Welcome to our This Week in AI roundup. Our goal with this roundup is to provide an overview of the week's most important news and industry developments.
This week we have stories about quantum computing startups, Telsa hiring roboticists, NFT platform for AI-generated art, and more.
Quantum Computing Startups Raise Record Investment
Investment in quantum computing startups is at an all-time high this year as more and more companies race to gain market share in the burgeoning industry. Capital invested in quantum computing companies globally—including IPOs, M&A, venture capital, and private equity—has passed $2.5 billion this year. This is up from a total of $1.5 billion for all of 2020.
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Tesla Hiring Roboticists for Humanoid Robot
After Tesla unveiled their plans at last week's AI Day to create a humanoid "Tesla Bot", the company has already started posting job listings for roboticists. Elon Musk said the rationale for this venture is that they're already making most of the components for a humanoid robot and it provides a new application of their AI technology.
While the focus of the event last week was on AI, Tesla is now looking to hire a number of people with expertise in robotics as they haven't developed robots before. Below are a few of the job listings related to their humanoid robot project:
- Mechanical Engineer-Actuator Integration (Humanoid Robot)
- Mechanical Engineer-Actuator Gear Design (Humanoid Robot)
- Senior Humanoid Mechatronic Robotics Architect
- Senior Humanoid Modeling Robotics Architect
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Fetch.ai Launches NFT Platform for AI-Generated Art
Fetch.ai, which specializes in artificial intelligence for blockchains, launched a new NFT marketplace for AI-generated art. The platform is called Colearn Paint and allows users to automatically generate and own NFTs generated by machine learning algorithms. As the CEO stated, one of their reasons for launching this venture is that “collective learning” will be a major trend in the future. You can find a walkthrough of the platform here.
The Business of Synthetic Media
Synthetic media, including AI-generated videos and voices, are on the verge of crossing the uncanny valley. When used appropriately, synthetic media can drastically cut costs expenses while allowing performers to focus on more engaging work. That said, there are still major concerns around fraud and other illegal activities that have resulted from deepfakes and synthetic media in general. As the pandemic has made traditional filming more difficult, the advantages and business value of AI-generated media have become more and more apparent.
That's it for this edition of This Week in AI, if you were forwarded this newsletter and would like to receive it you can sign up here.
