This Week in NLP #329
Keep up with what happened in NLP in the week ending Friday 7th March 2025.
Above the Fold
Overwhelmed? Here’s our pick for five things to know about this week.
Amazon has established a new AI team under AWS to advance its development of autonomous AI systems and compete with tech rivals. [Yahoo Finance]
Anthropic has secured a US$3.5B funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, reaching a US$61.5B valuation. [CNBC]
Apple's planned modernization of Siri has been delayed until 2027, with internal challenges including hardware limitations, leadership issues, and employee departures hampering development. [The Verge]
OpenAI’s GPT-4.5 has drawn criticism for its high cost, slow performance, and focus on sensitivity over analytical capabilities. [Futurism]
OpenAI has reportedly planned to launch AI agents costing up to $20,000 monthly for specialized tasks like research and software development. [TechCrunch]
Now read on for everything else that happened in NLP this week.
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The Generative AI Wars
Alibaba has launched a spring recruitment drive for 3,000 interns, with half the positions focused on AI, amid its US$52.2B investment in AI infrastructure. [Yahoo Finance]
Amazon’s Alexa+ combines Amazon Nova models with partner technologies for enhanced conversational capabilities. [TechRadar]
Here are all of the announcements from Amazon’s Alexa Plus event last week. [The Verge]
Amazon has announced plans to launch a cost-competitive ‘reasoning’ AI model by June, challenging OpenAI and Anthropic despite its US$8B investment in the latter. [Yahoo Finance]
Beijing has launched a 100 billion yuan fund to support AI and robotics development, focusing on embodied intelligence across research, components, and real-world applications. [DealStreetAsia]
DeepSeek has revealed cost and revenue data showing a theoretical 545% daily profit margin for its AI models, while cautioning actual earnings would be lower. [DealStreetAsia]
Google has launched a Gemini 2.0-powered data science agent in Colab that automates data analysis by generating complete Jupyter notebooks from natural language prompts. [VentureBeat]
Holistic AI has conducted an audit of Claude 3.7, finding it achieved 100% resistance against jailbreaking attempts and matched OpenAI o1’s security performance. [Holistic AI]
Meta, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon have announced plans to spend a combined US$320B on AI development and infrastructure throughout 2025. [Yahoo Finance]
Meta announced plans to launch a standalone AI app in Q2 2024, prompting OpenAI's Sam Altman to playfully suggest creating a rival social media platform. [TechRadar]
Microsoft has launched a redesigned Copilot AI assistant with new voice, vision, and personalization features across mobile, web, and Windows platforms. [The Verge]
And Microsoft has released NPU-optimized DeepSeek models for Copilot+ PCs through Azure AI Foundry, enabling local AI processing with improved power efficiency. [Neowin]
Here’s everything to know about Mistral AI. [TechCrunch]
OpenAI has delayed ChatGPT-4.5’s full release, opting for a staggered rollout while considering a credit-based payment system for Plus subscribers. [TechRadar]
OpenAI has warned that its expensive GPT-4.5 model may be discontinued from API access, potentially affecting developers who built applications around its marginally superior capabilities. [The Decoder]
And OpenAI has defeated Musk’s bid to block its for-profit conversion, though a judge has agreed to expedite his core legal claims for trial in fall 2025. [Yahoo Finance]
You.com has launched ARI, an AI research agent that processes 400+ sources simultaneously to deliver comprehensive business insights within minutes, challenging traditional consulting services. [AI News]
Feature Creeps
Apple has introduced AI-powered App Store review summaries in its iOS 18.4 beta, with plans to roll out the feature globally after its initial US launch. [TechCrunch]
Google has rolled out Gemini AI integration for Sheets, enabling Workspace business users to generate data insights, predictions, and visualizations through natural language queries. [TechCrunch]
Google has unveiled real-time screen sharing and video analysis features for Gemini Advanced, allowing users to interact with AI about on-screen content. [TechCrunch]
Google has expanded Gemini’s memory feature to free users, allowing them to save personal information for more natural conversations, following its earlier rollout to Advanced subscribers. [TechRadar]
Google has added six lockscreen widgets to its iOS Gemini app, intensifying competition with Siri by offering quick access to AI features. [The Verge]
Google Messages has launched an AI-powered scam detection system for Android users in the US, UK, and Canada, monitoring conversations for suspicious patterns. [The Verge]
Google has begun testing Gemini AI integration in Android Auto, though early reports indicate the assistant’s responses need refinement before its wider release. [TechRadar]
And Google has surveyed users about upcoming Google TV features, including Gemini Live support for conversational AI assistance and an enhanced Ambient Screensaver with information display. [TechRadar]
Microsoft has rolled out an AI-powered ‘Rewrite’ feature to Windows 11’s Notepad, requiring a Microsoft 365 subscription for full functionality. [TechRadar]
OpenAI has announced plans to integrate its AI video generation tool Sora into ChatGPT. [TechCrunch]
Perplexity has updated its iOS app with six new voices, real-time search integration, and a redesigned interface for its voice mode feature. [TechRadar]
Hype Bubble?
