Toggle light / dark theme

Of $15.2 billion invested in AI startups globally in 2017, 48 percent went to China and just 38 percent to America. So says a new report from CB Insights about the state of AI.

So long, America: It’s the first time China’s AI startups surpassed those in the US in terms of funding. While America still has more AI startups than China, they’re starting to lose out in striking equity deals: the US accounted for 77 percent of them in 2013, but that fell to 50 percent last year.

Fierce competition: AI startup investment rose 141 percent in 2017 compared with 2016—but with 1,100 new startups appearing last year, AI appearing in business models everywhere, and Big Tech’s enterprise AI offerings gaining traction, it’s harder than ever to snag funds.

Read more

Black holes don’t just sit there munching away constantly on the space around them. Eventually they run out of nearby matter and go quiet, lying in wait until a stray bit of gas passes by.

Then a black hole devours again, belching out a giant jet of particles. And now scientists have captured one doing so not once, but twice — the first time this has been observed.

The two burps, occurring within the span of 100,000 years, confirm that supermassive black holes go through cycles of hibernation and activity.

Read more