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$275,000 Awarded at AI Hackathon to Drive Human Flourishing and Organizational Thriving

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Tech Innovators and Industry Leaders Collaborate on AI Solutions for Human Flourishing and Organizational Thriving

BOULDER, Colo., Sept. 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Gloo, the leading technology platform dedicated to connecting the faith ecosystem and releasing its collective might, successfully concluded its second annual AI & the Church Hackathon this past weekend in Boulder, Colorado. The event, designed to accelerate AI-driven solutions that promote human flourishing and organizational thriving for the “big C” Church, awarded the top-performing teams over $275,000 in cash prizes.

The Hackathon drew over 200 people from around the world, who spent the weekend building AI-based technologies to help tackle challenges in the faith community. A panel of judges reviewed submissions, including Gloo CEO Scott Beck, YouVersion CTO James Chung, CEO of France-based HelloBible, Eric Célérier, Scott Mosley, VP of Software for Right Now Media and Yvonne Carlson, CTO of Global Media Outreach.

“The AI & The Church Hackathon highlights the incredible potential of AI by transforming how organizations and communities thrive,” said Steele Billings, managing partner for Gloo Ventures & Gloo AI. “While many in the faith community may hesitate when it comes to adopting emerging technologies, this weekend showcased a bold vision for how AI can be harnessed to create meaningful change. The solutions developed here demonstrate that AI isn’t something to fear — it’s an opportunity to build tools that align with our values and positively impact the world.”

New AI Tools Announced

During the event, Gloo announced a new suite of AI tools starting with AI Data Engine for faith-based publishers and churches along with two new AI platforms currently in beta — Aspen AI and the Christian Aligned Large Language Model (CALLM). The tools are designed as invaluable resources for Christians and church leaders, offering tailored AI solutions to support ministry work and organizational needs.

Prizes ranging from $5,000$100,000 were awarded to projects including:

The Best Overall, Grand Prize Winner: Pastors.AI – Joe Suh, Tyler Weaver, Saeed Hassan, and Akbar Ali created a tool that harnesses AI to quickly translate and lip-sync video-based sermons into multiple languages, allowing churches to reach more people and offer services to additional communities.Best Tech: Servant – Ben Elmore, Nathanael Coffing, Patrick Taylor, Hyzer Taylor, Ian Ludwig, Jake Oswald, Ethan Woo, Joe Nicolette, Patrick Creehan, and Brad Linard from Servant, created InSight, an AI-powered data platform that creates hyper-rich felt-need profiles, helping champions shepherd their community with precision and care.Best Design: LifeGroup.AI – Ryan Laughlin, Eric Laughlin, Keaton Helm, and Noah Liska created a tool to defeat isolation and help users thrive socially; LifeGroup.ai helps you connect with people around you through friendship matching and personalized AI connection coaching for Biblical growth.Best Concept: Generosity – College students Ernesto Rivera and Yanni Kouloumbis created Generosity, a tool to help churches increase donations through initiative visibility, transparency, and donor alignment, using AI to provide insights into congregational needs.Best Storytelling: Team Waha – Josh Muller, Trent Cowden, and Jeff Peterson created TimeStampAudio.com, which generates timing data from any text and its corresponding audio in over 1,100 languages using AI.Challenge Category, First Place: SermonShots – Corey Alderon, Richard Abear, and Marvin Bentinganan created an AI tool for live translation of sermons, providing a simultaneous translation capability for audience members who prefer a different language from the live speaker.Challenge Category, Second Place – The Apologist Project. Jake Carlson, Christine Abernathy, Dylan Starnes, Joshua (Ramakrishna) Dhulipalla, Kari Murphy, Troy Michels, Sara Carlile, Dayna-Marie Pemberton, Garrett Grimmett, and Christopher Russo created a conversational AI that ministers to the Muslim community, in partnership with prominent Muslim-serving ministries and major Christian apologists that specialize in that area.Challenge Category, Third Place – AO Labs. Craig Bradley, Holly Bradley, Sujan Barman, Gabriel Souki, and Mazen Emad created The Church Bible, which is “A City-Wide Bible For Community Connection.”Challenge Category, Fourth Place: Atrium AI – Todd “TJ” Person and Ryan Fontenot created Atrium, an AI-powered platform that automates security and attendance tracking as well as enhancing church security with real-time insights, facial recognition, and proactive alerts for a safer, more engaged community.Challenge Category, Fifth Place: Biblica – Mike Brinker, Robertson Brinker, and Sean Boisen created ScriptureRecall, an app that helps users memorize scripture using AI.Challenge Category, Sixth Place: ACS Technologies – Chris Kehayias, Patrick Abernathy, Jason Wenell, and Trace Jackson created a web-based app designed to provide people who work with kids an easy-to-use tool for generating copyright-free, thematically relevant children’s coloring pages.Hacker’s Choice – Additional prizes were awarded to projects ranging from scripture apps for college student, using AI to aid in suicide prevention to an app designed to rehabilitate sexual addiction.Most Servant-Hearted Attendees – Allen Prell and Joshua PriceBest Shoes – Kari Murphy, Clear Creek Community Church