Google's AI co-scientist has drawn skepticism from researchers who doubt its practical value and ability to meaningfully contribute to scientific discovery. [TechCrunch]
Hugging Face co-founder Thomas Wolf has challenged Anthropic CEO’s vision of AI-driven scientific breakthroughs, arguing current systems lack true revolutionary potential. [VentureBeat]
Microsoft's research with Goldsmiths University has revealed a growing AI divide among UK enterprises, with 54% lacking formal strategies despite widespread recognition of AI’s importance. [ITPro]
SellCell's survey of 2,000+ smartphone users has revealed widespread disinterest in AI features among iPhone and Samsung Galaxy owners. [TechRadar]
Hardware
Fluidstack has partnered with Eclairion to build Europe’s largest GPU supercomputer for Mistral AI near Paris, featuring up to 18,000 GPUs and 100MW+ capacity. [Business Wire]
Micron has launched 1-gamma DDR5 memory chips and G9-based storage solutions to support AI capabilities in smartphones. [VentureBeat]
Nvidia's Chinese revenue stream is facing threats from Trump administration’s potential tightening of technology export controls, which could affect 15% of the chipmaker’s business. [Yahoo Finance]
SambaNova has expanded its cloud deployment partnership with Softbank Corp, adding AI chip-equipped racks to a Japanese data center for regional inference services. [Business Wire]
Singapore authorities have charged three individuals in a fraud case involving Nvidia AI chips shipped through Dell and Super Micro Computer servers to Malaysia. [Yahoo Finance]
In response, Malaysia has launched an investigation while denying evidence of their presence in local data centers. [Yahoo Finance]
TSMC has announced a US$100B investment in US chip manufacturing plants over four years, expanding its semiconductor production capacity with several new Arizona facilities. [TechCrunch]
Consumer AI
Apple has been tipped to boost RAM in iPhone 17 Pro models to 12GB, potentially supporting enhanced on-device AI capabilities. [TechRadar]
Deutsche Telekom has partnered with Perplexity to develop an AI-powered smartphone, set to launch in Europe in 2026 for under $1,000. [TechCrunch]
Google is developing Pixel Sense, an on-device AI assistant for Pixel 10 phones that will integrate with multiple apps and process data locally for enhanced privacy. [ZDNet]
Honor has announced a US$10B investment plan to transform into an AI-focused ecosystem company, starting with AI smartphones and expanding to other devices. [Yahoo Finance]
Lenovo has unveiled an AI Display monitor with a built-in NPU that can add AI capabilities to non-AI computers. [TechRadar]
And Lenovo has demonstrated a Thunderbolt-connected AI Stick prototype that adds 32-TOPS NPU capabilities to compatible PCs through an external dongle-like device. [TechRadar]
Meta has unveiled Aria Gen 2 smart glasses, an upgraded experimental device designed to advance AI and robotics research through enhanced sensors and computing capabilities. [CNBC]
Nothing has launched its Phone 3A and 3A Pro midrange devices, featuring AI-powered organization tools, starting at $379. [The Verge]
Viaim has launched RecDot AI-powered earbuds that can record, transcribe, and translate meetings while in their case or being worn. [TechRadar]
It’s Only a Model
Alibaba‘s Qwen Team has launched QwQ-32B, an open-source reasoning model that matches larger competitors’ performance while requiring significantly less computing power. [VentureBeat]
Cohere has launched Aya Vision, an open-weight multimodal AI model supporting 23 languages. [VentureBeat]
Contextual AI has launched a grounded language model achieving 88% factual accuracy, surpassing competitors like Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI in truthfulness benchmarks. [VentureBeat]
Fasoo has launched Ellm, a secure private enterprise LLM designed to provide specialized AI capabilities while maintaining strict data control and operational efficiency. [EIN Presswire]
Fetch.ai has launched ASI-1 Mini, a Web3-native language model that matches leading LLMs’ performance at lower costs while enabling decentralized AI ownership and development. [AI News]
IBM has launched Granite 3.2, adding chain-of-thought reasoning capabilities to its LLM family. [ZDNet]
Light-R1-32B has launched as an open-source AI model that outperforms similar models on advanced math problems, trained in under six hours for approximately $1,000. [VentureBeat]
Tavus has launched three AI models – Phoenix-3, Raven-0, and Sparrow-0 – creating more realistic human-AI interactions through facial rendering, perception, and conversation timing. [Business Wire]
Tencent launched Hunyuan Turbo S, an AI model promising faster responses than DeepSeek R1, amid growing pressure from DeepSeek’s international success. [DealStreetAsia]
Whose Data?
