AI Takes Center Stage in Israeli Tech

As more and more Israeli researchers and startups are turning their attention to artificial intelligence technologies, local expertise in the domain gets noticed by the likes Amazon and Intel. eBay recently unveiled an AI-based personal fashion designer developed in Israel, and more multinationals keep on coming, stretching a limited local talent pool.

Following are seven CTech AI-related stories that piqued your interest.

Tech powers fight over Israeli AI specialists, but local talent is in over-demand. Amazon, Intel, Nvidia, and Intuit vie for Israeli AI specialists, but local talent is already stretched thin, with high demand coming not just from multinationals, but also from homegrown startups. And while computer science students in Israel are registering in droves to AI-related programs and courses, the annual output of specialists with Ph.D.s is low. Read more 

eBay unveils personalized fashion design AI. Online marketplace eBay is one of the most popular places for people looking to update their wardrobe, but soon customers looking for that special something might just be able to have it custom-made themselves—with a little help from eBay's new artificial intelligence technology. The new algorithm is currently being tested at eBay’s Israeli research and development center, and a controlled pilot will be launched in Israel this year. Read more

AI software developed by Israeli researchers predicts where the next car accident will occur. Israel's police force will soon be battling the country's mounting road collision problem with a new weapon—an artificial intelligence-based crash prediction software developed by a team of researchers from Israel’s Bar-Ilan University. Read More

Israel’s AI scene is booming. Flush with venture capital cash, Israel’s Artificial Intelligence industry was growing in 2017, with more than 450 Israeli startups using AI technology as a core part of their offering. Read more

Israeli doctors used an AI software to decide whether to operate, keeping patients in the dark. An AI software developed by Tel Aviv based startup MEDecide is piloted in several Israeli hospitals as a decision support tool intended to help doctors decide whether patients should go under the knife. Patients were not notified. Read more

EU enlists an AI startup in the fight against fake news. AdVerif.ai, a three-person startup founded in 2017, says it has developed a software that can detect fake news and that the European Union is now using the startup’s AI engine to identify disinformation being spread on the web and social media. Read more

Cybersecurity entrepreneur wants AI to make the web a nicer place. Israeli cybersecurity entrepreneur Idan Plotnik says that fixing the way we behave online is his “life’s mission.” In 2014, Mr. Plotnik sold his cybersecurity startup to Microsoft for around $200 million. Read more