AI can liberate humans to lead happier lives, if we get it right September 11, 2017 Discussions around artificial intelligence (AI) provoke both excitement and fear in strong measure. Just last week, Elon Musk predicted that AI will be the most likely cause of World War III (although perhaps he just wasn’t following President Donald Trump closely enough). As happens so often with new advances, policymaking lags significantly behind. We must [...]
Britain needs future-facing leaders, not nostalgic dinosaurs like Rees-Mogg and Corbyn September 8, 2017 Jacob Rees-Mogg – committed Brexiteer, potential contender for the Conservative leadership, and devout Roman Catholic – is against abortion and same-sex marriage. Who would have guessed? Rees-Mogg’s comments on ITV on Wednesday, especially his assertion that a rape victim should be forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term, raised eyebrows among the commentariat. But [...]
EY, Maersk, Microsoft, startup Guardtime and insurers are putting boats on the blockchain with marine insurance tech platform | City A.M. September 6, 2017 EY, shipping giant mersk and Microsoft are among the companies planning to get boats on the blockchain, or their insurance, at least. The professional services firm is building a blockchain-based platform that can streamline marine insurance for the shipping industry. It is working with Estonian enterprise blockchain startup Guardtime and Microsoft to build the technology [...]
UK artificial intelligence startup FiveAI lands £14m series B from Lakestar Capital, an early Facebook and Spotify backer September 6, 2017 The venture fund set up by an early backer of Facebook, Spotify and Skype has invested millions in a UK artificial intelligence startup that is planning on getting driverless cars on the road. Lakestar Capital has led the £14m series B round into FiveAI, the company working with Mclaren technologies and Transport for London on [...]
Seedrs fundraising: Neil Woodford invests another £4m into crowdfunding startup Seedrs September 5, 2017 Star fund manager Neil Woodford has increased his stake in crowdfunding startup Seedrs with a fresh £4m investment, taking his total to £10m. Woodford Investment Management kicked off a fundraising round today, making its investment through two of its managed funds: Woodford Patient Capital Trust and Omnis Income and Growth Fund. A crowdfunding campaign give [...]
Could robots reduce the state pension age? The TUC union thinks artificial intelligence will help us retire early September 4, 2017 Fancy retiring early than expected? The nation could get a helping hand to kick back and relax ahead of time thanks to robots and artificial intelligence. There may be fears around the technology taking jobs, but in fact, one of the benefits could be a reduction in the state pension age, which has steadily risen [...]
UK drone firm wins the backing of Japanese industrial giant Mitsui August 31, 2017 A UK-based drone company is set to receive a $4m (£3m) investment from Japanese conglomerate Mitsui. Sky Futures provides drone-based industrial inspection technology. With drones, companies can more safely inspect industrial equipment like oil rigs. The strategic partnership, to be announced today, is launched in tandem with Prime Minister Theresa May’s visit to Japan. It [...]
Unilever, Walmart and Nestle are starting a major blockchain project with IBM August 22, 2017 Unilever, Nestle, Walmart and a handful of the world’s top retail and food brands are joining forces to tackle food safety with the help of blockchain technology. The 10 companies will work with IBM on a new project that will look at how the distributed ledger technology (DLT) behind bitcoin could be used to track [...]
Fintech startup Prodigy Finance lands $240m funding led by Index Ventures to expand post-graduate loans August 21, 2017 Prodigy Finance, a fintech startup that provides online funding for students embarking on postgraduate courses at top institutions such as Cambridge and Harvard, has landed multi-millions of pounds in fresh funding from leading investors. Index Ventures has led a series C equity round of $40m, with previous investor Balderton Capital also participating and AlphaCode also [...]
Those who fear automation will be its only casualties August 11, 2017 Whatever can be automated, should be. And regardless of whether it should, it will be. Automation has been a persistent economic force since the first industrial revolution, and an essential feature of any competitive business. The use of machines and other forms of automation to boost productivity is a major factor behind the rapid global [...]