News

Artificial intelligence, automation and robotics

November 06, 2017 06 Nov'17
DXC to launch digital transformation centres in Australia

Located in Melbourne and Canberra, the two centres will help Australian organisations build digital capabilities when ready in 2018
November 03, 2017 03 Nov'17
How soon will we be driving fully autonomous cars?

Nvidia sets out vision for driverless cars as its new Pegasus processor promises to support “level 5” autonomy
November 03, 2017 03 Nov'17
Singapore taps AI in industry transformation

City-state will develop a national corpus of audio and text files that will enable applications such as chatbots to understand local accents, among a raft of measures to boost artificial intelligence adoption
November 02, 2017 02 Nov'17
Global finance regulation body recommends monitoring AI’s use

Finance firms must keep a close eye on artificial intelligence, according to the Financial Stability Board (FSB), an international body that supports financial services regulators

October 31, 2017 31 Oct'17
Shell makes $200m saving with virtual learning environment

Royal Dutch Shell has saved hundreds of millions by replacing field trips with interactive training that allows employees to interact with geological formations from their computer screen
October 31, 2017 31 Oct'17
Cyber security professionals urged to embrace AI and automation

IBM security intelligence head says professionals should embrace artificial intelligence and automation to ensure they do not become obsolete
October 31, 2017 31 Oct'17
SAP opens Leonardo Centre in India

New facility in Bangalore will showcase the software giant’s Leonardo portfolio of machine learning, analytics and blockchain capabilities to organisations in the Asia-Pacific region
October 30, 2017 30 Oct'17
Russian organisations harness artificial intelligence

Russian organisations in multiple sectors are applying artificial intelligence to a wide range of tasks
October 30, 2017 30 Oct'17
UK must speed up and skill up to co-drive fourth industrial revolution

UK manufacturing is falling behind the pack leaders in the revolution to apply digital technologies to industry, says a government-sponsored report led by Siemens’ UK CEO
October 27, 2017 27 Oct'17
Nordea lays off 6,000, citing digital transformation as the driver

Nordea is cutting staff as a result of its ongoing digital transformation, which means it needs less people

October 27, 2017 27 Oct'17
Diversify security controls to maximise protection, says McAfee

Organisations should ensure that in layering various security controls, the degree of alignment is not too great, warns McAfee CTO
October 26, 2017 26 Oct'17
Over 80% of UK retail banks value AI as part of digital transformation

The vast majority of retail bank professionals in the UK realise the importance of AI as a tool in their digital transformation efforts
October 26, 2017 26 Oct'17
Transformation agenda in HR tech ‘is gathering pace’

Digital technology is changing the way companies manage their workforce at an accelerating rate
October 25, 2017 25 Oct'17
Spark Summit 17: Databricks launches Delta as purified data lake

At Spark Summit Europe 2017 in Dublin, organising supplier and Spark inventor and distributor Databricks announced the Delta system, which will combine data lakes and data warehouses
October 24, 2017 24 Oct'17
UK workers not worried about artificial intelligence’s impact on their careers

Professionals accept that software robots will take over some of the work tasks they do, but they increasingly see this as a good thing
October 24, 2017 24 Oct'17
McAfee aims to out-innovate adversaries

Security firm intends to break the cycle of playing cat and mouse with cyber attackers, according to its technology head
October 24, 2017 24 Oct'17
Almost 70% of customers willing to use fingerprint biometrics to shop

Consumers are becoming more comfortable using biometrics to pay when shopping, with fingerprint payments proving the most popular biometric identification method
October 24, 2017 24 Oct'17
Inside Australia’s supercomputing journey

The country’s Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organisation has upgraded its high performance computing infrastructure to keep pace with global research
October 23, 2017 23 Oct'17
Microsoft to offer Cray supercomputing on Azure

Both Microsoft and Amazon are building up their HPC capabilities. The partnership with Cray could help to bolster Azure’s footprint
October 23, 2017 23 Oct'17
Royal London Hospital uses virtual reality to operate on patient

