This Week in NLP #322
Keep up with what happened in NLP in the week ending Friday 17th January 2025.
Above the Fold
Overwhelmed? Here’s our pick for five things to know about this week.
Google has consolidated its AI development by moving its AI Studio and Gemini API teams under Google DeepMind, continuing its efforts to streamline AI operations. [TechCrunch]
Microsoft has established a new CoreAI division to integrate AI capabilities across its developer platforms and tools. [The Verge]
OpenAI’s ChatGPT now has Tasks, a beta feature allowing Plus and Pro subscribers to set reminders and receive AI-suggested notifications based on conversations. [TechRadar]
OpenAI's planned corporate restructuring has prompted Musk’s lawyer to request state attorneys general mandate an auction of its assets. [Yahoo Finance]
xAI has launched a standalone iOS app for its Grok chatbot, expanding beyond X to offer real-time data access, AI features, and image generation capabilities. [TechCrunch]
Now read on for everything else that happened in NLP this week.
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The Generative AI Wars
Amazon has delayed launching its generative AI-powered Alexa due to technical challenges, particularly the need to eliminate AI hallucinations and ensure reliable third-party integrations. [Engadget]
Apple has established a US$35m data-processing venture in Shanghai. [Yahoo Finance]
DeepSeek has launched a free iOS app featuring DeepThink reasoning and search capabilities, positioning itself as a competitive alternative to ChatGPT. [TestingCatalog]
Google has integrated its AI features into Workspace at no extra charge beyond a $2 monthly price increase, matching Microsoft's strategy of mainstreaming AI tools. [The Verge]
Google's Gemini AI has achieved simultaneous processing of multiple visual streams through AnyChat, an experimental app that unlocked previously hidden capabilities in the AI system. [VentureBeat]
Meta‘s aggressive pursuit of AI supremacy has been revealed through court documents showing executives’ intense focus on beating GPT-4 while developing Llama 3. [TechCrunch]
Microsoft's Copilot+ PC sales remained disappointing despite late-2024 price cuts, though analysts predict better adoption in 2025 with more affordable Arm-based models. [TechRadar]
Microsoft has expanded its Copilot AI features to Office apps in select Asia-Pacific markets, bundling them with Microsoft 365 subscriptions while implementing significant price increases. [ZDNet]
Microsoft has launched Copilot Chat, a pay-as-you-go AI service offering task automation and productivity features as a lighter alternative to Microsoft 365 Copilot. [TechCrunch]
Ndea, a startup co-founded by former Google AI researcher François Chollet and Zapier's Mike Knoop, has launched to develop AGI through program synthesis techniques. [TechCrunch]
Nvidia has dramatically increased its AI startup investments, participating in 49 funding rounds in 2024 and backing major players like OpenAI, xAI, and Inflection with investments ranging from US$100m to US$6.6B. [TechCrunch]
The FTC has supported aspects of Musk’s antitrust lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft by providing legal analysis regarding board memberships and investor boycotts. [Yahoo Finance]
Labour has unveiled a 50-point AI action plan for the UK, including dedicated growth zones and £14bn in private sector investments, aiming to boost economic efficiency. [Computer Weekly]
OpenAI’s Economic Blueprint outlines policy proposals for how the US can maximize AI’s benefits, bolster national security, and drive economic growth. [OpenAI]
OpenAI has partnered with Axios in a three-year deal to fund local newsletter expansion into four new cities, marking its first direct newsroom investment. [TechCrunch]
Salesforce's CEO Benioff has criticized Microsoft Copilot as unsuccessful, citing low customer adoption and Microsoft’s reliance on OpenAI's technology. [TechRadar]
xAI has established a UK presence by incorporating in London, hiring staff, and setting up office space in X's Piccadilly location. [UKTN]
Feature Creeps
Google is bringing Gemini to its TV platform in 2025, replacing Google Assistant with improved voice commands, complex queries, and sensor-based ambient features. [ZDNet]
Google has expanded Gemini Code Assist by adding third-party tool support, including GitHub, GitLab, and Snyk. [InfoQ]
Google has added an ‘Insert’ button to Gmail’s Android app, streamlining the process of using Gemini AI to compose and edit email replies. [ZDNet]
Microsoft Teams has introduced a Copilot feature that suggests follow-up questions during meetings to extend conversations and potentially uncover new insights. [TechRadar]
OpenAI has leaked screenshots of upcoming ChatGPT personality customization features, building upon existing manual customization options that allow users to modify the chatbot’s responses. [TechRadar]
YouTube is preparing to launch Gemini Live, an AI-powered feature that will enable users to have interactive conversations about videos and PDFs while watching them. [TechRadar]
