ADVERTISEMENT

Apple is now publishing a 'journal' with its cutting-edge machine learning research (AAPL)

It appears as if the papers published on the blog will not name the Apple employees that authored them.

Apple Director of AI Ruslan Salakhutdinov

Apple launched a new blog on Wednesday where it plans to publish academic-style papers looking at new applications and techniques in machine learning.

ADVERTISEMENT

Machine learning is the study of how to program software and algorithms to be able to learn and improve their forecasts and output from large sets of data.

"Here, you can read posts written by Apple engineers about their work using machine learning technologies to help build innovative products for millions of people around the world," the introductory blog post states.

The site was announced by Ruslan Salakhutdinov, a respected academic Apple hired last year and Apple's current director of AI research.

ADVERTISEMENT

Critics have said that Apple has fallen behind in machine learning and a related field, artificial intelligence. For example, its Silicon Valley rival, Google, has a subsidiary, DeepMind, which is one of the leaders in a machine learning technology called deep learning or neural networks.

Apple has argued that it uses less advanced machine learning techniques all over its products. Apple CEO Tim Cook has cited a way that Apple uses machine learning to increase how long a battery lasts as his primary example.

Machine learning is also a key technology that will enable self-driving cars, smartglasses, and virtual personal assistants.

One reason why Apple may have seemed like it was falling behind in machine learning is that it is a secretive company and it previously did not allow its researchers to publish in academic journals, like machine learning specialists at Google and Facebook were allowed to do.

Increasingly, interesting applications and techniques for machine learning have been published on ArXiv, a website that collects academic-style papers before they've been peer-reviewed. A few papers from Apple researchers have been spotted on ArXiv, but going forward some may end up on this new Apple blog.

ADVERTISEMENT

One reason why Apple may have started this blog is because papers on ArXiv are supposed to share their training dataset, which Apple may not want to do. A company blog represents a lower bar to publishing than ArXiv.

The first substantive post examines a way to generate simulated images to train a machine learning algorithm using a technique called generative adversarial networks. Based on the first post, it appears as if the papers published on the blog will not name the Apple employees that authored them.

FOLLOW BUSINESS INSIDER AFRICA

Unblock notifications in browser settings.
ADVERTISEMENT

Recommended articles

Detained Binance executives sue Nigerian authorities for human right violation

Detained Binance executives sue Nigerian authorities for human right violation

Nigeria's central bank increases minimum capital base for banks

Nigeria's central bank increases minimum capital base for banks

Sony’s creators convention redefines the creative landscape for content creators

Sony’s creators convention redefines the creative landscape for content creators

Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa ranked as Africa's most polluted countries in new report

Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa ranked as Africa's most polluted countries in new report

10 African countries with the lowest life expectancy according to the World Bank

10 African countries with the lowest life expectancy according to the World Bank

Kenyan women are more obese than their men - here’s why

Kenyan women are more obese than their men - here’s why

Africa’s richest man Dangote stands between Europe and $17 billion in revenue

Africa’s richest man Dangote stands between Europe and $17 billion in revenue

After months of exchanging blows, Kenya and Uganda takes steps towards resolution

After months of exchanging blows, Kenya and Uganda takes steps towards resolution

Africa's first black billionaire could join $2.9 billion Vivendi bid for MultiChoice

Africa's first black billionaire could join $2.9 billion Vivendi bid for MultiChoice

ADVERTISEMENT