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AI – The Present in the Making

#artificialintelligence

I attended the Huawei European Innovation Day recently, and was enthralled by how the new technology is giving rise to industrial revolutions. These revolutions are what will eventually unlock the development potential around the world. It is important to leverage the emerging technologies, since they are the resources which will lead us to innovation and progress. Huawei is innovative in its partnerships and collaboration to define the future, and the event was a huge success. For many people, the concept of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a thing of the future. It is the technology that has yet to be introduced.


Security Startup Jask Raises $14.5M for AI-Based Network Monitori

#artificialintelligence

The security startup Jask launched today with $12 million in Series A funding, led by Dell Technologies Capital. The company uses artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor and secure networks. Battery Ventures, which led the firm's $2.5 million seed funding round, also contributed to the series A round. This brings the startup's total funding to $14.5 million. The company plans to use the money to expand its data science and machine learning teams, accelerate product development, and focus on machine learning and AI research.


Prepaid or Postpaid? That is the question. Novel Methods of Subscription Type Prediction in Mobile Phone Services

arXiv.org Machine Learning

In this paper we investigate the behavioural differences between mobile phone customers with prepaid and postpaid subscriptions. Our study reveals that (a) postpaid customers are more active in terms of service usage and (b) there are strong structural correlations in the mobile phone call network as connections between customers of the same subscription type are much more frequent than those between customers of different subscription types. Based on these observations we provide methods to detect the subscription type of customers by using information about their personal call statistics, and also their egocentric networks simultaneously. The key of our first approach is to cast this classification problem as a problem of graph labelling, which can be solved by max-flow min-cut algorithms. Our experiments show that, by using both user attributes and relationships, the proposed graph labelling approach is able to achieve a classification accuracy of $\sim 87\%$, which outperforms by $\sim 7\%$ supervised learning methods using only user attributes. In our second problem we aim to infer the subscription type of customers of external operators. We propose via approximate methods to solve this problem by using node attributes, and a two-ways indirect inference method based on observed homophilic structural correlations. Our results have straightforward applications in behavioural prediction and personal marketing.


Vodafone uses robots to screen jobhunters

#artificialintelligence

Vodafone has begun using artificial intelligence to help recruit call-centre and shopfloor staff. Candidates submit videos of themselves answering a standard questionnaire. Computer algorithms then assess their suitability for a role based on subtle facial cues and voice intonation. Only those who pass this screening are put forward for interview by human beings. About 50,000 applicants have gone through the AI procedure so far.


Qualcomm selected by DARPA's HIVE Project to accelerate the future of deep learning

#artificialintelligence

Nothing in these materials is an offer to sell any of the components or devices referenced herein. References to "Qualcomm"; may mean Qualcomm Incorporated, or subsidiaries or business units within the Qualcomm corporate structure, as applicable. Materials that are as of a specific date, including but not limited to press releases, presentations, blog posts and webcasts, may have been superseded by subsequent events or disclosures. Qualcomm Incorporated includes Qualcomm's licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of its patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of Qualcomm's engineering, research and development functions, and substantially all of its products and services businesses.


Softbank ups investment in security AI firm Cybereason » Banking Technology

#artificialintelligence

Softbank has upped its investment in security firm Cybereason, as the focus on artificial intelligence (AI) continues, writes Banking Technology's sister publication Telecoms.com. Back in July 2016, Softbank acquired chipmaker ARM in what was believed to be a jostling move to prepare the telco for the upcoming IoT/AI euphoria; this investment adds to the armoury as Cybereason uses the power of AI to not only detect gaps in the perimeter, but claims to collate all the data from applications or users which would be deemed out of the ordinary. It allows security professionals to make more accurate responses to current or potential threats. The additional $100 million investment from Softbank now makes the firm the largest investor, with CRV, Spark Capital, and Lockheed Martin also involved. Cybereason has now raised a total of $189 million in capital since being founded in 2012. Although specific figures haven't been released, the team claims to have increased revenues by 500% and employee numbers by 200% in the last 12 months alone.


Son to pick successor from Softbank Group

The Japan Times

Softbank Group Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son said that he will pick his successor from executives at group companies. At a general shareholders meeting in Tokyo, Son said his successor "will be a person who plays an important role with me in the group's management for five to 10 years, is compatible and leads the management in the same direction as I do." In 2014, Softbank Group invited former Google Inc. executive Nikesh Arora to succeed Son. But in June last year, Son said he intended to stay on for 10 more years, citing his interest in leading the telecommunications and technology group's artificial intelligence business by himself. Arora left the group as a result.


Data Sharing Key to AT&T's AI Push Light Reading

#artificialintelligence

SDN, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are all making a big difference in AT&T's network operations, but what has been the biggest game changer for the communication service provider is really a lot simpler than that -- learning how to share data. While the algorithms have greatly improved over the years, the real challenge of AI and ML -- technologies that underpin AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T)'s software-defined network -- was gaining access to the right data and having the ability to act on it, according to Chris Volinsky, AT&T's assistant vice president of Big Data Research. He says that necessitated a change in culture at AT&T to one that was powered by data and in which silos between divisions came down to allow for data sharing. "With the big-data revolution over the last five years, enterprises in AT&T realize the value of unlocking data and making it available for analysis," he says. "In my early career, I had to beat down doors for access to data. It'd take months of escalations. Now there's a real data-powered culture in the company whereby people realize the value in letting others have access to data and the benefit to the company's efficiency and customer experience."


Call Sumo - Call Tracking Software Marketing AI Artificial Intelligence

#artificialintelligence

Our powerful call tracking software will work for any business. Our unique abilities are to sync calls with existing customer data, and provide more actionable, detailed data. Before you even pick up the phone, you will already know if the caller is a potential new prospect, which marketing source they came from, and what the caller is likely looking for. When is comes to reviewing the calls, your existing customers are automatically filtered out, so we only listen to the calls that matter to your marketing efforts: new customers and new leads. Tracking your calls enables you to go back and reference them whenever you'd like.


Bixby Voice Assistant Release Date: Galaxy S8 Owners Can Now Sign Up, Here's How

International Business Times

Owners of a Samsung Galaxy 8 or Galaxy S8 can now try the smartphones' much-awaited virtual assistant, Bixby -- if you sign up. Bixby has not been officially launched in the United States, but Samsung announced Galaxy 8 owners can now sign up on its site to try a preview version of the feature. "New voice features are coming to Bixby and we're inviting you to get access first," the webpage says. Samsung touted Bixby as a part of the company's Galaxy S8 and S8 smartphones, but it didn't release the virtual assistant in time for the devices' April launch. Bixby's full version was reportedly set to launch to Galaxy users in the U.S. later this month.