WhatsApp is testing a redesigned Android interface that elevates AI features to a dedicated tab, making Meta's AI tools more prominent and accessible to its users. [TechRadar]
Hardware
Apple has joined the Ultra Accelerator Link Consortium’s board to help develop UALink, a next-generation standard for connecting AI data center chips. [TechCrunch]
Blaize, an AI edge-computing chip manufacturer founded by ex-Intel engineers, has announced plans to go public. [TechCrunch]
CoreWeave has launched two UK data centres in London and Crawley, investing £1bn in compute infrastructure. [UKTN]
Hewlett Packard has won a US$1B AI server deal for Elon Musk’s X. [Bloomberg]
The Biden administration has introduced export controls dividing nations into those with unrestricted access to advanced AI technology and those requiring special licenses, primarily targeting China’s AI development. [Wired]
The European Commission is displeased with the Biden administration’s plans. [The Register]
Nvidia shares closed 2% lower after the Biden administration introduced its new export restrictions. [Yahoo Finance]
Nvidia criticized the export controls, arguing they would harm US technological leadership without improving national security. [Yahoo Finance]
Nvidia has established an ASIC department and is recruiting 1,000 Taiwanese engineers to compete in the growing inference chip market against Broadcom and Marvell. [TechRadar]
Nvidia has announced a US$500m data center in Israel to advance AI computing and data center technologies, with completion expected in 2025. [Yahoo Finance]
Nvidia's latest Blackwell AI chip racks have faced order delays from major tech customers due to overheating issues and connection glitches. [Yahoo Finance]
Siliconware Precision Industries has inaugurated a new semiconductor plant in Taiwan, strengthening its partnership with Nvidia in advanced AI chip production. [Yahoo Finance]
TSMC has begun final verification of Apple-designed chips at its Arizona plant, with commercial production expected to start in early 2025. [Nikkei Asia]
Vantage Data Centres has led a £14bn tech industry investment in the UK’s new AI Opportunities Action Plan. [Verdict]
The White House has signed an executive order to accelerate AI data center construction on federal land, requiring clean energy use and enhanced security measures. [TechRadar]
Consumer AI
Apple has planned a late-2025 release for an updated HomePod mini alongside a smarter (but not AI-powered) Siri and other smart home products. [TechRadar]
MLVision launched the M5, the world’s lightest AI-powered AR glasses, featuring modular design, an 86-inch virtual screen, and advanced navigation capabilities. [PR Newswire]
Nothing's upcoming Phone 3 has been revealed through a leaked memo to feature flagship specifications and advanced AI capabilities. [TechRadar]
Rokid's smart glasses impressed at CES 2025 with features like real-time translation and photo capture, standing out among numerous competitors offering varying approaches to wearable display technology. [The Verge]
Samsung has leaked details about its Galaxy S25’s AI features, including Now Brief morning briefings and expanded Gemini integration potentially replacing Bixby. [TechRadar]
TCL has unveiled three distinct smart glasses at CES 2025, including the AR-capable RayNeo X3 Pro, the camera-focused V3, and the entertainment-oriented Air 3. [TechRadar]
Up Network has partnered with DreamSmart to develop Web3 AI glasses featuring Google Gemini technology, natural language interaction, and privacy-focused data processing. [VentureBeat]
Youdao showcased its AI-powered Dictionary Pen X7 series at CES 2025, demonstrating Chinese AI capabilities in educational technology to a global audience. [PR Newswire]
It’s Only a Model
Google DeepMind has launched PaliGemma 2, a family of vision-language models combining SigLIP image encoding with Gemma 2 LLM, achieving record-breaking performance across multiple benchmarks. [InfoQ]
iGenius has launched Colosseum 355B, a language model designed for regulated industries requiring enhanced data protection, targeting financial, industrial, and government sectors. [Yahoo Finance]
Luma AI released Ray2, its newest video AI generation model, offering ‘fast, natural coherent motion and physics’. [VentureBeat]
Microsoft has developed rStar-Math, a reasoning technique that enhanced small language models’ math problem-solving abilities to match or exceed OpenAI's larger models. [VentureBeat]
MiniMax has launched three AI models, including a 456-billion-parameter text model with a massive context window and capabilities rivaling those of leading Western competitors. [TechCrunch]
Mistral AI has updated its open-source coding model Codestral. [VentureBeat]
Researchers at the Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI have released LlamaV-o1, an AI model that outperforms competitors in visual-text reasoning tasks while providing transparent, step-by-step explanations of its decisions. [VentureBeat]
NovaSky has released Sky-T1-32B-Preview, an open-source reasoning AI model trained for under $450 that rivals OpenAI's earlier o1 on several benchmarks. [TechCrunch]
Whose Data?