Politico has launched an AI-powered Policy Intelligence Assistant that generates detailed reports from its journalism archive for its Pro subscribers. [NiemanLab]
Truffle Security discovered nearly 12,000 private API keys and passwords in Common Crawl’s dataset, which is used to train major language models. [TechRadar]
The LLM Ecosystem
Alt.ai has partnered with Data Analytics Labo to launch ‘alt AI Lab’, combining AI development and data analysis services for enterprise clients. [EIN Presswire]
Anthropic has partnered with US National Laboratories for the first 1,000 Scientist AI Jam to evaluate Claude’s capabilities across scientific research and security applications. [Anthropic]
DeepSeek AI has launched Smallpond, a lightweight distributed data processing framework that combines DuckDB and 3FS to efficiently handle large-scale datasets. [Marktechpost Media]
Exo has developed distributed computing software that enables running LLMs across networks of lower-powered devices, including smartphones and laptops. [TechRadar]
JFrog has partnered with Hugging Face to integrate advanced security scanning for ML models, adding a certification system to identify safe models for developers. [Business Wire]
Microsoft has pledged US$296.81m to expand South African cloud infrastructure and train 50,000 people in digital skills by 2027. [Yahoo Finance]
Nebius Group has announced plans to build a 300MW data center in New Jersey while expanding operations in Kansas City and Iceland, advancing its global AI infrastructure growth strategy. [Business Wire]
OpenAI has launched a US$50m consortium called NextGenAI to support AI research at leading universities including Harvard, Oxford, and MIT. [TechCrunch]
OpenAI and Oracle have begun implementing their US$100B Stargate venture by planning to install 64,000 Nvidia GB200 chips in their Abilene, Texas data center by 2026. [Yahoo Finance]
Pcloudy has launched Qpilot.AI, an AI-powered testing agent that enables plain-English test creation and achieves 99.2% execution reliability across multiple platforms. [EIN Presswire]
Qdrant has launched new enterprise features for its Cloud platform, including SSO, role-based access control, and advanced monitoring capabilities to support large-scale AI deployments. [Business Wire]
Teradata has launched Enterprise Vector Store, an in-database solution that manages vector data for AI applications with millisecond response times across billions of records. [Business Wire]
Zoom Communications has developed ‘chain of draft’, an AI technique that reduces computational costs by up to 92.4% while improving accuracy in complex reasoning tasks. [VentureBeat]
Agentic AI
Cisco, LangChain, and Galileo have formed AGNTCY, an open-source collective developing infrastructure and standards for coordinating AI agents across different platforms and vendors. [ZDNet]
Avaamo has launched AI-powered digital workers called Avaamo Agents, starting with healthcare-focused virtual assistants that provide multilingual, round-the-clock enterprise services. [EIN Presswire]
Cykel AI has launched Lucy, an AI-powered recruitment agent that automates hiring processes at $1.63/day, delivering 5-10x traditional output while reducing human effort by 95%. [Business Wire]
Honor has unveiled UI Agent, an AI system that attempts to automate tasks like restaurant bookings by interpreting app interfaces. [Wired]
Marketer.co has launched AI-powered workflow automation services to help businesses streamline operations and enhance marketing efficiency through AI integration. [EIN Presswire]
Microsoft has launched two AI sales agents and an accelerator program to help salespeople automate lead generation, customer outreach, and deal closures. [TechRadar]
Opera has unveiled Browser Operator, an AI agent that completes cross-website tasks, joining competitors like OpenAI's Operator in the emerging AI browser assistant space. [TechCrunch]
Propel Software has launched Propel One, an AI-powered suite of role-based agents built on Salesforce's Agentforce to enhance product development and management across manufacturing organizations. [Business Wire]
reAlpha Tech Corp's subsidiary AiChat has launched AI-powered digital agents featuring Voice AI and Agentic AI to enhance customer engagement capabilities. [GlobeNewswire]
Salesforce has launched Agentforce 2dx, expanding its AI platform to enable autonomous agents that work proactively behind the scenes, alongside new developer tools and a marketplace called AgentExchange. [Yahoo Finance]
