Today's selection -- from AI SuperPowers by Kai-Fu Lee. China has likely surpassed the U.S. in voice recognition software:
"The year 2017 marked the first time I heard Donald Trump speak fluent Chinese. During the U.S. president's first trip to China, he showed up on a big screen to welcome attendees at a major tech conference. He began his speech in English and then abruptly switched languages....MORE
"'AI (artificial intelligence) is changing the world' he said, speaking in flawless Chinese but with typical Trump bluster. 'And iFlyTek is really fantastic.'
"President Trump cannot, of course, speak Chinese. But A.I. is indeed changing the world, and Chinese companies like iFlyTek are leading the way. By training its algorithms on large data samples of President Trump's speeches, iFlyTek created a near-perfect digital model of his voice: intonation, pitch, and pattern of speech. It then recalibrated that vocal model for Mandarin Chinese, showing the world what Donald Trump might sound like if he grew up in a village outside Beijing. The movement of lips wasn't precisely synced to the Chinese words, but it was close enough to fool a casual viewer at first glance. President Obama got the same treatment from iFlyTek: a video of a real press conference but with his professorial style converted to perfect Mandarin.
"'With the help of iFlyTek, I've learned Chinese,' Obama intoned to the White House press corps. 'I think my Chinese is better than Trump's. What do all of you think?'...
We've visited Mr. Lee a few times over the years, most recently in:
September 2018
If You Read Only One Column On Artificial Intelligence This Month...
And:
AI: "Kai-Fu Lee"
And May 2018
AI VC: "We Are Here To Create"
Sometimes the competition is just plain intimidating/scary/resistance-is-futile, smart.
