In the previous post in our Machine Learning series, we dived into the inner workings of deep learning. Given deep learning's unparalleled power, it's not surprising that technology companies are competing with one another to collect deep learning experts and apply the techniques to their own operations. How are companies using deep learning to drive business goals? The tech giants have been using the technique for improved image and video recognition, audio recognition, and language understanding and are actively contributing to open-source research tools. Meanwhile, start-ups are serving boutique needs.

Skoolbot has been chosen winner of the first-ever international botathon, organized by VentureBeat. The bot, which helps students using Google Classroom monitor grades, homework, and communication, was made by Liam McKinley of Great Falls, Virginia. McKinley was not physically onstage, but did join a crowd of more than 150 in San Francisco through a roving video robot. Other members of Team Skoolbot include family friend Miko Borys and father John. Hugh Cameron of Melbourne, creator of a bot that quickly responds to emails, won the popular vote.

You don't have to sit through a lot of pitches before your will-to-live-o-meter points to "kill me now." Imagine you're a VC, sitting through your fifteenth pitch that day -- are you still going to be enthusiastic? So what happens if you could instead feed your pitch deck into a chatbot that gives you feedback, suggestions and eventually invests some money into your fledgling idea? Going through the automated pitch process is surprisingly fun, but -- spoiler alert -- at some point very early on in the process you'll realize it's a joke. A joke, sure, but like all good comedians, it does make a rather splendid point: It is harder for founders who don't fit the standard patterns to raise money -- and that's a discussion we ought to be having.

Artificial Intelligence for Sysadmins Artificial intelligence (AI) is on a roll. It's happening through developments spurred on by 800 pound tech gorillas like Amazon and IBM, and big brands in transportation like Uber and Jaguar. Before we ponder that further, if you haven't had the time to keep up here are seven recent notches on the artificial intelligence belt…er, chipset. Back in 2011, IBM's Watson blew away the human "Jeopardy" champions. IBM is now betting big on Watson once again and cognitive computing opportunities in the health care industry and beyond. Following the success of Apple's intelligent agent Siri, Microsoft's Cortana and Google Now, Amazon's Alexa has garnered a loyal following and is… Link to Full Article: Artificial Intelligence for Sysadmins

TrueCare24 is pleased to unveil Baymax, an artificial intelligence messenger bot that quickly arranges medical services for users. According to Leo Popov, "We all struggle with balancing our busy lives and the things that matter the most: family, friends, and professional passions, and wasted time is especially frustrating. When you or a family member get sick, you've got to go through the hurdles of traditional healthcare, and it's just not practical for working professionals who also have families. Baymax is a personal healthcare companion that saves users precious time and money. It chooses and arranges a doctor's appointment that fits your schedule and budget. Baymax is superbly convenient for the '140 characters' lifestyle of today."

PRINEVILLE, Ore. – In a row of racks deep inside a massive data center sits the engine of Facebook's ambitions in artificial intelligence. Each server chassis is packed with computing horsepower, including graphics processing units (GPUs) that can crunch enormous volumes of data. This is Big Sur, and it is the key to Facebook's bid to create a smarter newsfeed for its 1.6 billion users around the globe. Using Big Sur, Facebook can train its machine learning systems to recognize speech, understand the content of video and images, and translate content from one language to another. Machine learning holds tremendous promise, but requires a lot of horsepower.

The Andhra Pradesh Government and SAP have signed a MoU here on Thursday to set up a start-up accelerator here. The MoU was signed by SAP Director (Start-up Focus Programme) Mayank Mathur and IT Adviser to AP Government J.A. Chowdary. Mathur said that SAP would strive to create the right kind of eco system in Vizag for the flourishing of start-ups and to develop entrepreneurial spirit among the young. "We will launch the operations initially under our experts based at Bengaluru within a month. They will be visiting Vizag periodically," he said.

As the Internet of Things explodes, so do opportunities for machine learning. The machine learning arm of market leaders is getting stronger as they bolster technology to enhance efficiency and the customer experience. For example, look to some of the biggest names in tech --Twitter is acquiring Magic Pony Technology, Google has set up a Machine Learning Centre, and Watson is IBM's sidekick. A Siemens study predicted the global market for smart devices will increase 20 percent annually over the next eight years. The boom is driving a need for tech pros with artificial intelligence and machine learning experience in both startup and established-company spaces.

Virtual marketing assistant Kit CRM today announced the launch of its chatbot on Facebook Messenger. This will be its third platform and comes three months after Kit became one of the first companies to announce an integration with Facebook's conversational platform. Now, any of the more than 900 million monthly app users will be able to have access to a virtual employee right at their fingertips. The idea in bringing this marketing assistant to Facebook Messenger is to enable merchants without marketing support to more easily manage their online marketing promotions on Facebook and Instagram. This assistant offers a more user-friendly interface, instead of asking them to sort through ad-serving networks and interfaces.

Which is why an anonymous individual (or individuals) went to the internet to make a mockery of both. The AIVC describes itself as, "The world's first Venture Capital fund powered entirely by Artificial Intelligence." It might be a damn good laugh, but it also leaves us wondering if a bot could pick VC investments better than a human can. I decided to mess around with it, pitching a fake startup idea and taking in all of amusing shade it had to throw. I went with a service providing on-demand showers.