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Category: business – Page 113

Survival of the most informed: The journey to innovation begins with data

Were you unable to attend Transform 2022? Check out all of the summit sessions in our on-demand library now! Watch here.

While business transformation has always been critical to staying relevant and competitive, global disruptions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic created an urgency to accelerate innovation to keep pace with market conditions and changes in customer demand. In fact, many digitally transformed companies have not only survived — they’ve thrived.

According to a 2021 McKinsey Survey, top-performing companies now obtain a larger share of their sales from products or services that didn’t exist just one year ago. These companies are making more aggressive plans to differentiate themselves with technology, and some are preparing to reinvent their value proposition altogether.

Robot Sales Hit Record High in North America for Third-Straight Quarter

This will create new types of jobs especially in software industries.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—()—For the third-straight quarter, robot sales in North America hit a record high, driven by a resurgence in sales to automotive companies and an ongoing need to manage increasing demand to automate logistics for e-commerce. According to the Association for Advancing Automation, of the 12,305 robots sold in Q2 2022, 59% of the orders came from the automotive industry with the remaining orders from non-automotive companies largely in the food & consumer goods industry, which saw a 13% increase in unit orders over the same period, April through June, in 2021.

Robot sales hit new record in North America for 3rd straight quarter: Includes renewed surge in #automotive and continued uptake of #robotics and #automation in food and consumer goods industries driven by #ecommerce, industry group @a3automate reports. Tweet this

“While automotive entities have long been the frontrunner in deploying robotics and automation, the last few years have seen food & consumer goods, life sciences and other industries grow at even higher rates,” said A3 President Jeff Burnstein. “While this quarter shows a marked shift back to historic norms with more robots going to automotive than to any other industry, the continued growth of robotics in food & consumer goods companies especially demonstrates the ongoing need to automate warehouse logistics for handling the exploding growth of e-commerce. We’re excited to share the latest on robots in the logistics space at our upcoming Autonomous Mobile Robots & Logistics Week in Boston in October.”

A digital human could be your next favorite celebrity—or financial advisor

When one of China’s biggest celebrities, Simon Gong —also known as Gong Jun—released a new music video in June 2022, it quickly attracted 15 million views on the country’s Twitter-like microblogging site Weibo. But the event also stood out for a different reason—one that only eagle-eyed fans might have noticed. The singer in the video was not Gong himself, but a digital replica created by Baidu, a “digital human” powered by artificial intelligence (AI). Likewise, the lyrics and melody were generated by AI, marking the recording as China’s first AI-generated content music video.

Deloitte defines digital humans as AI-powered virtual beings that can produce a whole range of human body language. In recent years, businesses focused on providing round-the-clock services, as well as the media and entertainment industry, are increasingly adopting this nascent technology, aiming to capture a growing market. And as digital humans increasingly populate other sectors like retail, health care, and finance, Emergen Research forecasts that the global market for digital humans will jump to about $530 billion in 2030, from $10 billion in 2020.

10 Best AI Art Generators

Artificial intelligence (AI) is not only affecting industries like business and healthcare. It is also playing an increasing role in the creative industries by ushering in a new era of AI-generated art. AI technologies and tools are often widely accessible to anyone, which is helping to create an entirely new generation of artists. We often […].

The Worst AI Advice You’ll Ever Hear

Facebook (now Meta) popularized the Silicon Valley ethos with the saying “Move fast and break things”. This approach might have worked when disrupting the social media business, but it’s causing all sorts of problems for them as well as other major AI players. Breaking things and moving fast might be the reason why so many AI projects are failing. According to an MIT study, over 85% of AI projects fail to deliver their stated objectives, and 70% of data science projects never make it to fruition. Clearly moving fast and breaking things doesn’t work if you’re not getting closer to success.

There’s a difference between Iterating to Success and Breaking Things.

The oft-cited Silicon Valley ethos of “Move fast and break things” isn’t working that well for AI.

Machine learning algorithm predicts how to get the most out of electric vehicle batteries

Researchers have developed a machine learning algorithm that could help reduce charging times and prolong battery life in electric vehicles by predicting how different driving patterns affect battery performance, improving safety and reliability.

The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, say their algorithm could help drivers, manufacturers and businesses get the most out of the batteries that power by suggesting routes and driving patterns that minimize battery degradation and charging times.

The team developed a non-invasive way to probe batteries and get a holistic view of battery health. These results were then fed into a machine learning algorithm that can predict how different driving patterns will affect the future health of the battery.

Customer retention challenges? This company can help with ‘multidimensional’ data listening

California-based StepFunction, which helps enterprises improve customer retention rate, has raised $5 million.

Were you unable to attend Transform 2022? Check out all of the summit sessions in our on-demand library now! Watch here.

Modern-day software-as-a-service (SaaS) enterprises are racing to acquire new users and convert them into paying customers. The rush is great for the industry, but it has also left many organizations looking at only half of the picture.

Case in point: The extensive focus on gaining new paying customers but not so much on post-sale constructs — including customer success, customer care and professional services — could not only improve customer retention but also help grow the business at the same time.

U.S. officials order Nvidia to halt sales of top AI chips to China

Aug 31 (Reuters) — Chip designer Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) said on Wednesday that U.S. officials told it to stop exporting two top computing chips for artificial intelligence work to China, a move that could cripple Chinese firms’ ability to carry out advanced work like image recognition and hamper Nvidia’s business in China.

Nvidia shares fell 6.6% after hours. The company said the ban, which affects its A100 and H100 chips designed to speed up machine learning tasks, could interfere with completion of developing the H100, the flagship chip Nvidia announced this year.

Shares of Nvidia rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD.O) fell 3.7% after hours. An AMD spokesman told Reuters the company had received new license requirements that will stop its MI250 artificial intelligence chips from being exported to China but it believes its MI100 chips will not be affected. AMD said it does not believe the new rules will have a material impact on its business.