Remotely located surgeons use Microsoft Hololens headsets to “virtually appear” in operating theatre to help with cancer surgery
October 20, 2017 20 Oct'17
Transport Research Lab to run £13m autonomous vehicle trials in London

A consortium led by the Transport Research Lab has been awarded government funding to run connected and autonomous vehicle tests in the capital
October 20, 2017 20 Oct'17
Two-thirds of businesses do not have skills to adopt AI

Despite the growth of artificial intelligence (AI), only a third of businesses say they have the necessary skills to adopt the technology
October 19, 2017 19 Oct'17
Safeguards permit GCHQ to share huge databases on public, court hears

Intelligence commissioners did not need technical expertise or support staff to check whether GCHQ and MI5 were lawfully sharing huge databases, court told
October 19, 2017 19 Oct'17
SAP Q3 2017 results show steady growth in cloud revenue to €937m

SAP’s third quarter 2017 results show steady growth in cloud revenue, S/4 Hana adoption, and some uptake for its “digital transformation” spearhead SAP Leonardo
October 19, 2017 19 Oct'17
Ulster bank first to use full-scale Salesforce Einstein CRM

Ulster Bank has completed its roll-out of Salesforce Einstein CRM to arm its staff with insights and recommend actions
October 18, 2017 18 Oct'17
McAfee forges ahead with analytics, deep learning and AI

McAfee is forging ahead with its innovation efforts in advanced analytics, deep learning and artificial intelligence
October 17, 2017 17 Oct'17
Government gives ODI £6m to improve data knowledge

The Open Data Institute has been awarded £6m in funding from InnovateUK for a series of projects aiming to improve the UK’s data expertise
October 17, 2017 17 Oct'17
AI adoption still nascent, says SAS survey

At its 2017 conference in Amsterdam, analytics software supplier discloses research into enterprise readiness for artificial intelligence, and identifies blockages
October 16, 2017 16 Oct'17
Singapore will soon house the world’s biggest AI hub

Private investment firm Marvelstone Group plans to build an artificial intelligence hub in Singapore, which is just beginning to lay the foundation for an AI ecosystem
October 16, 2017 16 Oct'17
Puppet on why people, process and technology are mission critical to DevOps success

At the PuppetConf user and partner summit in San Francisco, Puppet and its customers shared insights on how best to address the people, process and technology sides of the DevOps success equation
October 16, 2017 16 Oct'17
Employees will book time off using Alexa-style devices

Voice recognition and artificial intelligence will take the drudgery out of HR, but CIOs need to help their HR team develop a long-term strategy
October 14, 2017 14 Oct'17
Artificial intelligence industry should get strategic government boost

The UK’s artificial intelligence sector will squander a historic lead unless government, industry and academia come together to give it cohesive support, says a government-sponsored report
October 13, 2017 13 Oct'17
WEF gets to grips with risks posed by transformative technologies

World Economic Forum is bringing technology, insurance and government sectors together to better understand the risks posed by technology failures
October 12, 2017 12 Oct'17
AI set to be cloud computing’s killer app

Major cloud suppliers are already offering artificial intelligence capabilities that are expected to account for a greater share of the cloud computing market in years to come
October 11, 2017 11 Oct'17
Nvidia unveils ‘world’s first’ AI computer chip for fully autonomous vehicles

Chip maker Nvidia announces an artificial intelligence system designed to support the greater computing workloads of future driverless cars
October 11, 2017 11 Oct'17
House of Lords committee hosts clash between AI enthusiasts and sceptics

In the first session of its enquiry into artificial intelligence and the UK economy, a House of Lords select committee takes contrasting testimony from academic enthusiasts and press sceptics
October 11, 2017 11 Oct'17
CIO interview: Lee Edwards, IT director, NHS Shared Business Services

Technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotic process automation is key to NHS Shared Business Services' digital transformation, according to IT director Lee Edwards
October 11, 2017 11 Oct'17
Automation ‘will put 28% of young workers’ jobs at risk’

Research suggests the next 15 years will see young workers’ jobs at risk from automation, putting pressure on the UK to ensure the future generation has appropriate skills
October 09, 2017 09 Oct'17
TSB reschedules final roll-out of new banking platform because of expected interest rate rise

