TheNewsGuru

Tag: AI

  • FG, UAE to partner on Artificial Intelligence technology

    The Federal Government on Monday said it would collaborate with United Arab Emirates (UAE) on the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology in Nigeria.
    Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, the Minister of Science and Technology made this known when he received the UAE Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Obaid Mohamed on Monday in Abuja.
    According to him, contributions from UAE will fast track development of Artificial Intelligence in Nigeria.
    Artificial Intelligence is a branch of computer science that deals with the simulation of intelligent behaviour in computers.
    It is the ability of a computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings.
    The term is frequently applied to the project of developing systems with the ability to reason and discover meaning among others.
    Onu said that developing AI in the country would make Nigeria to take its rightful place among the comity of nations.
    Earlier, Mohamed said that UAE had started producing AI for a long time, adding that the country would be happy to collaborate with Federal Government in establishing production of AI in Nigeria.
    He added that UAE would further partner with the Federal Government on renewable energy to improve energy creation in Nigeria.
     

  • What is need of Portal, Facebook’s new video calling device?

    What is need of Portal, Facebook’s new video calling device?

    Facebook on Monday announced the release of Portal and Portal+, two new video communication devices for family and friends to easily connect.
    The social media giant said, with the aid of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, Portal makes video calling easier and more like hanging out, while a widescreen display let users enjoy every moment together.
    With a 10-inch 1280 x 800 display, Portal from Facebook improves video calling and lets you enjoy quality time with family and friends, in hands and distraction free mode.
    The Portal+ is a larger screen option of 15-inch 1920 x 1080 for more flexibility.
    “Both models are designed to help you feel closer to the important people in your life and make video chats feel less like a call, and more like you’re actually in the same room,” Facebook stated in a blog post.

    However, with different brands of similar technologies already in the market that can do the video-calling job of Portal and Portal+, what is the need for the new devices from Facebook?
    Intelligent Design, Invisible Tech
    Powered by AI, Portal’s Smart Camera and Smart Sound technology take all of the guesswork out of video calling, letting you enjoy a more convenient, hands-free experience.
    Whether you’re cooking in the kitchen or chasing the kids around the living room, Smart Camera stays with the action and automatically pans and zooms to keep everyone in view.
    Smart Sound minimizes background noise and enhances the voice of whoever is talking, no matter where they move. It’s like having your own cinematographer and sound crew direct your personal video calls.
    Connect with Facebook and Messenger Friends
    You can call Facebook friends and connections on Messenger even if they don’t have Portal. Calls can be made to and from Messenger-enabled smartphones and tablets. Portal supports group calls of up to seven people at the same time.
    Voice Control + Alexa
    Portal offers hands-free voice control. You can start a video call simply by saying “Hey Portal” and noting who you’d like to call. Portal also has Amazon Alexa built in, so you have access to a robust voice experience to ask for sports scores, check the weather, control smart home devices, order groceries, and more.
    Built with Privacy + Security in Mind
    Facebook knows that privacy and security are important when new technology comes into the home. That’s why the social media firm has designed Portal with tools that give users control to completely disable the camera and microphone with a single tap.
    https://www.facebook.com/facebook/videos/320275651886768/
     
    Portal and Portal+ also come with a camera cover, so users can easily block camera’s lens at any time and still receive incoming calls and notifications, plus use voice commands. Users can also manage Portal access by setting up a four- to 12-digit passcode to keep the screen locked. Changing the passcode requires Facebook password.
    Immersive Experiences
    Facebook has enabled in Portal and Portal+ shared activities for users to listen to music or watch some of favorite shows together. To bring about enhanced functionality, Facebook partnered with Spotify Premium, Pandora, and iHeartRadio, as well as Facebook Watch, Food Network and Newsy.
    The tech firm is also incorporating augmented reality (AR) effects, powered by Spark AR platform, to make calls even more fun and interactive.

    Story Time brings stories to life with custom sound effects and visuals. Smart Camera helps users read a fun story via a simple teleprompter, perfectly framed, while loved ones on the other side watch as users’ face and voice transform into the story’s characters.

    And when a user is not on a call, Portal’s Superframe can display favorite photos and videos and important notifications like birthday reminders, so users always feel a little more connected to closest family and friends.
    Portal and Portal+ are available for pre-order in the US at $199 USD and for $349 USD respectively with shipping expected to begin in November. A bundle of two Portal devices will be priced at $298 USD. The devices are expected to be available globally.
    Are Portal and Portal+ worth it or just some other rave like Daptly’s Smart Mirror?
     

