November, of course, is AMEC’s Measurement Month, so there was plenty of activity. Congratulations to all of the AMEC Award winners. But, there was some other measurement news that you might have missed. AI was the lead story with an acquisition for Meltwater and the release of UNESCO’s guidance on AI. PressPage raised funds, and fraudulent press release has hit another US supermarket.
Meltwater acquires DeepReason.ai
Meltwater has acquired DeepReason.ai, an AI technology company that had been spun out of the UK’s Oxford University. It’s Meltater’s second acquisition of an Oxford based AI start-up, after its purchase of Wrapidity back in 2017. The acquisition has been valued at $USD 7.3m, paid in a combination of cash and Meltwater equity. According to Meltwater’s CEO John Box, “the acquisition of DeepReason.ai, and the integration of their reasoning engine, will allow our customers to make use of our product in new and innovative ways, gaining quick access to new types of insights that are not readily discoverable today”.
PressPage raises €2 million
Amsterdam-based PressPage has raised €2 million in funding. The communications workflow provider has seen a growth of 150 per cent in bookings over the past nine months, and has expanded its service into the UK and German markets. The company is also seeing a rapid growth in employees. The current round comes via an additional investment from the company’s existing investor, Capital Mills, as well as management participation.
Cision investigates fraudulent press release
US supermarket Kroger has reported that a press release issued via its PR Newswire account was “fraudulent” and “unfounded”. The release stated that the grocer was going to soon accept Bitcoin Cash as a form of payment. The press release has been removed from PR Newswire and the grocer’s investor relations page, which is linked to the wire service. Cision/PR Newswire has said that it has “multiple security measures in place to authenticate information” and are investigating. It follows a similar hoax that impacted Walmart and Globe Newswire back in September.
Isentia heads back to court over copyright
UNESCO releases AI guidance
It’s a busy month for artificial intelligence news. UNESCO announced that it had adopted of a comprehensive global standard-setting instrument to provide AI with a strong ethical basis. UNESCO’s intent is to protect and promote human rights and human dignity, while also ensuring respect for the rule of law in the digital world. The standard specifically singles out the role of AI in communication as a concern, with issues like automated journalism, misinformation and privacy being flagged. We continue to see the roll-out of AI across the communications space, and it is worthwhile reading up on the ethical concerns being raised.
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