What can science fiction tell us about the future? August 3, 2016 A recent book on the future of warfare warned that Britain’s pristine new aircraft carriers will be vulnerable to swarms of small, semi-autonomous drones that could not be stopped by conventional protective weaponry. Another looked at whether mass online gaming might be used to recruit networks to attack military or commercial targets. A third raised the [...]
Meet the most influential British innovator in the world August 2, 2016 Demis Hassabis, the man who founded the multi-million pound artificial intelligence company acquired by Google, has been named the most influential British innovator in the world. DeepMind hit headlines in 2014 when it was bought by Google for £400m and this year did it again when its machine learning technology beat the world-leading player of the [...]
Nine up-and-coming fintech startups to watch (and Lloyds thinks so too) August 2, 2016 A handful of startups from around the world are hoping to disrupt the big banks with new innovations after being chosen as ones to watch in the world of fintech by one of London's top accelerators and top global businesses. Startupbootcamp's fintech programme, backed by the likes of Lloyds and PwC, have chosen nine new up-and-coming early stage fintech [...]
Phew! Facebook’s AI chief says intelligent machines are not a threat to humanity July 31, 2016 The chief scientist leading Facebook's research into artificial intelligence doesn't believe the technology is a threat to human existence – unless we are very stupid. "I don’t think at AI will become an existential threat to humanity," said Yann LeCun, the top professor who is leading Facebook's efforts in the space of AI and machine learning. "I’m [...]
How did Brits deal with referendum uncertainty? By drinking beer, it seems July 28, 2016 Britain's beer drinkers were not put off their pints by the upcoming EU referendum. New figures show an extra 31 million pints were bought between April and June this year, compared with the same period in 2015. British beer sales were up 1.5 per cent in the second quarter of 2016, according to the British [...]
Microsoft’s made an iPhone app which uses AI to improve your photos July 27, 2016 Microsoft is putting its artificial intelligence technology to good uses again – this time, helping you take better pictures. After that ill-fated chatbot experiment, and more fun japes such as HowOldRobot and CaptionBot, Microsoft has put the tech to better use with a picture app for iPhone. Great news for anyone who strugggles to capture the perfect snap. Read more: [...]
Four things Jack Dorsey’s done to try and turnaround Twitter… so far July 26, 2016 Nine months after re-joining the flock, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey is under mounting pressure to revive its fortunes. While Wall Street awaits the latest numbers, here’s a reminder of what Dorsey’s been up to… 1. Wielded the axe Dorsey wasn’t afraid to wield the axe when it came to staff numbers, cutting up to eight [...]
VCs have invested $200m in UK tech since Brexit July 25, 2016 The UK's tech sector is defying the Brexit blues, with more than $200m (£152.5m) of venture capital cash ploughed into startups since the vote to leave the EU on 24 June. Top tech leaders heralded the 42 deals which have been made in the past month as the data is an early indicator that the UK [...]
There is now a beer brewed by artificial intelligence… and it takes feedback via Facebook’s Messenger app July 22, 2016 Forget craft beer, this is what the real future of lager looks like… and it looks surprisingly open to constructive criticism. A London-based brewing startup, IntelligentX, has created a premium beer brewed by artificial intelligence (AI) using a "complex machine learning algorithms" to make four versions of its beer. But that's not the only innovation. [...]
VCs held off on startup investments because of Brexit July 20, 2016 The figures are in: and they show that in the build up to the EU referendum, venture capital investors held off on putting their cash into startups. VC investment "plummeted" 40 per cent according to the latest report from CB Insights and KPMG. Some $2.8bn went into VC-backed firms in Europe, of which the UK grabs the biggest share, dipping below [...]