In this project we describe a method of modeling semantic leadership across a set of communities associated with the #BlackLivesMatter movement, which has been informed by qualitative research on the structure of social media and Black Twitter in particular. We describe our bespoke approaches to time-binning, community clustering, and connecting communities over time, as well as our adaptation of state-of-the-art approaches to semantic change detection and semantic leadership induction. We find substantial evidence of the leadership role of BLM activists and progressives, as well as Black celebrities. We also find evidence of the sustained engagement of the conservative community with this discourse, suggesting an alternative explanation for how we arrived at the present moment, in which "anti-woke" and "anti-CRT" bills are being enacted nation-wide.

Seattle-based venture capital firm Madrona Venture Group announced today it has raised a bumper $690 million for two oversubscribed funds that will be used to back promising technology startups in the Pacific Northwest region, Silicon Valley and beyond. The $430 million Madrona Fund 9 and the $260 million Acceleration Fund 3 saw 100% of existing institutional investors participate, Madrona said. Combined, they represent an almost 40% increase over the funds Madrona raised in 2020. The funds will be used to invest in technology firms ranging from pre-seed all the way through to Series C startups. Madrona is one of the more prominent of tech-focused venture capital firms, focusing on seed, early-stage and acceleration-stage startups that leverage technology and promise to disrupt huge existing markets.

Hosted for the global cloud computing community, Amazon Web Services' re:Invent 2021 brought together developers, engineers, IT executives and the technical decision-makers that are transforming how the world around us operates. The early stages of IT infrastructure were inflexible and expensive, but this year's conference brought to light the next shift in the digital journey that highlights the cloud's leading role as an enabler in the way that businesses function with machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI). In this on-the-show-floor video from the event, we looked at the three areas that are reshaping business processes and environments -- from the intelligent applications that embed AI/ML and take advantage of data, and the system of enablers that allow them to reach scale to the chips that power them. We spoke with Tom Trahan, vice president of business development at CircleCI, Matt McIlwain, managing director at Madrona Venture Group, and Luis Ceze, CEO at OctoML. TNS Publisher Alex Williams hosted these conversations.

This discussion has been edited and condensed for clarity. McIlwain: When I testified before Congress last December about the impact of automation and AI in the financial services industry, I cited a recent study that found that unlike human loan officers, automated mortgage lending systems fairly approved home loans, without discriminating based on race. However, the automated systems still charge Black and Hispanic borrowers significantly higher prices for those loans. This makes me skeptical that AI can or will do any better than humans. Did you draw the same conclusions?

Charlton McIlwain, a vice provost and a professor of media, culture and communication at NYU, said he believes the tech community isn't fully committed to diversifying its workforce. Diversity efforts have been under way for years, he said, speaking Thursday at an event in New York organized by the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. However, he added, "we're still at the same place, if not a little bit behind. Because there's not a commitment to the long [process], from beginning to end about what has to be done to produce that kind of diverse workforce that [extends] from the bottom all the way up to the top, which is necessary." In an interview after his speech, Mr. McIlwain said increasing diversity starts with companies recognizing that a diverse workforce, especially in engineering positions, helps them "see a broader range of problems that affect a broader range of people."

The mix of software and services and higher prices are key to Apple's effort to offset slowing iPhone unit sales. Though the company reported record annual revenue on Nov. 1 due to higher iPhone prices, it also said it would stop reporting the number of iPhones sold--a metric that has been stagnant lately--a decision that many analysts interpreted as signaling the iPhone's growth years are in the past. Apple's stock price has declined by nearly a quarter since then. While the push beyond its Silicon Valley home could aid those efforts, it also will test a highly centralized company that has thrived due to a concentrated workforce located near its Cupertino, Calif., headquarters, analysts said. "This idea of'Designed in Cupertino' has really been the ethos of Apple, and now you're going to have AI and services designed outside Cupertino," said Gene Munster, managing partner at investment and research firm Loup Ventures.

Apple is expected to announce plans next week to make its Siri voice assistant work with a larger variety of apps, as the technology company looks to counter the runaway success of Amazon's competing Alexa service. But the Cupertino company is likely to stick to its tested method of focusing on a small amount of features and trying to perfect them, rather than casting as wide a net as possible, according to engineers and artificial intelligence industry insiders. Currently, Apple's Siri works with only six types of app: ride-hailing and sharing; messaging and calling; photo search; payments; fitness; and auto infotainment systems. Apple Inc is expected to announce plans next week to make its Siri voice assistant work with a larger variety of apps, as the technology company looks to counter the runaway success of Amazon.com The product is believed to be aimed at bringing Apple AI into the home, and will have a higher price tag that the Amazon range, which begins at $49 (£49) for the Echo Dot.