Weekly Roundup: Friday, 30 June, 2017
Here are some links I thought were worth sharing this week:
DATA SCIENCE
Microsoft launches a new AI startup program at Station F in Paris
"Microsoft is rethinking its strategy when it comes to startup acceleration in Paris. The company is going to focus on artificial intelligence.". Located at Station F a Paris "startup campus" in association with INRIA (French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation). Microsoft are supporting the startups but do not "plan to invest or acquire startups through this program".
Meet the first 8 startups backed by AI studio All Turtles
This was an announcement from last month but the Microsoft/AI/Paris story reminded me of it. "Libin and cofounders Jessica Collier and Jon Cifuentes call All Turtles an AI startup studio because they say they plan to take a Hollywood studio production approach to creating products that infuse AI". The venture "plans to work with startups and makers of bots and conversational AI, as well as devices and hardware that harness AI".
How Facebook Used Science And Empathy To Reach Two Billion Users
Interesting article on how Facebook have grown to two billion users “We were one of the first teams to really have a data-driven, product-driven approach to growth, which was historically more of a business function”.
DATA PRIVACY
Google Will Stop Reading Your Emails for Gmail Ads
"Ads will continue to appear inside the free version of Gmail, as promoted messages. But instead of scanning a user’s email, the ads will now be targeted with other personal information Google already pulls from sources such as search and YouTube. Ads based on scanned email messages drew lawsuits and some of the most strident criticism the company faced in its early years, but offered marketers a much more targeted way to reach consumers."
COMPANIES
€2.4 billion for Google Shopping? Of course!
This piece by Thomas Höppner in reply to Jeff Jarvis opinion piece are worth reading for different views on this week's record €2.4 billion ($2.7 billion) antitrust penalty imposed on Google by the EU. Summary, it's complex and there are vested interests.
Thomas Höppner (Professor, Technical University Wildau, and partner with law firm Hausfeld, which represents several complainants in the Google investigation including Visual Meta, a subsidiary of Axel Springer (co-owner of POLITICO))
Jeff Jarvis (Professor at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism and author of “Public Parts,” “What Would Google Do?”)
Canada judges can require Google to pull results globally, supreme court rules
"Canadian courts can force Google to remove results worldwide, the country’s top court has ruled, in decision criticised by civil liberties groups that argue such a move sets a precedent for censorship on the internet.". This case raises the questions that there are no easy answers to, where are internet companies regulated? should they be regulated? which courts have jurisdiction? how are rulings to be enforced?