Tech & Society
U.S. government approval of medical AI products is on the upswing — but information about how such systems were built is largely unavailable. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a a plethora of AI-driven medical systems.
Machine Learning Research
A neural network learned to read the genes of viruses as though they were text. That could enable researchers to page ahead for potentially dangerous mutations. Researchers at MIT trained a language model to predict mutations that would enable infectious viruses to become even more virulent.
Tech & Society
A pair of neural networks is helping to prioritize Covid-19 cases for contact tracing. The public health department of California’s Contra Costa County is using deep learning to sort Covid-19 cases reported via the pre-internet technology known as fax.
Interviews & Essays
Look at the tip of a standard #2 pencil. Now, imagine performing over one trillion multiplication operations in the area of that pencil tip every second. This can be accomplished using today’s 7nm semiconductor technology.
Tech & Society
AI accelerated the search for a coronavirus vaccine, detected Covid-19 cases, and otherwise softened the pandemic’s blow. Machine learning researchers worldwide scrambled to harness the technology against the coronavirus.
Science
Covid Moonshot, an open-source project to vet potential medicines using machine learning, is closing in on compounds that might help curb Covid-19. Four new antiviral drugs identified by the project are ready to advance to animal trials.
Business
Covid-19 wreaked havoc with models that predict retail sales — but China’s biggest annual e-commerce event showed that they’re back in business.
Tech & Society
Covid shut down the tennis tournament at Wimbledon this year, but a new model simulates showdowns between the sport’s greatest players. Stanford researchers developed Vid2Player, a system that simulates the footwork, positioning, and strokes of tennis pros like Roger Federer.
Machine Learning Research
Neural networks are famously bad at interpreting input that falls outside the training set’s distribution, so it’s not surprising that some models are certain that cat pictures show symptoms of Covid-19. A new approach won’t mistakenly condemn your feline to a quarantine.
Tech & Society
Computer vision is helping sushi lovers enjoy top-quality maguro. Japanese restaurant chain Kura Sushi is using a smartphone app called Tuna Scope to grade its suppliers’ offerings, according to the news outlet The Asahi Shimbun.
Tech & Society
A new report details the role of AI in China’s effort to fight the coronavirus. Researchers at Synced, a China-based AI publication, describe how nearly 90 machine learning products have contributed to the country’s pandemic response.
Business
The same technology that has bedeviled Hollywood stars and roiled politics is easing corporate communications. Synthesia generates training and sales videos featuring photorealistic, synthetic talking heads that read personalized scripts in any of 34 languages.