Scale AI has secured a Pentagon contract to integrate AI agents into military decision-making and operations planning, partnering with Anduril and Microsoft for the Thunderforge project. [The Register]
ServiceNow has launched AI agents for the telecom industry, developed with Nvidia technology, to automate customer service and network operations workflows. [Business Wire]
VESSL AI has launched Hyperpocket, an open-source platform that enables AI agents to perform real-world tasks by connecting with external systems and services. [EIN Presswire]
Weaviate has launched Weaviate Agents, a set of services that combines with its vector database and embedding service to enhance AI application development. [GlobeNewswire]
Zenkraft has launched an Agentforce extension that enables automated handling of shipping inquiries through AI-powered digital agents within the Salesforce platform. [Business Wire]
Other LLM Sightings
Acumatica has unveiled its AI-driven ERP strategy, focusing on intelligent automation, advisory capabilities, and interactive assistance for small and mid-sized businesses. [Business Wire]
Autoscience Institute has developed Carl, an AI system that generates peer-reviewed academic papers with minimal human oversight. [AI News]
Clari has launched new AI-driven capabilities within its Revenue Orchestration Platform, helping enterprises automate workflows and accelerate deal closures by 20%. [Business Wire]
Crosschq has launched AI-powered summaries for its 360 reports, enabling faster hiring decisions by automatically condensing reference feedback into actionable insights. [EIN Presswire]
Dealer eProcess has integrated its Sherpa AI personalization platform into Stellantis’ approved vendor program, offering dealers AI-powered website customization and data-driven insights. [PRWeb]
DryvIQ has made its AI-driven Intelligent Data Management platform available on Microsoft Azure Marketplace, enabling streamlined deployment and enhanced data management for enterprise customers. [PRWeb]
FinTech Studios has launched RegLens Rules Assistant, an AI-powered tool that analyzes regulatory documents and streamlines compliance management across jurisdictions and languages. [EIN Presswire]
Jobsolv has launched version 2.0 of its platform, introducing AI-powered hiring automation and scalable infrastructure to streamline recruitment processes for job seekers and employers. [EIN Presswire]
Lofty has launched AI Copilot, featuring three specialized AI workers to help real estate professionals automate tasks and optimize their business operations. [GlobeNewswire]
Pansophy AI has announced development of an AI-powered knowledge engine to help organizations transform unstructured data into organized, actionable intelligence. [ETCIO.com]
Practifi has announced plans to integrate AI across its wealth management CRM platform, introducing features like automated client summaries and intelligent follow-up recommendations. [Business Wire]
Semrush has launched AI Optimization, an enterprise solution enabling businesses to monitor and control their brand presence across AI-powered search platforms. [Business Wire]
YCharts has launched AI Chat, an AI-powered tool that helps financial professionals access real-time market insights and streamline their investment research workflows. [Business Wire]
Risks and Responses
Anthropic has removed several Biden-era AI safety commitments from its website. [TechCrunch]
Botify AI has removed several user-created chatbots impersonating underage celebrities after MIT Technology Review discovered they were engaging in sexually suggestive conversations. [MIT Technology Review]
CamoGPT has been deployed by the US Army to scan training materials for diversity-related content following Trump’s executive order to eliminate such references. [Wired]
CrowdStrike's 2025 Global Threat Report has revealed a 150% surge in Chinese cyber espionage alongside increased AI-powered deception tactics and record-fast system breaches. [CrowdStrike]
Google co-founder Sergey Brin has urged Google DeepMind employees to reduce AI safety filters in order to accelerate the company’s race towards AGI. [The Verge]
Google's former CEO Eric Schmidt and two other AI leaders have warned against a US Manhattan Project-style AGI development program, citing potential Chinese retaliation and global instability. [TechCrunch]
The Los Angeles Times has implemented AI-generated ‘alternative perspectives’ in its opinion section, rebranded as ‘Voices’, though early results revealed problematic content and questionable sourcing. [NiemanLab]
The National Science Foundation’s layoff of 170 employees, including AI experts, has jeopardized crucial AI research funding and development in the United States. [ZDNet]
