Beta Bytes: Week of November 28th

Beta Bytes

Nov 25

Snippets of financial news calibrated to science, technology, and engineering as well as our client’s interests.

One of the biggest challenges Chief Technology Officers face is actively finding ways to make technology useful, rather than developing technology first and then looking for a problem to solve.
A second but arguably more complex challenge is quantifying and explaining how the technology will solve customers’ problems and lead to the grow of their business, both presently and going forward.
Due to this, CTOS may benefit from tuning in directly to customers’ feedback and questions can be invaluable for CTOs, to guide them as they manage products and technology road maps.

A $93.3 million contract from the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) was just awarded to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. to work on improving the autonomous sensing capabilities of aircrafts that are unmanned.
JAIC Smart Sensor project’s goal is to advance AI technology with object recognition algorithms, using an unmanned aircraft as a test and employing onboard AI to control the aircraft’s sensors and direct autonomous flight.
This technology is destined for the MQ-9 Reaper Remotely Piloted Aircraft, which will be configured with multiple sensors, including GA-ASI’s Reaper Defense Electronic Support System (RDESS) and Lynx® Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR).

Researchers have designed a system that lets robots autonomously learn complicated tasks, such as driving a car, by observing a small number demonstrations -- including ones that are flawed!
This is because the AI system is able to evaluate each demonstration and judge the perceived quality of the action, giving it the ability to learns from mistakes.
Similar AI technology needs 100 or more demonstrations to learn a task, but this new method enables robots to learn from only a handful of demonstrations.

As part of the Deal with Uber and Lyft, the U.S. General Services Association negotiated a 2–4 percent discount and waiver for typical technology fees and reporting costs.
Federal employees are already able to use ride-hail services for travel but this contract lets the rideshare companies “formally” launch their services within agencies and directly promote their services.
Both Uber and Lyft stand to benefit from this deal, as they will have the chance to provide transportation to up to 4 million federal employees and their families.

Market Update: December 1st 2020