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Communitech announces $1 million AI prize for True North 2019 (BETAKIT)
The solutions developed through this competition should provide the foundation for a new product or company.
Volvo’s first commercial self-driving trucks will be used in mining (VENTUREBEAT)
The Swedish automotive company has signed a deal with Norwegian mine Brønnøy Kalk to transport limestone along five kilometers of roads and tunnels from the mine to a nearby port using self-driving trucks.
RBC #FutureMakers will explain how to build the foundation for quantum tech November 28 (BETAKIT)
Tickets are free using the code BetaKit_FM.
Apple buys privacy-minded AI startup Silk Labs (ENGADGET)
Silk Lab’s focus on privacy may have been a draw for Apple: the startup says its algorithm only sends “key” video moments to the cloud, instead of a constant stream, and that it anonymizes data on its Silk Intelligence platform.
One of the fathers of AI is worried about its future(TECHNOLOGYREVIEW)
Yoshua Bengio wants to stop talk of an AI arms race and make the technology more accessible to the developing world.
ISARA raises $13 million to build solutions for quantum threats (BETAKIT)
ISARA’s mission is to awareness of quantum threats, and design and implement quantum-safe solutions that will work globally.
We should welcome our new robot overlords, think tank argues (THESTAR)
Canada should do more to welcome robots into its workforce as it lags behind East Asia in automation, according to a new report from a technology think tank.
China’s Geek+ raises $150M to build robots for warehouses and logistics (TECHCRUNCH)
The round was led by Warburg Pincus, with participation from other shareholders including Volcanics Venture and Vertex Ventures.
Where the brain turns quality and quantity into value (EUREKALERT)
Researchers have pinpointed a part of the human brain responsible for “on-the-fly” decision-making. According to the findings published in JNeurosci, the anterior cingulate cortex integrates disparate information about the desirability and amount of an option to inform choice.
SoftBank’s Deepcore and accelerator Zeroth team up to hunt early-stage AI opportunities (TECHCRUNCH)
The two seem complementary, with Deepcore focused on starting new ventures and investing in AI companies more generally, while Zeroth operates Asia’s first accelerator program targeted at AI and machine learning startups.
DiDi launches labs in Toronto, expanding global research network to Canada (FINANCIALPOST)
The new DiDi Labs in Toronto, which will focus on research into intelligent driving and artificial intelligence, will be led by Jun YU, Senior Vice President of DiDi and chair of DiDi’s Product & Design Committee.
Wluper, a London-based startup building a better conversational AI, picks up $1.3M seed (TECHCRUNCH)
Wluper’s “conversational AI” is initially targeting navigation products with what it describes as “goal-driven dialogue” technology that is designed to have more natural conversations to help with various navigation tasks.