By John Glenday Twitter co-founder Biz Stone is to have a second stab at making a success of his Jelly Q&A app by re-launching the service as an AI powered search engine for iOS and web users. The products raison d’etre sees it grant users the ability to ask questions anonymously which the app can then answer by routing the query to the person best equipped to answer it by applying artificial intelligence algorithms. Unlike Google this will see another human draft the response, giving a more accurate and tailored answer than the often generic results of a traditional search engine, although this will necessarily Read full story › Source: The Drum...
Read MoreBy Claire Woodcock Artificial intelligence is becoming a reality and people are starting to wonder what the world will be like when ‘the robots’ are advanced enough to undertake tasks that previously could only be done by humans. It is an uncomfortable thought to consider whether we will even be relevant in the future. Experts still disagree over the extent of the threat to the job market, but agree that change is coming. Computer scientist and futurist Jerry Kaplan insists the idea of AI creating a “jobs Armageddon” is ludicrous, whilst AI evangelist Ben Goertzel states “job losses are a feature not a bug Read full story › Source: The Drum...
Read MoreBy John Glenday New York Times chief executive Mark Thompson has become embroiled in a multi-million dollar legal action amidst claims that he oversaw an ‘environment rife with discrimination based on age, race and gender’. The former director-general of the BBC is named alongside fellow executive Meredith Levien in a class action lawsuit filed by two black employees in their sixties who state that the paper favours young and white employees with no children. Accusing the Times of ‘deplorable discrimination’ the two claimants state: “Unbeknownst to the world at large, not only does the Times have an ideal customer (young, white, wealthy), but also an Read full story › Source: The Drum...
Read MoreBy Jessica Goodfellow It may have shocked many observers but the Independent’s decision to scrap its newspaper was neither rash nor quick, having been considered by executives for five years. Now it’s made the jump, the newspaper is exploring as many revenue streams as it can. It’s a commercial charge predicated on two objectives; one is how to preserve and grow the Independent brand and its journalism over the next 30 years and secondly to build a sustainable business. For the latter, programmatic has been identified. The dynamics of the advertising market alone have changed significantly over the last five years – particularly Read full story › Source: The Drum...
Read MoreBy John Glenday Online retailer Amazon has posted a healthy $513m profit for the first quarter on the back of a 28 per cent jump in sales which hit $29.1bn for the three months to March. Bumper sales of both Kindle e-readers and Fire tablets, as well as strong subscriber numbers for its Prime service, helped Amazon on its way for the period as sales of both exceeded the expectations of cautious analysts. Chief executive Jeff Bezos said: “Amazon devices are the top selling products on Amazon, and customers purchased more than twice as many Fire tablets than first quarter last year.” The tech firm was Read full story › Source: The Drum...
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