6 startups that could change the face of AI in 2016

Facebook recently announced that the company is open-sourcing its Big Sur servers designed for deep learning (i.e. voice, image, and language recognition). The move comes as no surprise. Google, IBM, and Microsoft already took decisive steps towards opening their AI technologies this year.
 
And while tech giants in Silicon Valley are fighting over AI dominance, six startups from around the world are getting VC’s attention. As part of the Hacker Unit accelerator program, the first remote accelerator for disruptive startups, these companies are on their way to shape the future of AI.
 
Legal Robot
 
Legal Robot helps with understanding complex legal language using AI without the cost associated with it. The company’s goal is to empower consumers, save businesses money, and let lawyers focus on what matters. The startup uses AI to parse legal documents and translates them into accessible language; it also handles analyzing contracts, and according to its founders, “improves transparency.”
 
Semantile
 
Semantile is a Relevancy Engine Platform that brings AI to semantic text analysis. It allows people and companies to have a better comprehension of what a word is or is related to. It helps businesses and enterprises extract all meaningful and actionable concepts from their unstructured text and sort them accordingly. For example, if you search for a BLT on Semantile, the algorithm will tell you what is a proper BLT, what defines this sandwich, what makes it different from a burger. The Semantile team is composed of startup veterans and their mission is to re-wire how relevancy matching is done today.
 
Shadeo
 
Similar to Shazam but designed for products, Shadeo is an automated in-video advertising plugin. The goal is to be able to initiate a search of an object from any kind of media flow, video, picture, etc, and interact with it. It gives users a brand new way to search on the web and buy products that interest them.
 
Real Life Analytics
 
We can’t be talking about Artificial Intelligence and not look into big data, especially when it comes to analyzing consumer behavior. The startup Real Life Analytics enables targeted advertising on any digital screen in real time using plug-and-play AI dongles.
 
Think of commercial displays you see in places like shopping centers and subway stations that can now leverage real-time facial recognition to customize the content according to the viewer’s engagement and demographics: age, gender, etc. and provide insight into customer demographics and behavior.
 
ClevAPI
 
ClevAPI allows brands to automatically put their logos and products on top of related objects and make advertising more natural and engaging for viewers. The SaaS technology receives and processes images, and then returns a list of tags that describe image content and precise location of recognized objects.
 
Ultimately, ClevAPI provides real-time image recognition service for product placement and native advertising. The company is founded after years of research in deep learning and computer vision.
 
Riminder
 
Riminder is a service aiming to disrupt the HR industry and job seeking. Using a unique technology and tapping into deep learning, the application has a dual purpose: on one side, it helps individuals improve their career path thanks to the two million careers the company has analyzed. Simultaneously, Riminder allows talent managers and recruiters to leverage both internal and external data to attract relevant talent and pinpoint high potential candidates.