The growth of investment robo-advisors—algorithm-based account services—spiked last year across the US, the UK, and Canada as investors, especially those belonging to younger populations, took advantage of investment opportunities during the pandemic. For instance, independent robo-advisors Wealthfront and Betterment both reported double-digit increases in account openings during the pandemic.

Twitter is the latest Big Tech firm to bolster its ethical AI research team with top tech critics. Enacting proposals from these teams could help Big Tech build back its fractured public trust.

The insurtech raised $60 million to expand its AI damage appraisal solution to property claims, and its existing partner network gives it strong cross-selling opportunities.

Pharma companies are finding it difficult to hire data science talent—we think it’ll make AI drug discovery startups like Valo (who is going public via a $2.8B SPAC merger) attractive partners.

Olive and health system TriHealth are partnering to automate revenue cycle management—which can save hospitals a ton of money in denied claims, but AI RCM vendors are also focusing on digital billing to recoup hospital revenue.

In-store shopping will remain a crucial part of the retail sales funnel in China, even as ecommerce players continue to rack up record gross merchandise value (GMV). Pre-pandemic, ecommerce was already disrupting brick-and-mortar retail, but over the past year, retailers began to innovate more offline, leveraging new and existing technology.

Digital transformation is vital for wealth managers, as consumer expectations are changing, fiscal pressures are tightening, and competition is stiffening. These drivers have been further accelerated by the pandemic. But transformation efforts across the front, middle, and back office can help incumbents get their services up to speed and better compete with fintech wealth managers that are challenging the status quo.

Once relegated to the children’s market, virtual characters are entering the mainstream in China. Fictional as these digitally rendered avatars may be, they hold real jobs, from pop star to influencer, to even news anchor. And they’re becoming increasingly interactive and humanlike, thanks to improvements in technologies such as AI, motion capture, and virtual reality (VR). Recent advancements in augmented reality (AR), in particular, have enabled virtual avatars to step out of social media and make live appearances alongside flesh-and-blood celebrities.

5G will become one of the most promising technologies for facilitating healthcare’s digital transformation. This report analyzes five patient applications of 5G. It also explores forward-looking organizations embracing 5G and how healthcare organizations can follow in their footsteps.