Chinese social media upstart, TikTok and its counterpart Douyin are turning to technology commonly used for creating deepfakes to power a yet-to-be-released feature. According to a report from TechCrunch, ByteDance, which owns TikTok and China-based Douyin, has been developing a feature that allows users to create videos in which their face is superimposed onto someone else's. The feature, which mirrors other deepfake technology used to doctor videos of politicians and public figures, is being referred to as'Face Swap' within TikTok's own code according to TechCrunch and has not yet been released to users. The face swapping feature, while similar to those long-used by other social media platforms like Snapchat, differs in its ability to realistically superimpose faces on videos according to TechCrunch. 'Face Swap' reportedly works by taking a biometric scan of a users' face from multiple angles - similar to the process of setting up a facial recognition app like Apple's Face ID - and then lets users choose videos that they want to insert their face onto.

My eyes were opened to many new opportunities to integrate economics, design thinking, big data and data science (AI / ML / DL) to further my case for a Nobel Prize in Economics (which I'd prefer not to be awarded posthumously). So, while we wait for that call from Stockholm, let's take a look at my 10 favorite 2019 blogs: There are many valuable lessons that data scientists can learn from the movie "Mr. And maybe the biggest challenge for the development of smart, autonomous products is knowing when "good enough" is actually "good enough". When trying to optimize the operations of these smart, autonomous products, one must be prepared to realize that the current path to performance optimization may not actually be the optimal path, and the data science team must be prepared to jettison their existing work and try a different approach that might lead to a better performing analytic model. This is an important lesson for the creation of our AI-induced "smart" products – that there must be constant testing, learning, and maybe even some unlearning and re-starting afresh in order to find the optimal models.

Autonomous vehicles make use of sensors and complex algorithms to detect and respond to their surroundings. Thanks to these technologies, autonomous vehicles don't necessitate a driver to complete even complex journeys. Additionally, multiple autonomous vehicles can communicate with each other to improve traffic and obstacle avoidance. The evolution in automation levels of cars is summarised in Figure 1. Many companies such as Waymo and Tesla are now hugely investing in a future lead by Autonomous vehicles (self-driving cars).

Today, Techman Robot announced a new robot arm and factory management software at the International Robot Exhibition in Japan. The global market for robots in manufacturing will expand 2.5 times between 2018 and 2025, reaching 2.8675 trillion JPY ($260 million), predicted Japanese research company Fuji Keizai. It also said the global market for collaborative robots will grow approximately 30% from 2018 to 2019, reaching 78.2 billion JPY ($710 million). "From the human-computer collaboration of the production line, the rapid integration of smart stacking application solutions and the integration of AI vision improve the inspection efficiency of automated production," stated Techman. "Manufacturing can then connect with the intelligent management system in the factory, realizing the future of fully integrated virtual smart manufacturing."

When applying for a job these days, there's a chance your interviewer could be a robot. A growing number of companies are embracing artificial intelligence technology to sift through job candidates. The state of Illinois has a new law, effective this week, that requires companies to disclose that AI is being used in interviews and how. When a job applicant sits down for a video interview, AI can pick up on a lot of things. "You know, if he twitches too much or if he moves too much, or if his voice changes," said Illinois state Rep. Jaime Andrade, who co-sponsored the law. He said we don't know yet whether AI really picks the best candidates, and he's not sure it's always fair to job applicants.

Puut Wallet is the world's first

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp will invest more than 50 billion yuan ($7.18 billion) in artificial intelligence and fifth generation internet technologies over the next five years, as competition in the sector grows. Xiaomi Chief Executive Lei Jun made the announcement in a letter posted on the company's social media account on Thursday, but did not provide specific investment details. "We need to turn our continuous advantage we have in AIoT and intelligent life into absolute victory in intelligent full scene, and completely cement our king status in the smart era," Lei said, using the acronym for artificial intelligence of things, a reference to a combination of AI and internet technologies. The announced investment increases Xiaomi's pledge made last year to invest 10 billion yuan over five years in an "All in AIoT" strategy. The Beijing-based company started as an affordable cellphone maker but its internet-enabled products now include smart TVs and rice-cookers.

Smart technology, artificial intelligence and machine learning are grabbing headlines every day, and those familiar buzzwords are now inescapable. Algorithms are being enhanced and scientists are coming up with new ways to train and teach these models. According to VentureBeat, machine learning is also shaping business and society. The publication spoke to five leading artificial intelligence experts for their input on what we'd see happen in machine learning in the new year. PyTorch creator Soumith Chintala, University of California professor Celeste Kidd, Google AI chief Jeff Dean, Nvidia director of machine learning research Anima Anandkumar, and IBM Research director Dario Gil said great strides were made in several fields in 2019, like natural language-based models and reinforcement learning, but the five AI experts were essentially unanimous in predicting an even more exciting 2020.

The retail industry is in a constant state of transformation. The retailers are attempting to survive the fierce competition in the market and fast-changing customer shopping habits. Retail business owners are investing in cutting-edge technologies, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics, data analytics, and logistics automation, becoming more customer-centric and responsive to demands in the industry. Among these advanced technologies, AI has a significant impact on almost every operation within a retail business. By 2020, retailers are expected to spend $7.3 billion annually on Artificial Intelligence technology.

Chinese smartphone firm Xiaomi is planning to pump over ¥50 billion ($7.18 billion) into artificial intelligence (AI) and 5G technologies over the next five years, Reuters reported on Thursday (Jan. The announcement was made by Xiaomi Chief Executive Lei Jun, who posted a letter on the company's social media account. "We need to turn our continuous advantage we have in AIoT [artificial intelligence of things] and intelligent life into absolute victory in intelligent full scene, and completely cement our king status in the smart era," the chief executive said in the letter. He said in the letter that the company is now a "global technology leader" and pointed to 2019 as an important time for Xiaomi's global expansion. "… our overseas revenue now accounts for almost half of our total group revenue."