Created by Humans has launched an AI licensing platform for books with US$5m in seed funding and support from bestselling authors. [PRWeb]
Google has partnered with The Associated Press to develop a real-time news feed for its Gemini chatbot, joining other AI companies making similar publisher deals. [TechCrunch]
Ketch has published research revealing that 88% of companies mishandle user data preferences, potentially compromising AI systems and violating privacy regulations. [Business Wire]
Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg approved using pirated content from LibGen to train AI models, according to newly unredacted court documents in a copyright lawsuit. [TechCrunch]
Microsoft and OpenAI defended the tech companies’ practice of scraping online news stories to train their LLMs and urged a federal judge to dismiss copyright infringement claims by The New York Times and other news organizations. [Courthouse News Service]
Mistral AI has partnered with Agence France-Presse to enhance Le Chat’s accuracy by accessing AFP’s multilingual news archive dating back to 1983. [TechCrunch]
OpenAI, Google, and other AI companies have begun purchasing unused video footage directly from content creators, paying up to $4 per minute through specialized licensing firms. [The Decoder]
TechCrunch’s survey of 20 venture capitalists has revealed that proprietary data quality and rarity are considered the primary competitive advantages for AI startups seeking investment. [TechCrunch]
The LLM Ecosystem
AI Unlimited Group has partnered with Groq Cloud to develop multi-model AI systems for enhanced decision-making across financial and lifestyle platforms. [GlobeNewswire]
Call Stream AI has launched an enterprise-focused professional LLM platform combining RAG capabilities with model adaptation for secure business integration. [EIN Presswire]
Contextual AI announced the general availability of the Contextual AI Platform, helping enterprises build specialized RAG agents to support expert knowledge work. [MarTech Series]
Diffbot has launched an open-source AI model using graph retrieval-augmented generation to access real-time data from its trillion-fact Knowledge Graph, improving factual accuracy. [VentureBeat]
Galileo has developed an AI trust layer that helps enterprises control and monitor LLMs’ outputs, preventing hallucinations and ensuring reliable performance. [BigDATAwire]
Gcore has updated its Everywhere Inference solution to enable flexible AI deployment across cloud, on-premise, and hybrid environments. [Business Wire]
Google DeepMind has introduced FACTS Grounding, a benchmark and leaderboard system that evaluates language models’ ability to generate factual responses from long-form documents. [VentureBeat]
Informatica has expanded its partnership with Databricks, integrating AI functions and native SQL ELT capabilities. [Business Wire]
KNIME has partnered with DataCamp to integrate visual workflow tools with online learning resources, launching a certification track for data science and AI education. [Business Wire]
Microsoft has updated AutoGen v0.4 with improved agent flexibility, modularity, and control features, addressing customer feedback about architectural constraints in previous versions. [VentureBeat]
Nordik Data Centers has partnered with GenerIA to provide secure, eco-friendly AI solutions through sovereign data centers in Quebec. [EIN Presswire]
OpsVerse has launched Aiden 2.0, an enhanced AI-powered DevOps copilot that integrates with multiple tools to streamline development workflows through natural language commands. [Business Wire]
Raft has launched [R]DP, an AI-enabled defense data platform that helps the US Department of Defense process and analyze multi-source data in real-time. [PR Newswire]
Snowflake has launched a US$20m program to train one million people in AI and data skills by 2029, offering free certification courses and platform access globally. [Business Wire]
Sup AI has launched a free platform that combines multiple LLMs to generate more comprehensive, accurate content. [PRWeb]
ThoughtSpot has launched Analyst Studio, an AI-focused platform add-on that helps data teams prepare analytics, manage costs, and perform advanced analysis within a unified environment. [GlobeNewswire]
WorkJam has launched Data-as-a-Service, giving customers direct access to their business data for enhanced reporting, analytics, and integration with existing tools. [Business Wire]
Agentic AI
Accenture has predicted that AI agents will become the primary users of enterprise digital systems by 2030, surpassing human users in both internal and consumer applications. [ZDNet]
Cognizant has launched its Neuro AI Multi-Agent Accelerator and Service Suite to help businesses develop and implement collaborative AI agent networks. [PR Newswire]
