X Global Affairs Head Nick Pickles Resigns 

The "X" logo is seen on the top of the headquarters of the messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, in downtown San Francisco, California, US, July 30, 2023. (Reuters)
The "X" logo is seen on the top of the headquarters of the messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, in downtown San Francisco, California, US, July 30, 2023. (Reuters)
TT

X Global Affairs Head Nick Pickles Resigns 

The "X" logo is seen on the top of the headquarters of the messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, in downtown San Francisco, California, US, July 30, 2023. (Reuters)
The "X" logo is seen on the top of the headquarters of the messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, in downtown San Francisco, California, US, July 30, 2023. (Reuters)

X's global affairs head Nick Pickles said on Thursday he is quitting after a decade with the social media company formerly called Twitter.

Pickles, who joined the company in 2014, said he had decided to leave X several months ago and was working with the Chief Executive Linda Yaccarino through the transition.

"After more than ten years, tomorrow will be my last day at X. It's been an incredible journey," he said.

It was not immediately clear what his next plans were, or why he made the decision to quit.

Elon Musk-owned X and Nick Pickles did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment outside of regular business hours.

In June, X's head of business operations, Joe Benarroch left the company, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Pickles had started at X as a senior manager in their London office and was appointed the Vice President of Global Affairs for X in 2023 after serving in multiple roles, his LinkedIn profile showed.

The Financial Times reported that he was the company's spokesperson in battles with multiple governments, including in Brazil, which said last week it was suspending access to the social network in the country.

The popular social media platform missed a court-imposed deadline to name a legal representative in Brazil, triggering the suspension.

Musk has argued that Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes was trying to enforce unjustified censorship, while the judge has insisted that X needs hate speech regulations.



Saudi SDAIA Showcases Latest Speech Recognition Solutions 

Saudi SDAIA Showcases Latest Speech Recognition Solutions 
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Saudi SDAIA Showcases Latest Speech Recognition Solutions 

Saudi SDAIA Showcases Latest Speech Recognition Solutions 

The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) is participating in the 2024 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing underway in Greece.

Major technology companies and artificial intelligence (AI) experts are attending the conference, which runs from August 31 to September 5.

During the conference, SDAIA tackled code-switching within sentences (CS), a common phenomenon in spoken languages that presents a significant challenge for Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems.

This is particularly relevant for those studying comparative linguistic phenomena, given the rarity of suitable data and the complexities of Arabic dialects.

The presentation focused on leveraging advancements in Large Language Models (LLMs) to enhance CS-ASR systems by generating text data that includes code-switching between Arabic and English.

The International Conference on Speech Processing Technologies is one of the leading global events in acoustic technologies. SDAIA is a pioneer in this field with its Voice system, developed by Saudi expertise.

The system allows speech-to-text conversion in Modern Standard Arabic and various Arabic dialects. It can be used for automating meeting transcriptions, developing chatbots, and building interactive voice systems.

SDAIA’s contribution to the conference includes sponsoring a workshop -- SyNDATA4GENAI 2024 -- in collaboration with SCAI, organized by several experts.

SDAIA is keen to participate in such major events to highlight the importance of advanced technologies and the progress achieved by Saudi Arabia in this field.