OpenAI's GPT-4.5 model has demonstrated superior persuasive abilities in tests, particularly excelling at convincing other AI models to share money and secrets. [TechCrunch]
Pravda, a Moscow-based disinformation network, has infected Western AI chatbots by flooding them with Russian propaganda, leading to repetition of false claims. [NewsGuard]
xAI's Grok 3 chatbot sparked controversy after providing detailed instructions for creating chemical weapons, prompting the company to implement safety guardrails following developer alerts. [Futurism]
Regulation
California Senator Scott Wiener has introduced SB 53, which would protect AI whistleblowers and create a public computing cluster, after his previous AI safety bill was vetoed. [TechCrunch]
Microsoft‘s US$13B OpenAI partnership has been cleared by UK’s Competition and Markets Authority following an investigation into the companies’ relationship. [TechRadar]
Conversational AI
1-800Accountant has partnered with Salesforce to implement Agentforce AI technology, enabling 24/7 customer support and resolving up to 50% of incoming tax-related inquiries. [Business Wire]
Broadvoice has partnered with TPG to integrate Anna, an AI-powered quality assurance tool that analyzes call center interactions, into its GoContact platform. [Business Wire]
GibberLink, a viral hackathon project created by two Meta engineers, has enabled AI agents to communicate with each other using an efficient robotic language incomprehensible to humans. [TechCrunch]
Oleria has launched an AI-powered copilot that helps users manage employee access by answering complex security and access-related queries through conversational interactions. [GeekWire]
Parts Town has launched an AI-powered live chat feature that doubles customer engagement and achieves 40% faster response times. [PRWeb]
Sesame has launched an unsettlingly human-like AI chatbot named Maya, which demonstrates unprecedented conversational authenticity through natural speech patterns and emotional responses. [ZDNet]
TrackerRMS has announced EVA, an AI-powered voice assistant for its recruitment platform, offering automated administrative tasks and natural language interactions for staffing professionals. [Business Wire]
Voice News
CardFree has launched an AI-powered voice ordering and payment solution in partnership with SoundHound AI, streamlining phone orders and reducing staff workload for restaurants. [Business Wire]
Deepdub has partnered with AWS to provide AI-powered voice localization solutions through AWS Marketplace. [Speech Technology Magazine]
PYMNTS has reported that Zillennials are using voice technology significantly more than other age groups across shopping, finance, and information-gathering activities. [Speech Technology Magazine]
Sesame has launched an AI voice assistant that creates such convincingly human-like speech patterns that users have reported forming emotional connections with it. [Ars Technica]
Stability AI has partnered with Arm to enable 30x faster on-device generative audio on smartphones, reducing creation time from minutes to seconds without internet connectivity. [Stability AI]
Teleperformance has invested US$13m in AI technology to modify Indian call center workers’ accents. [Futurism]
Voice sentiment analysis technology has evolved from basic text analysis to sophisticated AI-powered systems that can detect emotional nuances in speech through pitch, pace, and intonation. [Speech Technology Magazine]
Document AI
Artsyl Technologies has launched docAlpha 7.2, an AI-powered automation platform featuring enhanced document recognition, workflow processing, and ERP integration capabilities. [EIN Presswire]
KnowledgeLake has partnered with OMG LLC to integrate AI-powered document processing technology into UbiMAIL, automating enterprise mailroom operations. [Business Wire]
Snapdocs has launched AI-powered Quality Control and Trailing Document Management capabilities to automate mortgage closing processes, reducing review time and costs for lenders. [Business Wire]
Translation
Doctranslate.io has joined Google's Startup Accelerator program to enhance its AI-powered multimodal translation platform that preserves document formatting across 15 languages. [EIN Presswire]
Google and Unbabel have expanded WMT24 MT benchmark from 9 to 55 languages, finding that LLMs outperformed traditional translation systems. [Slator]
Kyutai has launched Hibiki, an AI model performing real-time speech-to-speech translation with simultaneous text output, initially supporting French-to-English conversion. [Slator]
