Niantic Labs, the developer behind "Pokémon Go," has announced that it is planning to open its augmented reality platform to third-party developers. The company also shared it's vision for the future of its AR platform, which includes advancements in machine learning and computer vision. "Today, we are offering a preview of the technology we have been developing: the Niantic Real World Platform," Niantic CEO John Hanke said in a blog post. "This is the first time we've given an update of this nature publicly, and I'm confident it will provide a sense of how committed we are to the future of AR, and to furthering the type of experiences we have pioneered." The CEO also revealed that Niantic has acquired the computer vision and machine learning company Matrix Mill and established a new office in London.

Perfecto has announced that its Continuous Quality Lab now supports three web testing frameworks: Codecept, Gauge, and NightwatchJS. This added support expands the company's existing set of supported test frameworks, which include Protractor, webdriverIO, selenium, and Quantum. "Development teams are focused on choosing the best tools that integrate within their toolchains," said Yoram Mizrachi, CTO and co-founder at Perfecto. "BDD frameworks can help dev teams go faster and fully achieve continuous testing across multiple web browsers. Our technology is designed to easily integrate with a variety of tools. We are continually validating our solution supports the frameworks being used by our customers."

In 2015, there were more than 6.3 million car accidents reported that involved property damage1 with insurance fraud accounting for 10 percent of property/casualty claims processed2. While not every accident resulted in an insurance claim, those that did required extensive effort to be verified manually. To help automate the process and to fight against fraud which contributes to rising insurance rates, Metromile, the leader in pay-per-mile car insurance in the U.S., staged the world's slowest car crashes to generate data and used a machine learning technology to help spot fraud more quickly. "With machine learning technology, our team will be able to better prevent insurance fraud and assist customers with hard-to-prove but common claim types, like hit-and-run collisions, car theft, and rear-ends," said Paul Anzel, a Data Scientist at Metromile. Each test vehicle was equipped with a Pulse device, a small GPS-enabled device that plugs into the OBD-II port, to record sensory data, to generate the digital First Notice of Loss (FNOL) and capture accident details.

Thoughtonomy, the leading Intelligent Automation platform provider, today launched a new online portal for its enhanced partner program, as it continues its rapid international growth. The new partner portal provides Thoughtonomy's partners with immediate, 24/7 access to all of its training and enablement materials, including exclusive best practice and marketing resources. By signing up to Thoughtonomy's enhanced partner program and being able to offer clients Thoughtonomy's market-leading Intelligent Automation technology, partners can ensure they have a differentiated offering in one of the fastest-growing, dynamic areas of the technology sector. The program offers a range of benefits to partners, including lead referrals, co-selling assistance, demand generation support, certification training and dedicated account management. In February this year, Thoughtonomy announced that, as part of its strategic growth plan, it was setting out to increase its channel business from 45% of transactions to over 90% in the following 12 months.

The analysts forecast the global artificial intelligence-based cybersecurity market to grow at a CAGR of 29.19% during the period 2018-2022. Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based cybersecurity applies machine learning and pattern recognition techniques to tap unstructured data and uncover new patterns. It analyzes sensitive security-related structured and unstructured data to understand and learn about constantly evolving threats, building instincts, and expertise. The latest trend gaining momentum in the market is the growing demand and awareness about barley water. Barley water is rich in vitamins and antioxidants and aids in lowering cholesterol and controlling blood sugar levels.

According to SIIA, CODiE Award recipients produce the most innovative businesses technology products around the world. The award spotlights the unique innovation associated with Max, Apttus' applied AI for Apttus Omni, the company's Intelligent Middle Office Platform. Max utilizes an intelligent conversational user interface that proactively delivers insights and recommendations to help sales, legal, operations and financial professionals maximize revenue and other critical business outcomes. The resulting actions accelerate and optimize Apttus' CPQ, CLM, E-Commerce and Revenue Management solutions that comprise Apttus Omni. Max's success stems from an overwhelming customer need for speed and efficiency in executing revenue operations and managing commercial relationships.

Apttus, the global Middle Office leader, today announced its applied artificial intelligence offering, Max, has been named the best AI Solution of 2018 as part of the annual SIIA CODiE Awards. According to SIIA, CODiE Award recipients produce the most innovative businesses technology products around the world. The award spotlights the unique innovation associated with Max, Apttus' applied AI for Apttus Omni, the company's Intelligent Middle Office Platform. Max utilizes an intelligent conversational user interface that proactively delivers insights and recommendations to help sales, legal, operations and financial professionals maximize revenue and other critical business outcomes. The resulting actions accelerate and optimize Apttus' CPQ, CLM, E-Commerce and Revenue Management solutions that comprise Apttus Omni.

France-based adtech outfit Criteo has announced the launch of a €20m three-year project to further research in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) that will see it work with clients and partners alike to further the use of machine learning in the advertising vertical. Dubbed Criteo AI Lab, the project will see it attempt to build "deep models that are interpretable, transparent and user-centric" then use these insights to form "industry standards for performance measurement and best practice", with the subsequent learnings to be made available to the entire industry. Criteo claims the project will also explore models for the responsible use of data – an increasingly high priority for advertisers as demonstrated by the Cambridge Analytica affair, as well as the introduction of General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) in the EU – with the company asserting the scheme will also help bridge theory and practice. Additionally, the adtech company claimed it is preparing a significant recruitment drive to man the project which is geared towards establishing Paris as a regional hub for AI research. JB Rudelle, Criteo, chief executive officer, said the lab was indicative of the company's efforts to establish the French capital as an epicenter for European adtech, as well as lead the industry conversation around machine learning.

AI, computational linguistics, computational vision, machine learning, and natural language processing skills receive some of the most eye-popping equity premiums. The following is a guest post by Kyle Holm (Partner, Pre-IPO Compensation Practice Leader at Radford) and Kelsey Owen (Director, Pre-IPO Compensation Practice at Radford). The race to build computers that act, see, speak, and think like humans is as competitive as ever. While some worry that artificial intelligence (AI) will someday lead to robots rampaging their way to world domination, AI-related startups have not stopped attracting intense interest from talent and capital. Just weeks ago, China-based AI startup SenseTime Group received one of the largest venture capital investment in the AI space -- a $600M Series C investment led by Alibaba.

Everest Group, a leading consulting and research firm, has placed Genpact (NYSE: G), a global professional services firm focused on delivering digital transformation, in its Leader's quadrant in the 2018 PEAK MatrixTM for Property & Casualty (P&C) insurance service providers. Genpact achieved the greatest positive year-on-year movement on the PEAK Matrix, and also received a Star Performer designation. The report evaluates 18 P&C insurance industry service providers in terms of vision, capability, market impact, and other areas. Everest Group emphasizes Genpact's digital technology investments, including Genpact Cora, its artificial intelligence (AI)-based platform, and the company's recent strategic P&C sector acquisitions. In the past year, Genpact has acquired BrightClaim, National Vendor, and OnSource, which enhance Genpact's end-to-end claims management capabilities.