Intel chief Brian Krzanich said Tuesday his company is working on a super-fast chip designed specifically for artificial intelligence.

The chipmaking giant is partnering with Facebook and other internet titans investing heavily in artificial intelligence to create the first in what will be a family of “Nervana Neural Network Processors” tailored to the needs of the emerging technology, Krzanich said during an on-stage interview at the WSJD Live conference.

“I think we are just at the beginning of a transformation,” Krzanich said while discussing why Intel was betting on AI.

“Artificial intelligence is going to be similar to what the internet was back in the 1990s.”

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Chips designed for AI need to deftly handle massive amounts of data and sensor input in real time.

Cloud services have been a hotbed for AI innovation, so Intel has partnered with Facebook and other companies in that arena to build a chip tailored from the ground up to meet those needs, according to Krzanich.

“This is the first piece of silicon,” Krzanich said. “We have a whole family planned for this, (Facebook) is helping us, along with others, as to where this is going.”

In a separate blog post on Intel’s website, Krzanich said he believes these new chips will enabled “new classes of AI applications” to help transform health care, social media, automobiles and weather forecasting, among others.

The new chip has been in the works for more than three years, and the first member of the new family is expected to start shipping “soon,” according to an online post by Naveen Rao, a co-founder of deep-learning startup Nervana which was bought by Intel in 2016.

“We designed the Intel Nervana NNP to free us from the limitations imposed by existing hardware, which wasn’t explicitly designed for AI,” Rao said.

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Intel, which has been expanding beyond its core of personal computer chips in that sagging market, is keen for its technology to be an engine powering artificial intelligence and self-driving systems.

Intel announced in September that its computing tech is being loaded into Waymo self-driving minivans as the chip giant seeks a leading position on the road to autonomous vehicles.

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Four major generals of Pakistan Army have been promoted to the rank of lieutenant general, a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Wednesday.

According to the military’s media wing, those who got promotion are: Maj-Gen Majid Ehsan, Maj-Gen Aamir Abbasi, Maj-Gen Abdullah Dogar and Maj-Gen Hamooduz Zaman.

Maj-Gen Ehsan has also been given the portfolio of president of the National Defence University (NDU) while Maj-Gen Dogar was appointed Corps Commander Multan.

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In February, 37 brigadiers of Pakistan Army were also promoted to the rank of major general.

Those promoted included Brigadier Nauman Zakria, Brigadier Kanwar Adnan Ahmed Khan, Brigadier Syed Aamir Raza, Brigadier Tariq Zameer, Brigadier Tahir Gulzar Malik, Brigadier Shahid Mahmood, Brigadier Muhammad Asghar, Brigadier Khalid Saeed, Brigadier Ayman Bilal Saida, Brigadier Sarfraz Muhammad, Brigadier Rafiq Ur Rehman, Brigadier Inam Haider Malik, Brigadier Salman Fayyaz Ghani, Brigadier Sarfraz Ali, Brigadier Muhammad Aniqur Rehman Malik, Brigadier Muhammad Asim Malik, Brigadier Fayyaz Hussain Shah, Brigadier Shahid Nazir, Brigadier Ziaur Rehman, Brigadier Zahid Mahmood, Brigadier Azhar lqbal Abbasi, Brigadier Tariq Mahmood, Brigadier Ahsan Gulrez, Brigadier Shahid Imtiaz, Brigadier Rizwan Afzal, Brigadier Usman Haq, Brigadier Syed Shahab Shahid and Brigadier Nauman Ahmed Hashmi.

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From toilet-paper dispensers to fast-food restaurants, travel and crime-fighting, China is taking the lead in rolling out facial-recognition technology.

But while advocates warn it makes life easier, quicker and safer, opponents counter that it is another example of how the Chinese government keeps a sinister and increasingly close eye on its 1.4 billion people.

Shanghai and other Chinese cities have recently started deploying facial recognition to catch those who flout the rules of the road.

Jaywalkers at some Shanghai intersections have their images flashed up on a nearby screen for public shaming and must pay a fine of 20 yuan ($3) to have it removed. And people at the crossing hardly blinked.

Communist-ruled China is already one of world’s most heavily monitored societies, with estimates of more than 176 million surveillance cameras in operation.

“I can accept it. The offenders are captured after all in public and I think it’s a way to enforce the law,” said 42-year-old hospital worker Wu, who give only her surname.

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“However, I believe there are some people whose photos are displayed publicly who may express their concerns about this, saying their privacy was violated and worrying about their private information being misused.”

