According to a recent press release, “Appen Limited, a global leader in the provision of high-quality, human-annotated datasets for machine learning and AI, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Figure Eight, a best in class machine learning software platform which uses highly automated tools to transform unlabeled text, image, audio, and video data into high-quality AI training data. This acquisition combines the scale, quality and language expertise of Appen’s leading global crowd with Figure Eight’s innovative data annotation platform to create a unique, end-to-end training data offering. The unified business will be strongly positioned to deliver the increasing volume, quality and speed requirements for training data to support machine learning and AI.”

The release goes on, “Founded in San Francisco in 2007, Figure Eight (previously known as CrowdFlower) has played a critical role in the artificial intelligence ecosystem, having delivered 325 million human judgments in 2018 alone. Figure Eight has released a variety of innovative capabilities to enhance its platform – including machine learning-assisted data labeling and video object tracking – that can create high-quality training datasets up to 50 times faster than human labeling alone. Appen – based in Sydney, Australia and listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX:APX) with offices worldwide – successfully deploys its global crowd of over 1 million skilled contractors, working in over 180 languages and more than 130 countries, to support its global customer base that includes eight of the world’s ten largest technology companies.”

Read more at Business Wire.

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