San Francisco, CA, Feb. 28, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, VoiceBase, the leading provider of AI-powered speech analytics announced its assistance to the University of Sheffield in adding over 60 new PhD students to propel the next generation of artificial intelligence in speech and language technologies to the next level. This comes as a result of a larger investment of £100m from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) as an effort to train the next generation of artificial intelligence leaders.
The UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training hosted at the University of Sheffield, aims to become a world-leading centre for training scientists and engineers in speech and language technologies (SLT), two core areas within artificial intelligence.
Professor Thomas Hain, Principal Investigator and Director of the CDT in Speech and Language Technologies as well as Director of the VoiceBase Centre for Speech and Language Technologies said: “We are proud that the University of Sheffield has been chosen to host a centre for doctoral training that will combine our experience in training generations of inspired PhD candidates with our track record of world-leading research. No SLT research training worldwide has the same breadth and depth, and exposure to real world problems that this centre will offer.”
VoiceBase’s contribution provides insight to the PhD candidate’s training through real world problems and research projects which leverage AI-powered speech analytics in the enterprise.
“VoiceBase first opened the Centre for Speech & Language Technology at the University of Sheffield because we identified the group of researchers and Professor Thomas Hain to be one of the top research groups worldwide in Speech and Language Technology,” added CEO VoiceBase Walter Bachtiger. “It is exciting to see that the UK government (UK Research and Innovation) has come to the same conclusion and selected the University of Sheffield to be the UKs top location for the Speech and Language Centres for Doctoral Training in Artificial Intelligence.”
For many years now a long-term goal of AI has been to create machines that have the capability of understanding spoken and written human languages- the potential that would empower all human languages to be spoken and understood between humans and computers. Thanks to the UKRI the CDT in Speech Analytics and Language Technologies has the opportunity to research and develop this concept further.
The CDT in Speech Analytics and Language Technologies aims to become a world-leading centre for training scientists and engineers. With VoiceBase’s automated speech recognition and other language technologies the centre is on the path to having a prominent impact on AI and machine learning in the research that is to be accomplished by these students.
“With this injection of funding and resources the CDT aims to add 60 PhD candidates dedicated to research in AI. The long-term impact of this world class research will directly benefit the university, the students and faculty as well as VoiceBase,” stated Walter Bachtiger CEO VoiceBase. “Congratulations to Professor Hain and all of the researchers for having been chosen to become the top address in the UK for AI & Speech and Language Technologies.”
For further information on UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Speech and Language Technologies and their Applications, visit www.slt-cdt.group.shef.ac.uk
About VoiceBase
VoiceBase is defining the future of deep learning and communications by providing unparalleled access to spoken information for businesses to make better decisions. With flexible APIs developers and enterprises can build scalable solutions with VoiceBase by embedding speech-to-text, speech analytics, and predictive analytics capabilities. Customers can stream their speech analytics results directly into a data lake or BI tool, providing them access to harness campaign analytics, improve website self-service functionality and identify sales optimization techniques. VoiceBase’s customers include Amazon Web Services, Twilio, Nasdaq, HireVue and Veritone. The company is privately held and is based in San Francisco, California.
About The University of Sheffield
With almost 29,000 of the brightest students from over 140 countries, learning alongside over 1,200 of the best academics from across the globe, the University of Sheffield is one of the world’s leading universities.
A member of the UK’s prestigious Russell Group of leading research-led institutions, Sheffield offers world-class teaching and research excellence across a wide range of disciplines.
Unified by the power of discovery and understanding, staff and students at the university are committed to finding new ways to transform the world we live in.
Sheffield is the only university to feature in The Sunday Times 100 Best Not-For-Profit Organisations to Work For 2018 and for the last eight years has been ranked in the top five UK universities for Student Satisfaction by Times Higher Education.
Sheffield has six Nobel Prize winners among former staff and students and its alumni go on to hold positions of great responsibility and influence all over the world, making significant contributions in their chosen fields.
Global research partners and clients include Boeing, Rolls-Royce, Unilever, AstraZeneca, Glaxo SmithKline, Siemens, VoiceBase and Airbus, as well as many UK and overseas government agencies and charitable foundations.
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