By disrupting its own industry, Ocado has proven the power of automation October 4, 2018 Further evidence of automation’s benefits has emerged this week following the news that online retailer Ocado’s revenue jumped by 11.5 per cent in the last quarter – largely thanks to the automation of its warehouses. The effects are unquestionably positive, with the average number of orders processed by the firm reaching 283,000 per week. Its [...]
London-based automation startup Softomotive scores $25m series A September 28, 2018 Business automation startup Softomotive will today reveal a $25m (£19m) series A investment, led by London investor Grafton Capital. Softomotive, which specialises in robotic process automation (RPA) plans to move its headquarters from Athens to London’s Spitalfields area with the new funds. Chief executive Marios Stavropoulos said that while the business is expanding across [...]
Darktrace lands $50m in series E funding, boosting its valuation to $1.65bn September 27, 2018 Homegrown cyber security success story Darktrace will today announce the close of its series E funding round to the tune of $50m (£38m), raising its valuation to $1.65bn. The round was led by Vitruvian Partners, with participation from existing investors KKR and 1011 Ventures. The funding will be used to fuel international expansion and [...]
This is why the world needs Facebook M: Its new AI and people-powered virtual personal assistant in Messenger app could be better than Apple Siri, Microsoft Cortana and Google Now August 27, 2015 Soon Facebook will be able to answer any question you have, book a restaurant on your behalf and give you the weather forecast for the day. The social network is working on creating its very own virtual assistant like the already well-known and commonly used Apple Siri, Microsoft Cortana and Google Now. Facebook is testing the service, called [...]
BlackRock buys robo-adviser firm FutureAdvisor for estimated $200m August 26, 2015 BlackRock is buying FutureAdvisor, a company that develops robo-adviser technology, for between $150m and £200m. Read more: Robo-advisers backed to fill financial gap Robo-advisers create automated investment portfolios for clients by asking them a series of questions about their income, investment ambitions and tax situation. FutureAdvisor was set up in San Fransisco five years ago [...]
Alibaba’s cloud computing arm Aliyun launches “China’s first” artificial intelligence service August 25, 2015 Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba’s cloud computing arm is breaking into the artificial intelligence market, launching what the company is proclaiming to be “China’s first AI platform”, which will give developers the capacity to analyse large amounts of data. Cloud computing division Aliyun is Alibaba’s fastest-growing division, and although the company still gets most of its [...]
Does the universe actually exist? We might all be living in one big computer game, scientists say August 6, 2015 We always talk about the robots replacing humans, but what if we actually are robots, with brains that are programmed just like computers to think in a certain way? Read more: Did the big bang happen? Scientists call theory into question Our universe behaves suspiciously similarly to a simulated computer, obeying a series of [...]
Robots are stealing our jobs: Next to go is the fine wine industry August 5, 2015 Wine buffs who pride themselves on understanding the value of the posh plonk are about to be trumped by robots, after scientists at UCL developed an artificial intelligence system capable of predicting the fluctuating prices of fine wines better than any human connoisseur on the planet. Read more: A robot might steal your job, but it [...]
Super-intelligent robots could soon fight our wars, but there’s a risk they’ll try and turn against us July 31, 2015 A swarm of robots approaches the front line, each gearing up its inbuilt guns and explosives as it prepares to launch an attack on the enemy – another, almost identical swarm of robots. But suddenly one of the robots turns on its comrades. It has been offered a better deal by the enemy, so long [...]
Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking and Steve Wozniak call for ban on killer robots warning “the stakes are high” July 28, 2015 As far as we're aware, the Terminator was never brought to a halt by a petition. But that hasn't stopped more than 1,000 high profile artificial intelligence experts attempting pretty much that. Tesla’s Elon Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Google DeepMind chief executive Demis Hassabis and professor Stephen Hawking are among those to have [...]