Particles for Justice, a diverse group of physicists, are calling on their colleagues to support Black Studies and LGBTQ+ visibility. The group, who also organized the 2020 Strike For Black Lives, is now calling on academics and professional societies to take a visible and active stand against the “authoritarian” attacks on Black and queer studies. The group includes participle physicist and feminist scholar Chanda Prescod-Weinstein as well as physicists Tim M.P. Tait (University of California, Irvine) and Nausheen Shah (Wayne State University). In a statement, the group criticized the “manufactured moral
Ernst & Young (EY) Metaverse Lab has announced that it will showcase Ancestral Archives, an interactive AI-enabled art installation created by artist-in-residence Josie Williams to spotlight the work of historic Black leaders. The EY Metaverse Lab program brings together artists and engineers to explore some of the world’s most challenging issues. For example, Williams is a creative and ‘afro-futurist’ working to combat bias and social injustice. Developed in collaboration with EY Metaverse Lab and NEW INC, the metaverse art installation will leverage Williams’ digital experience to showcase how AI and the metaverse can
TikTok-owner ByteDance has launched a new app called Lemon8 that is helping some content creators monetize their work. What is Lemon8? Lemon8 is a social media app centered around lifestyle and community. The content-sharing platform has been designed to help creators monetize their work and reach a wider audience. The picture-based app, described as a fusion of Instagram and Pinterest, first launched in Japan in 2020 and is now available to download in several countries. To help the platform’s expansion, ByteDance has decided to start paying creators to post on the
Comcast NBCUniversal has given a $2 million grant to The Hidden Genius Project to help advance their commitment to advancing digital equity. The Hidden Genius Project, launched by Brandon Nicholson, is committed to eradicating the obstacles against young Black boys by providing them with training and mentorship. The grant marks the extension of Comcast’s seven-year partnership with The Hidden Genius Project, which has helped them expand their programmatic, volunteer, and outreach work across communities. “Our continued partnership with Comcast NBCUniversal will equip us to engage even more Black youth with the skills, experiences,
To offer an in-depth, data-backed look into the unique Black experience in the tech industry, the Info-Tech Research Group has published The State of Black Professionals in Tech report. “Diversity in tech is not a new topic, and it’s not a secret that technology organizations struggle to attract and retain Black employees,” Allison Straker and Ugbad Farah, Info-Tech research directors and leads on the report, said in a statement. “Current events have once again brought diversity to the forefront for many organizations. The pandemic, along with preparations for a recession and
Google for Startups is accepting applications for its Black Founders Funds in the US, Europe, Africa, and Brazil, and its Latino Founders Fund in the US. This year also marks the first time Google for Startups has opened the US funds to the public. In previous years, Google reportedly selected US businesses solely through referrals. Less than 0.5% of funding goes to Black-led startups, even though 77% of them are revenue-generating and create an average of 5.4 jobs each. First announced in June 2020, the Black Founders Fund was launched as
This article was first published by Shannon Bentley on Medium. I started to learn how to code back in January 2022. It was the moment that I declared myself ready to transition from my interpersonal career of always caring for others’ needs from a healthcare and educational perspective. January was a significant change for the fact that I was taking on learning a skill that was entirely new to me. However, months later — I will be known to take a self-proclaimed sabbatical leave away from learning this skill. How
Black-owned startup Robin AI has raised $10.5 million to transform the legal industry with its AI-driven contract editor. What is Robin AI? Robin AI is the brainchild of former Clifford Chance lawyer Richard Robinson and former machine learning research scientist James Clough. The startup trained its machine learning model on data from 4.5 million legal documents with input from in-house lawyers to create a ‘lawyer bot’ that can draft and edit legal contracts. On average, users can draft and negotiate contracts up to 80% faster, saving up to 75% on
Four-time NBA champion Stephen Curry has partnered with AI platform Simplicity to help increase the quality of life for city-dwellers across the country. Simplicity is an AI-driven platform offering a one-stop shop for everything happening in a city. Through cutting-edge technology, Simplicity aims to simplify government services, streamline communication, and enhance cities’ relationships with local communities. The platform is already in operation in over 30 major cities across the US, from New York City to Austin and Los Angeles to Cleveland and more. Curry’s involvement with Simplicity is a natural extension of
Student-focused platform America On Tech (AOT) has been awarded a one-time grant from Michael Jordan and Jordan Brands’s $100 million Black Community Commitment (BCC) to help expand their work across cities.  To celebrate Michael Jordan’s 60th birthday, the Jordan Brand awarded $2.3M to 48 organizations, to help create racial equity. America On Tech happened to be one of those, the platform founded in 2014 by Jessica Santana has spent years working to help Black and brown students elevate their careers. “Creating more equitable futures for Black people starts with an