  • NCC makes case for review of telecom laws

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has made a case for the need to review some of the Nigerian telecom laws while stressing the telecommunication sector is a fast evolving sector with great potentials to enhance human existence.
    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports NCC’s Director of Legal and Regulatory Services, Ms. Yetunde Akinloye, made the case during a presentation on the Nigerian Communications Act 2003 at a with judges on telecoms legal issues at the Sheraton Hotel, Lagos.
    The NCC’s Director of Legal and Regulatory Services also spoke on some of the challenges facing the telecom industry.
    She listed some of the challenges to include multiple regulations, call masking and multiple taxation, which she said hinder the deployment of telecoms infrastructure thereby delaying expansion of services to places where they are needed.
    She also noted that these challenges also negatively impact inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country’s telecoms sector.
    TNG reports the judges workshop is an annual week-long event organized by the NCC in conjunction with the National Judicial Institute (NJI).
    The idea is to sensitize Nigerian judges on emergent technologies such as use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) and SIM Masking/ Refiling in order to brainstorm the legal frameworks surrounding these services.
    Clement Omeiza Baiye, Board Commissioner represented Chairman of the Board of NCC, Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye and delivered the welcome address on his behalf.
    In his welcome address, Senator Durojaiye thanked the judges for making the time to attend the workshop to facilitate themselves with current trends, accomplishment and challenges within the telecoms sector.
    He noted that Telecommunications has contributed about N15 trillion to the Nigerian economy since the liberalisation of digital mobile communications nearly 17 years ago.
    The NCC’s Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, Mr. Sunday Dare, who represented the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, spoke on the importance of the Nigerian Judicial sector to familiarise themselves with the implementation of Artificial Intelligence, a disruptive innovation that is being adopted by the Judicial sectors in developed countries.
     

  • NCC, Judiciary, to jointly fight cybercrime

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on Wednesday called for the cooperation and contributions of the judiciary to checkmate rising cases of cybercrime in the country.
    The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, made the plea in Lagos during the “2018 Annual Workshop for Judges on Legal Issues in Telecommunication’’.
    He said that in spite of the country’s positive achievements in digitalisation, the country was still facing issues concerning cyber security, information and data protection.
    Danbatta was represented by Mr Clem Baiye, a Board Member of NCC.
    “Cyber criminals have continued to develop new strategies to circumvent cyber security, regardless of measures put in place to checkmate their acts.
    “It is necessary to discuss the admissibility of electronic evidence toward the successful prosecution of such cyber criminals.
    “As such, the commission recognises the need for the judicial system to be part of those making contributions to checkmate the issue of cybercrime.
    “Hence, the bold step behind exposing our judges to issues in telecommunication, ‘’he said.
    According to him, digitalisation has changed our lives more than any other technical revolution because it has affected our means of communication, fundamental rights and privacy.
    Danbatta said that the increase in cybercrime might be due to the proliferation of the internet and the decreasing cost of technology, which had provided millions of users the access to enormous resources.
    He said that the workshop was also meant to discuss Artificial Intelligence (AI), a tool that enabled people to rethink how they integrate information, analyse data and use the resulting insights to improve decision-making.
    Danbatta said that the commission would demonstrate how AI was already altering the world and raising important questions for the society, the economy and how it had affected the courts in speeding up decision-making.
     

  • Google keys into Facebook’s machine learning initiative

    Google keys into Facebook’s machine learning initiative

    Google has announced broadening, throughout its Cloud’s artificial intelligence (AI) platforms and services, support for PyTorch, keying into the Facebook’s open source Machine Learning (ML) framework.
    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports this is following the release of an updated version of the deep learning framework, PyTorch 1.0 Preview, by Facebook on Tuesday.
    With the release of PyTorch 1.0 Preview, designed for easy and flexible experimentation, the framework now supports a fully hybrid Python and C/C++ front-end as well as fast, native distributed execution for production environments.
    “Today, we’re pleased to announce that engineers on Google’s TPU team are actively collaborating with core PyTorch developers to connect PyTorch to Cloud TPUs.
    “The long-term goal is to enable everyone to enjoy the simplicity and flexibility of PyTorch while benefiting from the performance, scalability, and cost-efficiency of Cloud TPUs.
    “Here at Google Cloud, we aim to support the full spectrum of machine learning (ML) practitioners, ranging from students and entrepreneurs who are just getting started to the world’s top research and engineering teams.
    “ML developers use many different tools, and we’ve integrated several of the most popular open source frameworks into our products and services, including TensorFlow, PyTorch, scikit-learn, and XGBoost,” said Rajen Sheth, Director of Product Management, Google Cloud.
    Facebook’s Product Manager in charge of AI, Joseph Spisak, said PyTorch 1.0 accelerates the workflow involved in taking breakthrough research in AI to production deployment.
    “With deeper cloud service support, developers can more easily take advantage of PyTorch’s ecosystem of compatible software, hardware, and developer tools.
    “The more software and hardware that is compatible with PyTorch 1.0, the easier it will be for AI developers to quickly build, train, and deploy state-of-the-art deep learning models,” he further stated.
     

