The world of tech had a busy week. From new announcements, to updates on the emerging technologies to brand new launches, a lot happened this week. In order to keep you updated, we at IndianWeb2 bring to you the top 10 things that happened in the tech world this week.

1) India’s Largest IT Firm is Creating a Product Brand For Its Artificial Intelligence Product ‘Ignio’

Indian born TCS, which is a global leader in IT Services, Consulting, Technology and Digital Solutions, is now gearing up to create a standalone product brand for its artificial intelligence (AI) product Ignio.

The Mumbai headquartered company, which is a subsidiary of the legendary Tata Group and currently operates in 46 countries globally, has even hired professionals (about 10) from US companies to head the sales of Ignio as an individual product, a step which many believe is almost similar to creating a software company with a different model to its traditional services.

TCS wants to build Ignio as an individual brand with no or as minimal TCS branding as possible. This is why Digitate, the unit that currently houses Ignio, is referred to as a TCS venture only once.

2) Rahul Gandhi To Give Lecture on AI in Silicon Valley

Congress’ so-called knight in shining armour vice president Rahul Gandhi is all set to fly to United States next week where he is most likely to share his viewpoints on Artificial Intelligence (AI), the intelligence exhibited by machines, rather than humans or other animals.

According to party sources, the party scion, who just returned from Norway after meeting leaders in the field of biotechnology, is getting ready for another abroad visit, this time to US’s technology hub, Silicon Valley. His main aim behind the visit, is to expand his knowledge about artificial intelligence.

After meeting AI tech experts in the area, Gandhi is then most likely to give a lecture on Artificial Intelligence all by himself on September 11.

3) New Blockchain Platform For Banks To Be Unveiled by RBI’s Research Arm

The year began with India’s central bank RBI’s research arm, the Institute for Development & Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) giving a green light to blockchain and publishing a report stating that it has successfully tested the blockchain technology for core banking processes in the country in a pilot and considers that now the right time for the technology’s wide adoption in India. And now, the research arm is all set to develop a model platform for blockchain technology of its own.

Announcing the big news at the recently held IDRBT banking technology awards, A. S. Ramasastri, Director, IDRBT, said, “We will be launching this platform very soon.” He further added, that the platform in works will be capable of carrying out various different applications related to banking.

4) AI, Automation To Cost 7,50,000 Low Skill Indian Jobs: Report

A recent report by industry analyst firm HfS Research has spelled a period of worry among the Indian employable pool. While until now a scenario like robots taking over and humans left to tend for themselves has only happened in fiction, the report hints that there’s a strong possibility of the scene happening in the real world soon as automation is becoming the new BFF of industries plagued by the corporate curse of budget cuts.

The report published by the firm states a firm statistic backing its claims. It reveals that automation could cost a whopping 7,50,000 jobs in the next five years, in India.


The report also highlighted that Indian IT and BPO services industry is currently working on providing “more for less” by employing the power of automation and artificial intelligence (AI). This has lead to evolution of job roles from low skilled workers carrying out simple entry level, process driven tasks that require little abstract thinking or autonomy, to medium and high skilled workers doing more complicated tasks that require the person to be capable of managing machine-learning tools and autonomy.

5) Facebook’s AI Lab Develops A Bot That Speaks and Reacts Like A Human

Social networking giant Facebook is always on the top of its game when it comes to dishing out features that would help users with their Facebook experience. This time, the Mark Zuckerberg led organisation has successfully unveiled ‘human-like’ bot. Yes, you read that it.

Most of the times, our problems with bots, is that they churn out really organic replies in a really organic way, without any change in facial expressions. So, whether it’s a sad conversation or a joyful conversation, their expressions would be the same. Taking cue of this problem, Researchers at Facebook’s AI lab decided to work on a ‘human-like’ bot. In order to give the bot its human touch, the researchers controlled it by an artificially intelligent algorithm which trained after it watched hundreds of videos of human Skype conversations.

From the Skype conversations, the algorithm grasped and learned to do normal human acts like naturally producing blinks, nods and doing various mouth movements in order to show that they are fully immersed in the conversation that they’re having with a particular person. Not only this, Facebook’s AI researchers have also made the bot learn to speak like human beings and choose in real time what would be the most apt facial response depending on the nature of the conversation it is having with a person.

