Female-led AI startups win just 2% of funding deals, TikTok tests monthly subscription

An “urgent issue” of gender imbalance in artificial intelligence investment must be addressed according to a government-backed body which has found that female-founded companies accounted for just 2% of AI startup deals over the past decade. The report by the Alan Turing Institute found that when female-founded companies have secured funding, they raise on average £1.3m a deal compared with £8.6m raised by all-male founder teams. In the last year, investment in AI software has grown considerably. The Guardian 

TikTok is testing a new monthly subscription which would get rid of adverts on the video sharing site. The BBC understands the Chinese firm is trying out the service in an English-speaking market outside the US, but has declined to comment on exactly where. The subscription is being tested at $4.99 (£4.13). Meanwhile, Meta is reportedly mulling ad-free subscriptions for people in the EU to navigate the bloc’s advertising rules. TikTok currently displays personalised adverts for all users over the age of 18. BBC 

Spotify is doubling down on audiobooks as the music streaming platform hunts for new ways to attract subscribers following its troubled push into podcasting. The Swedish company will offer premium subscribers in the UK up to 15 hours of audiobooks each month for no additional fees. Users will be able to access a catalogue of more than 150,000 titles, ranging from classics such as JRR Tolkien’s Fellowship of the Ring to current bestsellers including Rebecca F Kuang’s Yellowface. Telegraph 

Samsung’s going all-in on its affordable FE range this year, with the company now unveiling cheaper variations for the Samsung Galaxy S23, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9, and the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2. We’ve not seen a new Galaxy FE phone since the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE launched in January 2022, and the label has never been applied to tablets or earbuds before. Samsung has clearly had a rethink about its lower-cost offerings, and we’re going to explain everything that’s new. FE originally stood for Fan Edition, though apparently it’s no longer an acronym – it’s just FE. Tech Radar

The sound of the world’s smallest violin could be heard playing as Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella took to the stand yesterday to testify in the US government’s antitrust trial against Google. The crux of Nadella’s testimony, given in a DC Federal Court, was that Google’s search engine being the default on Apple or Android smartphones ensures competitors, including Microsoft’s Bing, are locked out. Nadella cited the example of Bing on the desktop, where the search engine had made some progress against the Google behemoth, mainly due to Microsoft’s habit of making it the default in Windows. The Register 

The government has come under pressure from retailers to crack down on shoplifting, which they say has surged in the past year. This is partly due to organised crime and partly because of the cost of living crisis, which has squeezed living standards for households across the board. The policing minister has presented a solution to free up police resources by integrating passport photos into the police database to find a match for CCTV footage. Sky News