"Panos Panay" may not be an anagram for "passion," but at Microsoft, it was pretty darn close. Panos Panay, the chief product officer for Microsoft, unexpectedly stepped down on Tuesday, after serving nearly twenty years at the company. Panay rose to the ranks of chief product officer, overseeing the development of Windows and its complementary Surface PC line. Interestingly, Panay gave no specific reason for leaving, and at press time had only posted a single message announcing his departure on Twitter/X. Even more interestingly, Panay had originally said he would oversee the launch of Microsoft's next Surface devices at an event this week, on Sept. 21.

In Asia Pacific (APAC), artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are increasingly being deployed in credit and risk functions for improved credit assessment, credit scoring and fraud detection. Moving forward, AI will no longer be an option for banks and financial institutions but rather a necessity, enabling them to meet rising customer expectations, tap new business opportunities, and address the rapidly evolving fraud landscape, data specialists and top finance executives said in a recent webinar. During Fintech Fireside Asia's latest panel discussion, C-level executives representing Union Bank of the Philippines, credit bureau TransUnion, lending startup Funding Societies and data solutions provider Mobilewalla discussed the state of AI adoption across APAC's financial ecosystem, delving into how predictive modeling and ML are now being used in the lending process. For Anindya Datta, Founder, CEO, Chairman, Mobilewalla, AI offers an opportunity to deliver innovative business models that can leapfrog traditional solutions and reach the unbanked, a potential that's particularly relevant in Southeast Asia considering that more than 70% of the region's adult population remain either unbanked or underbanked today. "A major part of decision making in lending is around figuring out how likely a person is going to pay back and whether they will pay back in time. Why it's so interesting In emerging markets, especially in APAC, is because the credit footprint is small [and a lot of people don't] have credit scores," Anindya said.

The following is sponsored content. Achieving LFPSE (Learning from Patient Safety Events) compliance is more than just meeting targets – the real driver is transforming patient safety by enabling continuous improvement, says Mark Fewster, chief product officer with Radar Healthcare. The way that health care workers report on patient safety events is changing – and the deadline for making it happen is looming. By March 2023, healthcare organisations in England should have transitioned from the current NRLS (National Reporting and Learning System) and be LFPSE (Learning from Patient Safety Events) compliant. This is more than a change in initials – the new system aims to transform how patient safety events are recorded across the country.

AI is transforming both our personal and professional lives. Today, building a career in AI is more exciting and accessible than ever before! Join us for a live, interactive panel discussion on Accelerating Your AI Career. Whether you're just starting out or looking to advance your AI skills this event is made for you! In this session, you will meet industry and academic leaders, and hear their stories and insights on career professional development in AI and the future of AI.

HSBC last year started using AI to screen transactions, and the two biggest Nordic banks have said they're replacing compliance staff with algorithms. Lenders would benefit from a common European anti-money-laundering regulator, data sharing among banks, and a more open dialogue with bank supervisors, Citigroup analysts wrote in a note to clients in June. "Ethical concerns associated with AI are rightfully restraining banks' full embrace of machine learning," says Alexon Bell, chief product officer at Quantexa, a London-based data analytics company that counts HSBC among its customers. In December the US Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, jointly with the Federal Reserve and other US agencies, called on banks to try new approaches to meet anti-money-laundering requirements, including AI, and have offered leniency if the tools uncover deficiencies in existing systems. The wave of scandals -- at Denmark's Danske Bank, Deutsche Bank, and others -- is undermining confidence in the industry well beyond the individual institutions involved.

ALAMEDA, CA -- Sep. 7, 2021 -- Wind River, a global leader in delivering software for intelligent systems, today announced the appointment of seasoned Microsoft executive Avijit Sinha to Chief Product Officer. Sinha will drive the company's product strategy, product management and commercial partnerships with a focus on further expanding the company's industry-leading Wind River Studio offering. Studio, a cloud-native platform for the development, deployment, operations, and servicing of mission-critical intelligent systems, was introduced earlier this year. "Delivering and innovating the industry's best intelligent systems software platform requires the industry's best talent, expertise, and leadership -- Avijit is the embodiment of that standard," said Kevin Dallas, Wind River president and CEO. "His proven experience and track record at Microsoft will be invaluable as we continue to build out our vision for Studio to reflect the evolving needs of our customers, preparing them for the new digital and AI-first world."

SAN DIEGO, August 03, 2021--(BUSINESS WIRE)--LumenVox, a leading provider of speech and voice technology, today announced its next-generation Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) engine with transcription. The new engine, built on a foundation of artificial intelligence (AI) and deep machine learning (ML), outpaces its competition in delivering the most accurate speech-enabled customer experiences. The new LumenVox ASR engine stands apart from the rest with its end-to-end Deep Neural Network (DNN) architecture and its state-of-the-art speech recognition processing capabilities. The new ASR engine not only accelerates the ability to add new languages and dialects but also provides a modern toolset to expand the language model to serve a more diverse base of users. "New demands have redefined the very meaning of Automated Speech Recognition," said Dan Miller, lead analyst at Opus Research.

What is the future of chatbots? As the Chief Product Officer of an AI bot-building platform, I get this question a lot, and there are many ways to answer it. As a company, I think we can only answer this question if we know where we are planning to go. Which goal are we aiming for? Chatlayer's mission is to make it possible for everyone to have a personal conversation at any time.

Management forecast predicts the market will achieve an 8.3% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) growth rate from 2019 through 2024, reaching $211.4 billion. Bottom Line: In 2021, cybersecurity vendors will accelerate AI and machine learning app development to combine human and machine insights so they can out-innovate attackers intent on escalating an AI-based arms race. Attackers and cybercriminals capitalized on the chaotic year by attempting to breach a record number of enterprise systems in e-commerce, financial services, healthcare and many other industries. AI and machine learning-based cybersecurity apps and platforms combined with human expertise and insights make it more challenging for attackers to succeed in their efforts. Accustomed to endpoint security systems that rely on passwords alone, admin accounts that don't have fundamental security in place, including Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and more and attackers created a digital pandemic this year. Interested in what the leading cybersecurity experts are thinking will happen in 2021, I contacted twenty of them who are actively researching how AI can improve cybersecurity next year. Leading experts in the field include including Nicko van Someren, Ph.D. and Chief Technology Officer at Absolute Software, BJ Jenkins, President and CEO of Barracuda Networks, Ali Siddiqui, Chief Product Officer and Ram Chakravarti, Chief Technology Officer, both from BMC, Dr. Torsten George, Cybersecurity Evangelist at Centrify, Tej Redkar, Chief Product Officer at LogicMonitor, Bill Harrod, Vice President of Public Sector at Ivanti, Dr. Mike Lloyd, CTO at RedSeal and many others.

Digital generated image of data. AIOps is about leveraging AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) to automate various parts of an organization's IT operations. "This provides modern ITOps teams a real-time understanding of any type of issues," said Venugopala Chalamala, who is the founder and CEO of Atlas. "Traditional IT management solutions can't keep up with the volume as well as provide real-time insight and predictive analysis." The need for AIOps has accelerated because of the growing complexities of IT systems, the explosive growth of data and the sudden increase in remote working arrangements.