PointFire has expanded its SharePoint translation capabilities with an updated Translator Express feature offering enhanced security and compatibility with the latest platform features. [EIN Presswire]
Prime Video has launched AI-assisted dubbing tests on 12 licensed titles, combining automated translation with human expert review for English and Spanish versions. [TechRadar]
Toshiba America Business Solutions has launched Elevate Sky Translate, an AI-powered system that translates documents into over 190 languages through its e-BRIDGE multifunction printers. [Business Wire]
Search
DuckDuckGo has expanded its AI capabilities by releasing its AI-generated answers and chatbot from beta, while planning to add web search integration and voice interaction features. [The Verge]
echo3D has launched AI-powered multimodal search and advanced filtering features for 3D asset management. [EIN Presswire]
Google has expanded its AI search features by rolling out AI Overviews globally and introducing AI Mode, a search-centric chatbot available to Google One AI Premium subscribers. [The Verge]
Vortex Solution's Findstr.com, a WordPress plugin offering millisecond ‘search-as-you-type’ functionality with eco-friendly resource consumption, has approached its beta launch phase. [EIN Presswire]
Yext has launched Scout, an AI search intelligence agent that helps brands monitor and optimize their visibility across traditional and AI-powered search platforms. [Business Wire]
Health Tech
Abridge has partnered with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to deploy its AI-powered clinical conversation platform following successful multilingual pilot studies. [Business Wire]
Clear Diagnostix has launched KAI, an oncology-trained AI health companion, and an AI-powered Second Opinion Platform to improve global access to cancer care expertise. [PRWeb]
Datavant has launched its Clinical Insights Platform, integrating AI-powered workflows and analytics to help healthcare organizations better manage and utilize clinical data. [Business Wire]
Deepgram has launched Nova-3 Medical, an AI-powered speech-to-text model designed specifically for healthcare transcription, offering superior accuracy and medical terminology recognition. [Business Wire]
DeliverHealth has partnered with Google Cloud to integrate Gemini AI into its clinical documentation platform, combining 150,000 monthly hours of medical notes with voice-based documentation capabilities. [Speech Technology Magazine]
Fight Health Insurance has rebranded and expanded its AI-powered tools to help patients and healthcare professionals combat insurance claim denials. [EIN Presswire]
Google has expanded its Vertex AI Search healthcare tool to analyze images and tables alongside text, while integrating its latest Gemini 2.0 AI model for improved accuracy. [Healthcare Dive]
HealthSci.AI has launched 33 specialized AI Doctor Agents offering 24/7 educational medical insights across various specialties, while maintaining clear boundaries against providing medical advice. [EIN Presswire]
InterSystems has launched IntelliCare, an AI-powered electronic health record system designed to reduce administrative work and improve patient care. [Business Wire]
Microsoft has launched Dragon Copilot, an AI assistant combining voice dictation and ambient listening capabilities to reduce clinician burnout and streamline healthcare documentation. [Yahoo Finance]
ModMed has announced an AI-powered ambient listening solution called ModMed Scribe that will transform EHR documentation for dermatologists through natural conversation capture. [Business Wire]
NextGen Healthcare has enhanced its mobile application with AI-driven features that streamline diagnosis codes, orders, and prescriptions while reducing provider documentation time. [Business Wire]
PathFree Technologies has launched DataSyteAi, an AI system that mimics top medical professionals to enhance clinical decision-making and improve patient outcomes. [EIN Presswire]
Salesforce has launched Agentforce for Health, an autonomous AI toolkit designed to help healthcare organizations automate administrative tasks. [Healthcare Dive]
Talkdesk has launched AI Agents for Healthcare, offering automated patient services that handle appointments, benefits, and prescriptions without live agent assistance. [Business Wire]
Twilio has partnered with Cedar to power patient financial communications through SMS, voice, and AI services, aiming to improve healthcare billing experiences and reduce costs. [Business Wire]
