Corbyn’s robot tax would halt vital life-changing innovation October 6, 2017 The fear of change is nothing new. Charlie Chaplin’s classic film Modern Times – one of the last silent films of the era – is perhaps the most famous critique of technology and its perceived impact on modern society. When the film was produced in 1936, Chaplin wasn’t alone in his fear of how a [...]
DEBATE: Should we be worried about facial recognition? October 5, 2017 Should we be worried about facial recognition? Dr Tom Chatfield, and tech philosopher and author of Critical Thinking, says YES. Imagine. A super-high resolution drone camera captures ten thousand faces from a crowd in one shot; an algorithm processes and identifies over ninety per cent of them within moments; the results are cross-referenced with billions [...]
Is your greatest asset people, or data? October 4, 2017 Most of us spend our entire careers working for organisations where the prevailing attitude is that “people are our greatest asset”. In the service sector in particular, the expertise of an organisation’s people, their ability to work together, deliver an outstanding service and build strong relationships with customers is a cornerstone of its proposition. Often [...]
Google’s DeepMind tripled its multimillion pound spending on artificial intelligence tech talent in London October 3, 2017 DeepMind, the UK’s star artificial intelligence company owned by Google, has tripled the amount of money it spends on top talent. Spending on administration largely driven by its wage bill jumped to £164m in 2016, up from £54m a year earlier, according to its newly published annual accounts, as it splashed the cash on attracting [...]
Apple, Google and Microsoft top list of the 100 most valuable brands September 25, 2017 Apple and Google have once again take the two top spots in a list of the world’s 100 most valuable brands, according to rankings by consultancy group Interbrand. Five UK firms made into into the 2017 best global brands list. These were Burberry, HSBC, Land Rover, Smirnoff and Johnnie Walker. This is the fifth consecutive [...]
AI’s threat to traditional banking models September 14, 2017 Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and the Internet of Things are now defining the future of our economy. The effect of these technologies, made possible by the colossal volumes of data we are able to collect and process, has been described as the “fourth industrial revolution”. There are hundreds of ways businesses can apply AI to [...]
Sadiq Khan on Digital London: How we can remain a capital of innovation September 14, 2017 London is the world’s business capital and the engine of Britain’s economy. Our city has always been an incredible hotbed of innovation and disruption. As Britain prepares to leave the EU, we must embrace our entrepreneurial spirit more than ever, to ensure our economy continues to go from strength to strength over the decades ahead. [...]
Balderton and Mike Lynch’s tech fund Invoke Capital back Sophia Genetics, an AI DNA analysis startup, with £30m September 13, 2017 A Swiss biotech firm that uses machine learning to analyse genetics used by several of the UK’s NHS trusts has bagged millions of pounds in fresh funding from Balderton Capital and Mike Lynch’s Invoke Capital. Sophia Genetics’ technology can accelerate diagnosis of cancer and other hereditary diseases by using algorithms to analyse DNA, reducing the [...]
Skype billionaire Niklas Zennstrom’s Atomico backs Bossa Studios with $10m ahead of Worlds Adrift launch September 12, 2017 Atomico is at it again, splashing the cash from its huge new fund, this time on a London games developer. The venture capital firm has led a $10m series A round in Bossa Studios, which is set to launch Worlds Adrift, the first built using the virtual reality platform created by fellow UK tech startup [...]
Tech startup incubator Entrepreneur First raises $12m and gets LinkedIn founder’s backing September 11, 2017 Startup builder Entrepreneur First, which supports the creation of tech firms from scratch, today announced it had completed a $12m (£9m) funding round with the backing of one of LinkedIn’s co-founders London-based Entrepreneur First attracted investment led by Greylock Partners, where LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman is a partner. Read more: Winning in the Dragons’ Den: [...]