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DryMerge has raised $2.2 million to make automation easier with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). The company was co-founded by Edward Frazer and Samuel Brashears. The pair, who first met in elementary school, made sacrifices to focus their full attention on the company. University of Wisconsin graduate Brashears walked away from a role at Hive AI while Frazer dropped out of Yale University to pursue the venture, a press release mentions. The founders recently participated in the Y Combinator Winter 2024 Batch startup accelerator program. “…I’m a pretty young founder – I dropped out of Yale to build the company and my cofounder Sam had just graduated from the University of Wisconsin,” Frazer wrote on LinkedIn . “I knew very little about how people worked, what problems they had, or how to solve those problems — and importantly, I didn’t care — I figured it’d be enough to build cool technology and watch the users appear out of thin air.” He continued, “It wasn’t until midway...
Former Yale University students are making it easier to spot counterfeit drugs. Per TechCrunch, Adebayo Alonge, Amy Kao and Wei Lui launched healthcare startup RxAll in 2016. The inception of the company was in response to their own experience with counterfeit drugs. For Alonge, it was nearly fatal after he took a medicine that contained a dangerous amount of diazepam, while Kao’s experience left her hospitalized. “I survived a 21-day coma in Nigeria 15 years ago. My co-founder, Amy, was hospitalized in Thailand after taking counterfeit medicine. And Wei lost a family member due to contaminated drugs,” Alonge told TechCrunch. While students they were able to pick each other’s brains during a research and development project and found further information to validate their concerns. “100,000 Africans die from this problem every year. One million people die across the world from this problem,” Alonge mentioned . This led to RxAll’s inaugural product RxScanner, a device powered by...
Workpay is improving payroll systems for businesses in Africa. At its core, Workpay serves as a payroll, human resource, and benefits platform. Per its company website, its solutions can help companies increase their payroll proficiency by 10 times to ensure employees will be compensated on time. Additionally it has assisted businesses in hiring employees who reside anywhere across Africa and beyond. The company also offers benefits such as savings and pension plans, health insurance, and early wage access, among others. “The shift in customer needs has pushed us to expand our product from being a solid payroll solution to offering a more full-stack HR service. We’ve also noticed an opportunity to layer financial services on top of our HR offerings,” Co-founder and CEO Paul Kimani told TechCrunch. “Since companies already use us to pay their employees, we can now provide added services like medical and vehicle insurance and even partner with providers for lending, savings, and...
Charlamagne Tha God is investing in artificial intelligence (AI). According to a news release, he has invested in MeetKai Inc., an AI software company that aims to transform the metaverse. Already, through its MeetKai Reality platform, users can change digitized physical spaces into 3D models from their cell phones. The company also offers cloud AI and metaverse content creation. Its website mentions that at least 40 million individuals across 30 countries, including those working in design, architecture, engineering, and real estate sectors, have benefitted from its software since 2018. “MeetKai is redefining the future of entertainment. I see it as the future of social, shopping, gaming, and content creation, all while being excitingly immersive,” Charlamagne Tha God said in the news release. “It’s where the boundaries of reality and digital innovation blur, creating endless possibilities for connection and creativity.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by MeetKai...
‘Tis the season for AFROTECH™ Conference 2024! This year, the highly anticipated annual event for Black techies will be touching down in Houston, TX, from Nov. 13-16. The new stages announced are as follows: Cybersecurity Stage On the Cybersecurity Stage, speakers will discuss topics such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, the Internet of Things (IoT), security, and governance. AI Stage View this post on Instagram A post shared by AFROTECH™ Conference (@afrotech.conference) As AI continues to be one of the biggest trending topics in technology, the stage discussions will focus on quantum AI and automation, ethical AI, and regulation across job sectors. Data & Engineering Stage The Data & Engineering Stage is set to provide insight into career development for software engineers, data scientists, product managers, and others. AI Hackathon Speaking of AI, AFROTECH™ is calling on all diverse developers, coders, builders, hackers, and technologists for an upcoming...
