Woodland Hills
RAC: Efficient LLM Factuality Correction with Retrieval Augmentation
Li, Changmao, Flanigan, Jeffrey
Large Language Models (LLMs) exhibit impressive results across a wide range of natural language processing (NLP) tasks, yet they can often produce factually incorrect outputs. This paper introduces a simple but effective low-latency post-correction method, \textbf{Retrieval Augmented Correction (RAC)}, aimed at enhancing the factual performance of LLMs without requiring additional fine-tuning. Our method is general and can be used with any instruction-tuned LLM, and has greatly reduced latency compared to prior approaches. RAC decomposes the LLM's output into atomic facts and applies a fine-grained verification and correction process with retrieved content to verify and correct the LLM-generated output. Our extensive experiments show that RAC yields up to 30\% improvements over state-of-the-art baselines across two popular factuality evaluation datasets, validating its efficacy and robustness in both with and without the integration of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) across different LLMs.\footnote{Our code is at \url{https://github.com/jlab-nlp/Retrieval-Augmented-Correction}}
Farmers Insurance Introduces Mobile Robot for Catastrophe Claims, Property Inspections
Farmers Insurance (Woodland Hills, Calif.) has announced plans to use a digitally controlled mobile robot to assist with in-field catastrophe claims handling and non-catastrophe property inspections, with the aim of helping to improve the safety and efficiency of both while becoming one of the first national property/casualty insurers to deploy a robotic quadruped. Created by Boston Dynamics (Waltham, Mass.) and customized for Farmers, the robot--named "Spot"--will be used by Farmers claims personnel as early as fall 2021 to help assess damage from catastrophes such as hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and wildfires. Farmers reports that Spot will be equipped with a variety of sensors and cameras, including a 360-degree camera and site documentation software to help reduce the time required to capture data and augment the in-field claims review process. The robot may also help Farmers claims adjusters collect critical data and assist with claims handling optimization to serve impacted customers more efficiently, according to a statement from the insurer. In addition to utilizing Spot for in-field claims use, Farmers says it will explore applications that could help first-responder organizations during scenarios such as post-event search and rescue operations, accessing areas to assess danger for first responders or others, and/or pre-inspections to assess safety for anyone in the general vicinity.
Project Magma: The untold origin of Verdansk, the Gulag and 'Call of Duty: Warzone'
Patrick Kelly remembers the pitch meeting vividly. The room full of developers and Activision executives had convened at Infinity Ward's offices in Woodland Hills, California, in early 2018. It was time for Kelly and his longtime colleague Dave Stohl, who together serve as co-studio heads for Infinity Ward, to pitch their big idea. The project was code-named "Magma." And the plan was to create the biggest ever battle royale, one tied to the world of the studio's planned 2019 release, "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare." Upon completion, the project would be re-christened as "Warzone." "Okay, so here's the thing," Kelly said, reenacting his pitch to the room.
Robots Join the Sales Team
There's plenty of competition: VirtualAPT, based in Brooklyn, has robots that glide through homes and provide immersive virtual reality tours; REX, a brokerage in Woodland Hills, Calif., has an AI-trained robot to answer potential buyers' questions at open houses; RealFriend and OjoLabs have AI-powered chatbots that mimic human conversation while providing deeply personalized home listings and buying advice. In Zenny's case, the robot is powered remotely by the real estate broker or property manager who is handling the showing from afar. It is also equipped with sensors to keep it from running into walls or people. In addition to Zenny, Zenplace's platform includes a full suite of rental management solutions, including tenant screening, electronic lockboxes for on-demand property viewings, and a secure online portal for rent payment. The company charges a $599 flat fee for some properties, and $99 a month for others. VirtualAPT's robots, which roll through homes capturing 360-degree videos in 4K resolution, provide ultra-crisp, high-quality images.
Amazon Adds Smarter Carts For Quicker Grocery Shopping, Here's How They Work
Amazon (AMZN) has introduced shopping carts that make it faster and more convenient to shop by automatically tracking the items put in the cart, enabling consumers to eliminate the checkout line. The new Dash Carts will first be featured at Amazon's Woodland Hills, California, grocery store, set to open this year. To use the Dash Carts, shoppers will need to have an Amazon account and a smartphone. Shoppers simply scan a QR code located within the Amazon app to begin loading items into the cart. The Smart Cart is fitted with computer vision algorithms and sensor fusion to recognize merchandise that is put into the cart.
