Blackbird PLC Regulatory News (BIRD)

22 May 2018

Forbidden Technologies plc

("Forbidden" or the "Company")

Forbidden Technologies Forms Technology Alliance with Veritone

Forbidden Technologies plc, the developer and seller of the Blackbird® cloud video platform, has established a technology alliance with Veritone.

Under the new alliance, Forbidden will integrate its revolutionary Blackbird codec and cloud video platform with Veritone aiWARE™, an Operating System for Artificial Intelligence (AI). Application developers, such as Forbidden Technologies, can quickly integrate their applications with aiWARE and immediately inherit the ability to recognise languages, faces, objects and logos from audio and video files. By adopting the aiWARE operating system, which is constantly growing in the depth and breadth of its cognitive processing power, applications will automatically improve the speed and accuracy of their offering, providing continuous value for their users.

This new solution will utilise the existing power of Blackbird Ascent and Blackbird Forte to optimise operational workflows. End users are being stretched by consumers demand for fast turnaround and multi-platform delivery, as well as increasing legislation. Veritone employs AI to orchestrate multiple cognitive engines to automate the generation of metadata to enrich content, improve visibility and permit operational teams to focus on monetising their content without the need for labour intensive manual data entry.

Forbidden CEO, Ian McDonough says: "The capabilities of AI platforms are evolving rapidly, and multiple additional revenue streams are unlocked for our customers by the huge wealth of data they can expose. We need to partner with companies that have a strong vision for intelligently guiding content through the most suitable engines for our customers' desired workflows. Blackbird's value is to make use of this data, optimising existing workflows to maximise the content's value."

Andy Brinck, Vice President, Worldwide Channels at Veritone said: "Veritone provides a trusted operating system for AI that empowers innovative companies, like Forbidden Technologies, to deliver actionable insights from previously unstructured data sources. We're thrilled to see Forbidden's Blackbird video platform leverage these capabilities to offer increased value to their customers."

Enquiries:

Forbidden Technologies plc

Ian McDonough, CEO

Jonathan Lees, Finance Director

Tel: +44 (0)20 8879 7245

Allenby Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser and Broker)

Nick Naylor

John Depasquale

Nicholas Chambers

Tel: +44 (0)20 3328 5656

About Veritone

Veritone (NASDAQ: VERI) is a leading artificial intelligence company that has developed aiWARE, an AWS-certified platform offering orchestrated cognitive computing to transform and analyse structured and unstructured data for clients in a variety of markets, including media and entertainment, legal, compliance and government. The open platform integrates an ecosystem of cognitive engines, which can be orchestrated together, and a suite of proprietary applications, to reveal unprecedented, multivariate insights from linear files such as radio and TV broadcasts, surveillance footage and public and private content globally. To learn more, visit Veritone.com 

About Forbidden Technologies plc

Forbidden Technologies plc (AIM: FBT, www.forbidden.co.uk) floated in February 2000. Forbidden develops, markets and licenses a powerful cloud video platform using our patented Blackbird technology. The technology underpins multiple applications which are used by rights holders, broadcasters, sports and news video specialists, post-production houses, other mass market digital video channels, and corporations.

The Blackbird technology allows full visibility on multi-location digital content, improves time to market for live content such as video clips and highlights for social media distribution, and results in much more effective monetisation.

To find out more about Blackbird Forte and Blackbird Ascent contact commercial@blackbird.video or visit www.blackbird.video

Blackbird® is a registered trademark of Forbidden Technologies plc