Bank decides to delay the full customer roll-out of its new banking platform until early next year
October 09, 2017 09 Oct'17
UAE’s Mashreq launches digital-only bank

The UAE’s oldest bank has launched a digital-only offering, designed to appeal to the tech-savvy generation
October 05, 2017 05 Oct'17
Security experts air concerns over hackers using AI and machine learning for phishing attacks

Security experts share views on risk of artificial intelligence being re-purposed by hackers for phishing attacks
October 05, 2017 05 Oct'17
Executive interview: Karno Tenovuo, senior vice-president, ship intelligence, Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce is developing autonomous ships, and the company’s senior vice-president of ship intelligence discusses how shipping will change
October 05, 2017 05 Oct'17
UK at risk of AI skills crisis

The UK is at risk of being left behind when it comes to artificial intelligence advances, with the current shortage of AI skills likely to get a lot worse
October 04, 2017 04 Oct'17
Artificial brains are no-brainers for business, but societal challenges inevitable

The benefits of artificial intelligence to businesses are already being reaped by early adopters.
October 04, 2017 04 Oct'17
Global IT spending to hit $3.7tn next year, says Gartner

IT spending is taking on a different shape as organisations embark on, and accelerate, digital transformation projects
October 04, 2017 04 Oct'17
Manufacturers face skills and internal collaboration hurdles to digital transformation

Skills shortage is biggest challenge to digital strategies of 40% of senior IT decision-makers in North America and Western Europe, survey shows
October 04, 2017 04 Oct'17
Russia’s state-owned bank backs blockchain

Vneshekonombank puts its weight behind blockchain technology as the country’s public sector looks on
October 03, 2017 03 Oct'17
TSB moves to Microsoft cloud applications

TSB bank is moving more of its productivity business software to the cloud, with Microsoft 365 products next in line
October 03, 2017 03 Oct'17
GITEX 2017: Technology innovation empowers Middle East healthcare sector

Technology is empowering doctors and patients, accelerating innovation and pushing the healthcare industry to the point of massive change, according to digital health expert John Nosta, who is set to speak at GITEX 2017 in Dubai
October 02, 2017 02 Oct'17
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on why empathy is essential for technology innovation

Speaking at the London launch of his Hit Refresh book, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella revealed how a shortfall in empathy nearly cost him a job at the firm in the 1990s
October 02, 2017 02 Oct'17
OpenWorld 2017: Ellison declares autonomous database 'revolutionary'

Oracle’s Larry Ellison claims revolutionary cast for autonomous 18c database at the supplier’s 2017 OpenWorld conference in San Francisco
September 27, 2017 27 Sep'17
RHB Bank rolls out chatbot for loan applications

The Malaysian lender hopes to improve the loan application experience and grow its personal loan business by 60% through a new chatbot
September 26, 2017 26 Sep'17
Australians need to develop digital competencies

With nearly 40% of jobs expected to be automated, Australians need to develop additional skills to take on roles like robot teachers and empathy trainers
September 25, 2017 25 Sep'17
Middle East banker urges region's banks to prepare for robotic automation

Middle East banker will use Gitex stage to encourage banks to automate processes
September 25, 2017 25 Sep'17
Two-thirds of UK businesses have adopted fintech

Most UK businesses are using financial technology products and services in some way, with cost savings being the main attraction
September 22, 2017 22 Sep'17
Why AI success depends on IT picking the low-hanging fruit

General-purpose artificial intelligence is probably a long way off, but the rapid rate of innovation means off-the-shelf AI can kick-start many projects
September 20, 2017 20 Sep'17
BMW opens its second tech startup programme in the UK

BMW has launched its latest programme to support tech startups in the UK
September 20, 2017 20 Sep'17
Finnish government eyes €1bn savings through digitisation

Finland’s public sector aims to save €1bn by 2029 as a result of digitising public services
September 20, 2017 20 Sep'17
Salesforce world tour lands in Amsterdam

Salesforce customers met up for the Dutch leg of the supplier's world tour with a distinctly non-techy crowd present
September 18, 2017 18 Sep'17
Interview: Technology startups gaining momentum in the UAE

