Current adversarial attacks against speaker recognition systems (SRSs) require either white-box access or heavy black-box queries to the target SRS, thus still falling behind practical attacks against proprietary commercial APIs and voice-controlled devices. To fill this gap, we propose QFA2SR, an effective and imperceptible query-free black-box attack, by leveraging the transferability of adversarial voices. To improve transferability, we present three novel methods, tailored loss functions, SRS ensemble, and time-freq corrosion. The first one tailors loss functions to different attack scenarios. The latter two augment surrogate SRSs in two different ways. SRS ensemble combines diverse surrogate SRSs with new strategies, amenable to the unique scoring characteristics of SRSs. Time-freq corrosion augments surrogate SRSs by incorporating well-designed time-/frequency-domain modification functions, which simulate and approximate the decision boundary of the target SRS and distortions introduced during over-the-air attacks. QFA2SR boosts the targeted transferability by 20.9%-70.7% on four popular commercial APIs (Microsoft Azure, iFlytek, Jingdong, and TalentedSoft), significantly outperforming existing attacks in query-free setting, with negligible effect on the imperceptibility. QFA2SR is also highly effective when launched over the air against three wide-spread voice assistants (Google Assistant, Apple Siri, and TMall Genie) with 60%, 46%, and 70% targeted transferability, respectively.

With ChatGPT unveiled in November, the tech industry has been working tirelessly to come up with their own version of "generative" artificial intelligence (AI). Google, Elon Musk, Meta, everyone is working on the Open AI tool killer. Now Alibaba, one of the largest e-commerce and cloud computing companies in the world, has recently unveiled its own generative artificial intelligence (AI) model, named Tongyi Qianwen. The model is similar to ChatGPT, the popular AI platform developed by OpenAI that can generate natural language texts based on user inputs. Alibaba plans to integrate Tongyi Qianwen into all its business applications soon, starting with its smart speaker Tmall Genie and its workplace messaging platform DingTalk.

This article introduces the research about the interactive ability of gesture recognition by the Tmall Genie M laboratory. The research covers the exploration of business and algorithms in gesture recognition, future applications, and prospects for the algorithms. "Gestures are the most natural form of human communication. Hardware is the only limitation that prevents us from controlling our devices well." Here, the hardware limitation refers to the need for additional depth sensors by traditional gesture recognition algorithms.

If the experts are to be believed, AI will develop its own consciousness. A closer look suggests they got it backwards – human consciousness will be embedded in AI. What kind of consciousness will Chinese AI reveal? Philosophers have traditionally debated consciousness along two lines: Plato, Descartes, and modern neuroscience claim that the brain produces consciousness and that it is the result of biological evolution. On the other hand, Indian philosophy, as well as Aristotle and some of those working in quantum physics, argue that consciousness is intrinsic to the universe and that it preceded life. The closest Chinese equivalent to the Western word consciousness is xin, literally "heart-mind." In the Chinese view, xin does not develop naturally but must be cultivated. Xin is rooted in Confucianism, which means it has an ethical connotation. A closer look at xin may shed light on how the Chinese will develop AI, and whether it leads to artificial consciousness.

Alibaba will soon deploy robot bellhops to deliver room service at hotels. The Chinese tech giant's A.I. Labs has unveiled a robot, dubbed'Space Egg,' which uses artificial intelligence to tend to hotel guests needs. It can deliver food or laundry and even recognize voice commands thanks to Alibaba's voice assistant, Tmall Genie. Space Egg stands at just 3.3ft and glides along at a pace of just two miles per hour. Once a guest places an order using the Tmall Genie in their hotel room, the aluminum robot picks up the item from an employee or a robotic dispenser and delivers it to the guest.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd announced three partnerships on Monday with leading carmakers on artificial intelligence-backed connected vehicle services, cementing its commitment to the auto sector. Under the cooperation, owners of Daimler, Audi and Volvo cars in China will be able to remotely access information about their vehicles, such as location, engine status and fuel checks, using Alibaba's voice assistant service. AliGenie, the AI platform powering Alibaba's iconic smart speaker Tmall Genie, enables voice enquiries that unlock doors and turn on air conditioning before the driver even reaches the car, said Chen Lijuan, head of Alibaba AI Labs, an in-house AI research unit. The tie-up will also help enrich the in-car infotainment portfolio based on Alibaba's content offerings from access to video site Youku and music streaming service Xiami. "You can check the best route via Tmall Genie at home and send that information to your car," Chen told a media event in Beijing, citing the example of turning on the car's heater in winter as soon as the owner wakes up.

Alibaba Group's consumer artificial intelligence division, AI Labs, has teamed up with MediaTek to collaborate on internet of thingsWhere to buy 524 (IoT) initiatives. Under the partnership, both the companies will collaborate on building smart home protocols, customized IoT chips and AI smart hardware. They also announced their Smartmesh connectivity solution in China, which supports many-to-many Bluetooth mesh technology. Alibaba A.I. Labs, which leads the development of Alibaba's consumer artificial intelligent (AI) products, and MediaTek, a global fabless semiconductor company, today announced a strategic collaboration in internet of thingsWhere to buy 524 (IoT) initiatives including smart home protocols, customized IoT chips and AI smart hardware, with the aim of fostering the development of a connected world in the IoT era. The two parties also announced the first Smartmesh connectivity solution in China that supports the latest many-to-many Bluetooth mesh technology, in an effort to speed up the adoption of this technology in smart home settings.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group's artificial intelligence division, AI Labs, has joined hands with Taiwanese fabless chipmaker MediaTek to collaborate on Internet of Things (IoT) initiatives, including building a voice-controlled smart home ecosystem. "Our AI and cloud computing capabilities, along with MediaTek's cutting-edge technology in chip design, provide unique advantages to our connectivity solutions for smart homes," Miffy Chan, head of Alibaba AI Labs, said in a statement. The partnership comes after the two companies collaborated for Tmall Genie, the voice-controlled smart home assistant launched by Alibaba AI Labs in July last year. MediaTech provided chip technology support for Tmall Genie. More than one million Tmall Genie devices were sold in China during Alibaba's Global Shopping Festival in November last year.

China's e-commerce giant Alibaba has announced plans to invest more than $15 billion over the next three years in researching emerging technologies including artificial intelligence and quantum computing. Jack Ma, Alibaba's executive chairman, announced his decision to establish the Alibaba DAMO Academy (DAMO stands for Discovery, Adventure, Momentum, and Outlook) on the first day of the company's 2017 Computing Conference, which opened on Wednesday. Ma said the academy will do research aimed at "solving problems" related to the Internet of things, fintech, quantum computing, and AI. It will open seven research labs in China, the U.S., Russia, Israel, and Singapore. Chinese tech companies are increasingly looking to invest in cutting-edge research, especially artificial intelligence (see "China's AI Awakening").

Today I'd like to cover Intelligent Assistants. Perhaps this is cheating a bit, because it's a post I originally published on Medium on June 22nd. Then I had played with my first two home assistants (Amazon Echo I bought for my mom and a Google Home I received as a gift) and realised the potential these devices have not only in the home, but very soon also in the car and office. This year, 35.6 million Americans will use a voice-activated assistant at least once a month, doubling last year's figure, forecasts eMarketer. I don't normally like to predict things, but here's one: Home assistants are here to stay.