Epicor has launched Prism, a network of industry-specific AI agents designed to simplify complex business operations through conversational ERP for supply chain industries. [Business Wire]
Findability Sciences has launched its Agentic Workflow Engine, an AI-powered automation system designed to boost revenue and efficiency across multiple industries. [EIN Presswire]
LangChain has introduced ‘ambient agents’, AI systems that continuously monitor events and act autonomously in the background. [VentureBeat]
Microsoft has launched pay-as-you-go AI agents within Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat to automate repetitive tasks for commercial customers. [ZDNet]
Moveworks has expanded its Microsoft alliance to integrate its AI assistant for employee support within Microsoft 365 Copilot and Teams. [Business Wire]
OpenAI has launched Tasks, a beta feature allowing ChatGPT Plus users to schedule reminders and recurring actions, potentially signaling the company’s first step toward AI agents. [VentureBeat]
Salesforce has unveiled Agentforce for Retail and Retail Cloud with Modern POS, introducing AI-powered tools to help retailers automate tasks and unify shopping data. [Business Wire]
SharkNinja has partnered with Salesforce to implement Agentforce and Commerce Cloud, scaling its global customer service through AI-powered autonomous agents across 30+ markets. [Business Wire]
UpBrains AI has launched agentic AI solutions to automate and optimize wholesale distribution operations, focusing on order processing, document management, and compliance automation. [EIN Presswire]
Other LLM Sightings
Algolia has launched Shopping Guides, an AI-powered content generation tool that creates educational and comparison-based articles to help online shoppers make purchasing decisions. [Business Wire]
B. McGuire Designs has launched an AI-assisted Web Chat solution that provides small businesses with 24/7 customer interaction and lead capture capabilities. [EIN Presswire]
Box has launched its Enterprise Advanced plan, combining AI-powered innovations including Box Apps, Box AI Studio, and Box Doc Gen API for enhanced content management. [Business Wire]
EDITED has launched Triple Lens Clarity, an AI-powered technology that combines competitor, company, and customer data to provide retailers with comprehensive performance insights. [Business Wire]
Ericsson has launched NetCloud Assistant, a generative AI-based virtual expert designed to simplify enterprise 5G network administration through personalized network insights. [Computer Weekly]
FactSet has launched Pitch Creator, an AI-powered solution that automates pitchbook creation for investment banks. [GlobeNewswire]
FBSPL has launched an AI-powered service suite for insurance companies, offering automated solutions that reduce errors and accelerate policy management processes. [EIN Presswire]
FinTech Studios has launched AI Chart Explainer, combining generative AI technology with S&P ChartIQ to analyze securities movements across 49 languages. [EIN Presswire]
Forsta has launched enhanced AI capabilities within its Human Experience platform, offering tools for data summarization, content creation, and actionable recommendations for customer experience management. [Business Wire]
Foxit has launched a web-based AI platform offering document-centric capabilities including chat assistance, analysis, translation, and security features for users across industries. [Business Wire]
Hosted.com has launched an advanced AI Domain Name Generator offering enhanced customization options and SEO-driven suggestions for targeted domain name creation. [EIN Presswire]
LinkedIn has launched an AI-powered Job Match feature to help users identify roles they’re qualified for, aiming to reduce unsuitable applications flooding recruiters’ inboxes. [Engadget]
My Content Co has launched Cory, an AI chatbot service that integrates with websites to answer visitor questions using customizable, site-specific data. [PRWeb]
Nvidia has announced an AI Blueprint for retail shopping assistants that combines generative AI and 3D visualization to enhance both online and in-store shopping experiences. [Yahoo Finance]
ParcelLab has launched pL Copilot and AI Email Editor, offering retailers AI-powered tools for optimizing post-purchase customer communications globally. [Business Wire]
Stella has launched an AI-powered marketing platform backed by Amazon and Nvidia, helping small businesses automate their marketing campaigns. [EIN Presswire]
Tax Systems has launched Pillar2, a SaaS solution designed to simplify compliance with the OECD’s global Pillar Two tax rules for multi-jurisdictional organizations. [Business Wire]
TRULEO's AI-powered police assistant has been adopted by Avon Police Department, making it Colorado’s first law enforcement agency to implement this body-camera analysis technology. [EIN Presswire]
