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Top AI News

OpenAI says GPT-5 stacks up to humans in a wide range of jobs

techcrunch.com • Yesterday

A new test from OpenAI aims to understand how close AI is to outperforming humans at economically valuable work....

TL;DR

OpenAI's GDPval benchmark shows its GPT-5 model outperforming human professionals in 40.6% of tasks across various industries and jobs.

Key Takeaways:

OpenAI's GPT-5 model outperformed or matched human professionals in 40.6% of 44 occupations across 9 industries, including healthcare, finance, and manufacturing.
Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.1 model outperformed or matched human professionals in 49% of tasks, but may have done so due to pleasing graphics rather than sheer performance.
OpenAI plans to create more robust tests in the future that can account for more industries and interactive workflows, acknowledging the limitations of the current GDPval-v0 benchmark.

Clarifai’s new reasoning engine makes AI models faster and less expensive

techcrunch.com • Yesterday

The AI platform Clarifai has launched a new reasoning engine that it claims will make running AI models twice as fast and 40% less expensive....

TL;DR

Clarifai introduced a new reasoning engine that claims to make running AI models twice as fast and 40% less expensive.

Key Takeaways:

The new reasoning engine employs multiple optimizations to improve inference performance, including CUDA kernels and speculative decoding techniques.
Industry benchmark tests recorded industry-best records for both throughput and latency, verifying the performance claims of the new engine.
The engine is specifically designed to handle the increased computing demands of agentic and reasoning models, which require multiple steps in response to a single command.

Google DeepMind’s new AI models can search the web to help robots complete tasks

www.theverge.com • Yesterday

Google DeepMind says its upgraded AI models enable robots to complete more complex tasks — and even tap into the web for help. During a press briefing...

TL;DR

Google DeepMind has updated its AI models, allowing robots to complete complex, multi-step tasks and access web information for assistance.

Key Takeaways:

The new Gemini Robotics 1.5 models enable robots to learn from each other, transfer skills, and adapt to different configurations.
Robots can now perform tasks such as sorting trash, packing a suitcase, and separate laundry based on web search results.
The updated Gemini Robotics-ER 1.5 model allows robots to form an understanding of their surroundings and use digital tools like Google Search to find information.

Improved Gemini 2.5 Flash and Flash-Lite

developers.googleblog.com • Yesterday

Article URL: https://developers.googleblog.com/en/continuing-to-bring-you-our-latest-models-with-an-improved-gemini-2-5-flash-and-flash-lite-release/ ...

TL;DR

Google releases updated Gemini 2.5 Flash and Flash-Lite models with improved performance and efficiency.

Key Takeaways:

Updated Gemini 2.5 Flash model sees a 5% gain on SWE-Bench Verified, and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite features stronger multimodal & translation capabilities.
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite now produces more concise answers, reducing token costs and latency for high-throughput applications.
Introduces a -latest alias for each model family, allowing easy access to the latest model versions and reducing the need for code updates.

How developers are using Apple’s local AI models with iOS 26

techcrunch.com • 7h ago

As iOS 26 is rolling out to all users, developers have been updating their apps to include features powered by Apple's local AI models....

TL;DR

Apple's Foundation Models framework allows developers to use local AI models to power features in their applications, providing improved quality of life without major workflow changes.

Key Takeaways:

Apple's local AI models are small compared to leading models from other companies, making them suitable for powering features that improve quality of life rather than introducing major changes.
Several popular apps, including Lil Artist, Daylish, LookUp, and Crouton, are already using Apple's local AI models to implement new features such as AI-powered story creation and recipe suggestion.
The use of local AI models on Apple devices eliminates concerns about inference costs and allows for more seamless and offline-capable app experiences.

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Applications And Tools 57

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Week Trends

Models And Releases

OpenAI says GPT-5 stacks up to humans in a wide range of jobs

techcrunch.com • Yesterday

A new test from OpenAI aims to understand how close AI is to outperforming humans at economically valuable work....

TL;DR

OpenAI's GDPval benchmark shows its GPT-5 model outperforming human professionals in 40.6% of tasks across various industries and jobs.

