Q Analysts announced that it has been ranked one of the Largest Private Companies in Silicon Valley by the Silicon Valley Business Journal. This is the first time Q Analysts a leader in product quality assurance testing and Ground Truth data services for artificial intelligence and machine learning has made this elite listing. Led by CEO Ross Fernandes since he founded the 100% minority-owned company in 2003, Q Analysts provides a robust suite of quality-focused technology services to Fortune 500 companies worldwide. It serves as a strategic partner to its clients, including some of the world's largest and most recognizable technology companies. Q Analysts is widely known for its proven expertise in Quality Assurance & Testing, a comprehensive set of expert consulting, hands-on operational, and specialized technical development services to optimize life cycle quality from design to post-deployment for a wide range of consumer and commercial hardware, devices, software apps, and user experiences. The company is also a leading expert in Ground Truth Data Services for high-integrity data collection, ingestion, and automated and manual tagging for algorithm-ready use in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning products.

AI, or artificial intelligence, is influencing some fundamental aspects of our lives, from our democracy to employment prospects. It is transforming industries and changing societies. Behavior is being tracked, traced and analyzed -- whether people know it or not -- and some are frustrated by the ever-growing number of chatbots we have to engage with. Like many acronyms, AI is now an all-encompassing marketing phrase that is thrown around, much like 5G. AI is really software running on powerful computers that are programmed to interpret data and act on it intelligently.

Artificial intelligence is being pursued by many Silicon Valley companies, but advancements in the nascent technology are hitting a standstill due to lack of talent, according to a recent study. More than half of executives at companies working with artificial intelligence (AI) say the lack of qualified workers prevents them from implementing business operations, according to a recent study by Ernst & Young, which polled a few hundred senior AI professionals in the Bay Area. "This year, as businesses strategized how to integrate AI into their operations, they were hampered by a shortage of experts with requisite knowledge of the technology," Ernst & Young chief analytics officer Chris Mazzei said in a press release. "This serves to demonstrate that successful AI integration is not just about the technology, it's about the people." EY's study also found that 41 percent see gender diversity of existing AI talent influencing machine biases.

Alphabet's DeepMind is looking for its first Silicon Valley researcher Alphabet's DeepMind training computers to read lips DeepMind, the artificial intelligence lab that Google Inc. acquired two years ago, may be in the process of more than doubling its workforce roster. It isn't clear when or where London-based DeepMind will begin hiring people, what specific roles it is looking to fill, or if it is in response to doubling down on current projects or preparing for some kind of new task. DeepMind currently employs a team of about 400 computer scientists and neuroscientists, up from around 200 less than a year ago, according to Business Insider. The news of a hiring boost comes just days after it was reported that DeepMind is looking for its first Silicon Valley-based "applied research scientist" position in Mountain View at Google's headquarters where its other AI research division, Google Brain, operates. This would be the company's first researcher hire outside of London.

George Hotz has landed 3.1 million from Andreessen Horowitz and others to help fulfill… more George Hotz has been bragging for months about his plan to beat Tesla and Google with his self-driving car technology. Now his San Francisco startup, Comma.ai, has raised 3.1 million from Andreessen Horowitz (A16Z) and others who are betting he might be able to do it. George Hotz has landed 3.1 million from Andreessen Horowitz and others to help fulfill… more Chris Dixon, a partner at A16Z, disclosed in a blog on Sunday that his firm led the funding which had been rumored since early last month. Dixon said he was initially skeptical of Hotz' claims that he could mass produce technology that would convert existing cars into semi-autonomous vehicles. Click here to get the free daily TechFlash Silicon Valley newsletter.