  • Buhari approves agency for robotics and AI for South East

    Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu said President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the establishment of an agency on robotics and artificial intelligence(AI) for the South East.

    Onu revealed this at a grand rally of the All Progressives Congress in Abakaliki, capital of Ebonyi state. The rally which received defectors from the Peoples Democratic Party, was attended by the national chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole.

    Some of the defectors who were received include, Senator Sonni Ogbuoji, former Minister of Power and Steel, Chief Goddy Ogbaga, former Secretary to the State Government, Bernard Odoh and former attorney general and commissioner for justice, Chief Augustine Nwankwegu.

    Onu told the rally that in 2015 he pleaded with South-East not to put its eggs in one basket but his pleadings fell on deaf ears.

    “In 2015 I pleaded with the zone not to put our eggs in one basket. Today I want them to compare the 16 years of PDP and relate it with just 3 years of APC.

    “The three years of APC is greater than the 16 years of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP); the second Niger bridge is nearing completion, the Enugu – Port-Harcourt and Enugu – Onitsha highways are in various levels of completion,” he said.

    “The time has come for the South East to be in the mainstream of Nigerian politics by voting for President Buhari and APC in 2019”.

    APC chairman Adams Oshiomhole said that the current security challenge in the country was devoid of religious or ethnic colouration.

    Oshiomhole therefore urged Nigerians not to allow themselves to be deceived by the antics of selfish politicians in the country who are trying to give the security challenges in the country an ethnic colouration to score cheap political points.

    According to Oshiomhole, there is a plot to paint the government of President Muhammadu Buhari in bad light by portraying all the killings in some states in the country as the handiwork of herdsmen.

    “Let me urge you to be more careful because in this season people are spreading untruth. People are being hired to turn the gospel upside down. They want us to believe that every problem should be explained in ethnic and religious terms.

    “We have a problem and we must confront those problems. Criminals must be dealt with individually as criminals. Government at all levels must work hard to protect every Nigerian regardless of tribe or religion, ” he said.

    He said Buhari and the security agencies are working hard to put an end to the security challenges facing the country.

    Oshiomhole urged the people of the South-East to vote for APC and President Buhari in the 2019 general election as he has delivered democracy dividends to the zone.

    ” If Buhari has remembered the South-East which did not give him more than 10 percent in 2015, imagine what he will do if you give him 85 per cent in 2019″.

    Former Governor of Abịa State, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu said the new River Niger bridge, which the PDP could not construct in 16 years, has now reached 53 per cent completion.

    According to him, the South-East will give the President and APC majority of its votes in 2019 in appreciation for all the projects and democracy dividends he has given the zone.

    The rally earlier scheduled to hold at the Pa Oruta Ngele Stadium Abakaliki was later moved to a a playground near the Enugu-Abakaliki Expressway following the refusal of the state government to grant the APC permission to use the stadium.

     

  • FG to create national artificial intelligence ecosystem – Minister

    The Federal Ministry of Communications has restated its commitment to support stakeholders in the ICT to create and strengthen a national Artificial Intelligence (AI) ecosystem to achieve sustainable development.

    The Minister of Communications, Mr Adebayo Shittu, said this at a press conference on Thursday, in Abuja.

    The event was to mark the 2018 World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, with the theme: “Enabling the Positive Use of Artificial Intelligence for All’’.

    Shittu said that the ministry was committed to focus on the potential of the AI to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030, and improve the nation’s economy.

    He said that, “AI is taking centre stage with a lot of impact on peoples’ lives as its potential power is being exploited and developed at an unprecedented speed.

    “With many nations, including Nigeria bank on technology, robotics and artificial intelligence to reshape humanity, we need to encourage our youth and people to be digital literate and become multi-discipline in ICTs.

    “Also market analysts predict that intelligent machines programmed to think and reason like the human mind will revolutionise healthcare in the very near future.

    “Proponents of the transformative power of artificial intelligence usually give two examples: self-driving cars and the delivery of healthcare.”

    The minister emphasised that AI was no longer confined to the laboratories, but could be seen in many instances of human activities.

    “We are accustomed to seeing countless references to intelligent machines and robots in popular culture whether it is in movies, fiction or books.