Key Takeaways:

OpenAI's GPT-5 model outperformed or matched human professionals in 40.6% of 44 occupations across 9 industries, including healthcare, finance, and manufacturing.
Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.1 model outperformed or matched human professionals in 49% of tasks, but may have done so due to pleasing graphics rather than sheer performance.
OpenAI plans to create more robust tests in the future that can account for more industries and interactive workflows, acknowledging the limitations of the current GDPval-v0 benchmark.

Google DeepMind’s new AI models can search the web to help robots complete tasks

www.theverge.com • Yesterday

Google DeepMind says its upgraded AI models enable robots to complete more complex tasks — and even tap into the web for help. During a press briefing...

TL;DR

Google DeepMind has updated its AI models, allowing robots to complete complex, multi-step tasks and access web information for assistance.

Key Takeaways:

The new Gemini Robotics 1.5 models enable robots to learn from each other, transfer skills, and adapt to different configurations.
Robots can now perform tasks such as sorting trash, packing a suitcase, and separate laundry based on web search results.
The updated Gemini Robotics-ER 1.5 model allows robots to form an understanding of their surroundings and use digital tools like Google Search to find information.

Improved Gemini 2.5 Flash and Flash-Lite

developers.googleblog.com • Yesterday

Article URL: https://developers.googleblog.com/en/continuing-to-bring-you-our-latest-models-with-an-improved-gemini-2-5-flash-and-flash-lite-release/ ...

TL;DR

Google releases updated Gemini 2.5 Flash and Flash-Lite models with improved performance and efficiency.

Key Takeaways:

Updated Gemini 2.5 Flash model sees a 5% gain on SWE-Bench Verified, and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite features stronger multimodal & translation capabilities.
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite now produces more concise answers, reducing token costs and latency for high-throughput applications.
Introduces a -latest alias for each model family, allowing easy access to the latest model versions and reducing the need for code updates.

Developer And Technical

Nvidia is letting anyone use its AI voice animation tech

www.theverge.com • 21h ago

Nvidia is open-sourcing Audio2Face, its AI-powered tool that generates realistic facial animations for 3D avatars — all based on audio input. The chan...

TL;DR

Nvidia is open-sourcing Audio2Face, its AI-powered tool that generates realistic facial animations for 3D avatars based on audio input.

Key Takeaways:

Developers can now use the Audio2Face tool and its underlying framework to create realistic 3D characters for their games and apps.
The tool allows developers to create 3D characters for both pre-scripted content and livestreams.
The training frame of Audio2Face is being made available, enabling users to tweak its models for different use cases.

How developers are using Apple’s local AI models with iOS 26

techcrunch.com • 7h ago

As iOS 26 is rolling out to all users, developers have been updating their apps to include features powered by Apple's local AI models....

TL;DR

Apple's local AI models are small compared to leading models from other companies, making them suitable for powering features that improve quality of life rather than introducing major changes.
Several popular apps, including Lil Artist, Daylish, LookUp, and Crouton, are already using Apple's local AI models to implement new features such as AI-powered story creation and recipe suggestion.
The use of local AI models on Apple devices eliminates concerns about inference costs and allows for more seamless and offline-capable app experiences.

Microsoft opens the doors to more AI-powered Windows apps

www.theverge.com • Yesterday

Microsoft’s Windows ML platform is now generally available for production use, making it easier for developers to add AI to their Windows apps. In its...

TL;DR

Microsoft's Windows ML platform is now generally available for production use, making it easier for developers to add AI to their Windows apps.

Key Takeaways:

Windows ML is supported on all devices running Windows 11 24H2 or newer, providing a local AI inference framework for 'responsive, private, and cost-effective' AI experiences.
Notable software developers like Adobe, McAfee, and Topaz Labs are working on adopting Windows ML in their upcoming releases, with features like AI-infused video editing and image editing.
The integration of Windows ML aims to entice more consumers to adopt Microsoft's operating system, streamlining AI development in Windows-based apps.

