Photos That Talk, Japan Builds a Robotic Goat, and Other AI News

We strive to inform readers not only about events in the bitcoin industry, but also about what is happening in related tech spheres — cybersecurity, and now in the world of artificial intelligence (AI).
ForkLog AI has gathered the most important AI news from the past week.

EU imposes sanctions on Russian processor manufacturers

The European Union imposed sanctions on Russian companies Baikal Electronics JSC, the Elbrus processors’ producer; MCST JSC, NM-Tech LLC, and NTC Module.

The measures prohibit European enterprises from providing sanctioned Russian legal entities with any technological services related to the production of dual-use goods, as well as providing financial aid, including grants, loans and credits.

Qualcomm halted shipments of chips to Russian companies

Qualcomm announced it has stopped shipping chips to Russia.

This is incorrect. Qualcomm has called for a peaceful resolution to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, made direct donations to relief organizations, & match employee contributions. We have stopped selling products to Russian companies & comply with US sanctions.

— Qualcomm (@Qualcomm) March 16, 2022

«We stopped selling products to Russian companies and are adhering to US sanctions,» the company said.

Qualcomm also donated to humanitarian organizations and urged a peaceful settlement of the conflict.

GitLab ceased operations in Russia and Belarus

GitLab’s Git repository hosting service suspended operations in Russia and Belarus.

The company said it was deeply saddened by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and the violence against a sovereign nation, and the horrific impact on all residents of the region, including its startup employees. Management said the situation is dynamic and the company is revisiting and updating its approach to doing business accordingly.

The company supports those affected by the war in Ukraine through the Sijbrandij Foundation, which forwards donations to UNICEF, Save the Children, Médecins Sans Frontières and Amnesty International.

Reface exits the Russian market

The Ukrainian startup Reface pulled its app for creating deepfakes out of Russia.

Earlier the company sent more than 13 million anti-war notices to 2 million Russians via the program, which drew a negative audience reaction. Users began rating the app lower en masse on the App Store and Google Play.

In Reface, the company commented on the actions of the Russian audience as “indifference to women, children and destroyed homes.”

Intel will build a plant in Europe for $19 billion

The company will build a new chip manufacturing plant in Germany for $19 billion. Over the next ten years, it plans to invest up to $88 billion in developing the EU’s semiconductor ecosystem.

The new site in Magdeburg will comprise two factories, with construction planned for the first half of 2023 and production set to begin in 2027.

The plants will manufacture chips using Angstrom-era transistor technology. According to Intel, construction will create 7,000 jobs, and after operations begin, 3,000 permanent jobs and more than 1,000 for partners and suppliers.

The company will also invest $13 billion to develop the plant in Ireland. Intel aims to double the current site’s capacity and expand foundry services.

Additionally, the tech giant plans to establish a European R&D center in France, which will create around 1,000 new jobs, 450 of which will be filled by the end of 2024.

Meta to build a data center in Spain to serve the metaverse

The Meta corporation will build a data center to support the metaverse in the Spanish region of Toledo for €1 billion. It will also open a Meta Lab business incubator in Madrid and invest in laying new undersea cables.

The tech giant plans to build the data center in 2023 and operate it in full by 2029.

Meta Lab will employ remote workers from within the company, as well as local tech startups and entrepreneurs in the field.

In addition, the tech giant, together with local operator Telefónica, will create in Madrid the Metaverse Innovation Hub, designed to develop networks capable of satisfying the metaverse’s data transmission needs.

ARM to cut 1,000 jobs after Nvidia deal collapse

The chipmaker ARM said it would cut up to 1,000 employees following the failure of the deal with Nvidia. Most of the layoffs will affect workers in the United States and the United Kingdom.

“ARM is constantly reviewing its business plan to ensure the right balance between opportunities and cost discipline. Unfortunately, this process includes layoffs worldwide,” said CEO Rene Haas.

MyHeritage and D-ID taught photos to talk

MyHeritage, together with the startup D-ID, unveiled the LiveStory tool that makes photos talk.

To use the tool, a user must upload a portrait of a famous person or a deceased relative to the site, and AI algorithms will transform it into a short animated clip. Users can also select a voice from the photo to tell the story of the person’s life, from a library of more than 140 samples in 31 languages.

Biographies of the people in the photo can be generated automatically from existing family history on the service or created manually. The user must write the text in the first person and optionally break it into chapters and illustrate it.

Then the algorithm will stitch the images into a video, convert the text to speech using the chosen voice model and animate the portrait.

You.com launches an online text-generation service

The startup You.com, in collaboration with OpenAI, launched the YouWrite tool for generating texts on demand.

According to the developers, the system is based on technology “very similar” to GPT-3.

To use the tool, a user needs to go to the AI search engine and enter a query. Then they must specify the length of the final text, the audience or recipients, the tone of the narrative and the content.

At first the tool will be free. In the future it will become paid for regular users and those who generate long texts such as essays.

A four-legged robot goat was created in Japan

The Japanese company Kawasaki unveiled the rideable robotic goat Bex.

The device has four limbs allowing it to traverse rough terrain. When the surface is flat, the robot kneels and uses wheels mounted in its legs to move quickly. Bex’s payload is up to 100 kg.

The robot can move autonomously or be controlled by a person using special levers. According to the company, the device can transport people and construction materials, and in the future will enable remote inspections of industrial sites.

Most notable AI deals of the past week

From March 13 to 19, 2022, AI startups attracted more than $423 million. Here are the most interesting deals.

• Talent.com raised $120 million to bolster its AI-powered recruitment platform.
• Twelve Labs raised $5 million to commercialize its service for searching content inside videos.
• TruEra raised $25 million to support its platform for managing AI quality.
• RightBound raised $15 million.
• Nautilus Labs raised $34 million to optimize vessel routes while reducing emissions.
• Quadric raised $21 million to accelerate production of AI edge chips.
• Run:AI raised $75 million.
• Synthetaic raised $13 million to expand its synthetic data platform.
• Sedai raised $15 million to automate cloud management tasks.
• Cowbell raised $100 million.

Also on ForkLog:

• Ukraine gained access to the Clearview AI facial recognition system.
• SPEC will develop an independent benchmark for testing AI algorithms.
• Tesla used a transformer in the latest FSD update.
• Research: image modification does not protect against facial recognition systems.
• Unknown individuals published a deepfake of Zelensky calling to “lay down arms”.
• Google applied deep learning to develop AI chips.

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