“This weekend has cast a vision for the future. We believe that God is not surprised by AI, and He wants to use it for His purposes,” said Scott Beck, CEO and co-founder of Gloo. “We couldn’t be more grateful for the creative solutions and community shared across all of the teams this year. Gloo is at its best when we connect the faith community and help release its collective might.”

Leaders from both the tech and faith communities also gathered as part of a working group to explore responsible AI use and to discuss current challenges facing faith leaders. Participants included Yvonne Carlson, CTO of Global Media Outreach, VP of Software and Experience at RightNow Media Scott Mosley; and Nicole Martin, CIO of Christianity Today, among others.

Gloo is the trusted platform that releases the collective might of the faith ecosystem. As a leading technology innovator, Gloo is a tech platform that connects ministry leaders to resources, people, data insights and funding so their people and communities flourish and their organizations thrive. Gloo is based in Boulder, Colorado.

 

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IronNet Inc. and Asterion Partner to Strengthen Cybersecurity and Counter-UAS Defense Solutions

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WASHINGTON and MANAMA, Bahrain, Nov. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — IronNet, the AI-based collective defense cybersecurity company, and Asterion, a leader in counter-UAS technology, announced today at the Bahrain International Airshow a partnership on the protection of critical infrastructure through the integration of AI-based cybersecurity and counter-UAS solutions.

This collaboration addresses the growing need for comprehensive and integrated defense strategies, representing a significant milestone in the evolution of air and space security. To enhance defense capabilities against unauthorized and hostile drones, the partnership integrates IronNet’s IronDome solution with Asterion’s advanced counter-UAS technology, delivering a layered defense framework that strengthens the protection of critical infrastructure, urban environments, and national borders.

The partnership integrates IronNet’s “IronDome” real-time cyber threat detection and coordinated response with Asterion’s drone detection and tracking systems, protecting airspace and critical assets from potential threats.

The methodology employs artificial intelligence, machine learning, and advanced sensor networks to analyze patterns and anomalies across a broad range of data sources. The result is a more robust and proactive defense system capable of identifying and mitigating threats before they can cause significant damage.

“Our partnership with Asterion represents a paradigm shift in how we approach critical infrastructure protection,” said Linda Zecher, CEO of IronNet. “By embracing the convergence of cyber and aerial threat detection and defense, governments and organizations can ensure a more comprehensive and effective approach to safeguarding critical infrastructure and national interests.”

“Together we’re creating a solution that addresses the multi-dimensional threats facing our clients today, including those originating from both ground, air and space-based sources,” said Andreas Mustert, Asterion Founder and CTO

About IronNet 

Founded in 2014, IronNet combines cutting-edge cybersecurity technology with exceptional expertise to deliver advanced, real-time defense solutions for organizations across the private and public sectors worldwide. Leveraging a team of top-tier cybersecurity specialists from industry, government, and academia, IronNet is dedicated to protecting enterprises, critical infrastructure, and nations against highly organized and increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. With its industry-leading products and innovative approach, IronNet empowers clients to stay ahead of evolving cyber adversaries.