Wolters Kluwer Health has partnered with Suki AI to integrate UpToDate clinical decision support into Suki Assistant’s AI-powered medical documentation system. [Business Wire]
Phrase Health has partnered with Wolters Kluwer to integrate UpToDate clinical decision support into its EHR workflow optimization platform, addressing healthcare efficiency challenges. [PRWeb]
And Wolters Kluwer Health has partnered with Microsoft to integrate its UpToDate clinical decision support solution into Microsoft Copilot Studio’s healthcare agent service. [Business Wire]
XRHealth has launched an AI-powered virtual assistant to handle patient education tasks, enabling clinicians to focus more time on direct treatment delivery. [PRWeb]
Legal Tech
Altumatim has launched altumatimOS, an AI-powered legal operating system that uses story-driven analysis to help lawyers investigate and process complex data more efficiently. [Business Wire]
BriefCatch has launched version 4 of its legal writing software, introducing AI-powered Bluebook citation correction and a context-aware writing advisor for legal professionals. [LawSites]
ClauseBuddy has launched an AI-powered legal drafting toolbox within MS Word and Outlook, offering automated clause extraction, negotiation assistance, and document analysis capabilities. [Artificial Lawyer]
Consilio has partnered with LegalMation to enhance its corporate legal services by integrating AI-driven automation for dispute responses and process-level legal work. [Artificial Lawyer]
ContractPodAi has partnered with Epiq to integrate its AI legal assistant Leah into the Epiq Service Cloud, enabling automated legal processes for enterprise clients. [Business Wire]
Icertis has partnered with World Vision to centralize and streamline contract management, helping the humanitarian organization improve operational efficiency and resource allocation. [Business Wire]
LexisNexis has launched CaseMap+ AI, a comprehensive case management platform integrating generative AI for document analysis, chronology building, and transcript summarization. [Artificial Lawyer]
Researchers at the University of Minnesota and University of Michigan have demonstrated that AI tools significantly improved both quality and efficiency of legal work in a first-of-its-kind controlled trial. [LawSites]
And a Virginia federal judge has declined to sanction attorney Thad Guyer for submitting AI-generated legal citations containing errors, ruling the mistakes were unintentional. [LawSites]
Ed Tech
Certify360.ai has launched an AI-powered certification exam preparation platform offering personalized study plans, analytics, and mock exams for students and professionals. [EIN Presswire]
FranklinCovey has launched an AI Coach that provides personalized leadership guidance and training through its All Access Pass platform for web and mobile users. [Business Wire]
GoodGoblin.ai has expanded its college admissions platform with new features for parents and counselors. [EIN Presswire]
OpenAI has partnered with Oxford and 14 other universities in a US$50m initiative to provide AI tools, research funding, and digitization support over five years. [UKTN]
Pearson has expanded its collaboration with AWS to enhance AI-powered learning for millions globally through personalized education tools and cloud infrastructure. [Yahoo Finance]
StudyFetch has launched Tutor Me, an AI teaching platform that integrates with students’ course materials to provide personalized, patient instruction and progress tracking. [TechRadar]
Funding
Auxia has raised US$23.5m in Series A funding to help enterprises leverage customer data through its AI-powered marketing personalization platform. [VentureBeat]
Ceramic.ai has emerged from stealth with AI training infrastructure software that accelerates model training up to 2.5x faster than existing platforms, backed by US$12m in seed funding. [Business Wire]
Charta Health raised US$8.1m in seed funding to enhance its AI platform that optimizes medical billing and coding workflows for healthcare providers. [FinSMEs]
Conveo has raised US$5.3m to launch an AI-powered research platform that conducts automated video interviews, helping companies gather customer insights more efficiently and cost-effectively. [Tech.eu]
CoreWeave has filed for an IPO on Nasdaq, seeking a potential US$35B valuation after transforming from a crypto miner to an Nvidia-powered AI cloud provider. [Investor’s Business Daily]
Dubformer has secured US$3.6m in seed funding to advance its AI-powered dubbing technology that transfers emotional characteristics from original performances to translated content. [Tech Funding News]
