Cognitive services giant IBM has announced a new artificial intelligence (AI) ‘Trust and Transparency’ service, which it claims gives businesses greater insight into AI decision-making and bias. The new Watson-based cloud service is designed to not only ‘open the black box’ of complex AI systems, but also to reinforce organisations’ trust in their own AI-based…
Telecoms giant Vodafone has confirmed plans to bring 5G connectivity to 1,000 sites across the UK by 2020. The announcement was made at the company’s headquarters in Newbury, England, where an audience was shown the UK’s first live holographic call using 5G technology (see video). In June, Vodafone said that seven cities across the UK would…
Renaud Laplanche spent ten years building LendingClub. In the process, he created an industry from scratch. Circumventing conventional banking channels for consumer credit began in 1996 when Chris Larsen started E-LOAN, which ultimately led to Prosper Marketplace. But LendingClub, which Laplanche founded in 2007, was and remains the poster child for the business of marketplace…
When the MOBI blockchain consortium was formed in May 2018 by some of the world’s biggest automakers and cutting-edge technology providers, it promised to revolutionise connected transport. With new associates coming onboard this week, including the World Economic Foundation, Chris Middleton catches up with MOBI to find out what it has achieved to date. The…
Enterprise software giant SAP has announced a set of ethical guiding principles for artificial intelligence (AI) development, along with the creation of an external advisory panel on AI ethics – making it the first European technology company to do so. The panel, comprising experts from academia, politics, and industry, will ensure the adoption of SAP’s…
North American life insurance provider John Hancock is to link all of its life insurance policies to holders’ fitness trackers, in what it claims is a drive to incentivise longer, healthier lives. But privacy and transparency questions remain. Supporting this convergence of behavioural economics and consumer technology is Vitality, the popular behaviour-change platform that rewards…
Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. This week we worked with an (excellent) skeleton crew. Our own Connie Loizos held down the fort with a guest that knew quite a lot: March Capital’s Jamie Montgomery. There was a healthy blizzard of news to get through,…
Amazon unveiled a host of new Alexa-enabled devices at a US event yesterday. Chris Middleton runs down all the new releases, and explains what they mean for the future. Amazon has deepened its commitment to smart homes and connected lifestyles with a number of new hardware and service announcements, centred on its Alexa digital assistant.…
If the Echo Show was the Amazon device most desperately in need of a makeover (please and thank you), the Dot was certainly a close second. After all, while the cheapest (and best selling) Echo device has already been through a couple of iterations, the hardware wasn’t exactly the sort of thing you’d proudly display…
A survey of banking customers across the world, carried out by technology consultancy Capgemini and finance association EFMA, shows how soaring customer expectations are leading respondents to consider non-traditional tech alternatives for their banking needs. The report was based on a survey of over 10,000 customers, across 20 countries, and 60 interviews with senior banking…
