Parmy Olson's Blog

We're republishing our finest work from the past decade, including this tale of how billionaire Jan Koum founded WhatsApp. It’s arguably the greatest rags-to-riches saga in American history, told hours after he sold his company to Facebook.

A third of London’s mental-health providers are rejecting patient referrals from Babylon Health, a video-calling service used by thousands. Former staff say the startup is struggling to plug into Britain’s healthcare system.

Peter Szulczewski’s Wish was the world’s most downloaded shopping app last year. Its ultra-cheap wares make Walmart look like Bergdorf, but his 90
million users can’t afford to care—and their impulse purchases have added up to a $1.4 billion fortune for Szulczewski.

Microsoft’s Seeing AI app narrates the world for its blind users, guessing at a person’s age, gender and even their facial expression. It also offers a hint of how more people will use such tech in the future.

Hobbyists and teachers were the first big fans of the Raspberry Pi. Now industrialists are using it as a cheap way to spy on their robots, potentially boosting the Internet of Things market.

Around 40% of classified ‘AI’ startups in Europe don’t use the cutting-edge technology for their product - but likely enjoy a premium to their fundraising, according to a new survey.

New digital assistants with names like Erica, Debbie and Inga run the risk of spreading old gender stereotypes, several leading engineers say.

Brad Parkinson did not predict that advertisers would use GPS to mine people’s location data. 'I don’t like that at all,' he says.

The telecoms giant is grading its chatbot software on staff reductions, one vendor says.

Facebook surprised Wall Streetby posting record profits for its fourth quarter, and revenues that beat expectations.