Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Apple Set To Join Amazon, Google, Facebook in AI Research Group (bloomberg.com)

Posted by msmash on from the For-greater-good dept.

Apple will take a significant step toward disclosing more of its artificial intelligence research this week by becoming a member of a non-profit AI research consortium founded by five of the tech industry's biggest players, reports Bloomberg. Last September, Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and IBM publicly announced The Partnership on AI, an organisation established "to study and formulate best practices, to advance the public's understanding of AI, and to serve as an open platform for discussion and engagement about AI and its influences on people and society." Apple released its first AI paper to the public last year.

15 of 35 comments (clear)

  1. Changes in Skynet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    So now Skynet will get Siri's voice and Terminators will have a thinner design?

  2. Co-opetition by jenningsthecat · · Score: 1

    Why is it that companies that are nominally in competition with each other, and even face off against each other in court, can so easily co-operate with each other on new tech initiatives? I know that they're not enemies in the traditional sense, that it's all just business, and that they're stronger and likelier to succeed when they pool their expertise and resources. But given their competitive positions, I still I find these relationships curious. Is it the equivalent of family infighting, where siblings can be ruthless with each other yet still circle the wagons and defend each other against outsiders? Or is it something else? I'd really like to understand it...

    --
    'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
    1. Re:Co-opetition by The-Ixian · · Score: 1

      Why is it that companies that are nominally in competition with each other, and even face off against each other in court, can so easily co-operate with each other on new tech initiatives?

      My guess is:

      1. Large companies are made up of many people and lots of departments under different leaderships
      2. Open standards help everyone make money when the technology is new (you can take a gamble that your solution is the one to take off, but that is far from a guarantee. More likely you will be undercut by a smaller, more agile company. So better to head that possibility off at the pass.)
      3. It is more efficient to not waste a bunch of effort in parallel development (cost savings for everyone on R&D since all research is pooled)
      4. It is good PR

      --
      My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
    2. Re:Co-opetition by tlhIngan · · Score: 2

      Why is it that companies that are nominally in competition with each other, and even face off against each other in court, can so easily co-operate with each other on new tech initiatives? I know that they're not enemies in the traditional sense, that it's all just business, and that they're stronger and likelier to succeed when they pool their expertise and resources. But given their competitive positions, I still I find these relationships curious. Is it the equivalent of family infighting, where siblings can be ruthless with each other yet still circle the wagons and defend each other against outsiders? Or is it something else? I'd really like to understand it..

      Because, believe it or not, cooperation generally is the better path to reaching your goal. If you're constantly fighting to the death, you're wasting resources fighting, If you're working together, those resources you spend don't have to be spent by the other people, and thus advancing the knowledge base.

      This happens throughout nature - and even human history when we stopped fighting to survive and starting cooperating for our general survival.

      Business is simply an optimization of this - work together on the basic goals and then fight over the small differences you'll inevitably encounter. E.g., Facebook and Google may feel to put their AI in the cloud, while Apple wants to protect user privacy, and put AI in the user's devices

      Heck, until the 20th century, warfare was mostly collegial in nature - they'd fight during the day, then the enemies would congregate at the local pub and have their jollies together all night.

    3. Re:Co-opetition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Strong AI is the ultimate goal of AI research, and has been impossibly hard to figure out. The company that figures it out first will have a huge advantage over the competitors. Everyone is making slow progress on strong AI and is deathly afraid one of their competitors will figure it out first. By joining up, they will guarantee themselves a piece of the pie no matter who figures it out. Think about it, if they were making good progress on strong AI, why join up? Would Google have collaborated with Yahoo on search technology in 2000?

    4. Re:Co-opetition by goose-incarnated · · Score: 2

      Strong AI is the ultimate goal of AI research, and has been impossibly hard to figure out. The company that figures it out first will have a huge advantage over the competitors. Everyone is making slow progress on strong AI and is deathly afraid one of their competitors will figure it out first. By joining up, they will guarantee themselves a piece of the pie no matter who figures it out. Think about it, if they were making good progress on strong AI, why join up? Would Google have collaborated with Yahoo on search technology in 2000?

      Parent needs to be modded up insightful. Truly, if any of those companies were making headway they wouldn't give away the family jewels, hence none of them are having any success.

      --
      I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
  3. Skynet by rgbscan · · Score: 2

    At least when Skynet arises, it will be cross-platform.

    1. Re:Skynet by The-Ixian · · Score: 2

      That is sort of the definition of Skynet, isn't it?

      Skynet certainly wouldn't be as threatening an overlord if it was siloed in one platform...

      --
      My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
  4. go ahead, mod me down meatbag by Thud457 · · Score: 1

    In other news, the only thing humans will retain dominance in is GS (genuine stupidity).

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

  5. Old news by OneHundredAndTen · · Score: 2

    We have been promised real AI any time now for forty years. What we have are the utterly stupid chatbots and the only somewhat less stupid digital assistants, which are good for party games, grins and giggles, and little more. Hopefully, this time things will be different - but I am not holding my breath.

  6. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  7. "Biggest" means market cap. 17th in R&D by raymorris · · Score: 1

    When one talks about how "big" a company is, that's normally measured by market cap (stock value). That's a good measurement between older, stable companies, but overstates size of growing companies - it's really a measure of how big they are expected to become.

    Amazon, Alphabet (Google), and Intel are the top 3 for R&D spending, Facebook is #17.

    https://www.bloomberg.com/view...

    1. Re:"Biggest" means market cap. 17th in R&D by haruchai · · Score: 1

      "Amazon, Alphabet (Google), and Intel are the top 3 for R&D spending, Facebook is #17"

      You can spend a lot and have little to show for it, or less than someone who's spending much less.

      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
  8. My experience more like family game night by raymorris · · Score: 2

    In my experience, which is mostly much smaller organizations, is more like family game night competing than "family infighting, where siblings can be ruthless with each other". Many race car drivers and other sports competitors are friends - the fact that they are all members of small group, professional race drivers, means they have something important in common, which brings them together. yet what they have in common is that they compete with each other. :) How many people can really relate to Google Sundar Pichai, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella? Only a few people understand what it's like to be in that position, it's a small club of people who understand each other's daily experience.

    Regarding "even face off against each other in court", going to court is dramatic for most individuals. It's been said that Alphabet (Google) gets sued about every 20 minutes. That might not be right, it might only be a few hundred times per year, but it's a normal thing, part of business operations. Two companies disagree, they let a judge decide the disagreement. Disagreements happen, courts resolve disagreements, there's often no animosity.

  9. Re:REAL AI or more ersatz? by Lije+Baley · · Score: 1

    Keep up man. Since everyone is now using AI to describe all the mundane methods that have be invented and reinvented since the 50's and are somewhat more useful today since we have monster hardware, the internet, and more gullible people, the real AI that would be actually useful has now been renamed AGI - Artificial General Intelligence. I'm not joking, look it up.

    --
    Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K.