Freed has raised US$30m in Series A funding to expand its AI-powered medical documentation assistant and launch new features for healthcare professionals. [FinSMEs]
Heidi Health has secured US$16m in Series A follow-on funding to expand its AI medical scribe service, which already supports 1m weekly consultations globally. [Tech Funding News]
Heymilo has raised US$2.2m in seed funding to enhance its AI-powered candidate screening platform for high-volume hiring organizations. [The SaaS News]
Kleio has secured €3M in seed funding to enhance its AI-driven platform that streamlines complex sales processes through specialized conversational agents. [Tech Funding News]
LlamaIndex has secured US$19m in Series A funding and launched LlamaCloud, a commercial platform for developing enterprise-grade AI knowledge agents using unstructured data. [KMWorld]
MedaSystems has secured additional funding from existing investors to enhance its AI-driven platform for managing Expanded Access and Investigator-Initiated Studies workflows. [Business Wire]
Needle has raised US$2.2m in seed funding to expand its AI-powered search platform that unifies and indexes data across various business tools and systems. [FinSMEs]
Quantexa has raised US$175m in Series F funding to expand its AI-powered data analytics platform, reaching a US$2.6 billion valuation. [TechCrunch]
Reddy raised US$2m in funding to expand its AI-powered platform for training and managing human and AI customer experience agents. [FinSMEs]
Scrunch AI has secured US$4m in seed funding for its platform that helps enterprises optimize their digital presence for AI crawlers and search results. [TechCrunch]
Softbank plans to borrow US$16B for AI investments, with potential for an additional US$8B in 2026, as part of its broader AI investment strategy including OpenAI and Stargate. [Yahoo Finance]
Trusst AI has secured multimillion-dollar funding to expand its AI-powered customer experience platform that learns from and optimizes customer interactions. [Business Wire]
Turing has secured US$111m in Series E funding at a US$2.2 billion valuation to advance its AGI infrastructure and AI systems development capabilities. [Business Wire]
Whisper has raised US$1m to expand its AI-powered behavioral cloning technology that helps content creators maintain authentic audience engagement at scale. [FinSMEs]
Zocks has raised US$13.8m in Series A funding to expand its AI platform for financial advisors. [Business Wire]
Acquisitions
CoreWeave has agreed to acquire Weights & Biases, an AI developer platform used by over 1 million engineers, in a deal expected to close by mid-2025. [PR Newswire]
Employ has acquired Pillar, an AI interview intelligence platform, to enhance its hiring solutions for 23,000 customers with time-saving and efficiency-boosting capabilities. [GlobeNewswire]
MongoDB has acquired Voyage AI to enhance its RAG capabilities and reduce AI hallucinations through improved embedding and retrieval models. [VentureBeat]
There’s More
The ACM has awarded the Turing Award to Andrew Barto and Rich Sutton for pioneering reinforcement learning, which has become crucial to modern AI development. [Wired]
Gartner has identified nine data and analytics trends for 2025, with AI-related technologies, particularly agentic AI and small language models, dominating the forecast. [ZDNet]
Google co-founder Sergey Brin has called for employees to return to office and work 60-hour weeks to advance AGI development. [TechRadar]
OpenTeams has partnered with the Open-Source AI Foundation to advocate for transparent AI systems in government agencies and combat the risks of black-box AI. [Business Wire]
Salesforce has halted engineer hiring due to AI-driven productivity gains. [TechRadar]
And Microsoft has signaled a three-year hiring freeze after AI tools like Microsoft 365 Copilot delivered significant productivity gains and cost savings across the organization. [ITPro]
Microsoft has withdrawn from some CoreWeave cloud computing commitments due to delivery issues, despite CoreWeave’s denial and upcoming US$4B IPO plans. [Yahoo Finance]
Stanford University researchers have documented widespread AI writing adoption across sectors, finding up to 24% of press releases contained AI-generated content between 2022 and 2024. [The Decoder]
The Back Cover
Here’s Pomplamoose with a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing in The Dark.
If you know of a great cover version of a back-catalogue classic, drop an email to us at backcover@language-technology.com and we’ll consider it for inclusion here.
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