LONDON, Jan. 30, 2024 -- Avature, a leading provider of innovative Human Capital Management (HCM) software for recruiting and talent management, and the HiTZ research center of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), launch the first "Chair in Artificial Intelligence and Language Technology," selected by the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Spain to support the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence.

This selection falls under an inaugural program to fund university chairs dedicated to research, information sharing, teaching and innovation in artificial intelligence. Given the significant advancements in the field and the undeniable impact of language technology across organizations and society more broadly, the program aims to position the country at the forefront of generative AI by augmenting its research capacity.

To support these goals, the chair relies on two pillars that combine invaluable perspectives from the academic and commercial landscapes.

• The demonstrated scientific and teaching excellence of the University's HiTZ research center, working closely with the institution's Faculty of Informatics.
• The expertise of Avature's in-house Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning Team and the commercial applications they've created.

Avature's customer base, including 110 Fortune 500 companies and numerous government agencies, chooses the platform to safely deploy AI to various HR tasks because of the organization's transparent and explainable approach to AI development. With its established trust model and historic focus on recruiting, talent management, employee training and re-skilling, Avature's participation in the chair underscores the initiative's commitment to ethical AI and bias mitigation. 

Dimitri Boylan, CEO of Avature, commented, "Our customers are eager to bring employment opportunities to people in their local communities and build a diverse workforce, and they recognize that artificial intelligence can play an important role in these efforts. Though this chair takes place in Spain, we are confident that the fundamental advancements it will unlock will be beneficial for our customers across the globe as they continue to leverage AI to pursue these objectives. We are excited to collaborate with the esteemed HiTZ research center to deliver value to our customers and society in general."

Ultimately, the chair intends to heighten the positive impact of AI and language technology across society, industries and organizations through four concrete actions:

• Increasing expert training through undergraduate and postgraduate studies and fostering continuous development for AI professionals.
• Facilitating knowledge transfer between the academic and business areas by creating innovative collaboration mechanisms.
• Enabling continuous enhancements around generative AI to positively impact energy efficiency and bias reduction, among other initiatives.
• Enhancing information sharing regarding generative AI to increase its adoption in society, strengthen its benefits and identify and mitigate new challenges that may arise.

Artificial intelligence is a sea change and, through this chair, Avature will work alongside the prestigious UPV/EHU's HiTZ research center to foster cutting-edge AI research and safeguard its development in a fast-evolving landscape, while furthering its AI expertise with the advancements resulting from the collaboration.

About Avature

Avature is a highly configurable enterprise HCM SaaS platform for recruiting and talent management, and the leading provider of CRM and ATS technology for human resources globally. Founded by Dimitri Boylan, Avature brings consumer-grade internet technology and digital innovation to HR departments. Avature solutions include shared services sourcing, applicant tracking, career sites, campus and events recruiting, employee referral management, social onboarding, branded employee engagement, employee mobility and workforce optimization, employee case management, performance management and learning.

Used by 110 of the Fortune 500 in more than 164 countries and 32 languages, Avature delivers its services from its private cloud, located in data centers in the US, Europe and Asia and from the Public Cloud. Avature has offices in Buenos Aires, London, Madrid, Melbourne, Munich, New York, Paris, Shenzhen and Virginia. Learn more at www.avature.net

About the HiTZ Research Center at the University of the Basque Country

The HiTZ is a reference center on Language Technologies, whose aim is to promote innovation in Artificial Intelligence focused on language and speech. Find out more at www.hitz.eus/en

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