About Asterion 

A team of sensor, wireless IP and aircraft design specialists, all with outstanding track-records in their fields, have gathered in Asterion to follow a vision of creating a system of a fully networked early risk detection and game changing, collateral damage avoiding, protection of both local high-risk assets as well as long range border crossing threats, through groundbreaking efficiency and EW protected wireless communications. Rather than considering current risks, contemplating any conceivable future countermeasures is an important part of Asterion’s mission.

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Laconic and the Plurinational State of Bolivia announce landmark 5 Billion USD Sovereign Carbon Transaction

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CHICAGO and LA PAZ, Bolivia, Nov. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Laconic Infrastructure Partners Inc. (Laconic), announced today that it has been mandated by the Plurinational State of Bolivia to utilize its SADAR™ Natural Capital Monetization (NCM) platform to provide technology transfer in support of Bolivia’s capacity building initiatives as it seeks to finance the enhanced ambition set forth in its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).

By using Laconic’s first-of-its-kind carbon securitization platform, multiple large-scale environmental data streams will be aggregated to monetize up to 5BN USD of Bolivia’s present & future carbon stocks in the world’s first Article 6 compliant benchmark Sovereign Carbon sale.

“The Plurinational State of Bolivia is committed to completely ending deforestation within our territorial borders by 2030”, said Marcelo Montenegro Gomez Garcia, Minister of Economy & Public Finance. “By working with Laconic, we have been able, for the first time, to generate sufficient development financing to enable our country to make this commitment a reality and enhancing our ambition under the Paris Agreement. This benefits not only our own citizens, but all of mankind, as we collectively strive to meet NetZero 2050.”

By creating its unique Sovereign Carbon product, Laconic has revolutionized financial intermediation in the global carbon market by allowing carbon to be traded as a true financial asset for the first time. This capability allows governments to efficiently monetize their natural capital assets by issuing bona fide securities to institutional buyers at scale globally.

The Sovereign Carbon market is the only mechanism capable of generating the 1 Trillion USD of carbon trading required annually for mankind to achieve its collective NetZero pledge.

Laconic’s unique technology platform, SADAR™, works continuously to manage the data streams which the Sovereign Carbon product requires – ensuring compliance with the not only the Paris Agreement itself, but all applicable local and regional regulatory authorities governing the carbon market. Governments rely on Laconic to ensure seamless compliance with their treaty commitments, allowing them to focus on further enhancing their NDC ambitions and accelerating the pace of global decarbonization.

“Laconic is honored to be working with the Plurinational State of Bolivia to champion the innovative Sovereign Carbon market”, said Andrew Gilmour, CEO of Laconic. “This transaction demonstrates the power of technology to drive change in emerging markets finance, as, for the first time, we are able to collectively harness market forces to generate more economic growth from the preservation of natural capital assets than from the exploitation of them. Put simply – our technology has made it possible to make more money preserving your forests than you can by cutting them down.”

About Laconic
Laconic delivers accurate environmental intelligence, data management tools, and geospatially-fused insights that enable governments, corporations, and financial institutions to engage fairly in data interchange activities that facilitate open and compliant capital markets activity in carbon-linked instruments.

Founded in 2021, the company is a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) headquartered in Chicago, with offices in Toronto, London, and Singapore.

For more information, please visit www.laconicglobal.com.

Laconic and SADAR (Sentient All-Domain Augmented Response), LUEI, and LUCID are trademarks or registered trademarks of Laconic Infrastructure Partners Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. All other names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Media contacts:
Laconic
Brant Pinvidic
brant.pinvidic@laconicglobal.com

Elke Heiss
Elke.heiss@laconicglobal.com

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Kyndryl Unveils Dedicated AI Private Cloud in Japan to Accelerate Customer Deployment of AI Services

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Kyndryl AI private cloud supports customer testing and adoption using the Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA

Private AI cloud is also available to Japanese academic institutions for AI research and innovation

TOKYO, Nov. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Kyndryl (NYSE: KD), the world’s largest IT infrastructure services provider, today launched a dedicated AI private cloud designed to enable AI innovation in Japan. Supported by a collaboration with Dell Technologies using the Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA, Kyndryl is establishing a controlled, security-rich and sovereign cloud where organizations can develop, test and implement AI services that expand their ability to compete and accelerate business performance.