Google has pulled a recent 2024 Olympics ad after being accused of promoting the use of AI technology in place of creativity. In an ad titled “Dear Sydney,” a father narrates his journey to using the platform to help his daughter write a letter to U.S. hurdler and sprinter Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who just so happens to be her favorite athlete and inspiration, CNBC reports. While Google maintains that its AI chatbot Gemini is used solely to enhance or even jumpstart its users’ creativity , many social media users dragged the company following the ad’s airing, citing that it promotes too heavy a reliance on technology. “We believe that AI can be a great tool for enhancing human creativity, but can never replace it,” said a spokesperson for Google in an official statement following the incident, per CNBC. “Our goal was to create an authentic story celebrating Team USA.” Shelly Palmer, a professor of advanced media at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications,...
Artificial intelligence (AI) technology has taken the creative industry by storm, but a new bill has been introduced to protect creators’ rights. U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Delaware), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota), and Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) introduced the Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe Act of 2024, or the NO FAKES Act, on July 31. According to a press release shared by Coons, the bill was created “to protect the voice and visual likenesses of creators and individuals from the proliferation of digital replicas created without their consent.” “The NO FAKES Act would hold individuals or companies liable for damages for producing, hosting, or sharing a digital replica of an individual performing in an audiovisual work, image, or sound recording that the individual never actually appeared in or otherwise approved – including digital replicas created by generative artificial intelligence (AI),” per the release. “Everyone...
Artificial intelligence (AI) can sometimes seem unpredictable and even scary, but Cliff Worley wants to help business owners understand how it can help them take their companies to the next level. Worley stresses the importance of taking the time to learn AI tools rather than immediately running away from the ever-evolving technology without ever attempting to understand it . As an accomplished marketing leader and growth advisor to startups, he has an affinity for helping entrepreneurs elevate their businesses. Worley is on a mission to do so by teaching them how to use AI to the advantage of the business they’re looking to grow and scale. View this post on Instagram A post shared by AFROTECH™ Conference (@afrotech.conference) Currently, Worley is the head of portfolio growth marketing at Kapor Capital. He provides strategic coaching to venture capital-backed companies on how to effectively go to market and scale customer acquisition. He also curates a newsletter called “Cliff...
Elon Musk has shared a fake AI video that labels Vice President Kamala Harris as the “ultimate diversity hire.” Harris is actively campaigning to receive the official Democratic nomination as she looks to become the 47th U.S. president, facing off against former President Donald Trump. She has already received the blessing of President Joe Biden, who will no longer be running for re-election. “On behalf of the American people, I thank Joe Biden for his extraordinary leadership as President of the United States and for his decades of service to our country,” Harris wrote on Instagram. “I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination. I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party—and unite our nation—to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kamala Harris (@kamalaharris) Harris’s announcement has been met with skepticism. As AFROTECH™ previously...
Over the years, Thasunda Brown Duckett has gained global recognition for her monumental career strides, impact, and influence. As previously reported by AFROTECH™, the TIAA president and CEO’s historic feats include, in 2021, becoming the first woman to lead the financial retirement services company in more than 100 years as well as one of two Black women to helm a Fortune 500 company. What’s more, Duckett was named on Forbes’ list of “The World’s Most Powerful Women” in 2023 and TIME’s “100 Most Influential People of 2024” the following year. As Duckett continues to make efforts toward closing the racial retirement gap and women’s retirement gap and tirelessly advocates for DEI, she credits her foundation for fueling the leader she is today. On July 5, 2024, at the Global Black Economic Forum (GBEF) Business Summit during the ESSENCE Festival Of Culture presented by Coca-Cola, she thanks her parents, Otis and Rosie Brown, for teaching her the level of resilience required to be a...