Just Released: NVIDIA HPC SDK v25.9

developer.nvidia.com • 20h ago

The new release introduces support for CUDA 13.0, and includes updated library components, bug fixes, and performance improvements....

TL;DR

NVIDIA HPC SDK 25.9 has been released with improvements and new features.

Key Takeaways:

CUDA version 13.0 is bundled, alongside CUDA 12.9 in some packages.
Compatible with various Linux distributions, including RHEL/Rocky, SLES/SUSE, and Ubuntu.
Installation instructions are provided for various Linux platforms and package managers.

Why CVEs Belong in Frameworks and Apps, Not AI Models

developer.nvidia.com • 2h ago

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) system is the global standard for cataloging security flaws in software. Maintained by MITRE and backed...

TL;DR

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) system should be applied to frameworks and applications serving AI models, not the models themselves, to accurately track exploitable vulnerabilities.

Key Takeaways:

Most AI model attacks exploit expected inference behavior or weaknesses in the software that serves the model, making CVEs at the model level unnecessary.
CVEs should be issued against frameworks and applications where exploitable conditions exist and patches and mitigations can be applied.
Deliberate training data poisoning that implants reproducible backdoors in specific weight files may warrant CVE-level tracking, but supply chain integrity mechanisms are often sufficient.

How to Integrate Computer Vision Pipelines with Generative AI and Reasoning

developer.nvidia.com • Yesterday

Generative AI is opening new possibilities for analyzing existing video streams. Video analytics are evolving from counting objects to turning raw vid...

TL;DR

NVIDIA AI Blueprint for video search and summarization (VSS) 2.4 introduces four major upgrades to enable developers to improve physical world understanding, enhance Q&A, unlock generative AI at the edge, and deploy with expanded hardware support.

Key Takeaways:

Cosmos Reason, a state-of-the-art reasoning vision language model, is now integrated with VSS to enable AI agents to reason like humans and understand the physical world.
VSS 2.4 enhances Q&A accuracy and cross-camera understanding with features like entity deduplication, agentic-based graph traversal, and CUDA-accelerated graph databases.
The Event Reviewer feature allows VSS to act as an intelligent add-on to computer vision pipelines for low-latency alerts and direct VLM Q&A on video segments, suitable for lightweight deployments and edge platforms.

How to GPU-Accelerate Model Training with CUDA-X Data Science

developer.nvidia.com • Yesterday

In previous posts on AI in manufacturing and operations, we covered the unique data challenges in the supply chain and how smart feature engineering c...

TL;DR

GPU-accelerated tree-based models offer a balance of accuracy, speed, and interpretability for manufacturing data science, leveraging libraries like NVIDIA cuML to supercharge experimentation and deployment.

Key Takeaways:

Tree-based models are ideal for structured manufacturing data, outperforming neural networks in this domain.
Popular library XGBoost can be 150x faster in inference using the Forest Inference Library from NVIDIA cuML, making it suitable for production use.
Feature importance analysis helps engineers understand variable relationships and identify noise features, offering a robust way to filter out uninformative data.

Hardware And Infrastructure

Gemini Robotics 1.5 brings AI agents into the physical world

reddit.com • Yesterday

TL;DR

Google introduces Gemini Robotics 1.5 and Gemini Robotics-ER 1.5, two AI models that bring agentic experiences, embodied reasoning, and advanced capabilities to physical robots.

Key Takeaways:

Gemini Robotics-ER 1.5 achieves state-of-the-art performance on academic and internal benchmarks for embodied reasoning.
Gemini Robotics 1.5 enables robots to think before acting, generalizing to solve new tasks and be more robust to environmental changes.
The models learn across different embodiments, accelerating skill learning and allowing robots to adapt to new tasks and environments.

Cipher Mining Signs 168 MW, 10-Year AI Hosting Agreement with Fluidstack - GlobeNewswire

www.globenewswire.com • Yesterday

Cipher Mining Signs 168 MW, 10-Year AI Hosting Agreement with Fluidstack GlobeNewswireGoogle Buys In As This Bitcoin Miner Lands $3 Billion HPC Deal I...

