Earlier this week, we reported that synthetic data platform Neuromation ($BLOCKCHAIN:NTK) appeared to be doing something strange with its usage claims. Its site claimed that almost 40 milion images had been created using its platform — images intended to train artificial intelligence technology for image recognition.
But something about the claim looked spurious, especially given that we had a historial time series of claimed engagement. In appeared to be computer-generated and not organic.
As of this morning, Neuromation conceded that the number is misleading and removed it from its website. They also explained that further engagement numbers will be reported in upcoming quarterly reports, and that a new Neuromation website is coming this month to reflect the company's past six months since its coin offering.
Their response is below in its entirety without editing:
Joshua,
thank you for the interest in the activity of Neuromation. We appreciate the thorough research you conducted for the article and would like to use this opportunity to respond to the concerns re the data counter on the website.
The number is a linear approximation based on the initial internal rate of synthetic data/object generation. We agree that the displayed number lacks necessary context for the website audience and may be misleading. We have therefore decided to remove the number from the website. Key business traction metrics will be presented in quarterly reports to the contributor base. The new website is being launched this month, and it will reflect the progress the company made in the last 6 months.
Yashar Behzadi, CEO of Neuromation, is here to join our conversation. Joshua, if you would you like to take this further, ask any questions on the topic of synthetic data and how Neuromation helps companies to handle biased data, absence or lack of data in algorithm training using synthetic data, we are happy to chat.
Sincerely and with kinds regards,
Esther Katz
VP Communications
Artificial intelligence-training technology is an in-demand industry, and Neuromation cashed in on the activity with a $50 million offering earlier this year. We at Thinknum appreciate their transparency and quick action here. Here's hoping this is a positive sign for their investors and for the veracity of their technology.
