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If you’ve been following the stock market in recent days you may already be familiar with SoftBank, a multinational internet services and investment firm operating out of Japan. The business has received a ton of press since Monday morning after CEO Masayoshi Son announced a proposed $100 billion in investments over the next four calendar years. This plan, which was developed in collaboration with the incoming Trump administration , is projected to create 100,000 new jobs within the United States, particularly in artificial intelligence and similar internet-based infrastructure. Per the Wall Street Journal , SoftBank’s stock (SFTBY) received a massive bump in the day following the announcement, accounting for a 4.4 percent rise in the Japanese market and a 1.3 percent rise on the New York Stock Exchange . To better understand exactly what this means for our country, infrastructure and the stock market of today, we’ll have to take a moment to examine SoftBank’s business model and...
Melissa Pennington is leveraging the advancements of technology to improve her work in human resources (HR). Exposure To Human Resources The Queens, NY, native carries more than two decades in the sector, which she was first introduced to as a high school student. She took a Myers-Briggs personality test, which suggested she consider a career in HR. She was unfamiliar with what it entailed until further research. “I remember thinking, ‘What is that?’ The more I explored, the more I realized how perfectly it aligned with who I am,” she told AFROTECH™ in an email interview. “As I grew into my career, I started to understand the impact HR could have — not just as the department dealing with policies or consequences, but as a true catalyst for positive change.” Pennington’s focus in her work would settle on nonprofits and medium to small-sized businesses. This was inspired by her grandmother, who moved to the United States in pursuit of the American dream. She owned multiple beauty...
Will.i.am believes creatives will continue to stand the test of times in the midst of artificial intelligence (AI). One Step Ahead In Technology The rapper and singer-songwriter has been ahead of the curve of technology for quite some time. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, he was an early investor in Beats Electronics and even incorporated their technology in the Black Eyed Peas’ “Boom Boom Pow” music video 15 years ago. He reportedly made a fortune from the investment when Apple acquired Beats Electronics and Beats Music for an amount nearing $3 billion. Will.i.am’s interests in technology have only widened since then. He invested in machine learning startup Inflection AI, and through a private investment group he has invested in additional companies empowered by AI such as: Udio Anthropic OpenAi Runaway FYI (Focus Your Ideas) He is also leading change through his own company FYI (Focus Your Ideas). As AFROTECH™ previously reported it is an AI-driven collaboration platform created...
Oprah Winfrey is embracing artificial intelligence (AI). How She Is Using AI The long-time television host and founder of her own network believes “we are in for the ride of our lives.” There appears to be positive sentiments around her reactions as she has been leaning into the technology, even using ChatGPT to search for Airbnb listings, she mentions during an interview with “ABC News.” “It was miraculous to me that before you can practically finish the request, the answer has already come back to you,” Winfrey said. Shift Towards AI Influenced By Sam Altman Winfrey’s encounter with AI did not come until after she had spoken with Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, for her ABC special, “AI and the Future of Us,” which aired on Sept. 12, 2024. After learning further about its capabilities, the television mogul said there was no need to fear AI. “After he was telling me all about all the things it could do, I’m saying, ‘Okay. don’t be scared. Don’t be scared,'” she revealed in her...
Chpter, an AI-powered company based in Kenya, has secured significant funding. Chpter Launched in 2022 by Mesongo Sibuti (chief technology officer), Kuria Kevin (chief product officer), Mark Kiarie (chief operating officer) and Tesh Mbaabu (CEO), the conversational commerce company allows businesses to scale their revenue — on platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram, and TikTok — by up to five times through features that include automated abandoned cart recovery, post-purchase chat messages, and automated responses through chatbots, per its website. “We are thrilled to pioneer the social commerce revolution, starting in Africa, as more and more consumers turn to social channels such as WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok to communicate and purchase from the brands they love.” Mbaabu, co-founder of Chpter, said in a post shared on Medium. “Specifically, WhatsApp’s role in business communication cannot be overstated. With more than two billion active users, it offers an...
The Israeli government reportedly commissioned a campaign in 2023 that included social media accounts targeting Black U.S. lawmakers. The New York Times reported that, in October 2023, Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs paid $2 million to Stoic, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based political marketing firm, to push pro-Israel content on social media at a time when many Americans were concerned for Palestinian civilians during the war in Gaza. The outlet details that Stoic created fake accounts in support of Israel across X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram that focused on over a dozen majority Black and Democrat U.S. lawmakers, including Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York and U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia. ChatGPT was mainly used to create the fake accounts’ posts, which asked for the politicians to fund Israel’s military, per the outlet. In addition to fake social media accounts, Stoic reportedly created fake websites and articles. In May 2024, NBC News reported...
