Highly regarded voicetech company Soapbox Labs is to more than double staff numbers over the next two years as it names a new chief executive and positions itself for significant growth. The company intends to grow headcount to 80 employees over the next two years having taken on an additional 10 people in 2020 to bring employee numbers to 30. Soapbox founder and chief executive Dr Patricia Scanlon is to become the company's executive chair with chief operating officer Dr Martyn Farrows replacing her. The changes come as Soapbox is preparing to announce a number of major new client deals and partnerships in the coming months and release its first consumer solutions for apps, toys, games and robots. Established in 2013, SoapBox uses artificial intelligence and deep learning to develop cloud-based speech recognition solutions for young children aged between three and 12.

The UK's GCHQ has revealed how AI is set be used to boost national security. The UK's top intelligence and security body, GCHQ, is betting big on artificial intelligence: the organization has revealed how it wants to use AI to boost national security. In a new paper titled "Pioneering a New National Security," GCHQ's analysts went to lengths to explain why AI holds the key to better protection of the nation. The volumes of data that the organization deals with, argued GCHQ, places security agencies and law enforcement bodies under huge pressure; AI could ease that burden, improving not only the speed, but also the quality of experts' decision making. "AI, like so many technologies, offers great promise for society, prosperity and security. It's impact on GCHQ is equally profound," said Jeremy Fleming, the director of GCHQ.

In a recent New Yorker article about the Capitol siege, Ronan Farrow described how investigators used a bevy of online data and facial recognition technology to confirm the identity of Larry Rendall Brock Jr., an Air Force Academy graduate and combat veteran from Texas. Brock was photographed inside the Capitol carrying zip ties, presumably to be used to restrain someone. Brock was arrested Sunday and charged with two counts.) Even as they stormed the Capitol, many rioters stopped to pose for photos and give excited interviews on livestream. Each photo uploaded, message posted, and stream shared created a torrent of data for police, researchers, activists, and journalists to archive and analyze.

These days consumers and businesses no longer think of artificial intelligence (AI) as something from a sci-fi movie or book – that's because AI is now part of everyday life. Just think of Netflix's suggestion algorithm, Uber's location algorithm and even Tinder's matching algorithm – all business models powered by AI to help drive consumer decisions. And the same AI can be used in the sales process to help sales teams make decisions. At World Tour Sydney Reimagined we saw Salesforce Einstein Voice provide deal coaching to sales reps using predictive technology. And in the Sales keynote, Modern Star explained how their sales reps were using data insights to further understand their customer and close deals.

Protesters and activists from UltraViolet stormed the NBC headquarters in New York City demanding Comcast and NBC executives take action and responsibility for allegations made in Ronan Farrow's book'Catch and Kill.' NBC News Digital employees have formed a union, accusing management of mishandling "serious incidents of sexual misconduct" that have created an onslaught of negative attention for the Peacock Network. "We love working at NBC News Digital. But no organization is perfect, and there are serious issues that keep the company from being as great as it can be," the NBC News Digital employees said in a statement Wednesday announcing their partnering with the NewsGuild of New York. But the digital employees aren't solely fed up with management botching sexual misconduct scandals. "A company with such incredible resources can and should do more to close gender and race wage gaps, address chronic understaffing, meaningfully prioritize diversity, promote transparency, and offer job protections," the statement continued.

The other day while paging through a collection of George Orwell's writing, I was startled by his angry dismissal of fellow writers Stephen Spender and W.H. Auden as "fashionable pansies." I shrugged my shoulders and kept on reading. I had a similar reaction about a year ago when leafing through a collection of early Pauline Kael film criticism I happened upon a negative review of the screen version of Lillian Hellman's "The Children's Hour." Kael complains that "the lesbianism is all in the mind" before making this doozy of a parenthetical quip: "I always thought this was why lesbians needed sympathy -- that there isn't much they can do." These little homophobic nuggets didn't change my thinking about these great writers, who have too much intelligence and flair to be reduced to their worst statements.