In this snapshot: Deepmind, the US Defense Deptt, Meta, and Robin.

DeepMind and language processing

On Wednesday, Google-owned, London-based DeepMind announced an AI algorithm that can perform a wide range of language tasks, and display near-human-level competence on some, such as high school reading and comprehension.

DeepMind released three papers on language models reflecting an interdisciplinary approach towards building advanced AI systems that can be used safely and efficiently to summarise information, provide expert advice and follow instructions via natural language.

The papers include a detailed study of a 280 billion parameter transformer language model called Gopher, a study of ethical and social risks associated with large language models, and a paper investigating a new architecture with better training efficiency. (DeepMind)

Pentagon creates new AI and digital office

With concerns mounting on the threat from China’s fast progress on AI, the US Defense Department has set up a new position of the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer (CDAO) who will directly report to the deputy defense secretary and oversee the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, the Defense Digital Service and the DoD’s chief data officer.

The new position is created to integrate the functioning of the last named offices.

“We’ve created the CDO, the JAIC and DDS each operating independently and as if the other ones don’t exist,” said a senior defense official, who briefed media Dec. 8 on the condition of anonymity. “That causes two kinds of inefficiencies. One, it means we don’t have the kind of integration across their lines of effort that we could really maximize the impact of the things that any one organization is doing. Two, it means we don’t take advantage of when there are overlaps in what they’re doing, or underlaps in what they are doing to drive the right kind of prioritization in these spaces.” (C4ISRNET)

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: FB) unveils AI system to flag objectionable content

Meta Platforms, previously known as Facebook, is taking recourse to a new and advanced machine learning system to combat the proliferation of harmful content on its social media platforms. The company’s AI unit has developed a system dubbed “Few-Shot Learner,” or FSL.

FSL steals a march over existing content monitoring systems because it can adapt to new types of harmful content that appear on the company’s social media platforms in weeks rather than months.

It is faster because it starts “with a large, general understanding of many different topics and then use much fewer, and in some cases zero, labeled examples to learn new tasks,” according to Meta’s researchers.

Robin Healthcare raises $50 million for AI-powered device to record medical interactions

Robin Healthcare has developed a device dubbed Robin Assistant that uses AI to record patient interactions with medical providers and upload clinical and billing information into the electronic health record system.

The startup has landed $50 million in its series B funding round, led by Scale Venture Partners. (Fierce Healthcare)

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