1. 
   
2. 
   
   

   Google to open artificial intelligence centre in China
   

   • 
     

   
   Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
   Image captionThe new facility joins other Google AI research centres in London and New York
   Google is deepening its push into artificial intelligence (AI) by opening a research centre in China, even though its search services remain blocked in the country.
   
   Google said the facility would be the first its kind in Asia and would aim to employ local talent.
   
   Silicon Valley is focusing heavily on the future applications for AI.
   
   China has also indicated strong support for AI development and for catching up with the US.
   
   Research into artificial intelligence has the potential to improve a range of technologies, from self-driving cars and automated factories to translation products and facial recognition software.
   

   • ar

   In a blog post on the company's website, Google said the new research centre was an important part of its mission as an "AI first company".
   
   "Whether a breakthrough occurs in Silicon Valley, Beijing or anywhere else, [AI] has the potential to make everyone's life better for the entire world," said Fei-Fei Li, chief scientist at Google Cloud AI and Machine Learning.
   
   The research centre, which joins similar facilities in London, New York, Toronto and Zurich, will be run by a small team from its existing office in Beijing.
   
   Strict rules
   The tech giant operates two offices in China, with roughly half of its 600 employees working on global products, company spokesperson Taj Meadows told the AFP news agency.
   
   But Google's search engine and a number of other services are banned in China. The country has imposed increasingly strict rules on foreign companies over the past year, including new censorship restrictions.
   
   China has for many years censored content it sees as politically sensitive, using an increasingly sophisticated set of filters that critics have called the "great firewall".
   
   At the same time, China has been expanding its push into artificial intelligence.
   
   Last week, the country's President, Xi Jinping, urged senior officials at a key Communist Party meeting to "accelerate implementation of big data".
   
   In July, China announced its national plan for AI, calling for the country to catch up with the US.
   
   But its advances in this area have sparked concerns. Human rights groups are among those troubled by China's use of artificial intelligence to monitor its own citizens.
   
   Addressing the meeting of Communist Party officials late last week, President Xi reportedly emphasised "the necessity of using big data to improve governance".
   

   jfieb, 26 minutes agoEditDeleteReport

   #9Reply
3. 

   jfiebWell-Known Member

   New
   

   
   
   
   

   GOOGLE IN ASIA
   
   Opening the Google AI China Center
   
   GDDChina2
   
   Fei-Fei Li
   Chief Scientist AI/ML, Google Cloud
   Published Dec 13, 2017
   
   

   • RELATED ARTICLES
     • 
       

   Since becoming a professor 12 years ago and joining Google a year ago, I’ve had the good fortune to work with many talented Chinese engineers, researchers and technologists. China is home to many of the world's top experts in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. All three winning teams of the ImageNet Challenge in the past three years have been largely composed of Chinese researchers. Chinese authors contributed 43 percent of all content in the top 100 AI journals in 2015—and when the Association for the Advancement of AI discovered that their annual meeting overlapped with Chinese New Year this year, they rescheduled.
   
   I believe AI and its benefits have no borders. Whether a breakthrough occurs in Silicon Valley, Beijing or anywhere else, it has the potential to make everyone’s life better for the entire world. As an AI first company, this is an important part of our collective mission. And we want to work with the best AI talent, wherever that talent is, to achieve it.
   
   That’s why I am excited to launch the Google AI China Center, our first such center in Asia, at our Google Developer Days event in Shanghai today. This Center joins other AI research groups we have all over the world, including in New York, Toronto, London and Zurich, all contributing towards the same goal of finding ways to make AI work better for everyone.
   
   Focused on basic AI research, the Center will consist of a team of AI researchers in Beijing, supported by Google China’s strong engineering teams. We’ve already hired some top experts, and will be working to build the team in the months ahead (check our jobs site for open roles!). Along with Dr. Jia Li, Head of Research and Development at Google Cloud AI, I’ll be leading and coordinating the research. Besides publishing its own work, the Google AI China Center will also support the AI research community by funding and sponsoring AI conferences and workshops, and working closely with the vibrant Chinese AI research community.
   
   Humanity is going through a huge transformation thanks to the phenomenal growth of computing and digitization. In just a few years, automatic image classification in photo apps has become a standard feature. And we’re seeing rapid adoption of natural language as an interface with voice assistants like Google Home. At Cloud, we see our enterprise partners using AI to transform their businesses in fascinating ways at an astounding pace. As technology starts to shape human life in more profound ways, we will need to work together to ensure that the AI of tomorrow benefits all of us.
   
   The Google AI China Center is a small contribution to this goal. We look forward to working with the brightest AI researchers in China to help find solutions to the world’s problems.
   
   Once again, the science of AI has no borders, neither do its benefits
   
   
   Commentary;
   
   From a distillation of all I have read that includes the Nick Hun IoV essay of one yrs ago.
   
   Amazons Alexa? Only Todd M. knew what it was about the day he saw it. About the only one.
   
   AMZNs ALexa is the biggest thread to Apple?
   
   Always on-use CES to gain more insight into how it will sweep across all the edge devices and use GOOG phrase....
   
   And we’re seeing rapid adoption of natural language as an interface with voice assistants like Google Home.
   
   Voice...
   Most wont get how voice is so closely tied to AI.
   It HAS to listen to give something back.
   The more it listens the more it knows
   and can give a better experience.
   IF you dont have voice you cant do good AI.
   
   
   Facebook is actually doing a BAbbage thing and trying to SKIP voice
   and read thoughts.....50 floors up.
   A colossal waste of $$, but they got them to burn.
   
   I used a mental model of the tiers of sensor intelligence
   as the rice terraces
   
   
   So AI on the device will be interesting to see happen. TO explain it simply
   
   You take a set result from one algo, you plug it into another one, take that result and plug it into another one......a hundred or more layers deep.
   Dr Saxe said he sees a few more layers that can reside ON the device.
   
   So multiples HAVE to happen, Voice is a basic building block to get you in the game.
   JOhnson says you use what you have on the bench, and that is true so far...
   DSP people( Knowles) use DSP. If you find you need something and dont have it you buy it...
   M & A will happen to bolt stuff on where needed.
   
   Im glad QUIK has had experience with partitioning, what to hardcode, what to do in an FGPA, what to do in an MCU.
   
   That NNLE( neural network learning engine ) was my mental model. QUIK will add another core to the Eos one day.
   
   Dont forget this phrase...
   
   And we’re seeing rapid adoption of natural language as an interface with voice assistants like Google Home. 
   
   As we are working with a BIG cloud IoT guy....