Spare5 re-launches as Mighty AI, raises $14M from Intel, Accenture, Google for AI training data service

Taylor Soper | Geekwire | 10 January 2017

“On the surface, artificial intelligence is sexy. The technology, which has become one of the hottest trends, helps turn products and services human-like, accomplishing computational tasks that were either previously impossible or took far too long.

But underneath the AI lays less flashy, yet equally crucial infrastructure that makes everything tick. It’s why computer vision and natural language model companies like Mighty AI are becoming more and more important — and also why investors like Intel, Accenture, and Google just put their money behind the Seattle startup.”

Read more here.

View Mighty AI job openings.

 

Scientific wellness startup Arivale launches new data-driven weight loss program

Clare McGrane | Geekwire | 10 January 2017

“The field of scientific wellness may still be young, but Seattle’s Arivale — a startup that takes a data-driven approach to health and wellness — is chugging right along.

The company was founded in 2014 by genetics pioneer Lee Hood and Arivale CEO Clayton Lewis, and has raised substantial funds since then to fuel its scientific wellness program. Now the company has announced a second program, one focused specifically on weight loss.

The weight loss program works similarly to Arivale’s general wellness program. It is based on a slew of data about the participant: factors like genetics, family history, sleep patterns, stress, and biological markers like hormones are taken into account to develop a unique plan to help each participant to meet their goals.”

Read more here.

View Arivale job openings.

 

Don’t fear robots; they won’t render us jobless

Paul Wallace | The Japan Times | Jan 8 2017

“Rogue One,” the latest in the Star Wars franchise, has had mixed reviews but features one undisputed star: K-2SO, a gangly robot with the best lines. Movies of the distant future always tap into current anxieties, and the latest alarm is that the robots are coming. Droids may not conquer the world, but they will take over its work — white collar as well as blue collar. Could these filmmakers know something we don’t?

Previous scares, such as when Time magazine reported on “the automation jobless” in the early 1960s, were just that. But many technology gurus insist that this time is different as artificial intelligence (AI) comes of age. Amazon has recently made its first commercial delivery by drone to a customer near Cambridge, England. It is also trying out a grocery store in Seattle that does away with the hassle of checkout lines. Several American states now permit the operation and testing of “autonomous vehicles.”

These applications of technology reflect extraordinary advances in AI. Cloud robotics liberate machines from a standalone existence as they share data with one another. Machine intelligence is burgeoning as “deep learning” allows computers to form associations and to predict appropriate responses by processing huge volumes of data.”

Read more here.

 

Job outlook 2017: Seattle still ‘one of the hottest markets in the country’

Maggie Mertens | The Seattle Times | 6 January 2017

“There’s more good news in store for local job seekers in 2017. The job sectors expecting the most growth in the upcoming year are those that traditionally signal a healthy overall economy, like professional and business services and computer and mathematical occupations.

This isn’t too surprising coming out of 2016, a year with big job growth overall. Washington state showed an estimated 2.9 percent growth in number of jobs last year, according to the state’s Economic and Revenue Forecast Council (ERFC).

Professional and business services jobs — expected to grow at more than 3 percent in King County this year, according to projections from Washington’s Employment Security Department (ESD) — are a good indicator of the overall economy because jobs that fall in that sector are actually used in a wide range of industries.”

Read more here.