The Middle East and the UAE in particular is setting up as a centre for startups
September 17, 2017 17 Sep'17
AI poses no threat to IT careers

A SolarWinds survey reveals that IT professionals are more concerned with cyber security than losing their jobs to artificial intelligence
September 15, 2017 15 Sep'17
Banks across Europe cut thousands of staff and branches as IT replaces them

Banks across Europe cut jobs and close thousands of branches as IT shakes the industry
September 15, 2017 15 Sep'17
Oracle 2017-18 Q1 results: Cloud revenue jumps by 51%

Oracle’s first quarter 2017-18 results show jump in cloud revenue of 51%, boosted by NetSuite acquisition. Executives continue to be bullish on cloud growth, and the AI makeover of core database is flagged
September 14, 2017 14 Sep'17
£30m National Innovation Centre for Data launched

The government and Newcastle University have teamed up to launch a £30m National Innovation Centre for Data, as part of the Northern Powerhouse
September 14, 2017 14 Sep'17
Trust could be last hurdle for insurtech dominance

Insurance startups that use the latest IT are gaining customers but still face challenges around trust, security and consumer awareness
September 14, 2017 14 Sep'17
Technology vital to healthcare in Asia-Pacific

The opportunities for technology to improve healthcare services were explored at HIMSS AsiaPac17 in Singapore, but experts warned that challenges must be addressed before innovation can truly transform the sector
September 13, 2017 13 Sep'17
Philip Hammond: AI will stoke productivity in government

Philip Hammond, chancellor of the exchequer, told a House of Lords select committee that artificial intelligence could stoke government productivity in areas of “low-level decision making”
September 08, 2017 08 Sep'17
Interview: IT disruption hits outsourcing’s legal profession

IT is disrupting almost every corner of the business world, and those who operate in the IT services are no exception, with lawyers in the sector feeling the disruption
September 08, 2017 08 Sep'17
Half of UK fintech firms confident in growth but have doubts over skills

UK fintech companies are confident that revenues will double over the next year, but have concerns over talent and customer take up of services
September 07, 2017 07 Sep'17
Thousands of Deutsche Bank employees will be replaced by robots

The CEO of Deutsche Bank said a "big number of staff will eventually be replaced by robots” as it looks towards artificial intelligence technology
September 04, 2017 04 Sep'17
Technology is needed to boost UK productivity, but not at the cost of employees

The Trade Union Congress calls for a debate about the future of employment as more roles become automated or replaced by artificial intelligence
September 01, 2017 01 Sep'17
US Open tennis uses IBM AI to create video highlights

Fans of the US Open are able to access match highlights provided by IBM's Watson artificial intelligence system
September 01, 2017 01 Sep'17
European investors back cloud, IoT and big data for insurance sector

Investors are putting their money behind suppliers of technology to the European insurance sector
August 31, 2017 31 Aug'17
Use of healthcare data must improve, says report

Life sciences sector report calls on government to create several digital innovation hubs, improve data use and establish a regulatory health technology assessment and commercial framework
August 30, 2017 30 Aug'17
Ocado launches voice-driven shopping app for Amazon Alexa

Online supermarket’s Amazon Echo application aims to give consumers a simple, seamless retail experience
August 29, 2017 29 Aug'17
UK local councils failing on key GDPR requirement

Most UK local authorities are unable to meet the EU General Data Protection Regulation’s right-to-be-forgotten requirement, and nearly a quarter of firms have yet to hire a data protection officer
August 29, 2017 29 Aug'17
Danske Bank taps into the cognitive capabilities of IBM Watson

Danish bank is using IBM Watson as part of a major IT outsourcing deal
August 25, 2017 25 Aug'17
Autonomous lorry platoons to take to UK roads in 2018

The government is to fund tests of wireless platooning technology on the UK’s roads as truly autonomous vehicles take another step towards reality
August 23, 2017 23 Aug'17
Sub-prime lender links technology upgrade to financial problems

Lender partly blames new automation software for its poor performance
August 22, 2017 22 Aug'17
SAP Ariba gaining ground in APAC

