Big, bold, and bionic: The future of commerical creativity February 19, 2018 Last week, heads turned again in Adland, as Unilever marketer Keith Weed became the latest industry name to threaten Google and Facebook with an advertising boycott. Joining others including P&G’s Marc Pritchard, and two colleagues of my own (The&Partnership’s Johnny Hornby and the IPA’s Paul Bainsfair), Weed called on the Silicon Valley giants to step [...]
Apple HomePod smart speaker review: A hell of a speaker controlled by a mildly disappointing assistant February 16, 2018 Apple rarely gets to the party first. IBM built a smartphone 15 years before the iPhone. Tablet computers have been around since the 1980s. Just about every manufacturer had a stab at a smart watch before the Apple got around to it in 2014. But the iPhone will be remembered as the smartphone, the iPad [...]
What’s the difference between artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep learning? February 16, 2018 We are witnessing just the beginning of the artificial intelligence (AI) era. The computer program AlphaGo defeated the world’s top player in the complex Chinese board game of Go for the last time in May 2017. The program had run out of human competition. Instead, its developers designed AlphaGo Zero to simply play against itself [...]
Digital Innovators: Q&A with BenevolentAI founder and chairman Ken Mulvany February 13, 2018 BenevolentAI is a tech company which applies AI to accelerate scientific discovery. Last year BenevolentAI was identified as one of 50 of the freshest and most inspiring digital companies using technology and innovation to shake up their sectors in our Digital Innovators Power List. Following a public vote and after careful consideration by supporting partners [...]
Training AI to be unbiased must be a priority, not an afterthought February 9, 2018 When considering threats posed by artificial intelligence (AI), the focus usually rests on two. Some foresee a terrifying Skynet dystopia, with sentient computers identifying mankind as their greatest enemy and turning the world into a killbot hellscape. Others, slightly less alarmist, fear automation rendering vast swathes of the population literally redundant. But the most likely [...]
Softbank raises eyebrows with talks to buy a slice of Swiss Re February 8, 2018 Softbank has raised eyebrows after a confirmation it is in talks with Swiss Re about taking a minority stake in the insurance behemoth. The pair are “engaged in preliminary discussions”, Swiss Re revealed in a statement this morning. However, “there is no certainty that any transaction will be agreed”. “I don’t quite get this Softbank [...]
Digital Innovators: Q&A with Chris Sheldrick, co-founder and CEO of what3words February 8, 2018 what3words has divided the world into 3m x 3m squares, each with a unique address made from three dictionary words, thus offering the simplest way to communicate location. Last year what3words was identified as one of 50 of the freshest and most inspiring digital companies using technology and innovation to shake up their sectors in [...]
China’s Didi Chuxing is partnering with 12 auto giants including Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi on a car-sharing platform February 7, 2018 Chinese ride-hailing behemoth Didi Chuxing announced today that it has launched a car-sharing platform alongside 12 auto giants including Geely Auto and Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi. Didi said it intends to utilise its artificial intelligence strengths and national network to help the “entire automotive industry chain”. The company, which bought out Uber’s China business in 2016, said it [...]
Financial services jobs are most at risk in t he short term from automation, robotic and atificial intelligence February 6, 2018 City jobs will be lost to automation earlier than those in the wider job market, new research reveals. The first wave of automation arriving in the next two to three years will hit financial and professional services hardest compared to other industries, according to the analysis of more than 200,000 jobs across 26 counties by [...]
The UK must not get left behind by China’s rise as a new superpower February 5, 2018 Last week, the Prime Minister visited China, a country set to have the largest economy on Earth by 2030. Its rapid growth is expected to continue for another generation. In 2016, foreign direct investment from China reached $180bn – a striking figure when compared with 2002, when it totalled less than $5bn. The sophistication of [...]