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Category: robotics/AI – Page 442

SparkLabs closes $50M fund to back AI startups

SparkLabs — an early-stage venture capital firm that has made a name for itself for backing OpenAI as well as a host of other AI startups such as Vectara, Allganize, Kneron, Anthropic, xAI, Glade (YC S23) and Lucidya AI — is gearing up to double down on more startups in the space. The VC firm announced Tuesday that it has closed a new $50 million fund, AIM AI Fund, which will back AI startups out of its own AIM-X accelerator in Saudi Arabia as well as other AI startups across the globe.

SparkLabs’ new fund and its wider investment aims underscore the bigger trends that have swirled around artificial intelligence for the last few years. The explosion of interest in generative AI in particular has led to a surge of startups in the space, as well as a rush of investors looking for the next Open AI — or at the very least, a startup that a bigger company might snap up as it looks to sharpen its own AI edge.

It also points to how the AI opportunity continues to widen beyond Silicon Valley. AIM-X is an AI-focused startup accelerator that SparkLabs launched earlier this year in the kingdom as part of its AI Mission, a national initiative to bolster AI technology over the next five years.

Government Test Finds That AI Wildly Underperforms Compared to Human Employees

A real stinker.

The trial, conducted by Amazon Web Services, was commissioned by the government regulator as a proof of concept for generative AI’s capabilities, and in particular its potential to be used in business settings.

That potential, the trial found, is not looking promising.

In a series of blind assessments, the generative AI summaries of real government documents scored a dire 47 percent on aggregate based on the trial’s rubric, and were decisively outdone by the human-made summaries, which scored 81 percent.

How Predictive AI Can Optimize Business Processes In Healthcare

Finally, the goal of any healthcare organization is to provide the best possible care to patients. Predictive AI can contribute significantly to this goal by enabling more accurate diagnoses, tailored treatment plans and earlier interventions.

From the patient’s perspective, this translates to better health outcomes, reduced hospital stays and increased satisfaction with their care. For healthcare organizations, improved patient experiences lead to higher patient retention rates, positive word-of-mouth referrals and better performance on patient satisfaction metrics, which are increasingly tied to reimbursement rates in many healthcare systems.

As we’ve explored, the benefits of predictive AI extend far beyond improved diagnostics and treatment plans. It’s a catalyst for operational excellence, financial optimization, availability of investments and long-term growth. From resource management to building an authoritative brand, predictive AI touches every aspect of the healthcare business environment.

AI may not steal many jobs after all. It may just make workers more efficient

WASHINGTON (AP) — Imagine a customer-service center that speaks your language, no matter what it is.

Alorica, a company in Irvine, California, that runs customer-service centers around the world, has introduced an artificial intelligence translation tool that lets its representatives talk with customers who speak 200 different languages and 75 dialects.

So an Alorica representative who speaks, say, only Spanish can field a complaint about a balky printer or an incorrect bank statement from a Cantonese speaker in Hong Kong. Alorica wouldn’t need to hire a rep who speaks Cantonese.

AI companies that say AGI is close are using dubious definitions to make that claim, AI pioneer says

Investors are pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into the AI industry right now, and much of that is going toward the development of a still theoretical technology: artificial general intelligence.

OpenAI, the maker of the buzzy chatbot ChatGPT, has made creating AGI a top priority. Its Big Tech competitors, Google, Meta, and Microsoft, are also devoting their top researchers to the same goal.

AI was born at a US summer camp 68 years ago. Here’s why that event still matters today

Let’s also emphasise ethical considerations. The Dartmouth participants didn’t spend much time discussing the ethical implications of AI. Today, we know better, and must do better.

We must also refocus research directions. Let’s emphasise research into AI interpretability and robustness, interdisciplinary AI research and explore new paradigms of intelligence that aren’t modelled on human cognition.

Finally, we must manage our expectations about AI. Sure, we can be excited about its potential. But we must also have realistic expectations, so that we can avoid the disappointment cycles of the past.

Scientists create mini robotic forearm muscle comparable to human

Robotic forearm designed with human-like proportions and efficient heat dissipation:

To replicate this in robots, researchers developed a compact forearm with a radioulnar joint using miniature bone–muscle modules. The design mimics human proportions, with two modules in the radius and ulna, totaling eight muscles. These muscles control six degrees of freedom (DOFs), including the radioulnar joint, radiocarpal joint, and finger movements.

The module’s compact design maintains the correct body proportions and weight ratios while offering more muscle-driven freedom than other robots. The researchers successfully created a forearm that closely mirrors human joint performance, allowing for precise, skillful movements similar to those of a human.

Researchers tested Kengoro, a robot equipped with a human-mimetic radioulnar forearm, by performing tasks like soldering, opening a book, turning a screw, and swinging a badminton racket.

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