TL;DR

Cipher Mining signs a 10-year AI hosting agreement with Fluidstack, securing ~$3 billion in contracted revenue and establishing Cipher as a major AI data center developer.

Key Takeaways:

Cipher will deliver 168 MW of critical IT load at its Barber Lake site in Colorado City, Texas, with an option to expand to 244 MW.
The agreement includes a $1.4 billion Google-backed loan for Fluidstack, in addition to Google's acquisition of a 5.4% equity stake in Cipher.
The partnership solidifies Cipher's position as a leader in HPC hosting and AI infrastructure development, with a growing pipeline of ~2.4 GW projects.

Product Launches

Introducing Vibes: A New Way to Discover and Create AI Videos - Meta Store

about.fb.com • 23h ago

Introducing Vibes: A New Way to Discover and Create AI Videos Meta StoreCute fluffy characters and Egyptian selfies: Meta launches AI feed Vibes The G...

OpenAI launches ChatGPT Pulse to proactively write you morning briefs

techcrunch.com • Yesterday

Pulse is part of a broader shift in OpenAI's consumer products, which are lately being designed to work for users asynchronously instead of responding...

TL;DR

OpenAI is launching a new feature called Pulse inside of ChatGPT, generating personalized reports for users while they sleep, aiming to encourage users to check ChatGPT first thing in the morning like a news app.

Key Takeaways:

Pulse offers up to 10 briefs to users, including news summaries, personalized updates, and automated reports, all displayed as interactive cards with AI-generated images and text.
Pulse will be initially available to ChatGPT Pro users at $200-a-month, and may be rolled out to all users in the future, with Plus subscribers gaining access soon.
OpenAI aims to make the product more efficient and proactive, leveraging AI to provide users with critical information and summaries without the need for manual queries.

Google's Conversational Photo Editor Is the Rare AI Feature People Will Actually Use

www.wired.com • Yesterday

Google's tool greatly simplifies photo editing; just tell your phone what changes you want in the photo, and it'll execute them. It also hints at the ...

TL;DR

Google has rolled out a conversational photo editor, Ask Photos, in Google Photos, which uses AI to edit pictures based on plain English requests.

Key Takeaways:

Google's conversational editor offers a user-friendly interface that allows users to type or speak out visual edits they want to see in their photos.
The editor has access to all editing tools available in Google Photos and can execute tasks in a nearly frictionless way, making it more accessible to users.
Despite concerns about manipulation, the tool has measures in place to watermark and log the use of AI in media and trace the file's origin.

Introducing Microsoft Marketplace: Your trusted source for cloud solutions, AI apps and agents

blogs.microsoft.com • Yesterday

The post Introducing Microsoft Marketplace: Your trusted source for cloud solutions, AI apps and agents appeared first on Source....

TL;DR

Microsoft launches the reimagined Microsoft Marketplace, a unified destination for cloud solutions, AI apps, and agents.

Key Takeaways:

The new Marketplace offers tens of thousands of cloud and industry solutions across various categories, including data and analytics, productivity, and collaboration.
Over 3,000 AI apps and agents are now available directly on Marketplace, with rapid provisioning within Microsoft environments through industry standards like Model Context Protocol.
Frontier Firms can accelerate their AI transformation and value creation with the help of Microsoft's reimagined Marketplace, leading to increased productivity, efficiency, and customer adoption.

Suno’s upgraded AI music generator is technically impressive, but still soulless

www.theverge.com • 4h ago

When it's not trying to fend off lawsuits from major record labels, Suno is still working on refining its AI music creation tool. The latest model, Su...

TL;DR

Suno's upgraded AI music generator, v5, shows technical improvements, but fails to capture the emotional depth and imperfections of human performance.

Key Takeaways:

Suno v5 produces vocals that are too close to perfection, lacking the human-like emotional depth and imperfections.
The model struggles to capture specific era or decade-specific sounds and genres.
While v5 has better audio quality and understands instrument isolation, it still prioritizes generic, polished outputs.