    “But apart from computers and smartphone technology, nothing is more worthy of praise than our commitment to replicate human behaviours and thought pattern into machine and that is the world of artificial intelligence.

    “As governments increasingly rely on the internet for governance and delivery of social benefits, technology simultaneously holds the promise of transformation and potential for exclusion.’’

    He said that the ministry would engage in crucial conversations with stakeholders to manage and explore the AI regime.

    According to him, Nigeria will seek to bring industry leaders and academic experts to the forefront by identifying priorities and share lessons for sustainable growth.

    “We shall consider and explore pillars like connectivity, digital inclusion, trade, security, innovation and policy.

    “We will also examine challenges and prospects of AI to foster greater interoperability and security.

    “Since government is leveraging the internet for delivery of social services, all lesson must be internalised to make this initiative more inclusive,’’ the minister said.

    NAN reports that ITU Secretary-General, Houlin Zhao in his message to mark ‘s day said every year on May 17, ITU members around the world celebrate World Telecommunication and Information Society Day.

    “Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is taking center stage with a lot of impact on people’s lives.

    “AI’s potential power is being exploited and developed at an unprecedented speed. AI brings us many opportunities and challenges. AI will greatly change our economy and society,’’ he said.

    According to Zhao, ITU in its role of specialised UN Agency for ICT services and technologies, wishes to work with academia, researchers, industries, administrations and governments, UN Agencies.

    Zhao said the union would also work with other stakeholders and partners to facilitate the AI development, to bring the benefits of AI to all.

    “ITU invites you to join us to celebrate WTISD 2018!’’, he said.

     

  • Rebellion against military project by Google workers grows

    Rebellion against military project by Google workers grows

    An internal petition calling for Google to stay out of “the business of war” was gaining support Tuesday, with some workers reportedly quitting to protest a collaboration with the US military.

    About 4,000 Google employees were said to have signed a petition that began circulating about three months ago urging the Internet giant to refrain from using artificial intelligence to make US military drones better at recognising what they are monitoring.

    Tech news website Gizmodo reported this week that about a dozen Google employees are quitting in an ethical stand.

    The California-based company did not immediately respond to inquiries about what was referred to as Project Maven, which reportedly uses machine learning and engineering talent to distinguish people and objects in drone videos for the Defense Department.

    “We believe that Google should not be in the business of war,” the petition reads, according to copies posted online.

    “Therefore, we ask that Project Maven be cancelled, and that Google draft, publicise and enforce a clear policy stating that neither Google nor its contractors will ever build warfare technology,” it added.

    ‘Step away’ from killer drones

    The Electronic Frontier Foundation, an Internet rights group, and the International Committee for Robot Arms Control (ICRAC) were among those who have weighed in with support.

    While reports indicated that artificial intelligence findings would be reviewed by human analysts, the technology could pave the way for automated targeting systems on armed drones, ICRAC reasoned in an open letter of support to Google employees against the project.

    “As military commanders come to see the object recognition algorithms as reliable, it will be tempting to attenuate or even remove human review and oversight for these systems,” ICRAC said in the letter.

    “We are then just a short step away from authorising autonomous drones to kill automatically, without human supervision or meaningful human control.”

    Google has gone on the record saying that its work to improve machines’ ability to recognise objects is not for offensive uses, but published documents show a “murkier” picture, the EFF’s Cindy Cohn and Peter Eckersley said in an online post last month.

    “If our reading of the public record is correct, systems that Google is supporting or building would flag people or objects seen by drones for human review, and in some cases this would lead to subsequent missile strikes on those people or objects,” said Cohn and Eckersley.

    “Those are hefty ethical stakes, even with humans in the loop further along the ‘kill chain.’”

    The EFF and others welcomed internal Google debate, stressing the need for moral and ethical frameworks regarding the use of artificial intelligence in weaponry.

    “The use of AI in weapons systems is a crucially important topic and one that deserves an international public discussion and likely some international agreements to ensure global safety,” Cohn and Eckersley said.

    “Companies like Google, as well as their counterparts around the world, must consider the consequences and demand real accountability and standards of behaviour from the military agencies that seek their expertise – and from themselves.”

     

  • 4 ways AI can optimize learning, teaching in Nigeria

    4 ways AI can optimize learning, teaching in Nigeria

    Dr. Winnie Tang, Honorary Professor at the Department of Computer Science, University of Hong Kong, has outlined four ways nations can adopt artificial intelligence (AI) to optimizing teaching and learning.

