Last week’s London Tech Week celebrated technology, talent and start-ups in our capital. A standout event was the AI summit, which was organised by PHA client, Dan Pitchford.
I was lucky enough to be offered a ticket to the two-day event learning about innovations in artificial intelligence, enjoying ice cream selected due to Microsoft’s smart facial recognition software (reader: I was strawberry), and even got to meet the world-famous Pepper the Robot.
The ExCel was bursting with fascinating innovations, but below are five of the most exciting businesses exhibiting at the AI Summit.
Top 5 Businesses at the AI Summit
Based in Barcelona, Alpha is using technology to support mental health issues. It currently has an app called “Perspectives” which uses cognitive behaviour therapy to help and support people who are suffering from body image issues, but Alpha is hoping to broaden its support to a wider range of mental health concerns and is currently testing in the US. The technology used is constantly learning and working out how to best look after users – informing future vital developments to provide help for the estimated one in four people who will experience a mental disorder in their lifetime.
This fascinating China-based company uses AI to help students further their potential across a whole range of subjects. The AI system is used to understand and adapt to students’ specific needs and offers a personalised one-to-one tutoring plan based on where individual knowledge may be lacking. The belief is that as every student’s knowledge base is different, Squirrel AI provides a hyper-focused way to complement each unique learning style.
GyroGear is a new piece of tech created to help people with tremors. The idea of the business was born out of the desire to return independence and freedom to anyone who experiences tremors. The advanced technology, which attaches itself to a user’s hands, was borne from an NHS doctor and a mechanical engineer who used AI and machine learning to work out the best way to help someone who was suffering with a disease such as Parkinson’s so that they could improve the quality of life for someone who was suffering from tremors.
We’ve all been there: you get in touch with a company to make a suggestion, complaint or compliment and feel distinctly underwhelmed by the identikit reply. Luminoso uses artificial intelligence to monitor, understand and advise how businesses should respond to customer feedback or requests. It is already being used by big tech companies such as AWS and there is no reason to think that the company isn’t going to grow even further.
Marhub is a chatbot application helping refugees gain valuable information and services when they have been displaced. The chatbot provides information in the native language of each user, easing communication problems. The platform is helping organisations increase efficiency, scale and improve the quality of their services. The chatbot offers legal advice, can answer questions and can connect refugees directly with lawyers or organisations that will be willing to help. The technology uses AI to learn and adapt to the issues that are facing refugees all around the world and Marhub is one of many examples that shows how technology is being used to improve the lives of people who are in desperate situations.
The AI Summit was a whirlwind of an afternoon and the sheer variety of exhibitions, using the technology to address some of the world’s most pressing issues – migration, mental health, education – was fascinating.
And I was delighted to not have been identified by the smart ice cream dispenser as vanilla.