Dash Cart: Amazon's smart shopping cart knows what you're getting, displays your subtotal
Amazon has created a smart shopping cart that knows what you're selecting and can charge you for it without a cashier. It's called the "Amazon Dash Cart" and the idea is to make "a quick grocery trip even quicker by allowing you to skip the checkout line," the e-commerce giant said in a post on Tuesday. The Dash Cart largely looks like a typical shopping cart, only bulkier at the bottom. Patrons will use their Amazon account's unique QR code to sign-in to the cart, according to a video the company posted on its website. Then you add your shopping bags to the cart and proceed to shop around the store.
New TDWI Research Report Explores How Organizations are Using AI and Machine Learning
Report explores how organizations using AI are making it work, what technologies they're using, and what best practices can maximize an organization's success with AI and machine learning Seattle, WA, Oct. 18, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TDWI Research has released its newest Best Practices Report, Driving Digital Transformation using AI and Machine Learning. This original, survey-based report looks at the many dimensions of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) so data professionals and their business counterparts can understand the benefits of the technology, how it's used (and by whom), and how enterprises are achieving success with it. The author of the report, Fern Halper, is vice president and senior director of TDWI Research for advanced analytics. She explains that organizations are embracing AI and ML to gain better insights, make better decisions, and improve competitive advantage. "In fact," she writes, "AI is at the heart of the digital revolution around analytics occurring today. AI promises to help organizations improve their operations and processes and to drive new revenue opportunities."
Tomi Adeyemi, Janelle Monáe and Boots Riley among this year's Nebula Awards nominees
The finalists for the 2018 Nebula Awards, considered some of the most prestigious in science fiction and fantasy, were announced on Wednesday, with novelists Tomi Adeyemi and Justina Ireland, filmmaker Boots Riley and musician Janelle Monáe among the nominees. Adeyemi and Ireland were nominated in the young adult category, Adeyemi for "Children of Blood and Bone" and Ireland for "Dread Nation." Both books gained critical acclaim upon their release, and Adeyemi's book was the inaugural pick for Jimmy Fallon's "Tonight Show" book club. The two authors are joined in the category by Roshani Chokshi's "Aru Shah and the End of Time," A.K. DuBoff's "A Light in the Dark," Rachel Hartman's "Tess of the Road" and Henry Lien's "Peasprout Chen: Future Legend of Skate and Sword." Finalists in the novel category included Mary Robinette Kowal's "The Calculating Stars" and R.F.
Electronic Arts cancels 'Madden 19' video game qualifiers after Jacksonville shooting
Investigators say a suspect in a deadly shooting at a Florida video game tournament specifically targeted other gamers. Aug 27, 2018; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Crime scene technicians process evidence at Jacksonville Landing where three people died and several were wounded at a Madden 19 tournament on Sunday, Aug 26. The CEO of Electronic Arts, the video game company that publishes the Madden NFL football games, says the game maker will cancel the remainder of the Madden Classic qualifying events after a gunman killed two players at an event in Jacksonville, Florida. EA CEO Andrew Wilson said in a statement released late Monday that the company decided to cancel the three remaining qualifying events "while we run a comprehensive review of safety protocols for competitors and spectators. We will work with our partners and our internal teams to establish a consistent level of security at all of our competitive gaming events."
Deadly Florida video game contest shooting reignites gun rights debate
BOSTON – The slaying of two competitors at a Florida video game tournament on Sunday has stirred the long-simmering gun rights debate in the state on the eve of its hotly contested state and federal primary elections. With Florida voters scheduled to pick candidates for governor and Congress on Tuesday, some Democratic contenders said the shooting on Sunday in Jacksonville was further evidence of the need for stricter gun legislation, while other hopefuls canceled campaign appearances. The violence, which also wounded 11 people, was the latest in a series of high-profile shootings in the state, following the killing of 17 students and educators at a high school in February and of 49 people at an Orlando nightclub in 2016. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office identified the suspected shooter as David Katz, 24, of Baltimore. Witnesses told local media Katz was angry because he lost the tournament.