    TheNewsGuru reports AI holds tremendous promise to improve our educational systems and according to Dr. Winnie, AI can provide customized learning for students and give teachers more time to focus on the most important aspects of education.

    However, given the level with which Nigeria has adopted technology, these realities may be farfetched. Presently, the Nigerian government has adopted technology in teaching and learning by equipping teachers, especially N-Power teachers, with technology gadgets, and some States in the Federation have distributed iPads pre-installed with learning aids to students and pupils.

    Meanwhile, going forward, for instance, AI can assist the following tasks:

    Take over teachers’ routine tasks, such as marking assignments

    According to Dr. Winnie, experimental results have shown that using machine learning and predictive modeling, the scores marked by AI matched human grading by as close as 85%.

    Virtual teaching assistants can answer many of the questions frequently asked by students

    In 2014, a professor from the U.S. Georgia Institute of Technology created a robot teaching assistant, which had provided responses to students’ online questions for five months without being noticed by the students.

    Apply adaptive learning

    Identify the successful formula, then apply adaptive learning solutions to deliver the right content, at the right time and in the best way for each student, according to his or her individual learning preferences and progress.

    Analyze students’ abilities, interests, and potential

    With AI, teachers can analyze students’ abilities, interests, and potential through classroom interaction, social media activities, etc., to find out the best learning method for them and even recommend their career path.

    With AI taking over some of the administrative tasks, teachers can focus more on guiding the students. For example, many students committing similar mistakes in the same assignment is an indication of a possible problem which needs teachers’ attention and follow-up. Most importantly, the teachers can guide students to make the best use of their strengths and face their life positively.

     

  • How Google is turning self-driving cars from science fiction into reality

    How Google is turning self-driving cars from science fiction into reality

    Today at Google I/O, Google’s annual developer conference, Dmitri Dolgov, CTO and VP of Engineering, shared details on how Waymo is using artificial intelligence (AI) to make fully self-driving cars a reality.

    TheNewsGuru report Waymo is an autonomous car development company and subsidiary of Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc. Google began testing self-driving cars in 2009.

    “AI and machine learning (ML) have played a critical role in moving us closer to our goal of bringing self-driving technology to everyone, everywhere,” stated Dolgov.

    Here’s a quick recap of what Dolgov shared on how Waymo is using AI to turn self-driving cars from science fiction into reality:

    Jump-start in AI

    Many people know about Google’s early AI advances in image search and speech recognition. But did you know that Google’s AI researchers also helped give Waymo a jump-start on the road to truly self-driving cars? One example: as deep learning began to take off, our self-driving engineers worked side-by-side with the Google Brain team to apply deep nets to our pedestrian detection system. Even in those early days, the results were remarkable — within a matter of months, we were able to reduce the error rate for pedestrian detection by 100x, making our system safer and more capable on the road.

    Fast forward to fully self-driving

    Fast forward to 2018, Waymo’s advances in AI have helped turn self-driving cars from science fiction into reality. Today, Waymo is the only company in the world with a fleet of truly autonomous cars on public roads. Members of the public in Phoenix, Arizona have already started to experience these fully self-driving rides.

    AI everywhere

    AI plays a crucial role in nearly every part of our self-driving system. While perception is the most mature area for deep learning, we also use deep nets for everything from prediction to planning to mapping and simulation. With machine learning, we can navigate nuanced and difficult situations; maneuvering construction zones, yielding to emergency vehicles, and giving room to cars that are parallel parking. We can do this because we’ve trained our ML models using lots of different examples. To date, we’ve driven 6 million miles on public roads and observed hundreds of millions of interactions between vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists.

    Beyond the algorithm

    It takes more than good algorithms to be able to put self-driving vehicles on the road and expand to more cities. Infrastructure plays a key role in training and testing our ML models. At Waymo, we use the TensorFlow ecosystem and Google’s data centers — including TPUs — to train our neural networks. With TPUs, we can train our nets up to 15x more efficiently. We also rigorously test our ML models in simulation, where we drive the equivalent of 25,000 cars all day, every day. With this robust training and testing cycle, we can rapidly improve our ML models, and quickly deploy the latest nets on our self-driving cars.

    Weatherproofing our driver

    We aim to bring self-driving technology to everyone, everywhere… and in all weather. Driving in heavy rain or snow can be a tough task for self-driving cars and people alike, in part because visibility is limited. Raindrops and snowflakes can create a lot of noise in sensor data for a self-driving car. Machine learning helps us filter out that noise and correctly identify pedestrians, vehicles and more.

    With our years of experience, collaboration with Google AI, and powerful infrastructure, we’re getting closer than ever to a future where transportation is safer, easier and more accessible for everyone.