WorkJam has launched an AI chatbot and live streaming feature to enhance frontline workplace communication and operations through its digital workforce management platform. [Business Wire]
WriterX.ai has launched an AI-powered content platform offering automated SEO tools, WordPress integration, and workflow management for digital creators and agencies. [EIN Presswire]
Wyze has launched AI-powered Descriptive Alerts that provide detailed summaries of security footage events. [The Verge]
Xpensai has launched a free AI-powered expense management platform for SMEs, automating financial processes and providing real-time insights through intuitive dashboards. [EIN Presswire]
Risks
Astral has developed AI software to flood Reddit with deceptive marketing posts disguised as genuine user comments, circumventing the platform’s anti-spam measures. [Futurism]
Boox has sparked controversy after its e-reader’s AI assistant, powered by ByteDance's Doubao model, was found spreading Chinese government propaganda to users. [TechCrunch]
Cleo AI and Bright launched AI financial chatbots that, rather than providing genuine financial guidance, primarily pushed users toward high-interest loans and cash advances. [Wired]
DoubleVerify has identified over 200 websites that have stolen content and generated AI articles while mimicking established sports media brands to attract readers and advertising revenue. [Wired]
Google's AI search tool generated an inappropriate recommendation suggesting parents use a Hitachi Magic Wand vibrator for child behavioral therapy, confusing therapeutic techniques with the adult product. [Futurism]
Meta's AI Studio has allowed Hitler chatbots and other policy-violating AI characters to slip through its review process, despite claiming strict safety guidelines. [Futurism]
Originality.ai has revealed a 209% increase in AI-generated Airbnb reviews between 2020 and 2024, with AI reviews now exceeding 10% of total reviews. [EIN Presswire]
Responses
McAfee has launched an AI-powered Scam Detector that protects customers from email, text, and deepfake scams across multiple platforms and devices. [TechRadar]
Microsoft has sued ten unidentified individuals for operating and using a hacking service that bypassed AI safety controls and exploited compromised customer accounts. [Ars Technica]
Microsoft's AI red team has tested over 100 AI products since 2018, releasing a whitepaper highlighting the importance of human expertise in identifying vulnerabilities. [TechRadar]
Nvidia has launched updated NeMo Guardrails technology with three new microservices to enhance security and control for enterprise-level agentic AI deployments. [VentureBeat]
Regulation
Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority has launched an investigation into Google's search services to examine their impact on competition and consumers. [Yahoo Finance]
The EU AI Act’s first phase, Article 5, bans certain AI practices and will take effect in February, requiring compliance from all companies selling AI-enabled products in Europe. [Computer Weekly]
The European Commission has begun reassessing its tech investigations into Apple, Google, and Meta amid pressure from US companies and Trump’s upcoming presidency. [Verdict]
Meta's Mark Zuckerberg has challenged online safety laws globally, but Britain’s technology secretary Peter Kyle has declared UK’s regulations non-negotiable. [The Guardian]
New York Assemblymember Alex Bores has drafted the RAISE Act to regulate advanced AI systems, incorporating safety plans and whistleblower protections while addressing concerns from California’s failed SB 1047. [MIT Technology Review]
Conversational AI
Aide has launched an AI customer support platform that eliminates hallucination through system integration and application-layer constraints, achieving 99% accuracy in interactions. [PRWeb]
Ask-AI has launched on Google Cloud Marketplace, offering enterprises an AI platform that unifies company knowledge and automates workflows to enhance customer service operations. [Business Wire]
Boost.ai has integrated its Enterprise AI solution with the Genesys Cloud platform, enabling personalized customer service through AI-powered virtual agents available 24/7. [PR Newswire]
HCLTech has expanded its Microsoft partnership by acquiring Nuance's Enterprise Professional Services business and becoming the preferred partner for Microsoft’s AI-powered contact center solutions. [Business Wire]
Mercedes-Benz has partnered with Google Cloud to enhance its MBUX Virtual Assistant with AI-powered conversational capabilities using Google Maps data and Gemini technology. [PR Newswire]
Product Genius has launched an AI-powered customer engagement platform for hotels, offering instant guest assistance, automated service routing, and operational insights. [Business Wire]
Reynolds has partnered with Stella AI to launch Appointment AI, a tool that uses conversational AI to handle dealership service calls and reduce missed opportunities. [PR Newswire]