Elon Musk’s xAI offers Grok to federal government for 42 cents

techcrunch.com • Yesterday

xAI has reached a deal with the U.S. GSA to sell Grok to federal agencies for 42 cents over 18 months, undercutting OpenAI and Anthropic....

TL;DR

Elon Musk's xAI has agreed to sell its AI chatbot Grok to the US federal government for under a dollar, competing with OpenAI and Anthropic, in a deal potentially influenced by Musk's past connections to government agencies.

Key Takeaways:

Federal agencies will pay 42 cents to use xAI's Grok for a year and a half, significantly cheaper than OpenAI's $1 ChatGPT and Anthropic's $1 Claude.
The deal includes access to xAI engineers for integration, highlighting the tech giant's efforts to expand its government offerings.
This partnership is the latest development in xAI's push into the AI chatbot market, as the company attempts to compete with major players in the sector.

Cloudflare Introduces Net Dollar

www.cloudflare.com • 20h ago

Article URL: https://www.cloudflare.com/press/press-releases/2025/cloudflare-introduces-net-dollar-to-support-a-new-business-model-for-the-ai-driven-i...

TL;DR

Cloudflare introduces NET Dollar, a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin that enables instant, secure transactions for the AI-driven Internet.

Key Takeaways:

NET Dollar will facilitate global transactions in a seamless, fast, and secure manner.
The new business model powered by NET Dollar aims to reward originality, sustain creativity, and enable innovation on the Internet.
NET Dollar will unlock a new era of pay-per-use, fractional payments, and microtransactions for content creators, developers, and AI innovators.

Applications And Tools

Clarifai’s new reasoning engine makes AI models faster and less expensive

techcrunch.com • Yesterday

The AI platform Clarifai has launched a new reasoning engine that it claims will make running AI models twice as fast and 40% less expensive....

TL;DR

Clarifai introduced a new reasoning engine that claims to make running AI models twice as fast and 40% less expensive.

Key Takeaways:

The new reasoning engine employs multiple optimizations to improve inference performance, including CUDA kernels and speculative decoding techniques.
Industry benchmark tests recorded industry-best records for both throughput and latency, verifying the performance claims of the new engine.
The engine is specifically designed to handle the increased computing demands of agentic and reasoning models, which require multiple steps in response to a single command.

Gemini now explains why your Sheets formula failed

www.theverge.com • Yesterday

Nine months after Google infused Gemini AI into Google Sheets, the AI system graduated from text and charts to taking on formulas. (Even those plopped...

TL;DR

Gemini AI in Google Sheets now provides step-by-step instructions on how to calculate and debug formulas, and can even suggest alternative functions and corrections for errors.

Key Takeaways:

Gemini AI can assist with complex calculations and offer explanations for formulas in Google Sheets.
The AI system can also suggest step-by-step instructions for manual calculations or scripting solutions when direct formula support is not available.
Users can leverage Gemini's capabilities to increase productivity and accuracy in Google Sheets, reducing the need for extensive Google searches or trial and error.

Ollama Web search

ollama.com • 23h ago

Article URL: https://ollama.com/blog/web-search Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45377641 Points: 32 # Comments: 6...

TL;DR

Ollama now provides a web search API that can be integrated with AI models to reduce hallucinations and improve accuracy, available for free with higher rate limits through Ollama’s cloud.

Key Takeaways:

Provides a web search API to augment AI models with the latest information from the web.
Available for use in models such as OpenAI's gpt-oss models, enabling long-running research tasks.
Recommended for building search agents, especially with models like qwen3 and gpt-oss, which have great tool-use capabilities and support multi-turn interactions.

New AI system could accelerate clinical research

news.mit.edu • Yesterday

By enabling rapid annotation of areas of interest in medical images, the tool can help scientists study new treatments or map disease progression....

TL;DR

MIT researchers develop an AI-based system that enables rapid and efficient segmentation of biomedical images by using user interactions and a context set to improve predictions.