Companies like Woolworths and DuluxGroup in Australia are using the cloud-based service to reduce procurement costs and risks
August 22, 2017 22 Aug'17
Industrial robots a security risk, warns IOActive

Some of the most popular industrial and domestic robot brands have various vulnerabilities that could by exploited by cyber attackers, a research paper warns
August 22, 2017 22 Aug'17
Why embracing new technology is key to successful IT service desks

IT was slow to support bring your own device (BYOD). Now chatbots and digitisation are rewriting IT service management best practices
August 21, 2017 21 Aug'17
AI leaders call for a stop on development of autonomous weapons

Business leaders and artificial intelligence experts sign an open letter to governments warning of the risks of an AI arms race in autonomous weapons
August 18, 2017 18 Aug'17
Box uses Google’s AI to support image recognition in the enterprise

Optical character recognition and automated generation of image metadata is now possible, thanks to Google Cloud AI
August 18, 2017 18 Aug'17
Munich Re puts data analytics into services for a ‘riskier world’

Re-insurer combines a Hadoop data lake, SAS analytics and SAP Hana to create new cyber and other insurance services
August 17, 2017 17 Aug'17
Top skills you need to avoid being replaced by a machine

A-level results have shown an increase in Stem subjects but tech skills remain a problem, warn some in the industry
August 16, 2017 16 Aug'17
Fiat joins BMW's autonomous car platform initiative

Car makers Fiat and BMW are working in collaboration with Intel and Mobileye to develop a scalable platform for self-driving vehicles
August 15, 2017 15 Aug'17
AI tipped as top tech trend of next decade

In 2010, social, cloud, analytics and mobile were tipped as megatrends – now Gartner sees artificial intelligence as the emerging tech trend with the biggest potential
August 14, 2017 14 Aug'17
Most consumers think they are more digitally savvy than some retailers

Consumers are becoming increasingly digital in the way they shop, and a survey shows nearly 60% think they are more digitally innovative than some retailers
August 11, 2017 11 Aug'17
BBVA tops Forrester mobile bank app chart

Spanish bank BBVA has the best mobile banking app in the world, according to Forrester Research
August 11, 2017 11 Aug'17
Manchester to trial smart traffic lights to reduce road congestion

Manchester will trial an AI traffic light system, which provides quick data analysis, to improve traffic flow
August 11, 2017 11 Aug'17
HSBC uses IBM to automate the processing of 100 million document pages

In another instance of banks adopting automation to lower costs and drive productivity, HSBC uses IBM analytics technology to cut down on its paper trail
August 09, 2017 09 Aug'17
Dubai Health Authority rolls out second smart pharmacy

Robot will dispense medicine to patients as part of Dubai healthcare IT initiative
August 09, 2017 09 Aug'17
Nordic countries top digital nations ranking, but risk stalling

Nordic countries are leaders when it comes to digitisation – but they must continue to innovate to retain their position
August 07, 2017 07 Aug'17
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim gets 'faster in the head' with SAP analytics

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim has been using SAP’s Hana database and applications to speed up players mentally, as well as using SAP Hybris to sell shirts
August 03, 2017 03 Aug'17
Voice control in BBC iPlayer pilot demos Microsoft's AI ambitions

An internal BBC pilot in collaboration with Microsoft shows how voice control could be used on the iPlayer TV streaming app
August 02, 2017 02 Aug'17
UK cities outside London show signs of technology innovation

In their fifth UK Tech Innovation Index, the Open Data Institute and the Digital Catapult organisation reveal signs of tech innovation outside the UK capital – but London leads by a long way
August 01, 2017 01 Aug'17
Why Facebook’s AI termination raises safety concerns

Revelations that researchers at Facebook had to switch off two bots that went rogue have raised questions about the safety of artificial intelligence
July 28, 2017 28 Jul'17
Intel reports record second quarter

Intel chief claims to have raised the bar on performance and predicts record year for the chip maker after record second-quarter revenue
July 25, 2017 25 Jul'17
Australian businesses bullish on AI

Demand for artificial intelligence technology is growing in Australia amid looming fears over job losses