Police say facial recognition is making the country safer.

It has been used to snare criminals who attempt to evade justice by giving false names, and in one recent case in Qingdao, home to China’s best-known lager, 25 suspects were arrested when they turned up to a beer festival only to be identified by the technology at the entry gates.

All Chinese over 16 must hold an ID card with their picture and address, meaning authorities have a vast trove of information.

Experts say China is racing ahead of Western countries in deploying facial scanners owing to its comparatively lax privacy laws and because Chinese are used to having their pictures, finger prints and other personal details taken.

Park managers at Beijing’s Temple of Heaven went so far as to install facial recognition devices at lavatories in the imperial-era landmark earlier this year to catch toilet-paper thieves.

If someone returns too soon for more toilet paper they are met with a polite rejection by a machine that recognises them and advises: “Please try again later.”

Beijing Normal University installed facial scanners to make sure only students enter dormitory buildings and “help us better monitor the students’ whereabouts”, the state Xinhua news agency quoted a university official as saying.

Banks are beginning to use facial recognition instead of cards at cash machines while the travel and leisure industry also sees opportunities — China Southern Airlines this year began doing away with boarding passes in favour of the scheme.

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The operator of KFC in China has introduced a “Smile to Pay” system allowing customers at a KFC spin-off to pay via a face-recognition system linked to Alipay, the ubiquitous online-payment arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.

Back in Shanghai, a government initiative uses facial recognition to help identify people on the streets — primarily the elderly and mentally ill — and reunite them with loved ones.

The push is just one part of a broader high-tech strategy.

The government in July announced plans to become the world leader in artificial-intelligence by 2030 and build a domestic AI industry worth $150 billion.

Yue Lin, a law professor at Shanghai University, says the trend is being driven primarily by Chinese technology companies such as Alibaba and Baidu.

“The commercial development of facial recognition will not stop. How will the government use this technology in the future? Maybe we should ask Jack Ma,” said Yue, referring to Alibaba’s billionaire founder.

“The way companies work has changed the way government works.”

Yue says there are justifiable concerns about misuse of citizens’ pictures and information but cautioned it was too early to tell what the full repercussions will be.

“The police’s authority or jurisdiction has not changed, but definitely its power has been enhanced,” he said.

“This is not unique to China, the same thing happens all over the world. Maybe it is a good thing to Chinese people, but a terrible thing to Americans.”

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DUBAI: A Palestinian high school student on Wednesday won $150,000 in an Arabic-language reading competition organised by the Dubai government.

Seventeen-year-old Afaf Raed Sharif, from Ramallah, beat 16 finalists from across the Arab world to land the top prize in the second annual Arab Reading Challenge.

Participants had to read at least 50 books to qualify. “This is a victory over all the challenges that we face. We refuse to be any less than any other people in the world,” Sharif told AFP.

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“It’s a message to all students: don’t you ever give up. Don’t you ever break. When you set a goal, you can reach it. It won’t be easy … but you have to make persistence and patience your allies.”

The all-girl Al-Iman school, in Bahrain, won a $1 million prize for the best reading initiatives for students.

The principal of the winning school takes home $100,000 of the prize money, with the school’s reading supervisor taking another $100,000 and the remaining $800,000 going to school funds.

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KARACHI: Peshawar bowler Taj Wali’s controversial running out of Wapda’s Muhammad Irfan to win their Quaid-e-Azam Trophy tie by just four runs on the final day has left many shaking their heads in disapproval but Wali the pacer insists he was well within his rights to Mankad the runner.

Irfan was trying to pinch a few inches and sneaked out of his crease while Wali was running up to bowl. Upon noticing this, Wali whipped the bails off to give his side a win by the narrowest of margins.

“I came on to bowl when we needed two wickets and they needed 15 runs,” said Wali, while speaking to The Express Tribune. “I noticed Irfan was leaving his crease earlier than he should be when my bowling partner, Muhammad Imran Senior, was bowling.”

Wali admitted that they had been trying to run out Irfan from that time on. “He did this for three balls so I went up to Imran and told him to run him out if he does so again. However, that chance never came,” he said. “Irfan is exceptionally tall so I knew he would leave the crease earlier. At that point I decided to run him out.”

The pacer refused to feel any guilt for his actions. “I did everything according to the rules of cricket,” he said. “I don’t know why they are making an issue out of it. We played smartly and won the match, this is what happens when you give a chance to the opposite team. They were so close to winning and it doesn’t sit well with them that a department lost to region.”

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