Krisp, a noise cancellation app, announced that it will launch an AI tool to convert a speaker’s accent to American English, starting with Indian accents. The company says the AI Accent Conversion will change a person’s accent with a 200ms latency, which Krisps calls “an imperceptible delay in conversations,” whilst maintaining the speaker’s voice, according to The Verge. The tool has already been trialed in enterprise environments, and a beta version will be available on the Krisp desktop app. Users can use the tool at any time during or before
Major US tech companies are warning employees on temporary visas not to travel outside the country, fearing they may be denied re-entry amid shifting immigration policies. Tech giants employ thousands of workers on H-1B visas, which allow highly-skilled foreign workers to temporarily live and work in the US. Warnings to H-1B Visa Holders Documents reviewed by The Washington Post show companies like Google and Amazon have advised foreign workers to avoid international travel, fearing sudden policy changes or heightened border scrutiny could leave them stranded overseas. H-1B visa denial rates
The Nigerian fintech Payhippo, which previously provided SME loans, has rebranded to RIVY and raised $4 million in a pre-Series A funding round to focus on increasing clean energy financing in the continent. The funding was split between $2 million equity and $2 million debt. The seed round was co-led by EchoVC, a Nigerian venture capital (VC) firm through its $2.5 million Eco fund, which focuses on climate, energy, agriculture, and mobility solutions, and Shell’s All On, a climate-focused impact investment organization. Local debt providers supplied the debt. “Renewable energy is
Manny Medina, founder and former CEO of Outreach, has launched a new startup called Paid, according to TechCrunch. Based in London, Paid helps companies manage monetization and billing for their AI agents. “AI agents are growing fast, but all face a critical challenge: how to monetize and capture the value they create?” Medina wrote on LinkedIn. He added, “With just a few lines of code, AI builders can focus on creating amazing agents while we handle the business engine behind them.” So far, Paid has raised $11 million in a
Cassava Technologies, founded by Zimbabwean telecommunications mogul Strive Masiyiwa, is working with Nvidia to create Africa’s first artificial intelligence factory. The Pan-African company will install Nvidia’s modern computing and AI software at its data centers in South Africa by June 2025. It will do the same in other facilities in Egypt, Kenya, and Morocco. “Our AI factory provides the infrastructure for this innovation to scale, empowering African businesses, start-ups and researchers with access to cutting-edge AI infrastructure to turn their bold ideas into real-world breakthroughs and now they don’t have to look beyond
Mukuru, a pan-African digital payments company, is preparing to expand its strategy across the continent as the rise of online transactions grows. The company currently serves 17 million users in Africa, Asia, and Europe, refining over $3.5 to $4 billion in payments annually across Africa, as stated by TechPoint. “Customers have become more comfortable using digital means, network, and infrastructure,” Chief Executive Officer Andy Jury told Bloomberg. What does Mukuru do? Mukuru Ltd. is a digital payments platform founded in 2004 by Zimbabwean entrepreneur Rob Burrell. It started as a
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of Nigeria has announced new plans to collaborate with technology companies to reduce potential harm from AI. NHRC’s Executive Secretary, Tony Ojukwu SAN, spoke about the duality of AI at a recent webinar hosted by the International Network for Corporate Social Responsibility (IN-CSR) and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). Nairametrics reported that Ojukwu, the leader of Nigeria’s human rights agency, said, “the NHRC will leverage tech companies to protect Nigerians from harm and discrimination associated with AI usage.” Working with tech companies
Kevin Hart is working with the Fifteen Percent Pledge to support Black founders using AI. The AI Illumination Grant will teach Black-owned entrepreneurs how to use AI to expand their businesses. The Fifteen Percent Pledge is partnering with Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz’s (A16z) Cultural Leadership Fund to launch the grant, according to AFROTECH. “We know AI can seem intimidating, but these dynamic webinars will break it down and empower you to embrace this powerful technology with confidence,” the Fifteen Percent Pledge website says. The AI Illumination Grant Qualified
Over 400 Hollywood creatives, including actors and directors, have signed an open letter calling for the government not to scale back on copyright laws related to artificial intelligence. Variety reported that the list included names such as Ava Duvernay, Janelle Monáe, Michaela Coel, Ben Stiller, Mark Ruffalo, and hundreds of others. “We firmly believe that America’s global AI leadership must not come at the expense of our essential creative industries,” they said in the letter to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy last week. Why are Hollywood
Google has agreed to pay $28 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging that it favored white and Asian employees over other racial and ethnic groups by offering them higher salaries and placing them on faster career tracks. Reuters reports that the settlement was reached after lawyers agreed to exclude Black workers from the class. A lawyer for the plaintiff told POCIT that a Black employee pursuing a separate pay equity case against Google requested the exclusion so she could pursue those claims independently. The Case Against Google The lawsuit was
