AI

Meeting of the minds

About an hour from now, in Alexandria, Virginia, the National AI Research Resource Task Force will come together for its inaugural meeting. 

Announced last month as a joint effort between the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), the task force is made up of 12 leaders in government, higher education, and private organizations. 

• Members include Fei-Fei Li, a deep learning expert at Stanford University; Oren Etzioni, CEO of the Allen Institute for AI; Lynne Parker, the US’s Deputy Chief Technology Officer; and Andrew Moore, head of Google Cloud AI. 

What’s on tap: The task force was born out of Congress’s National AI Initiative Act of 2020. Its job description? Advise the government on AI policy and research issues—and write a “blueprint” for a shared AI research resource “providing AI researchers and students across all scientific disciplines with access to computational resources, high quality data, educational tools, and user support.” 

We spoke with the NSF's Erwin Gianchandani, co-chair of the task force, about the group’s to-do list, outlook, and big plans. 

The briefing, in brief 

On the task force’s priorities: Two biggies, he says: 1) “Take stock of where we are today” in AI innovation and 2) “Figure out how can we stitch together...a whole set of existing resources” that serve as a hub for AI researchers in academia, government, and private industry. 

• But the task force will focus on planning, not direct action, he notes: “We're charged to...develop a roadmap that characterizes, ‘How might we potentially get to a national AI research resource...then also, how might we sustain it?’”  

Impending deadlines: Next May, the task force is slated to submit an interim report to Congress and the president outlining initial thinking about access to data and computational assets. And in November 2022, the group will turn in its final report. 

One key goal: The priority is to create a resource that “democratizes access” to AI research tools, Gianchandani said. Right now, mainly tech heavyweights like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, have access to the advanced computational resources, large data sets, and more needed for certain research.

• “You want to ensure that you have a broad set of perspectives that serve to inform, influence, and shape the development of...those [AI] techniques in order to ensure that you get a much, much better system or tool, product, or capability at the end.”

SOCIAL

Super Snap?

Snap saw Google Maps’s superapp potential and said, “I raise you a social layer.” 

Snapchat is rolling out the My Places feature on iOS today, which introduces a trio of new tabs: 

• Visited: An index of restaurants, businesses, and places a user has tagged in a Snapchat.
• Favorites: Self-explanatory. 
• Popular: Using a new algorithm, Snapchat will push out personalized recommendations based on users’ locations, their friends’ tastes, and Visited/Favorites data.

On the heels of a blowout quarter, Snap is adding a recommendation engine to its mapping product, which not too long ago felt like an experimental project. My Places will also boost the discoverability of Snap Map’s 30+ million business listings, potentially unlocking new monetization opportunities for Snapchat. 

• “It’s clear that Snap is leaning into location as it fights for advertising and marketing dollars with the likes of Instagram and Facebook," Ashish Prashar, CMO of R/GA, told the Brew. “They are introducing a new generation to their very own take on a location based social media network.”

Feeling lost? 

Last year, Snapchat redesigned its app by adding a five-tab “action bar.” Snap Map is one of those tabs, now with “My Places” as a sub-tab and three sub-sub-tabs under that. 

Redesigns can feel like rolling the dice, because there’s a risk of fatiguing users by cramming too much functionality into too small a space. But the risk/reward seems worth it for Snapchat: 

1. Of the app’s 293 million daily active users in Q2, 85% were Snap Map monthly active users. 
2. Snapchatters are young, savvy, and highly engaged with newer features as it is.
3. As a general rule of thumb, even the most change-averse social media users tend to have short memories.—RD 

SPONSORED BY ASANA

Swipe Left on Silos

They’re outdated. They’re inefficient. And they’re lingering around your workplace without you even knowing it. 

There’s a better future for you and your teams with silos out of the picture. When one door closes, another one opens—am I right? 

That new working world of collaboration, ease, and aesthetic appeal is just one empowered decision away. We’re cheering you on, and so will your team when they check those to-dos off their always updated, collaborative to-do list. 

Get rid of your toxic relationship with silos like we did in our latest article breakup letter. 

Read the best decision of our working lives right here.

HEALTH

Magnets and maladies

Cancer treatments can often be as taxing as the disease itself, but good news might be coming from scientists who say they have invented a noninvasive and nontoxic therapy for brain tumors. 

Magnetic brain: The case study, published in Frontiers in Oncology, details how a medical device created by researchers at Houston Methodist Neurological Institute managed to treat a patient suffering from a tumor due to glioblastoma, a deadly and incurable form of brain cancer. 

• Glioblastoma can occur in the brain or spinal cord and is almost always lethal in adult patients, with most fatalities occurring a few months to a couple of years after diagnosis.
• Current treatment for glioblastoma consists of surgery followed by intense rounds of chemotherapy and radiation therapy, which can be grueling and weaken or suppress patients’ immune system.

While the 53-year-old male patient in the case study died from injuries unrelated to his glioblastoma, an autopsy of his brain discovered that the size of the tumor had shrunk more than 31% in the month since the trial started.

The team of four researchers built a battery-powered helmet that mounted three oscillating magnets on top to generate a magnetic field around the patient’s head. The patient used the helmet for a maximum of six hours per day, and was able to use the device at home after some initial treatments at the hospital. 

Bottom line: So far, the device has received FDA approval for compassionate use treatment in patients. Data is only available from the one patient involved in the trial, but if the helmet sees wide adoption, it could be a revolution in treating brain tumors in a way that doesn’t take such a heavy toll on patients.—JM 

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BITS & BYTES

Stat: Tesla’s solar and energy storage business generated $810 million in Q2, which finally put it in the black—and by $20 million to boot. 

Quote: “We are convinced that, to advance America’s future in space, NASA must now quickly and assuredly return to the Moon.”—Jeff Bezos in a public letter to NASA administrator Bill Nelson, offering Blue Origin’s services and a $2 billion payment waiver for a lunar contract

Read: The NYT on why QR codes are here to stay—and why their tracking capabilities are, too. 

Higher learnings: Cannabis legalization is moving slowly here in the States. In Latin America? Not so much. Find out how a major legislative change positions Colombian cannabis cultivators as global leaders in this article from Flora Growth.*

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Facebook announced a Metaverse product group. Tellingly, the company has 710+ listings for jobs in its AR/VR division. 
• Intel will start building Qualcomm chips—and has set its sights on catching up to TSMC and Samsung by 2025. 
• Tether, the company behind the eponymous stablecoin, is under a DOJ investigation related to bank fraud. 
• Scientists used the Hubble Space Telescope to find evidence of water vapor on Jupiter’s largest moon. 
• WeChat has suspended new user registrations. The Chinese superapp, which has more than 1 billion users, says it’s shipping a technical upgrade “to align with relevant laws and regulations” in China, per Reuters.
• Facebook is recalling ~4 million Oculus Quest 2 foam masks after some users reported facial irritation. 

MARKET RESEARCH

Like it or not, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are coming. The Atlantic Council assembled a handy tracker that shows the progress of CBDC projects around the world. 

Congrats to Caribbean countries—The Bahamas, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, and Grenada—on their first-mover status.

ICYMI

Catch up on the top Emerging Tech Brew stories from the past few editions: 

• Survey: US consumers prefer AR/VR hardware from Apple and Google
• Argo deepens its Miami, Austin roots with Lyft partnership
• Oculii, the autonomous vehicle vision company, has a big new partnership

✳︎ A Note From Nadex

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