The benchmarks, named MLPerf Inference v0.5, center around three common machine learning tasks: image classification, object detection and machine translation. Given the different processing abilities of different devices, there are separate benchmarks for AI across various platforms, such as smartphones, servers and chips.

As well as providing best practice guidance for companies in the AI field, it’s hoped the benchmarks will help kick-start further innovation as, despite its hype, organizations have been slow to pick up the technology. In a statement, MLPerf’s general chair Peter Mattson said, “By creating common and relevant metrics to assess new machine learning software frameworks, hardware accelerators, and cloud and edge computing platforms in real-life situations, these benchmarks will establish a level playing field that even the smallest companies can use.”

The companies are calling themselves a consortium, and they’ve dubbed this “Project OAR,” or Open Addressable Ready. Once developed, the new, open standard will make it possible for all connected TV companies to sell targeted ads in scheduled and on-demand programs. While this will theoretically make ads more successful and therefore more valuable, it also means viewers’ data will be shared with third parties. That raises the usual data privacy concerns.

You may also remember Vizio as the company that got itself in hot water for tracking its customers’ viewing histories and selling that data to advertisers — all without its TV owners’ knowledge or permission. The company settled those charges for $2.2 million with the Federal Trade Commission and New Jersey Attorney General in 2017. We can only hope that, after learning that lesson the hard way, Vizio will bake added consent and privacy safeguards into this new standard.

According to Adweek, the consortium plans to have a prototype as early as this spring and a working product that can be used by any TV maker by later this year or early next. In the meantime, we’re left wondering if targeted television ads will be able to avoid the pitfalls we’ve seen on social media.