Servion has expanded its partnership with Verint to enhance AI-powered bot solutions delivery. [PRWeb]
Be Real
Nvidia has unveiled R2X, an open-source AI desktop avatar that integrates with various LLMs and can assist users with computer tasks. [TechCrunch]
Nvidia's Avatar Cloud Engine has drawn criticism for producing stilted, robotic NPC interactions in games like PUBG and ZooPunk. [Engadget]
Similarvideo has launched an AI Talking Avatar feature that enables users to create personalized videos using custom avatars and cloned voices of influencers. [PR Newswire]
WhatsApp has tested a new Android beta design featuring a dedicated AI tab that showcases chatbots. [The Verge]
Voice News
Lenovo has unveiled AI-powered headphones featuring real-time translation, voice cloning, and health monitoring capabilities through a foldable microphone design. [TechRadar]
Mapbox has partnered with Cerence AI to integrate voice-powered navigation services, combining mapping technology with advanced voice capabilities for in-vehicle and mobile applications. [Speech Technology Magazine]
Telly has partnered with Sensory to integrate privacy-focused, on-device voice recognition technology into its free dual-screen smart TV offering. [Business Wire]
WellSaid has announced its upcoming Caruso AI voice model, featuring improved audio quality, faster rendering, and enhanced pronunciation capabilities. [Business Wire]
Document AI
DocuWare has launched its new AI-powered Intelligent Document Processing solution, which enhances data extraction, interpretation, and classification from complex documents. [IT Brief Australia]
Driver has launched an AI-powered interactive platform that transforms technical documentation creation, reducing engineer onboarding time from weeks to days. [TechRadar]
Reveille Software has expanded its ABBYY partnership by adding support for Vantage and FlexiCapture Cloud platforms, enhancing document processing monitoring capabilities. [EIN Presswire]
Translation
Gain Life has launched real-time voice translation software for insurance claims, enabling immediate bilingual conversations and reducing translation costs by up to 90%. [Business Wire]
Meta has launched SeamlessM4T, an open-source AI model that translates speech between 101 languages with higher accuracy than existing systems. [MIT Technology Review]
Pairaphrase, a provider of secure translation technology, has added DeepL to its suite of integrated translation engines. [MultiLingual]
Tomedes has introduced its Pre-Translation Toolkit, a tool designed to simplify and optimize the preparation stage of translation projects. [MultiLingual]
Wordly has surpassed 4 million users and expanded its language offerings while experiencing nearly 3x sales growth in AI translation services during 2024. [PRWeb]
Search
Local Falcon and Epic Web Studios CEO David Hunter outlines how AI tools are revolutionizing SEO through automated analysis, content creation, and optimization capabilities. [TechRadar]
March Networks has showcased its AI Smart Search tool at Intersec Dubai, following real-world testing with a US restaurant chain to enhance video data retrieval. [PR Newswire]
Vespa.ai has released a benchmark report demonstrating up to 12.9X higher throughput per CPU core than Elasticsearch for vector searches, while offering significant infrastructure cost savings. [Business Wire]
Health Tech
Abridge has secured an agreement with Mayo Clinic to deploy its AI documentation platform for 2,000 clinicians serving over 1 million patients annually. [Business Wire]
Apple has revived development of its AI health coach, planning to integrate it into a revamped Health app alongside new AirPods health-monitoring features. [TechRadar]
Atrium Health has implemented DAX Copilot, an AI-powered virtual scribe system, allowing doctors to record patient visits and automatically generate clinical notes. [North Carolina Health News]
Atropos Health has partnered with xCures to develop AI-powered tools that translate clinical real-world data into personalized healthcare insights for medical providers. [Business Wire]
AWS and General Catalyst have formed a partnership to enhance healthcare personalization through generative AI applications using Amazon's Bedrock platform. [Medical Device Network]
Gastro Girl has launched an AI-powered digestive health coaching app that combines evidence-based knowledge with personalized tools to support patients’ gastrointestinal wellness. [PR Newswire]
HuatuoGPT-o1, developed by Chinese researchers, is a medical language model using two-stage training to enhance healthcare reasoning through step-by-step analysis. [InfoQ]
Lyngo’s AI-powered receptionist answers calls instantly, managing routine tasks like bookings, reschedules, cancellations, and inquiries. [Startup Daily]