Kyndryl’s new AI private cloud in Japan will help financial institutions, insurance providers, manufacturers, retail companies, and academics to confidently design and prepare to deploy innovative AI-powered solutions.

Under the collaboration, Kyndryl is establishing a Kyndryl Vital AI Lab capability that will leverage the AI-powered open integration digital business platform, Kyndryl Bridge, to support end-to-end AI applications and solution development on the NVIDIA AI Enterprise software platform. Kyndryl experts will assist with envisioning and co-creating solutions that harness the benefits of generative AI and large language models to drive innovation and achieve business objectives. Kyndryl also will apply the domain and industry expertise of Kyndryl Consult to advance customers’ ability to create, verify and deliver AI at scale.

“Organizations want to explore and understand how AI and generative AI can enhance and accelerate their business and technology transformation initiatives. They need a reliable and scalable environment with advanced security capabilities where they can develop, test and refine new solutions,” said Jonathan Ingram, President, Kyndryl Japan. “Our new AI private cloud with the Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA will provide a stable and trusted space where customers and Japanese academic institutions can confidently and privately design new applications and solutions, with support for their security, sovereignty, and data residency requirements.”

Customers using the AI private cloud environment also can access Kyndryl’s decades of experience supporting and managing mission critical applications and systems. The collaboration also will leverage Kyndryl’s ongoing work with NVIDIA that is focused on driving the development, implementation and use of solutions that deliver AI-powered insights and business outcomes.

“The Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA integrates Dell’s leading AI portfolio with the NVIDIA AI Enterprise software platform, providing Kyndryl customers the option to procure an end-to-end, pre-validated, full stack infrastructure,” said Kyle Dufresne, SVP, AI solutions sales, Dell Technologies. “With this collaboration, Kyndryl customers can get started on a wide range of AI and generative AI use cases that require security and performance, including retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), model training, and inferencing.”

“Enterprises need next-gen expertise and skills to drive innovation within their businesses and tackle today’s AI challenges,” said Bob Pette, Vice President of Enterprise Platforms, NVIDIA. “The combination of Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA and Kyndryl’s infrastructure services experience will provide the technical foundation and know-how that organizations require to develop and deploy AI at scale.”

Kyndryl will support a variety of customer use cases via its AI private cloud and plans to explore ways the environment can be optimized to enable efficient workload orchestration and workload placement, along with examining how it can enable fractional GPU capabilities to support more granular control over computing resources. 

To accelerate customer adoption and implementation of generative AI solutions Kyndryl also plans to leverage NVIDIA NeMo, NVIDIA NeMo Retriever and NVIDIA NIM microservices, all part of the NVIDIA AI Enterprise platform for the development and deployment of production-grade generative AI applications. This will advance customers’ ability to transform the build, operation and scale-out of an AI factory, leveraging AI integrations across the NVIDIA stack for smooth performance of the AI private cloud.

Through Kyndryl’s new dedicated private AI cloud service, customers can tap into a wealth of expertise crucial to their adoption of AI at scale, with support for their data security, sovereignty, and residency requirements.

Learn more about Kyndryl’s collaborations with Dell and NVIDIA.

About Kyndryl
Kyndryl (NYSE: KD) is the world’s largest IT infrastructure services provider, serving thousands of enterprise customers in more than 60 countries. The company designs, builds, manages and modernizes the complex, mission-critical information systems that the world depends on every day. For more information, visit www.kyndryl.com.

Forward-looking statements

This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements often contain words such as “will,” “anticipate,” “predict,” “project,” “plan,” “forecast,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “target,” “may,” “should,” “would,” “could,” “outlook” and other similar words or expressions or the negative thereof or other variations thereon. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, including without limitation statements representing management’s beliefs about future events, transactions, strategies, operations and financial results, may be forward-looking statements. These statements do not guarantee future performance and speak only as of the date of this press release and the Company does not undertake to update its forward-looking statements. Actual outcomes or results may differ materially from those suggested by forward-looking statements as a result of risks and uncertainties including those described in the “Risk Factors” section of the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Kyndryl Press Contact
press@kyndryl.com 

 

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