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Apple using machine learning for almost everything, and privacy-first approach actually better

Apple using machine learning in every product

Apple’s artificial intelligence (AI) chief says that Apple is using machine learning in almost every aspect of how we interact with our devices, but there is much more to come.

John Giannandrea says he moved from Google to Apple because the potential of machine learning (ML) to impact people’s lives is so much greater at the Cupertino company …

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Apple explains how it uses U.S. Census data and ML to make Siri a local

In Apple’s latest Machine Learning Journal entry, the Siri Speech Recognition Team shares an overview of the work behind improving Siri’s understanding of names for regional points-of-interest by incorporating the user’s location.

Based in part on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Apple has been able to tune Siri to better understand users based on where they are and what POIs they’re more likely to ask about.


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Apple explains how ‘Hey Siri’ works using a Deep Neural Network and machine learning

Apple has published a fascinating new entry in its Machine Learning Journal this month that explains how the voice-activated ‘Hey Siri’ detector works in detail. While many of these entries tend to be too in depth for the average reader (i.e. me), October’s entry from the Siri team includes several interesting (and understandable!) tidbits about what happens behind-the-scenes when you use ‘Hey Siri’ on your iPhone and Apple Watch.


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Apple expanding Seattle offices focused on AI and machine learning, strengthening ties to UW for talent search

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Apple is known for its secrecy when it comes to ongoing product development, but the company is operating a little different with its efforts around artificial intelligence and machine learning. Apple’s director of machine learning, Carlos Guestrin, openly discussed Apple’s plans to grow its engineering presence in Seattle in a new GeekWire interview.


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Apple bolstering Siri intelligence by hiring expert to lead AI research team

One of the areas where Apple has seemingly fallen behind its competition — or, more likely, not yet ready to disclose its technology’s full potential — is artificial intelligence. However, there’s no denying that the company is pushing hard towards bettering its existing products (like Siri) behind closed doors, and the latest AI hire is but another proof of such commitment…


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Apple bolsters continuing machine learning efforts with Tuplejump acquisition

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Eddy Cue, Tom Gruber, Alex Acero, Craig Federighi

Apple is continuing to add to its team of machine learning experts in Cupertino. TechCrunch reports that Apple has acquired Tuplejump, which describes itself as a service that “presents all your data in a familiar format” on their now-removed website. An Apple spokesperson gave TC the usual non-denial confirmation regarding the acquisition:


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Apple’s artificial intelligence work is being hurt by its extreme secrecy, say AI academics

Apple’s famed obsession with secrecy in its product development process is hampering its work in the field of artificial intelligence, say academics working in the field. Bloomberg reports that AI experts believe that lack of two-way sharing of information slows development.

“Apple is off the scale in terms of secrecy,” says Richard Zemel, a professor in the computer science department at the University of Toronto. “They’re completely out of the loop.”

Apple Maps was cited as an example of what can go wrong when AI teams within Apple are cut off from other work being done in the field – and even from researchers in other teams within Apple. Worse, it is claimed, the approach makes it impossible for Apple to recruit the brightest people in the field …


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Google’s Eric Schmidt makes thinly-veiled attack on Apple Music as elitist and a decade out of date

Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google parent company Alphabet, has made a thinly-veiled attack on Apple Music in a BBC op-ed on artificial intelligence. He described human-curated music selections as a decade out of data and an elitist approach.

A decade ago, to launch a digital music service, you probably would have enlisted a handful of elite tastemakers to pick the hottest new music.

Today, you’re much better off building a smart system that can learn from the real world – what actual listeners are most likely to like next – and help you predict who and where the next Adele might be … 


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Apple is upping its AI game but can it become as smart as Google without tracking us?

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Reuters reports that Apple is working on significantly increasing the number of artificial intelligence specialists it employs as it works to make Siri smarter, but that the company’s commitment to user privacy imposes constraints.

As part of its push, the company is currently trying to hire at least 86 more employees with expertise in the branch of artificial intelligence known as machine learning, according to a recent analysis of Apple job postings. The company has also stepped up its courtship of machine-learning PhD’s, joining Google, Amazon, Facebook and others in a fierce contest, leading academics say.

Machine learning relies heavily on large-scale data-crunching to figure out what users are likely to want to know. But while Google analyses the data of Android users en-masse, Apple’s approach to privacy means that far less data is sent from the iPhone to its servers, making it more challenging to increase Siri’s intelligence … 
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