and scope of usage,” said ABI. This bodes well for AI becoming “a valuable enabling technology that is harmonious with the entire augmented reality value chain,” it said. “The combination of AI, machine learning and AR is an incredibly potent one.”

A European Parliament vote opposing mass AI surveillance by police got cheers from civil society, jeers from the tech sector. Wednesday's nonbinding resolution backed a ban on private facial recognition databases, behavioral predictive policing and citizen scoring, and said automated recognition shouldn't be used in public places. Lawmakers worried AI surveillance could discriminate against various groups, especially in the context of law enforcement and courts, and said citizens should be monitored only when suspected of a crime. They said humans should supervise AI systems, algorithms should be open, and people subject to AI surveillance must have remedies. The report took "what many have seen as the most progressive steps of the Parliament so far in the AI debates -- and perhaps some of the most progressive in global AI policy," blogged European Digital Rights Wednesday. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, however, warned the ban on facial recognition would "undermine efforts to effectively respond to crime and terrorism in Europe." It urged the EU to focus on developing safeguards for appropriate use of the technology and effective enforcement of privacy laws.

A new Motorola AI-enabled in-car video system for law enforcement has an in-car camera that begins recording when an individual enters the back of a police car, said the company Wednesday. The technology is designed to ensure that the presence of a person in a police vehicle is securely recorded and that video evidence is automatically tagged and saved to an incident record, it said. The system is also equipped with advanced license plate recognition, which uses AI to raise critical alerts, such as identifying a vehicle that may be associated with a person.

U.S. companies selling AI products into Europe will be subject to EU AI laws no matter where they're headquartered, European Commission Legal and Policy Officer Gabriele Mazzini said on a Thursday FCBA webinar. A legislation proposal, which the EC floated in April (see 2104210003), would affect anyone marketing AI into the EU, said Mazzini, of the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology. The EC made clear it wants to promote its vision of AI regulation globally, so similar policies may arise elsewhere, including in the U.S., said Verizon Senior Manager-EU Public Policy Marco Moragon. The proposal aims to address risks of AI technologies, such as enforcement of fundamental rights, consumer and other laws, said Mazzini. Protecting democratic rights and legal principles is a top priority for civil society, said Iverna McGowan, Center for Democracy and Technology Europe Office director: AI could disproportionately affect vulnerable people. Verizon operates in EU markets and wants a consistent, harmonized regime, said Moragon. CDT believes a risk-based and rights-based approach to AI isn't mutually exclusive, said McGowan. She seeks a baseline against which to assess the technology's possible impact on human rights, saying a rights-based approach should start by consulting people about how AI services affect their real-life experiences. The proposal divides AI systems into three groups: prohibited, where there's no societal value from their use; higher risk, which may pose problems but can have beneficial societal/economic benefits; and low risk, where no prior rules will be imposed, but companies will be subject to transparency requirements, said Mazzini. Companies must self-assess risk, which may be burdensome to smaller firms, said Moragon. When the measure refers to users, it means purchasers of AI systems, not end users, said McGowan: Accountability should be clearer on what rights and redress end-users get. A European Parliament decision on which committees will have jurisdiction here isn't likely before September, Mazzini added.

COVID-19 forced a nearly 34% decline in 2020 venture capital funding for AI to $15 billion, but a strong rebound is “imminent” for 2021, reported ABI Research Wednesday. VC rounds were reduced due to lockdown measures, and VC firms deferred much dealmaking due to macroeconomic uncertainty, it said. It also blamed U.S.-China trade tensions for cooling investor enthusiasm. ABI sees 2020 as “a slight hiccup for an otherwise steady increase in AI investments. AI VC funding this year through June was around $14.5 billion, “already closing in on 2020’s amount, and is very likely to exceed the 2019 figure,” it said.