The battle between artificial intelligence (AI) software and the music industry continues in a new lawsuit against two AI music startups. Top record labels Universal Music Group (UMG), Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Records are accusing AI music creation programs Suno Inc. and Udio AI of “massive and ongoing infringement.” The lawsuit claims that the entities “copied sound recordings from the labels ‘en masse and ingested them into its AI model,’” a practice that the plaintiffs say violates copyright laws, Forbes reports. Moreover, Suno and Udio AI are accused of using artists’ songs to “train their AI services.” In the suit against Suno, the filings allege that if the company hadn’t “violated copyrights on such a large scale, Suno’s service would not be able to reproduce the convincing imitations of such a vast range of human musical expression at the quality that Suno touts.” Similarly, the accusations against Udio AI hold some of the same weight, noting that “since the day...
Will.i.am believes diversified voices will be necessary for artificial intelligence (AI) innovation. While in conversation with The Wall Street Journal’s Kim Last at Journal House during The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the artist unveiled an AI-generated Black woman host named Felicia from his SiriusXM show. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the show spotlights AI innovation at the crossroads of pop culture, music, entertainment, world news, and technology. At the event in Cannes, France, Felicia introduced herself to the audience and shared a call to action on the importance of representation in technology. “Now, when we talk about AI, it’s crucial that we dive into the real deal. Representation, empowerment, and breaking those barriers in tech. Because let’s face it, you ain’t going to see much of our faces if we don’t get involved and steer that ship,” Felicia told the audience. “AI is more than just cool tech. It’s like a new frontier where we got to make...
Ancestry.com has been helping families trace their roots for nearly three decades. Now, the genealogy company is using technology to further assist Black Americans in discovering their ancestry. On June 11, 2024, Ancestry announced the publication of a free collection of 38,000 newspaper articles related to more than 183,000 enslaved people in the U.S. from 1788 to 1867, according to a press release. Ancestry’s mission in launching the new newspaper article collection is to help descendants expand their family history research and discover connections. “Greater access to these records on Ancestry will enhance understanding of how chattel slavery and the forced movement of enslaved people became normalized in the United States,” said Dr. Karcheik Sims-Alvarado, assistant professor of Africana studies at Morehouse College, per the press release. “This collection is invaluable for providing descendants of enslaved individuals with insights into their ancestral histories and their...
Robert F. Smith’s internXL has launched a collaboration with Will.i.am to provide access to AI tools. According to a press release shared with AFROTECH™, internXL announced that it has partnered with Will.i.am’s FYI (Focus Your Ideas), an AI-driven collaboration platform. Co-founded by tech entrepreneur Sunil Reddy, FYI works to provide creatives with messaging, collaboration tools, file management, and content publishing features to increase productivity, per its website. Now the new partnership’s goal is to provide college students and recent graduates from underserved communities with exposure to artificial intelligence as well as facilitate engineering industry work opportunities. “Joining forces with Robert F. Smith, alongside internXL and FYI, is a dream come true because it shows people from our communities what our future will look like with the support of purpose- driven tech,” Will.i.am shared in a press statement. “By being solution-oriented, we prepare today’s generation...
Keith Lee has been amplifying Black-owned restaurants with his viral food reviews on TikTok. In an interview with AFROTECH™ in 2023, the viral food critic discussed increasing the visibility of local Black-owned restaurants in the U.S. “Just to be able to be on a scale where people see the hard work that’s put in because a lot of times these restaurants have great food and great customer service, but they just don’t have the eyes on them,” Lee told AFROTECH™. “I think it’s just gonna be so dope to allow these restaurants to have the platform that they deserve.” For 2024, Lee has a new partnership to create efficiency for Black-owned businesses. According to a press release shared with AFROTECH™, Lee has teamed up with Microsoft to provide restaurateurs with AI tools to help their businesses thrive. In 2021, two-thirds of Black-owned businesses had fewer than 10 employees, per Pew Research Center . Lee and Microsoft aim to tackle the barrier through the efficacy and growth that AI...