Anguilla, an internally self-governing overseas territory of the UK, is making £3 million ($3.8M) per month from its .ai domain. Anguilla, the British territory in the Caribbean, has fewer than 20,000 people on the island. However, its code top-level domain (ccTLD) is wanted by many for AI startups. “I knew way back that .ai could end up being used for AI, that it could be valuable someday. But it was a question of when right?” Vincent Cate, president at DataHaven.Net Ltd, which handles sales of the .ai domain for the
Rite Aid will be banned from using AI-powered facial recognition technology for five years as it disproportionately impacts people of color. The US pharmacy chain deployed AI-based facial recognition technology from 2012 to 2020 to identify shoplifters. However, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a complaint against the company. Rite Aid’s Facial Recognition Tech According to the FTC, Rite Aid has used facial recognition technology in hundreds of its retail pharmacy locations to identify patrons previously deemed likely to engage in shoplifting or other criminal behavior. The technology captured images of all
SoftBank is selling its Open Opportunity Fund to its chairman and managing partner, Paul Judge, and Marcelo Claure, who is being appointed the fund’s vice chairman and general partner. The Open Opportunity Fund SoftBank Group is a Japanese multinational investment holding company focusing on investment management. It announced the launch of its second fund under the Opportunity Growth Fund this year, rebranded as the Open Opportunity Fund (OOF). Judge took the reins as chairman of the second fund. Claure, who initially launched OOF, previously served as SoftBank’s COO until 2022
Kenyan President William Ruto has announced that Meta has agreed to monetize content in Kenya, benefitting the country’s creators. Following a year-long negotiation with the Kenyan government, Facebook and Instagram content creators will begin earning from these Meta platforms. Paying Kenyan Content Creators The President revealed that Meta had run a pilot program with eligible Kenyan content creators. “I have good news for our creatives and those who imagine and produce content through Facebook and Instagram,” Ruto said during the Jamhuri Day celebrations at Uhuru Gardens in Nairobi. “Just yesterday, Meta committed
Atlanta’s Black-founded and centered membership club, The Gathering Spot (TGS), and digital banking platform Greenwood are going their separate ways. The Events Leading Up To The Separation Last May, The Gathering Spot was acquired by Greenwood. Over the last year, however, there were reported disputes between the two companies, including reports of a lawsuit filed by TGS co-founders Ryan Wilson and T’Keel Petersen. They alleged that Greenwood co-founder and CEO Ryan Glover, and board member Dr Paul Judge had committed fraud and deception. In July of this year, Glover and Wilson announced they had resolved
Latimer, the innovative AI platform named after the African-American inventor Lewis Latimer, has taken a significant step towards making generative AI more inclusive and historically accurate. The platform announced an exclusive content license agreement with the New York Amsterdam News, one of the nation’s most influential and oldest continuously published Black newspapers. Historically Accurate Training Data Amsterdam News has been a pioneering force in Black journalism since 1909. The newspaper is also known for its innovative approaches and significant milestones, such as being the first Black newspaper unionized in all departments.
BlackRhino VR, a leading Kenyan extended reality tech company, has launched MediAR. The groundbreaking augmented reality (AR) platform aims to revolutionize how creators engage with AR technology, empowering them within Africa’s burgeoning creative economy. Empowering Creatives, Democratizing Tech BlackRhino VR was founded by in 2015 by medical student-turned-filmmaker Michael Ilako and deejay-turned-brand manager Brian Afande. The company’s no-code AR cloud editor and publishing platform, MediAR, is positioned as Africa’s first. As a no-code platform, creatives can produce AR content without any previous coding or programming experience. MediAR features an intuitive
London-based fintech startup Jenesys AI has secured $1.1 million in a pre-seed funding round. Founded in late 2022 by Nicolai Thomson and Dr Tosin Dairo, Jenesys elevates the role of bookkeepers and accountants with a conversational AI named “Jack”. The investment round was led by Twin Path Ventures, with contributions from Fuel Ventures, Antler, Hatcher+ in Singapore, and seasoned angel investors from the US and UK. Meet Jack: The conversational AI Jenesys AI’s flagship product is “Jack,” a conversational AI designed to support finance teams. Integrated with platforms like Slack
“DEI must DIE,” Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, boldly declared in a Twitter/X post on December 15. “The point was to end discrimination, not replace it with different discrimination.” The South African Tesla and Twitter/X owner doubled down the following day, adding, “‘Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’ are propaganda words for racism, sexism and other -isms. This is just as morally wrong as any other racism and sexism.” Who benefits from DEI? Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives aim to rectify historical and ongoing discrimination by providing equal access and opportunities
In a startling revelation, Barbara Furlow-Smiles, previously renowned for her role as a global diversity strategist at Facebook, has pled guilty to wire fraud charges. Her conviction comes after siphoning over $4 million from the tech giant, purportedly to support an extravagant lifestyle across California and Georgia. Furlow-Smiles, who significantly contributed to Facebook’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives between 2017 and mid-2021, orchestrated a complex fraud. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta detailed how she exploited her position to funnel funds through fictitious vendors and bogus charges, culminating in