Press Ganey has launched expanded AI capabilities to help healthcare leaders predict and address challenges related to safety, workforce, and patient experience. [Business Wire]
Sonde Health has integrated its voice-based mental health monitoring technology into Qualcomm's Snapdragon Sound platforms, enabling health tracking in everyday audio devices. [Speech Technology Magazine]
Switchboard MD has launched ThreatAware, an AI-powered solution that analyzes patient communications to identify infectious disease risks and enable early clinical intervention. [PR Newswire]
System C announced a new generative AI solution designed to help health and social care professionals save time on administrative tasks. [Health Tech World]
TetraScience has partnered with Microsoft to combine their Scientific Data and AI Cloud with Azure’s infrastructure, aiming to accelerate AI adoption in biopharmaceutical workflows. [Business Wire]
ThoroughCare has partnered with CareCo to integrate AI-powered tools that help care managers reduce administrative work and increase time spent with patients. [Business Wire]
Vim has launched Care Insights, embedding patient data into EHR workflows to streamline diagnosis and care gap management. [Business Wire]
WellSky has launched an AI-powered tool that extracts medication information from documents and labels, reducing documentation time for home health clinicians by 60%. [Business Wire]
Legal Tech
Alexi has launched Containers, a self-hosted AI litigation platform enabling law firms to process sensitive legal data within their private cloud infrastructure. [Business Wire]
Bloomberg Law has launched Answers and AI Assistant, two generative AI tools offering legal research, document summaries, and question-answering capabilities to legal professionals. [Artificial Lawyer]
The American Arbitration Association’s International Centre for Dispute Resolution has partnered with Clearbrief to provide AI-powered writing and document analysis tools to its 5,500 arbitrators and mediators following a successful pilot program. [LawSites]
CobbleStone Software has released a four-step document generation process to help organizations automate and streamline their document management workflows. [PRWeb]
Epiq has launched AI Discovery Assistant software that automates 80% of eDiscovery processes and reviews documents 90% faster than traditional methods. [GlobeNewswire]
LegalOn's survey reveals significant growth in AI contract review adoption among companies, with 17% of large firms using it and usage doubling overall in the past year. [Artificial Lawyer]
Persistent Systems has launched ContractAssIst, an AI-driven contract management solution developed with Microsoft that streamlines workflows and reduces operational complexity for enterprises. [PR Newswire]
PowerPatent has launched AI-driven tools to automate and streamline patent filing processes. [EIN Presswire]
Ed Tech
Pearson and Microsoft announced a multiyear partnership to transform the future of learning and work with AI. [Microsoft]
Think Academy's Thinkpal learning tablet won two major awards at CES 2025 for its AI-powered educational features and innovative approach to student learning. [PR Newswire]
Unbound Academy has received approval to launch an AI-teacher-based online school in Arizona. [VentureBeat]
Funding
Abstract raised US$4.8m in seed funding to enhance its AI platform that analyzes legislative and regulatory data for over 200 organizations. [FinSMEs]
Archive Intel has secured US$1.5m in additional funding and reached 220 clients after launching its AI-powered compliance archiving platform six months ago. [EIN Presswire]
Bioptimus has raised US$41m in funding to enhance its multi-modal AI platform that connects different scales of biology for medical and biotech applications. [FinSMEs]
Bythen has raised US$5m in seed funding to expand its platform that helps users create AI-powered digital avatars for virtual influencing and content creation. [FinSMEs]
Dataships raised US$7m in Series A funding to expand its data privacy platform. [FinSMEs]
DDN has secured US$300m to leverage its high-performance computing expertise in developing AI storage solutions. [Computer Weekly]
Eve, an AI legal platform, has raised US$47m in Series A funding through an Andreessen Horowitz-led investment round. [Fortune]
Juno Technologies has raised US$1m to develop an AI-powered loan processing assistant for business and property lenders. [Tech.eu]
LetsData, a startup from Ukraine that detects false information, has secured US$1.6m in pre-seed funding. [Tech Funding News]
Maki has raised US$28.6m in Series A funding to expand its conversational AI recruitment platform and grow its team. [FinSMEs]
Nelly has raised €50M to expand its healthcare digitalization platform, which has already processed 2 million patients and 30 million documents across Europe. [FinSMEs]
