AI & Robotics

AI transcription startup Otter.ai today announced it has raised $50 million in a series B round that includes $10 million in convertible notes and was led by Spectrum Equity. With the funds, the company plans to triple its headcount over the next year as it hires across its AI, deep learning, natural language processing, frontend and backend engineering, and leadership teams. There’s no shortage…

AI researchers say data sharing is a key part of economic growth in Africa but that it faces a number of common obstacles, including the threat of data colonialism. The African data market is expected to grow steadily in the coming years, and the African Data Centre trade organization predicts the African data market will need hundreds of new datacenters to meet demand in the coming decade. In a…

FundGuard, an AI-powered software-as-a-service investment management platform, today announced that it closed a $12 million funding round. The investment will spur product development to support existing partnerships, FundGuard says, in addition to helping to meet demand from alternative funds and insurers. AI is increasingly being used to manage assets toward the goal of maximizing returns on…

Leading up to Superbowl Sunday, Amazon flooded social media with coquettish ads teasing “Alexa’s new body.” Its gameday commercial depicts one woman’s fantasy of the AI voice assistant embodied by actor Michael B. Jordan, who seductively caters to her every whim — to the consternation of her increasingly irate husband. No doubt most viewers walked away giggling at the implausible idea of…