AI News: May 2020
A broad collection of artificial intelligence and machine-learning news from across South and Southeast Asia, and Oceania, as reported online in the English-language media thru May 2020.
- AppWorks Accelerator opens applications for batch 21, closing July 1st and seeking tech startups with a focus on SE Asia
- From Japan to Singapore, AI startup and research clusters are emerging rapidly, a harbinger of the technological leapfrog that is to come.
- China: Merck pharma giant backs SynSense AI-focused chip startup via China Seed Fund, focusing on next-gen ‘neuromorphic computing’
- China: Tencent tech giant announces plan to invest $70BN over 5 years in tech infrastructure including cloud computing, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity
- Freecacy HR tech startup gains backing from Japan’s Persol recruitment firm with AI-driven recruitment using job seeker behavior, resume info analysis and more
- India: Spyne gains pre-A funding with AI-driven online image editing suite focused on photographers and photography-using businesses
- India: Bharti Airtel telco acquired stake in Voicezen, early-stage startup focused on conversational-AI applications in the customer services space
- Singapore: Dathena secures $12M Series A with AI-backed data security and privacy tools to classify and manage confidential data, aiming to grow US presence
- Singapore: WizAI secures $6M pre-A, focusing on conversational AI for ASEAN languages with aim of improving call centre and customer engagement activities
- Sri Lanka: AI Academy partnered by Microsoft for country’s first education institute focused on applied artificial intelligence
- Taiwan: An overview of the country’s AI ecosystem development
- World Lazy Economy’: A new opportunity for AI-tech and hardware development, focusing on hyper-convenience
- Vietnam: Uniphore conversational AI startup preps for in-country growth with computer-driven automated voice and chat services to automate customer communication
- India: Agri10x agritech startup to work with gov’t to help remote farmers sell produce directly to consumers via blockchain- and AI-driven platform and village-level entrepreneurs program
- China: ByteDance, parent company of TikTok, leads $6M investment in Lingxi, AI startup applying machine intelligence to financial services including debt collection and insurance
- India: Intello Labs raises $5.9M with AI-backed tools to monitor quality of, and to grade, fruits and vegetables
- Japan: An overview of how AI is changing Japan’s labor-intensive anime industry, with machine learning enabling 8K image processing and fast translation
- South Korea: Gov’t outlines plans for government-private sector Smart Republic of Korea Fund to boost growth in tech, startup and digital fields
- India: VernacularAI raises $5.1M Series A with multilingual artificial intelligence-driven automation services built on speech recognition
- New Zealand: Another look at NZ-founded Soul Machines, creating AI-driven life-like virtual personas
- South Korea: Aizen gains $4.2M with AI/ML decision-making platform focused on banking and insurance
- Meet Jukebox, an OpenAI-produced neural network that generates music and rudimentary vocals as raw audio in a variety of genres and artist styles
