Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Saturday 8 September 2018
As Google turns 20, questions over whether it's too powerful

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE to propel the rise of Google
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — and Apple.
Twenty years after Larry Google is now confronting
Page and Sergey Brin set the same potential fate.
out to organize all of the "Google is in the govern-
internet's information, the ment's crosshairs," said Ken
search engine they named Auletta, who was given
Google has morphed inside access to the com-
into a dominating force in pany while writing his 2009
smartphones, online video, book, "Googled: The End of
email, maps and much the World As We Know It."
more. ''This company once had
That resounding success a certain glow to it, but it is
now has regulators and losing its halo."
lawmakers around the Just this past week, Google
world questioning whether raised hackles in Congress
the company has become by refusing to send Page
too powerful as its ubiqui- or its current CEO, Sundar
tous services vacuum up Pichai, to a hearing on
sensitive information about Russian manipulation of
billions of people hooked internet services to sway
on its products. U.S. elections. Congressio-
Google's search engine re- In this April 17, 2007, file photo exhibitors of the Google company work in front of a illuminated sign nal officials left an empty
mains entrenched as the at the industrial fair Hannover Messe in Hanover, Germany. chair while top executives
internet's main gateway, from Facebook and Twitter
and its digital advertis- browser in Chrome, the top Although Google wouldn't become so concerned appeared. Offended law-
ing business is on pace to email service in Gmail and comment for this story, the about Microsoft's power makers derided Google as
generate about $110 bil- the maps that most people company has repeatedly through its Windows oper- "arrogant."
lion in revenue this year. use to get around. pointed out that its mostly ating system that they had The European Commission
Much of that revenue now Not bad for a company free products are so widely begun to explore a forced already has imposed fines
flows through Google's An- that started 20 years ago used because people like breakup. Although Micro- totaling $7.8 billion after
droid operating system, Friday with an initial invest- them. soft remained intact, the concluding the company
which powers 80 percent ment of $100,000. Google Google's success often multiyear battle with the had unfairly used its search
of the world's smartphones. and its sibling companies draws comparisons with Mi- U.S. government and oth- engine to highlight its own
Google also runs the big- operating under the um- crosoft. er disputes with European services and illegally bun-
gest video site in YouTube, brella of Alphabet Inc. are By 1998, the year Google regulators hobbled and dis- dled together its products
the most popular web now worth $800 billion. started, U.S. regulators had tracted Microsoft, helping in Android.q

Virtual learning: using AI, immersion to teach Chinese

By MICHAEL HILL "Our plan is to complete And feedback is immedi-
TROY, N.Y. (AP) — To learn several scenes of real life in ate. When Divekar orders
Chinese in this room, talk to China, to let the student be "dou fu" —or tofu — a voice
the floating panda head. able to have a virtual trip responds "here's how close
The Mandarin-speaking av- over there," says Hui Su, di- you got" and illustrates it
atar zips around a 360-de- rector of the lab at RPI. with a graph of his intona-
gree restaurant scene in Tests on the room with stu- tion. Another voice gives
an artificial intelligence- dents studying Mandarin the precise pronunciation.
driven instruction program will continue this school Still, language teachers
that looks like a giant video year as they work on addi- need not fear for their jobs
game. Rensselaer Poly- tional scenes, including an just yet. Developers of the
technic Institute students airport. A six-week course is Mandarin Project say it isn't
testing the technology being readied for the sum- sophisticated enough right
move inside the 12-foot- In this Aug. 22, 2018 image taken from video, Rensselaer Poly- mer. Artificial intelligence, now to completely replace
technic Institute graduate students Xiangyang Mou, left, and
high, wrap-around projec- Rahul Divekar interact with a panda avatar that helps teach stu- or AI, is ubiquitous in ev- classroom instruction.
tion to order virtual bean dents Mandarin, at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. erything from call-center RPI president Shirley Ann
curd from the panda wait- Associated Press chat-bots to home assis- Jackson foresees the same
er, chat with Beijing market tants. Even some language type of technology being
sellers and practice tai chi a joint venture of RPI and — "Beijng kaoya" — and the instruction products on the applied to other spaces,
by mirroring moves of a IBM. Cognitive and Immer- panda fetches the virtual market feature AI or virtual such as corporate board-
watchful mentor. sive Systems Laboratory re- dish. Divekar says the food reality. The Mandarin Proj- rooms. When the execu-
"Definitely less anxiety than searchers are developing was good — "Cai hen hao ect is notable for its scale tives discuss a potential
messing it up with a real hu- a sort of smart room that chi" — but he can't pay the and sophistication. Com- acquisition, the room will
man being," says Rahul Di- can understand students' bill. No problem, the panda puters simultaneously inter- follow the group discus-
vekar, a computer science words, answer their ques- replies — "ni keyi xi pan zi" pret speech and gesture sion and produce relevant
graduate student working tions and perceive their — you can wash the dishes. to keep a dialogue going. information seamlessly into
on the project. "So com- gestures. Lessons are pre- Other scenes include an When a student points to the debate.
pared to that anxiety, this is sented as games or tasks, outdoor market and a gar- a picture and asks "What's "We're not at the end of
a lot more easy." like ordering a meal out. den, each a high-tech twist that?" computers can the line," Jackson says, "but
The "Mandarin Project" is Divekar orders Peking duck on cultural immersion. come up with an answer. closer to the beginning."q