While many people agree that AI is the next big thing in technology and is set to revolutionise our lives, they do not realise that AI has already started to make waves in everything we do. We have reached a point in technology where Artificial Intelligence, or AI has moved out of the pages of science fiction and is now science fact AI has made its way into numerous sectors and is already affecting our lives. This could be something as subtle such as a music app creating a playlist based on your tastes, to more dramatic examples such as defeating human opponents in complex games.
Personal assistance
Most sci-fi movies and books image AI as a butler or a personal assistant, helps the user with their daily tasks. Anyone with a modern smartphone these days has access to an AI assistant. Whether it’s Siri, Cortana, Alexa or the Google Assistant, smartphone users can now ask their assistant to remind them of calls, schedule appointments and more. These assistants are also available on smart speakers, so users can interact with them at their homes as well.
These applications make use of Deep Neural Networks (DNNs), which are time, compute, energy and memory intensive. Google’s own internal research1 found that even small service delays tend to have a massive impact on user engagement. In order to help applications strike a balance between accuracy, speed, and power consumption, Intel® AI Lab open-sourced its Neural Network Distiller2. This is a Python package for neural network compression research. The Distiller is able to provide a PyTorch environment for prototyping and analysing compression algorithms.
Besides the Neural Network Distiller, Intel has also worked with Clinic to create an AI-powered finance assistant called Finie3. Thanks to the power of Natural Language Processing, users are able to ask questions regarding their finances to the assistant and get a response. So they do not have to navigate between menus that might be confusing.
Autonomous piloting
Self-driving cars are arguably the poster boys for AI. Major names in the world of technology such as Google working on these vehicles, which might one day ferry us to and from our destinations. Getting an AI to drive a car is not easy. It not only needs to keep an eye on other drivers on the road, but also on pedestrians as well as other obstacles. It needs to see and predict what any might happen and react to any changes. Alphabet-owned, Waymo recently started its commercial self-driving service, Waymo One4 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Last year, Intel unveiled its Advanced Vehicle Lab5 in Silicon Valley. The aim was to provide insight into the company’s cutting-edge R&D efforts underway to push the boundaries of driverless cars and the future of transportation. The Autonomous Garage Labs work with customers and partners to come up with new ways of addressing the data challenge inside the vehicle, across the network and in the data center. Intel also has an Advanced Vehicle Lab6 Located in Chandler, Arizona. Here’s the company collects data that it uses to refine its self-driving algorithms.
Intel also helps out with autonomous shipping7. The company worked with the Rolls-Royce team based in Finland and Norway make autonomous shipping a reality. Like autonomous vehicles, ships need to process lots of data in order to be fully autonomous. However, the scale is much greater in shipping. In order to deal with such quantities of day, Rolls-Royce has turned to Intel’s technology such as the Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors to be used on ships as well as data centers on land.
Cyber security
The internet has given us the opportunity to connect with people from all round the world. However, it also gives unscrupulous individuals the opportunity to connect with you. Being hacked is a pretty real threat in this day and age, and is something that major businesses take very seriously. In order to protect themselves from the threat of cyber espionage, businesses need to be one step ahead of hackers at all times.
Intel has partnered with Cybraics to create nLighten8, a platform that uses a combination of different machine learning techniques as well as an AI engine to discover known as well as unknown threats. Traditional tools depend on non-corollary signature based detection. In other words, they are depend on known patterns in order to detect threats. nLighten on the other hand, is able to detect as well as combat any threats that may rise. As a result, it helps businesses stay one step ahead.
Healthcare
Healthcare is another sector that is seeing some major changes thanks to the introduction of AI, especially in terms of assisting doctors and nurses. Earlier this year, researchers from the University of Oxford have completed the first successful trial of robot-assisted retinal surgery9. AI will be able to make more precise cuts. Danish researchers have developed Corti10, an AI that eavesdrops into emergency calls made to dispatchers. It looks to identify patterns and anomalies in conversations and processes it in real-time. It them notifies the dispatcher of anything it notices, thereby empowering him/her to make the right decisions faster and more accurately.
Intel too is doing its bit to revolutionise healthcare. The company is working together prominent names in the field of medicine to accelerate Pneumothorax detection. It does this by helping to streamline the large quantities of data that is generated at radiology departments through the use of AI. The system is able to detect potentially life-threatening conditions in patients. It uses Deep Learning-based X-ray image analysis for pneumothorax by utilising computer vision tools from Intel.
Intel is also doing its bit to help paraplegics. The Hoobox Robotics’ Wheelie 711 is powered by Intel’s AI technology an can be controlled via facial expressions. Instead of invasive body sensors, the Wheelie 7 uses a 3D Intel® RealSense™ Depth Camera SR300 mounted on the wheelchair to stream data. This is then processed in real time to control the chair.
Education
Education is a field where things have remained more or less stagnant, in terms of how education is imparted to students, However, the inclusion of AI might finally change that. Companies such as Content Technologies Inc12. (CTI) are using AI to create educational content that break down text and offers a simpler way to create ‘study guides’ for students. This could also be used to create guides that could be personalised based on each student.
In order to promote smarter learning, Intel is rolling out the Tech Learning Lab13, a custom-built mobile container truck that is outfitted with Virtual reality (VR) demo stations, Augmented Reality (AR) as well as Internet of Things (IoT) whiteboards. It also offers hands-on workshops that feature artificial intelligence coding and robotics.The idea is to introduce students as well as teachers and administrators to the power of technology as an instructional tool for the 21st century.
We are at the cusp of an AI revolution that is all set to change the way we live our lives. The examples given above are still in their infancy and showcase the potential that the tech has to offer as time progresses. The next decade is set to be most exciting in terms of technology and we can only wait and see what it has to offer.
To know more about what's going on at Intel, check out the Intel Developer Zone here.
Sources
1. https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-resources/the-google-gospel-of-speed-urs-hoelzle/
2. https://ai.intel.com/compressing-deep-learning-models-with-neural-network-distiller/
3. https://ai.intel.com/videos/the-ai-financial-assistant-clinc-2/
4. https://medium.com/waymo/waymo-one-the-next-step-on-our-self-driving-journey-6d0c075b0e9b
5. https://newsroom.intel.com/news/intel-unveils-latest-autonomous-driving-lab-silicon-valley/
6. https://newsroom.intel.com/news/see-intels-autonomous-driving-lab-on-wheels/
7. https://ai.intel.com/sailing-the-seas-of-autonomous-shipping/
8. https://ai.intel.com/white-papers/accelerate-threat-detection-with-nlighten-cybraics-advanced-security-analytics-and-artifcial-intelligence-platform/
9. http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2018-06-18-first-human-test-robotic-eye-surgery-success
10. https://corti.ai/technology
11. https://newsroom.intel.com/news/intel-artificial-intelligence-opens-door-mobility-quadriplegic-community/
12. http://contenttechnologiesinc.com/
13. https://newsroom.intel.com/news/intel-tech-learning-lab-starts-tour-shape-educations-future/
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