DIGIT’s Top Trending Stories

What sets Scotland apart during the tech sector jobs boom?

Edinburgh and Glasgow are increasingly competing with London and the south-east as some of the UK’s fastest growing technology clusters, according to a new report.

Statistics published by Tech Nation on behalf of the UK Government’s Digital Economy Council show that, in Edinburgh, 48,118 people are employed in the digital technology sector on salaries which are nearly 15% higher than average.

For those looking for work as an analyst, Edinburgh is acknowledged as the best place to work in the UK, while a Python developer is best off in Glasgow. Demand for Full Stack Developer roles in Edinburgh has also increased; from 32 roles in 2015 to 556 in 2018.

Software developer roles, which are the most-advertised vacancies in Edinburgh, have also seen an increase in demand, while conversely, there has been a decline in demand for project manager, business analyst and test analyst roles in the city.

Want to find out more? Read the original article here.

Robots will not replace human staff, says Amazon robotics chief

Although the company has deployed more than 200,000 warehouse robots in 50 locations, Amazon has reiterated that the company’s various centres will never reach the point where they could be fully automated.

Amazon’s chief robotics technologist, Tye Brady, explained that the key challenge in regards to workplace automation will not be whether human workers are replaced, but how to design machines which enhance and extend worker capability.

He said: “Not at all. One ounce of my body just does not see that. The way I think about this is a symphony of humans and machines working together – you need both.

“The challenge that we have in front of us is how do we smartly design our machines to extend human capability?”

In an interview at Re:Mars, an Amazon event intended to showcase the firm’s latest advances in machine learning, automation, robotics and space, Brady said the suggestion that robotics and AI would replace humans was a “myth”.

“It’s a reframing of your relationship with machines, right?” he added. “You extend human capability. And when you gain productivity, then you have the ability to create new jobs that were unimaginable five years ago.”

Want to find out more? Read the original article here.

Digital agencies team up to train Scotland’s future leaders

An internship programme has been launched that offers graduates in Scotland a unique kick-start to their career in digital.

The ‘Inspiring Digital Leaders’ programme offers five paid placements with digital agencies, covering key disciplines that will offer a solid foundation of digital skills to develop future leaders in the digital sector.

The programme was co-created by the British Interactive Media Association (BIMA) and digital training specialist TRC, with five participating agencies, including After Digital, Dog, Equator, Front Page and Screenmedia.

Successful applicants for the internships are Eddie Allbutt, Rosa Downing, Patrick Fearon, Evan Keyes and Julia Rosner.

Over five months, the five interns will undertake five monthly placements at each of the participating agencies, specialising in a different discipline with each agency: Client Services, Content Strategy & Brand Language, Digital Marketing, UX Design, and Web Development. The learning within each discipline has been designed by module leaders at each agency who are experts in their field.

Want to find out more? Read the original article here.

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US prosecutors to use AI to reduce racial bias when charging subjects

Prosecutors in the US will use artificial intelligence (AI) in a bid to reduce racial bias when considering whether to charge suspects.

The world-first pilot could help “take race out of the equation” in courts, according to district attorney George Gascon.

Working alongside data scientists and engineers from the Stanford Computational Policy Lab, Gascon’s office has helped develop a system which takes electronic police reports then automatically removes a suspect’s race, hair colour, eye colour and their name.

Witness names and police officers will also be used, Gascon confirmed, along with details pertaining to certain neighbourhoods or districts which could potentially indicate a suspect’s race.

This system, Gascon said, will “redact the work without redacting the essence and the quality of the narrative, which was so important to us, so that we could take a look first and make an initial charging decision based on the facts and the facts alone without any attention being paid to a person’s race or age”.

Want to find out more? Read the original article here.

Twitter removes Iranian-backed accounts

Nearly 5,000 accounts have been removed by Twitter amid claims they were being used by Iran to spread misinformation over the social media platform.

Around 4,800 accounts were deleted, alongside others from a host of different groups, as part of a push by the social media site to cut down on state interference.

Twitter revealed the move as part of an update to its transparency report, which aims to expose the “spread of misinformation by insidious actors.”

Accounts spreading Russian, Venezuelan and Catalonian propaganda were also removed by Twitter.

Want to find out more? Read the original article here.