6) India’s IIS and NIT Develops AI To Identify Protesters With Their Faces Partly Covered With Scarves or Hat

If you’re planning on becoming a part of a protest or a rally but don’t want to reveal your identity at the same time, you might want to think about your participation again as the latter might no longer be possible. Researchers, from Cambridge University, India’s National Institute of Technology, and the Indian Institute of Science have successfully developed a deep-learning algorithm that is capable of identifying an individual even when part of their face is obscured or covered by sunglasses or bandanas, as is seen during many protests, rallies and agitations.

The researchers, who are all set to present their research paper at the IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision Workshops (ICCVW) scheduled to be held from 22 Oct to 29 Oct 2017, in Venice, Italy, claim that their algorithm can correctly ID a person whose face is concealed by a scarf 67 percent of the time when they were photographed against a “complex” background, which resembles natural conditions in the real world.

7) Indian-Origin Scientist Invents Camera That Can See Through Human Body

An Indian-origin scientist has helped invent a camera which can change the way doctors conduct internal examinations. Kev Dhaliwal, Professor of Molecular Imaging and Healthcare Technology at the University of Edinburgh, has successfully led a team to create a medical camera that is capable of seeing through the human body. Yes, you read that right. The camera can actually see through a human body.

The inventors are hopeful that their invention holds immense potential for doctors in tracking of internal examinations. The camera will help in keep a tracking of medical tools, known as endoscopes, that are used to detect a number of internal conditions during internal examinations.

The camera invented by the team functions by detecting light sources inside the body, such as the illuminated tip of the endoscope’s long flexible tube.

Until the invention, doctors had to depend on expensive scans, such as X-rays, to trace the progress trajectory of these internal examinations.

8) Autonomous Vehicles May Be The World’s Single Largest Industry By 2050

Autonomous vehicles industry is going to be big, not soon, but by the year 2050, one can expect the industry to explode to the tunes of a whopping $7 trillion.

According to a recent survey done by Strategy Analytics for Intel, Autonomous vehicles will most likely be the single greatest opportunity for the creation of value and wealth during the 21st Century, with the self-driving vehicles industry growing on to become a $7 trillion industry by 2050 making it one of the single largest industry, globally.

Autonomous vehicles aren’t like any another invention. They’re the need of the future. As of today, Automobile manufacturing industry employs over 50 million people and produces nearly a whopping 100 million vehicles each year. It is almost large enough to represent the equivalent of the world’s sixth largest economy. However, these huge numbers are still not capable of catering to the needs of a population nearing the 10 billion people mark. Hence, there’s needs to be a change in vehicle infrastructure we have today and autonomous vehicles can be that change. In addition to adding more driving years to the elderly, autonomous vehicles can also make a positive difference in pollution and climate change caused by vehicles. Their efficiency in terms of their ability to communicate with each other and infrastructure can eliminate traffic congestion and the need for street lights.

9) Blockchain Will Turn The Internet Into World’s Largest ‘Stock’ Market, Says An Early Crypto Investor

Blockchain is soon going to become the “it” thing of the technological world. In the last couple of years, the technology has grown to become one of the most talked about trends in the financial world. According to Balaji S. Srinivasan, the CEO of 21.co, a startup that’s working towards building a system where strangers can pay investors and other busy people to respond to their emails, the birth of these new tokens and public blockchains have the potential to turn the world wide web into the world’s biggest “stock” market. Of course, it is still a long shot and there are various regulatory issues around the technology that still need to be worked around. Srinivasan firmly feels just like the internet became the biggest library in the world, blockchain will soon make it the biggest stock market ever.

Srinivasan also took out time to talk about the regulatory aspect of tokens and advised that it’s very important to remain compliant with all available regulations in your jurisdiction. For instance, in the US, the SEC has sent out official notifications stating that there are some forms of tokens that are not securities. For instance, ethereum in itself is referred to as a currency, and the SEC has made it clear that legitimate innovation in the space can be done.

10) Here’s The First Music Album Composed, Produced Entirely By AI (Artificial Intelligence)

Always wanted to make some music, but didn’t have a musical background to make it happen? Well, now you can, all thanks to the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Meet Amper, an artificial intelligence composer, performer and producer that will come to your aid.

Don’t believe us, give the first album made using the Amper platform a listen and you will understand what we mean. The album in spotlight here is, ‘I AM AI,’ a collaboration with pop singer Taryn Southern who provided parameters for Amper to work with.

The platform is fairly easy to use. All it takes is three easy steps to create your own original music. First, you start by selecting a mood, style, and length. The second step involves you customising your aforementioned selections with easy-to-use editing functionality. The third and final step involves you click on the option “Render,” and voila, in seconds, your original composition is created and broadcast-ready.
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