Meta Platforms Inc., the social media giant's parent company, announced plans last week to go the other way--decentralizing how it develops advanced AI and machine learning tools. In an online post Thursday, Meta's Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth said the company's previous approach, centered around a handful of stand-alone R&D hubs, made it difficult to integrate new AI capabilities across the business. "In the new model we will distribute the ownership of these AI systems back to Meta's product groups," Mr. Bosworth said. "We believe that this will accelerate the adoption of important new technology across the company while allowing us to continue to push the envelope." The Morning Download delivers daily insights and news on business technology from the CIO Journal team.

A new research hub at Northwestern University will explore the impact of artificial intelligence systems and seek ways to better incorporate …

The National Science Foundation Convergence Accelerator addresses national-scale societal challenges through use-inspired convergence research. Leveraging a convergence approach the Convergence Accelerator builds upon basic research and discovery to make timely investments to strengthen the Nations innovation ecosystem associated with several key R&D priority areas and practices to include the coronavirus disease 2019, harnessing the data revolution, the future of work, and quantum technology. Artificial Intelligence is a key underlying theme across all of these areas.

Artificial Intelligence these days has become a new key driver of economic growth. It is a significant field in technology right now. While several countries are racing towards AI supremacy, Canada is attracting the world's tech giants that are pouring mammoth amounts in the region. The country is currently in the midst of the AI boom as companies like Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Huawei, among others are spending huge capital on research hubs in Quebec, Ontario and Alberta. Canada is a world research leader and home to extraordinary AI-driven businesses, and has played a vital role in the advancement of AI.

The Swiss-based robotics group ABB opened its first global healthcare research hub in the U.S. and unveiled a new concept robot that could assist laboratory staff with their day-to-day tasks. The YuMi robot is designed to help complete the time-consuming and mundane work found around the hospital lab: such as loading and unloading centrifuges, pipetting, sorting test tubes or preparing medicines. Equipped with two articulating arms and sensors that will allow it to navigate around lab desks and its human co-workers, the robot could also be used to dispense medicines or transport them throughout a hospital--as well as deliver bed linens and perform other logistical tasks, according to the company. The goal, of course, is to free up highly skilled lab employees and clinicians for other objectives. ABB thinks it can complete these repetitive tasks up to 50% faster than people working manually, while also being able to work 24 hours a day.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently revealed plans by IBM to invest $2 billion in its new artificial intelligence (AI) research hub that will be located at the Albany, New York-based SUNY Polytechnic Institute. The new artificial intelligence research hub or AI Hardware Center is expected to concentrate on computer chip research, creation, prototyping, carrying out tests and simulation. Governor Andrew Cuomo claimed that the new center would help in attracting new entities in the federal research and artificial intelligence field as well as create numerous jobs. "Artificial intelligence has the potential to transform how we live and how businesses operate, and this partnership with IBM will help ensure New York continues to be on the cutting edge developing innovative technologies," Cuomo said in a statement. IBM also intends to extend and expand its collaboration with SUNY's Center for Semiconductor Research by a minimum of two years and possibly through 2028.

Ecommerce giant Amazon has announced a new research center in Germany focused on developing AI to improve the customer experience -- especially in visual systems. Amazon said research conducted at the hub will also aim to benefit users of Amazon Web Services and its voice driven AI assistant tech, Alexa. The center will be based in Tübingen, near the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems' campus, and will be staffed with more than 100 machine learning engineers. The new 100 "highly qualified" jobs will be created over the next five years, it said today. The site is Amazon's fourth Research Center in Germany -- after Berlin, Dresden and Aachen.

Just because BlackBerry is done making its own smartphones doesn't mean it won't be a big name in consumer tech. The company has unveiled the BlackBerry QNX Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Center (AVIC), a facility in QNX's Ottawa home that will be key to building the framework for self-driving cars. It's not crafting the autonomy code, but it will create the underlying platform. One of its first initiatives will have it team up with Renesas, PolySync and the University of Waterloo to build a concept vehicle to test on Ontario roads. To put it mildly, the Canadian government is enthusiastic.

According to a 2008 OECD review of national policies for education in South Africa, typically only 15 percent to 18 percent of secondary school students who sit for their final year exams every year qualify automatically for university-level education; and this number seems to be decreasing as more students choose to complete subjects on so-called standard grade instead of higher grade, a trend that is especially apparent for mathematics and science, the two fields with critical skills shortages in the country. The South African tertiary education sector is quite small for a country with a population of around 50 million, with 11 "traditional" universities, 6 technical universities, and 6 comprehensive universities. The latter university types focus on more technical or vocational education. The public sector also funds 16 research institutions. In spite of these obstacles, South African universities participate in world-class research activities in many fields and range among the best on the African continent.