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Sequoia pours £38M into Graphcore’s AI chips
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This week, China overtook the US as the world’s supercomputer superpower, and London-based BenevolentAI launched an award for medical researchers using AI.
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A graph showing a machine learning model being trained on a Graphcore IPU.
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Also, Bristol-based chipmaker Graphcore raised £38.2 million ($50 million) in a Series C round led by American venture firm Sequoia Capital.
Graphcore is the inventor of new processors, called Intelligence Processing Units (IPUs), which might allow machine learning models to be developed in a fraction of the time it currently takes to train them, and at a much lower energy cost.
In October, Graphcore shared new data showing how IPUs would turbocharge machine learning training by 10 to 100 times, compared with state-of-the-art hardware (that is: Graphic Processing Units or GPU.)
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BenevolentAI launches award to speed up AI-driven dedical research
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UK Artificial Intelligence company BenevolentAI launched an award to help non-profits and charities use AI to speed up their medical research and create new therapies.
The award winner will get access to BenevolentAI technology in order to carry out their research. BenevolentAI’s artificial intelligence can be used to investigate a disease, experiment with new lines of research, or develop novel cures and treatments.
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China is the world’s supercomputer superpower
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China has surpassed the Unites States and become the country with most supercomputers in the world. Out of the 500 fastest mainframes on the planet, China now owns 202, well ahead of the United States’ 143. Supercomputers are key for cracking some complex problems that require calculation-heavy tasks, like climate change studies, nuclear weapon research, weather forecasting, and DNA sequencing.
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London-based AI firm Behavox raises £15M from Citigroup
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Behavox, a London-based company whose AI software can help financial institutions detect foul play in real time, has raised £15 million in a round led by multinational investment bank Citigroup. Founded in 2014, Behavox uses natural language processing to monitor banks’ staff and automatically spot possible wrongdoing.
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Autonomous car research with AirSim
Microsoft-backed AirSim— a platform for developing driverless vehicles— has just created a new simulation feature and it looks very cool. You can try it out on GitHub.
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