Key Takeaways:

The system, MultiverSeg, uses a context set to store segmented images and make more accurate predictions with less user input.
MultiverSeg outperformed state-of-the-art tools for in-context and interactive image segmentation, requiring fewer clicks and generating better results.
The tool's interactivity enables users to correct predictions, and the researchers aim to test it in real-world situations and improve it based on user feedback.

AI system learns from many types of scientific information and runs experiments to discover new materials

news.mit.edu • Yesterday

The new “CRESt” platform could help find solutions to real-world energy problems that have plagued the materials science and engineering community for...

TL;DR

Researchers at MIT have developed a platform called CRESt that utilizes machine-learning models, robotic equipment, and human feedback to optimize materials recipes and accelerate materials discovery.

Key Takeaways:

The CRESt platform uses multimodal feedback from literature, chemical compositions, microstructural images, and more to design new experiments.
It can explore more than 900 chemistries and conduct over 3,500 electrochemical tests, as demonstrated in a recent experiment that discovered a catalyst material with record power density in a fuel cell.
Human researchers can converse with the system in natural language, and the system can monitor experiments, detect issues, and suggest corrections using cameras and visual language models.

'ChatGPT, what stocks should I buy?' AI fuels boom in robo-advisory market - Reuters

www.reuters.com • 21h ago

'ChatGPT, what stocks should I buy?' AI fuels boom in robo-advisory market ReutersI gave ChatGPT $500 of real money to invest in stocks. Its picks sur...

TL;DR

The robo-advisory market is expected to grow 600% by 2029, fueled by a boom in AI adoption, with 13% of retail investors using ChatGPT for stock selection.

Key Takeaways:

The robo-advisory market is projected to grow 600% by 2029.
Half of retail investors are open to using AI tools for investment decisions.
An AI-selected stock basket performed better than the UK's top funds, demonstrating the potential of AI in investing.

Companies And Business

Elon Musk’s xAI Signs Deal to Provide Grok Chatbot to US Agencies - The New York Times

www.nytimes.com • Yesterday

Elon Musk’s xAI Signs Deal to Provide Grok Chatbot to US Agencies The New York TimesTrump admin reunites with Elon Musk in pursuit of AI dominance: 'B...

TL;DR

Elon Musk's xAI company has secured a deal with the US government to use its chatbot, Grok, for a nominal fee of 42 cents per year.

Key Takeaways:

The deal marks a significant achievement for xAI in the AI race.
xAI has spent billions of dollars on AI technology, although its revenue is unclear.
Other AI firms like OpenAI and Anthropic are also offering similar chatbot deals to the government, charging $1 per year.

Databricks will bake OpenAI models into its products in $100M bet to spur enterprise adoption

techcrunch.com • Yesterday

Databricks is on the hook to pay at least $100 million to OpenAI in this deal, even if customer usage falls short. It's a bet, but one that Databricks...

TL;DR

Databricks partners with OpenAI to integrate their models, including GPT-5, into its data platform and AI product Agent Bricks as part of a $100 million deal.

Key Takeaways:

Databricks will integrate OpenAI's GPT-5 model, among others, into its platform and Agent Bricks product, aiming to tap into corporate data securely.
The deal sets a revenue target of $100 million, with Databricks paying a minimum of $100 million regardless of actual revenue.
Databricks has already seen high demand from customers, including Mastercard, for access to OpenAI's models on the platform.

It isn’t your imagination; Google Cloud is flooding the zone

techcrunch.com • Yesterday

While the industry's biggest players cement ever-tighter partnerships, Google is hellbent on capturing the next generation of AI companies before they...

TL;DR

Google Cloud is focusing on nurturing the next generation of AI companies through partnerships and infrastructure support, rather than competing directly with established leaders.

Key Takeaways:

Google Cloud has secured $58 billion in new revenue commitments over the next two years, more than double its current annual run rate.
Google is signing smaller AI companies as 'primary computing partners' without major upfront investments, focusing on capturing future unicorns.
Google Cloud provides startups with access to its AI stack, technical teams, and go-to-market support, as well as a 'no compromise' AI infrastructure advantage.