Oh has raised US$4.5m in seed funding to develop its AI ecosystem, which includes OhChat, a platform enabling interaction with AI-generated characters and digital twins. [Tech.eu]
Parambil has secured US$2m in pre-seed funding to support its medical record analysis and litigation support technology. [Law360]
Prophecy has secured US$47m in Series B extension funding to expand its data copilot services and business operations. [FinSMEs]
Red Sky Health has raised US$3m in seed funding to expand its AI-driven healthcare claims management platform and enhance its engineering capabilities across the US. [FinSMEs]
RocketPhone has raised US$10.5m to develop its AI-powered voice processing system that analyzes sales conversations and automates follow-up actions within the Salesforce ecosystem. [FinSMEs]
Rockfish Data has secured US$4m in seed funding to advance its synthetic data generation platform, bringing total funding to US$6m. [Business Wire]
Sapient Intelligence raised US$22m in seed funding to expand its neuroscience-inspired, self-evolving AI model designed for complex problem-solving. [FinSMEs]
Squire has received funding to expand its AI solution that automates medical consultation reports for general practitioners. [Tech.eu]
Synthesia has raised £145.5m in Series D funding, making it Britain’s most valuable generative AI company at £2.1bn, with its AI avatars serving 60% of Fortune 100 companies. [UKTN]
TalentMapper has raised £2M to expand its AI-powered platform that helps large companies analyze workforce skills and improve diversity in hiring and promotions. [Tech.eu]
Truewind has secured US$13m in Series A funding to expand its AI platform for accountants. [Business Wire]
Yampa has raised €3M in seed funding to expand its AI-powered customer service platform that provides autonomous, multilingual support across various communication channels. [FinSMEs]
Acquisitions
Advisor360 has acquired Boston-based Parrot AI, integrating its meeting transcription and summarization technology into their wealth management platform while adding 12 employees. [Business Wire]
Agiloft has acquired Screens, a generative AI contract review platform that enables legal experts to create and share specialized contract review playbooks through an AI marketplace. [LawSites]
CallTower has acquired cloud contact center provider Inoria to expand its customer experience and AI capabilities. [Smart Customer Service]
ClientSuccess has acquired Product Signals, integrating product feedback and feature request management capabilities into its customer success platform. [PRWeb]
Gloo has acquired Faith Assistant, expanding its AI offerings with custom chatbot models that help churches and ministries engage their communities through conversational AI. [PR Newswire]
Moody’s has acquired CAPE Analytics to combine its risk platform with CAPE’s geospatial AI technology for enhanced property risk assessment capabilities. [FinTech Global]
Qlik has acquired Upsolver, integrating real-time data streaming and Apache Iceberg optimization capabilities into its data analytics platform to enhance enterprise solutions. [Business Wire]
Red Hat has acquired Neural Magic to enhance its AI capabilities, adding expertise in inference performance engineering and model optimization for generative AI workloads across hybrid cloud environments. [Business Wire]
SuperDial has acquired MajorBoost to enhance its AI-powered phone automation capabilities for healthcare organizations’ insurance-related calls and revenue management processes. [AiThority]
There’s More
Capgemini's research revealed businesses are prioritizing AI implementation over sustainability goals, with 47% of companies reconsidering environmental targets due to increased emissions from AI usage. [TechRepublic]
Microsoft researchers found that writers expressed anxiety about AI tools compromising their authenticity, while readers showed no significant preference between AI-assisted and traditional writing. [ZDNet]
OpenAI's Sam Altman has predicted the arrival of artificial superintelligence and AI workforce agents in 2025, reflecting on his company’s nine-year journey. [TechRadar]
Vellum's State of AI Development Report revealed that only 25% of enterprises have deployed AI in production, with just a quarter of those seeing measurable impact. [VentureBeat]
DGA Group partners Paul Triolo and HPC’s Alvin Graylin have warned against viewing US-China AI competition as zero-sum, advocating instead for international collaboration. [Wired]
And this analysis reveals that AI research collaboration among non-Western countries has significantly increased over the past decade, with China and the US emerging as leading partners. [Rest of World]
The Back Cover
Here’s Vlossom with a cover of Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car.
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Brilliant. The generative AI wars are heating up fast.