Google announced a new smart speaker called Nest Audio and the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a (5G) smartphones at its product launch event yesterday. VentureBeat reports that neither phone appears to have many new AI-enabled features, which has been the case for past Pixel hardware. We covered some of Google's latest AI-powered features, which you can read below:

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• At the launch event, the company said it has replaced its Google Home speakers with Nest Audio priced at $99. As of January 2020, Amazon had a market share of 53% in the smart speakers market, down from 61% in Jan. 2019. Google's market share increased from 23.9% to 31%.
• Google’s Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a phones will have "Hold for Me," an AI-powered service that will monitor call center phone calls that are on hold and send a notification to users when a representative picks up. If the user doesn't respond immediately, Google’s assistant will ask the rep to wait. It's powered by Google’s Duplex AI scheduling assistant.
• A new update to the Google Photos app has two new AI-based photo editing tools. The first is one-tap edits, which use machine learning to provide suggestions to specific photos. Portrait Light, which is on the new Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a, allows users to change the lighting of their photos after they're captured (see gif above).
• A machine learning algorithm experiment known as Google Tone Transfer allows users to record music in their heads, which an algorithm converts into a digital signal to create actual instrumental music. This tool is based on Google Magenta AI's Differentiable Digital Signal Processing library.
• Smart Cleanup, which uses AI to autocomplete data and suggests formatting in Google Sheets, recently launched in general availability for G Suite users.

New plans have come forward for an AI-powered smart city in China, which has been under construction since April. Danish architect Bjarke Ingels' AI City aims to showcase the smart services and next-gen technologies from Chinese tech firm Terminus Group.

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• Ingels' architectural firm, Bjarke Ingles Group (BIG), recently shed light on new plans for the city, which it says will be dedicated to “artificial intelligence, robotics, networking, and big data.”
• The smart city, planned for Chongqing in southwest China, would be a place where humans, IoT technology, and artificial life co-exist. It would have an intelligent operating system, urban 5G, robot-friendly zones, and carbon-neutral communities.
• Plans call for a protected network of courtyards with public functions, green rooftops for open-air events, a Robot Museum, and AI exhibition spaces, markets, and cafés. The project aims to incorporate self-driving cars, robotic vehicles, and e-bikes for its own "smart mobility" system.
• Its first region, Cloud Valley, span 33 acres with two adjacent plots that “mimic each other’s opposites,” similar to yin and yang. This phase has been under construction since April.
• Ingels himself is known as an out-of-the-box thinker whose BIG firm has led massive projects for Google, WeWork, the Smithsonian, and Elon Musk’s Hyperloop One.

Top AI stories in September

With October upon us, Inside takes a look at the most interesting AI/ML stories that made headlines last month.

• Microsoft unveiled new tools to identify deepfakes ahead of the 2020 elections. The tools to combat AI-edited videos and images can especially benefit newsrooms and political campaigns, which are seeking to combat disinformation.
• The Pentagon awarded a contract to Google to share machine-learning models that will help doctors map out tumors. The AI for predictive cancer and diagnosis would roll out at select Defense Health Agency facilities and Veteran’s Affairs hospitals before being expanded to the entire military health system.
• Boston startup Biofourmis, which developed an AI system to spot early signs of COVID-19, raised $100m in a funding round. The company's platform uses AI-based data analytics and biosensors to measure a patient's progress and the effectiveness of medical treatments.
• A new U.S. Government Accountability Office audit found underlying problems within the country's airport facial recognition program, including lack of performance testing and failure to tell the public where or how it works. Of the 16 million passengers that have been scanned upon arrival at U.S. airports, only seven were detained using the technology.
• The Guardian published an opinion piece written by OpenAI’s language generator GPT-3, which said "I have no desire to wipe out humans"...

California fire crews are using AI technologies to monitor fires, evacuate areas, and predict where fires could spread next. Cal Fire is now using a tool called Wildfire Analyst Enterprise, from La Jolla-based Technosylva, which analyzes data like moisture content, satellite images, and weather conditions to help predict where and when fires will migrate.

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• Wildfire Analyst Enterprise compares current blazes against past fires using machine learning, which is continuously updated.
• Technosylva tools forecasted that the CZU Lightning Complex fire would shift toward Felton, Calif., in late August. This allowed firefighters and equipment to reach the community sooner than they might normally, likely saving some houses as a result.
• The U.S. National Guard also recently upgraded its MQ-9 Reaper drones with advanced AI capabilities, which can also predict and map out where fires could spread based on past wildfires.
• Five of the six largest wildfires in the state's history have occurred this summer. The largest ever, the August Complex Fire, has destroyed 949,000 acres in seven counties and is 47% contained.

There are more now more robots per employee in manufacturing than there were four years ago, according to new International Federation of Robotics data. The increase highlights how AI-driven automation and robotics are picking up across developed countries worldwide, with South Korea leading the way.

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• There are now 113 industrial robots for every 10,000 employees in the manufacturing industry, up from 74 robots in 2016.
• South Korea has the most at 855 installed industrial robots per 10,000 employees, as of 2019. By region, Asia has the highest robot density at 118 per 10,000 workers compared to 114 for Europe and 103 for the Americas.
• Robots in manufacturing can perform different tasks, like moving large payloads, welding, handling raw materials, and packing shipments. This is done through a variety of sensors, plug and play features, movements features like wheels, and machine learning to analyze patterns and learn from them.

HP unveiled a virtual reality headset that combines high-fidelity VR with biometric measurements and artificial intelligence. The upgraded edition of its Reverb G2 headset will measure eye, face, and lip movement, heart rate, and use data and algorithms to determine cognitive load, or how overwhelming a virtual task is for players.

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• The Omnicept Edition, which is targeting a spring 2021 release, is geared toward large, progressive businesses that could use it for employee training and data analysis.
• The headset's "inference engine" will measure a user's behavior and attention based on the sensor data and potentially change to accommodate the user's needs over time.
• It will initially measure a person's cognitive load and could help provide data about the user during training sessions. Emotional interactions with virtual reality avatars "could be next."
• The Omnicept will have the same specs, generally, as the HP Reverb G2, which is expected to arrive as early as November. The $600 Windows Mixed Reality headset, which claims the highest resolution of any major headset, comes from HP, Valve, and Microsoft.
• The main additions for enterprise-targeted Omnicept include the biometric sensors and measurements, which help build datasets. HP claims the data collection will be secure and compliant with Europe's GDPR.

Quick Hits

• Microsoft launched its Imagine Cup Junior AI for Good Challenge 2021, inviting secondary students to develop AI-powered ideas that improve the world.
• 90% of organizations know of at least one instance where an AI system led to ethical problems, according to a new Capgemini report on ethical AI systems.
• Ford Motor's CFO Tim Stone will be leaving the company to become the CFO and COO of artificial intelligence company ASAPP Inc.
• DeckRobot, an AI add-on for to quickly generate slides in PowerPoint, has raised $1.5M.
• Luke Schneider is now CEO of Ann Arbor-based Refraction AI, known for its REV-1 delivery robots.
• From today's Inside VC: Unlisted Chinese AI startups have taken in RMB203.7B ($30B) in funding since 2016. This constitutes 86% of the total raised for Chinese AI since 1998, with Beijing’s emphasis on the sector in its latest five-year plan providing an impetus for heavy investment.
• Female founders have had a (relatively) easier time accessing funding for AI startups due to the sector’s relative novelty.
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Tweet of the Day: Věra Jourová, the EU Commission's VP for values and transparency, met with Keith Krach, the U.S. undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy, and the environment, to discuss joint or similar solutions for both governments in AI and data protection.