Silicon Valley's 2017 Report Card

When future historians of Silicon Valley look back at 2017, they'll see a time when America's most powerful tech companies and the venture capital ecosystem that created them came under unprecedented scrutiny from politicians and the public. The region's innovation engine produced numerous technical advances, but controversy over fake news and revelations about sexual harassment of female entrepreneurs have cast a shadow over the Valley this year. Big tech companies in the San Francisco Bay Area were busier than ever in 2017, and artificial intelligence was a top priority for many of them. Among a long list of AI initiatives, Google launched TensorFlow Lite, a lightweight version of its open-source machine-learning software that has accelerated AI adoption among companies. The new version enables AI to run on mobile phones and household gadgets such as fridges and speakers.