Start-ups pile pressure on Hunt to reverse R&D tax overhaul March 8, 2023 Pressure is mounting on the Chancellor to scrap changes to research and development (R&D) tax credits in next week’s budget as over 150 start-ups and Britain’s biggest small business body launched a fresh offensive on the Treasury last night. In an open letter published last night, the group of start-ups wrote to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt [...]
Is sports technology the answer to match fixed betting? March 8, 2023 Do you know that feeling when you’ve bet on your favourite team to win a match but, for some reason, they capitulate to a series of goals an under-11s side could have scored and you smell a rat? Well, what if you could eliminate all cheating from sport and sports betting? As of 12 months [...]
Slack to offer users a ChatGPT AI tool which will write messages for them ‘in seconds’ March 7, 2023 Slack customers will get “new superpowers” after the app unveiled a ChatGPT AI tool aimed at boosting millions’ of its users productivity. The messenger service’s owner Salesforce has teamed up with ChatGPT’s developer OpenAI, a Slack customer, to offer the artificial intelligence chatbot to the system for the first time. ChatGPT is an AI chatbot [...]
Can Rishi Sunak’s science superpower dreams become reality? March 6, 2023 Rishi Sunak rolled out plans to “cement the UK as a tech and science superpower by 2030” today with promises to tempt in the best global tech talent and deliver a state-backed £370m investment boost. The new “framework” marks the first major outing for the newly minted department for Science, Innovation and Technology, which ministers [...]
As a government, we need to bring tech success to ordinary Brits’ lives March 6, 2023 In my new role as Technology Secretary, it won’t surprise you to hear that I get hundreds of emails, and many of them end with that familiar automated line “sent from my iPhone”. I am sure everyone reading this will have had the same, and never thought twice about it. But this week, as I was thinking [...]
This London Tycoon Harbours A Surprisingly Generous Streak March 1, 2023 Some may know Tej Kohli for his passion for luxury cars or his vast array of exceptional properties dotted across the world. However, what he should be best known for is his unwavering mission to give away swathes of his wealth to improve the lives of others. As Britain’s wealthiest became wealthier in recent years, [...]
Monzo and Wise founders back £8.8m Robin AI robot lawyer project February 27, 2023 A City computing company has raised $10.5m (£8.8m) from backers including top execs from Magic Circle law firm Clifford Chance to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) driven, robot lawyer. The founders of fintech firms Monzo and Wise have also thrown their weight behind London’s Robin AI, which is seeking to disrupt the legal sector with [...]
UK tech firm numbers double in two years – with London start-up growth lower than nearly all other regions February 22, 2023 The number of newly-created UK tech firms is up by a fifth, with London marginally below the national average. There were 46,474 new tech companies created in Britain in 2022, up from 38,240 in 2021. Based on data from Companies House, the uptick in registrations of new firms is almost double that of 2020, when [...]
The Notebook: Victoria Scholar on a wave of bank results, Elon Musk, and a holiday read February 22, 2023 The Notebook is where interesting people say interesting things. Today it’s Victoria Scholar, head of investment at interactive investor, on bank results, Elon Musk and an unputdownable holiday read Bank on it? With UK banks currently reporting earnings, key themes so far have been rising interest rates, growing credit loss provisions, share buybacks, volatile financial [...]
The liar’s dividend of deepfake tech means we don’t trust what we can see February 21, 2023 Deepfake videos featuring everyone from Barack Obama to Tom Cruise are everywhere on social media. They could be fun memes - or they could be dangerous disinformation, writes Elena Siniscalco