Colin Kaepernick is leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to help storytellers. Kaepernick has been pouring into new ventures following his departure from the NFL, which came after he started kneeling in 2016 during the national anthem in protest of police brutality and racial injustice, TIME reports. Kaepernick last played for the San Francisco 49ers on Jan. 1, 2017, and when he became a free agent he was not signed by a new team, per ABC-7. Since then he has focused his attention in areas that include venture capital. As AFROTECH™ mentioned, he joined KINLÒ, tennis star Naomi Osaka’ s skincare company, serving as an investor and board member. He also is a children’s author and released “I Color Myself Different,” in April 2022, which depicts his experience of embracing his Blackness as an individual adopted into a white family. Kaepernick’s latest endeavor focuses on supporting other storytellers, and he is utilizing AI to achieve this goal. TIME mentioned he raised $4 million...
Google is awarding Black and Latino startup founders who are disrupting the artificial intelligence (AI) space. The tech giant established the Google for Startups Founders Funds to ensure Black and Latino entrepreneurs receive financial assistance and necessary support to influence multiple sectors. According to information provided to AFROTECH™, each recipient will receive $150,000 in non-dilutive cash awards and $100,000 in Google Cloud credits. Recipients also receive mental health resources and mentorship from Google’s experts across AI and sales. This is Google’s fifth year in funding, and it has allocated more than $50 million t o 570 Black and Latino founders. Moreover, founders who received funding support have later secured more than $590 million in additional investments. Google has unveiled its latest round of recipients, whose work encompasses using AI in preventative wildfires, keeping fast fashion out of landfills, and education. The 2024 Google for Startups cohort...
Once again Morehouse College is bringing innovation to the classroom. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the Historically Black College and University (HBCU) made history in 2022 for being the first college to offer classes in the metaverse. Less than two years later, it is now poised to disrupt the education landscape for the better through the launch of reportedly the world’s first fully spacial artificial intelligence (AI) teaching assistants. Muhsinah Morris, a senior assistant professor in education and metaversity director at Morehouse College, developed the technology in spring 2021 with the assistance of faculty such as Ovell Hamilton, Ethell Vereen Jr., and Tanya Clark, she mentioned on LinkedIn. She also benefited from a partnership with VictoryXR and received backing from Southern Company, Qualcomm, Meta, Unity, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and T-Mobile. “I am so proud of Morehouse College Metaversity Faculty and MetaHouse Scholars who keep this work going full...
Women-led hair startup Parfait continues to champion Black women. As AFROTECH™ previously mentioned, Parfait is reportedly the first to integrate facial recognition and artificial intelligence (AI) to provide buyers with customizable wig products. It previously raised $5 million in April 2022, backed by a funding round led by Upfront Ventures and Serena Ventures. “It’s widely understood that facial recognition systems perform less well for women and people of color,” said Parfait Co-Founder Isoken Igbinedion, a former Target and Amazon executive . “Training models used in facial recognition technology are largely unbalanced, often relying on training datasets that are similar in makeup, and do not represent the visual composition of faces worldwide. This often results in poor performance for users who do not fit into that dataset, often represented by white faces and male features.” She continued, “Parfait seeks to be the first to make major progress in improving product and service...
Colorado is taking a stand to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace. On May 8, 2024, the Colorado General Assembly passed Senate Bill 24-205 (SB205), Forbes reports. In the bill’s summary, it wrote that it “requires a developer of a high-risk artificial intelligence system (high-risk system) to use reasonable care to avoid algorithmic discrimination in the high-risk system.” Moreover, the bill described high-risk artificial intelligence systems as any machine-based system that plays a role in consequential decisions being made in education enrollment and education opportunities, employment and employment opportunities, financial and lending services, essential government services, healthcare services, housing, insurance, or legal services. According to Forbes, the bill marks Colorado as the first U.S. state to establish a comprehensive law that not only addresses utilizing AI in employment but also in other critical sectors. On May 17, Governor of Colorado Jared...
If you spend most of your time online, you may have experienced the Dead Internet Theory; a speculative concept suggesting that bots and algorithms generate most internet content, marginalizing genuine human engagement and communication. According to this theory, algorithmic curation dominates the digital landscape, forcing organic human activity to the sidelines. But what’s behind this theory, and how does our growing reliance on artificial intelligence play into it? What Is The Dead Internet Theory? We now exist in an increasingly digital world where the idea of stumbling upon something new and organic fades away, and algorithms predict our every move before we even make it. That’s the essence of Dead Internet Theory. The fun of exploring the internet has already started disappearing as AI learns what we want online, limiting the organic material we can view. A few users on X, formally known as Twitter , are worried that this trend will continue and might lead to the downfall of...
A new platform has emerged to refine the relationship between artists and their fans. Co-founders Darin Stewart (CEO) and Marleisse Stephens (CMO) are the visionaries of Happy Monday, a remix platform driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and their respective creative agencies. The goal is to keep the power in the hands of artists by enabling them to profit from their songs while also granting users the freedom to create various versions of the songs.
