UK looks to nature to train AI at 0.1% of the cost

Mar13
by on March 13, 2024 at 4:08 pm
Posted In: artificial intelligence, UK


Computing power to develop artificial intelligence does not come cheap. While you can build a simple AI chatbot for next to nothing, training a fine-tuned model on large data sets can cost millions of dollars. In order to lower the costs associated with training AI the UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency, or ARIA, has launched a programme called Scaling Compute. The initiative is committing £42mn to find new, more economic alternatives to the energy-intensive hardware currently utilised to support the explosion in demand for compute driven by the arrival of generative AI. And it is encouraging funding applicants to…

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Brain stimulation tech wins €5M to fight depression at home

Mar12
by on March 12, 2024 at 4:45 pm
Posted In: Uncategorized


Depression affects approximately 280 million people all over the world, and disproportionately affects the female population — it is 50% more common in women than men. Treatments range from psychotherapy and lifestyle adjustments to antidepressants and more experimental concepts: brain stimulation therapies. Sooma, a medtech startup based in Helsinki, Finland, is focused on the latter. The company has developed a portable brain stimulation device for Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS). Its neuromodulation device is already the most prescribed tDCS therapy worldwide, with over 20,000 people having received treatment. Sooma announced today it has secured additional growth funding of €5mn to…

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Ada Ventures secures £63mn for ‘Inclusive Alpha’ fund

Mar12
by on March 12, 2024 at 5:00 am
Posted In: Uncategorized


It is no secret that VC investing has a diversity and inclusion problem. Fortunately, there are funders out there who are committed to ushering in positive changes. This includes Ada Ventures, a UK-based VC firm with a portfolio that is 14x more diverse in terms of gender and ethnicity than the country’s average venture fund. Today, it just announced the close of its oversubscribed £63mn second fund. Ada Ventures is also top of the chart amongst other impact-driven funds, with 1.4x higher diversity than the average. As many as 74% of portfolio founders are from an underrepresented background, 48% of…

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UK fusion startup breaks pressure record using giant ‘gun’ machine

Mar08
by on March 8, 2024 at 2:58 pm
Posted In: Uncategorized


A British startup has set a new pressure record using the world’s strongest pulsed power machine, as it looks to forge a cheaper, faster path to fusion energy.  First Light Fusion launched a projectile at over 20 kilometres per second (72,000 kph) into a piece of quartz crystal producing pressure upwards of 1.85 terapascals — almost four times the pressure found at Earth’s core.   The startup achieved the feat using the Z Machine, a nuclear-era device located in Albuquerque, US. With a peak power of 80 trillion watts — more than the world’s entire electricity grid — it electromagnetically…

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Sharing the AI journey: Amplifying female founder voices

Mar08
by on March 8, 2024 at 2:16 pm
Posted In: spotify


In October last year, researchers at the Alan Turing Institute sounded the alarm that there was an “urgent issue” of gender imbalance in artificial intelligence investment. No one, unfortunately, was surprised. However, it is always good to have the data. The report found that female-founded companies accounted for only 3% of AI startup VC funding over the past decade. While the study focused solely on the UK, similar findings have been reported in other countries. With the boom in generative AI, the importance of diverse founder perspectives to counteract bias in a technology set to become ever more omnipresent throughout…

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