AI Essential: Week ending 4/19/2020

AI startups have raised US$ 6.9 Billion in Q1 2020,  a record setting even compared to last year US$ 18 Billion in 2019, showing strengths while the broader Venture Capital market was staying flat or decreased slightly.

AI is being used to find solutions to Covid 19 situations. It is used to track how we are practicing self-distancing at work or on the street, help doctors and patients to collaborate in a remote environment via telemedicine and to find new medications.  

At the same time, people are also looking at the big picture and how AI will change everything over the long run. By 2050, it is very likely that all jobs will be shaped by AI and, therefore, architectural design and construction will be affected profoundly. Eric Baldwin discusses the trends associated with universal basic income, urban intelligence and design in a foundational article.

In the meantime, AI technologies are making steady progress. It is now being able to anticipate by thinking while performing other tasks. Open AI has released tools to enable more transparencies of neural networks. Some researchers are working on technologies that would enable AI to evolve by itself.