Ursula von der Leyen pledges action on artificial intelligence during first 100 days in office November 27, 2019 The European Commission’s incoming President Ursula von der Leyen has called for the EU to draw up rules to regulate the use of artificial intelligence during her first 100 days in charge. The German politician and her commission were coronated in the European Parliament today, winning 461 MEP votes in favour compared to 157 against. [...]
Alibaba IPO: E-commerce giant’s shares jump on blockbuster Hong Kong debut November 26, 2019 Alibaba, the Chinese online retail giant, has enjoyed a surge in its share price after floating on the Hong Kong stock exchange, in one of the year’s most hotly anticipated Initial Public Offerings. The firm, which is already listed in the US, raised around £8.8bn in its secondary listing, with chairman Daniel Zhang cheering on [...]
Twitter acquires London AI startup as it looks to target small businesses November 21, 2019 Twitter has snapped up artificial intelligence (AI) marketing platform Aiden as it looks to expand its advertising offering for small businesses. Read more: Twitter outlines political ad ban ahead of 2020 US election The social media giant today said it had agreed a takeover of the London-based startup, which provides a cross-platform advertising command centre, [...]
The best smartwatches of 2019: Here’s our pick of this year’s top wearables November 20, 2019 Smartwatches have come a long way since the bulky strap-on devices of just a few years ago, and just like our phones they’ve begun to take on more and more useful functions as the underlying technology improves. Wearables have merged with fitness trackers, and have heroically untethered themselves from our phones by incorporating their very [...]
Challenger banks yet to overcome Brits’ lack of trust, study finds November 20, 2019 Two fifths of Brits don’t trust challenger banks at all, while over half are worried technology will put their data at risk, according to a new study. The research, conducted by Fujitsu, suggests that concerns over security are slowing the British public’s adoption of technology. Read more: Trading giant Robinhood makes its UK debut in [...]
General Election 2019: Liberal Democrats pitch party as ‘natural home of business’ November 20, 2019 The Liberal Democrats are pitching themselves as the “natural home of business” with a slew of policies due to be unveiled in the party manifesto that it claims will bolster the UK’s economy. Warning of challenges including artificial intelligence, climate change and Brexit, the Lib Dems argue that the two main parties are backwards looking [...]
London’s fintech boom helps drive record year for US investment November 18, 2019 US venture capital firms have pumped record amounts of money into London and UK companies this year as flourishing fintech firms continue to charm investors, new data has revealed. American investors have been involved in $4.4bn (£3.4bn) worth of deals into UK firms so far in 2019, with London businesses accounting for more than three-quarters [...]
Laugh about the Lib Dems’ skills wallet all you like, but we’re all going to want one November 15, 2019 It is hard to think of a more unsexy name for a policy than the “skills wallet”. Juxtaposing two profoundly unexciting terms (as policy areas go, there’s nothing fun about skills, and “wallet” is the kind of word that starts to sound wrong if you say it in your head too many times), the Liberal [...]
How can you stop your credit card being sexist? November 14, 2019 Can a credit card be sexist? It’s not a question most people would have thought about before this week, but on Monday, the US financial regulator announced an investigation into claims of gender discrimination by Apple Card. The algorithms Apple Card used to set credit limits are, it has been reported, inherently biased against women. [...]
Has WeWork destroyed SoftBank’s credibility? November 13, 2019 By John Colley at Warwick Business School Why is Japanese investment firm SoftBank investing a further $8 billion into WeWork, even though the office rental company is now valued at just $8 billion, and buying out founder Adam Neumann at a further cost of $1.7 billion? Forgetting SoftBank’s previous sunk investments in WeWork – which [...]