Buzzfeed Inc (owners of Complex, HuffPost, Tasty, etc) told investors about its plans for AI-generated content. The company also outlined its plans for developing its Black, Asian, Latine identity-based brands to help corporate brands tap an “authentic voice.” BuzzFeed, founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John Seward Johnson III as an internet popularity contest, has been at the forefront of Internet culture for over a decade. This year, the platform launched its AI-powered content such as games and quizzes, with some success. But it plans to go further. During an investors event held
Shepherd is the “world’s first Bible app that recommends verses based on your needs.” The Bible is the most widely read book in the world, but increasingly, Christians are opting for app-versions over the physical book. As YouVersion’s Bible App reaches the colossal milestone of 100 million downloads—joining major brands like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter—one Black-owned Bible app is growing in popularity. “It’s more like having a daily chat with a good friend, a friend who always knows the best part of the Bible to share with you.” Samuel Abaka-Wood, Shepherd founder Introducing Shepherd Shepherd,
Tade Oyerinde is empowering students to complete their first two years of college without taking on any debt through his community college startup Campus. As per Forbes, Campus has secured $29 million in a Series A funding round led by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Discord founder Jason Citron to expand the college. Other investors in the round include Figma founder Dylan Field; former head of Stripe Lachy Groom; Bloomberg Beta; Founders Fund; Rethink Education; Reach Capital and Precursor Ventures. Students and professors are struggling In 2018, Oyerinde conceived the
Data journalist Mona Chalabi has won a Pulitzer Prize for her “striking illustrations that combine statistical reporting with keen analysis to help readers understand the immense wealth and economic power of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.” The 36-year-old’s award-winning illustrations were published in a New York Times piece entitled “9 Ways To Imagine Jeff Bezos’ Wealth” last year. POCIT sat down with Chalabi back in 2015 for a candid discussion about her work as a data journalist. “A data journalist is one who uses data as much as they possibly can
Dr Geoffrey Hinton, dubbed the ‘godfather of AI’, recently resigned from Google, echoing ethical concerns raised by AI experts like Timnit Gebru. After more than a decade at the tech giant, Hinton quit Google due to fears about the dangers of AI, but told the BBC that his age played a role: “I’m 75, so it’s time to retire.” In 2012, Hinton and two of his graduate students at the University of Toronto created a neural network that laid the foundation for AI technologies like ChatGPT and Google Bard. Neural
Intuit is hiring on POCIT. Matthew “Matt” Castilla is a senior software quality assurance (QA) engineer at Intuit Mailchimp. Although he has had an unconventional entrance into the world of tech, Matt has carved his unique path to success. In this interview, Matt tells us how he went from an accomplished musician to a thriving career in tech. Tell me about your career trajectory and your journey to Mailchimp. I grew up in a musical household—both of my parents were musicians. They were also professors at historically Black colleges and
For Black and Latino entrepreneurs, there’s only one direction to go — forward. This is the message driving Square‘s small business accelerator program for Black and Latino entrepreneurs, FORWARD. The accelerator, launched in partnership with Social Change Fund United (SCFU), 1863 Ventures, and American Express, aims to provide Black and Latino entrepreneurs with the education, mentorship, coaching, and capital needed for their businesses to thrive. Black and Latino Americans are the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs. In 2022, Black and Latino Americans filed more than 5 million new business applications, more than any other group.
This article was first published by Michael Lin on his Substack. I thought I was going to stay at Netflix forever. Top of market pay. Freedom and responsibility. Unlimited PTO. What more could you ask for? So when I quit Netflix in May 2021, everyone thought I was crazy. My parents objected first. Coming from cultural revolution China where they barely had enough food to eat, they thought I was throwing away all the hard work they went through to come to America. “Just keep your head down and do
25-year-old inventor, Roy Allela, is using his passion for modern technology to change lives – literally. The tech enthusiast and data science tutor at Oxford University has invented smart gloves called Sign-IO to make communicating with the deaf community effortless. Despite over 300 sign languages being spoken by 70 million people worldwide, only a tiny proportion of people worldwide understand them. This lack of understanding has created a barrier between the deaf community and the rest of the world. Allela was inspired to create the gloves after experiencing first-hand how
From podcast host to launching his own VC fund, Steven Bartlett is gearing up to invest in the development of the next generation. Steven Bartlett, star of Dragons’ Den and host of the most downloaded podcast in Europe, The Diary of a CEO, has set his sights on a new mission. The entrepreneur has announced the launch of the Flight Story Fund – a $100 million VC fund dedicated to advancing early-stage companies. Bartlett has spent the past two years working towards the launch of this fund. Over this time, he