Meta Poaches OpenAI Scientist to Help Lead AI Lab

www.wired.com • Yesterday

Yang Song, who previously led the strategic explorations team at OpenAI, is the new “research principal” of Meta Superintelligence Labs....

TL;DR

Meta's AI research division, Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL), has appointed Yang Song, a high-ranking researcher from OpenAI, as the research principal after a hiring blitz by Mark Zuckerberg.

Key Takeaways:

Meta has recruited at least 11 top researchers from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic to support its AI efforts.
The move reinforces Meta's efforts to establish a prominent AI research division, with significant investment in its Superintelligence Labs initiative.
Yang Song's experience in developing techniques for processing large datasets and his work on DALL-E 2 image generation will contribute to Meta's AI research.

Family offices prefer to bet on AI boom with stocks versus startups and VC funds - CNBC

www.cnbc.com • 7h ago

Family offices prefer to bet on AI boom with stocks versus startups and VC funds CNBCNumber of family offices backing secondaries on the up – Goldman ...

TL;DR

Family offices, responsible for the financial portfolios of the ultra-wealthy, prefer to invest in AI via public equities over direct investments in AI startups.

Key Takeaways:

52% of family offices are exposed to AI through primary public equities or ETFs, while only a quarter reported investing directly in AI startups, according to a Goldman Sachs survey.
Family offices were more likely to invest in companies that leverage AI for productivity and efficiency (38%) or secondary beneficiaries of the AI boom such as energy providers (32%).
Despite the preference for public equities, accessing opportunities in the AI market requires investing in private markets, with over 800 AI startups waiting for potential IPO exits.

Google just asked the Supreme Court to save it from the Epic ruling

www.theverge.com • Yesterday

“The Supreme Court is Google’s last hope to avoid an Epic reckoning in October,” I wrote last week. Google apparently agrees. Today, it’s finally elev...

TL;DR

Google is asking the Supreme Court to save it from an Epic ruling that may fracture its control over the Android app ecosystem.

Key Takeaways:

The Supreme Court review may lead to a stay on a permanent injunction that forces Google to allow third-party app stores on Android.
Google has until October 27th, 2025, to fully appeal to the Supreme Court for certiorari, with a possible decision on the injunction by October 17th.
The Epic v. Google case may have significant implications for Google's control over the Android app ecosystem and the distribution of apps.

Aaron Levie on building for the long game in enterprise software at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025

techcrunch.com • 20h ago

Box CEO and co-founder Aaron Levie joins TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 for a candid fireside chat on what invention really looks like inside a public compan...

Research And Papers

R²D²: Three Neural Breakthroughs Transforming Robot Learning from NVIDIA Research

developer.nvidia.com • Yesterday

While today's robots excel in controlled settings, they still struggle with the unpredictability, dexterity, and nuanced interactions required for rea...

TL;DR

NVIDIA Research introduces groundbreaking neural innovations that transform robot learning and adaptation, enabling more accurate dynamics prediction, dexterous manipulation, and bimanual assembly.

Key Takeaways:

NeRD (Neural Robot Dynamics) enables accurate dynamics prediction, with less than 0.1% error in accumulated reward for 1,000-step policy evaluation.
Reference-Scoped Exploration (RSE) streamlines learning dexterous manipulation from human demonstrations, achieving almost 20% more success rates with the Inspire hand.
VT-Refine combines vision and touch for robust bimanual assembly, improving real-world success rates by approximately 20% in the vision-only variant and 40% for the visuo-tactile variant.

AI Cracks the Code for the Next Generation of Solar Power - SciTechDaily

scitechdaily.com • 21h ago

AI Cracks the Code for the Next Generation of Solar Power SciTechDailyPiecing together the puzzle of future solar cell materials Tech Xplore'Semi-stab...

TL;DR

Scientists at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have made progress in understanding the behavior of halide perovskites, a promising material for efficient solar cells.

Key Takeaways:

Halide perovskites are considered one of the most promising materials for cost-effective, flexible, and lightweight solar cells.
Researchers used machine learning and computer simulations to unravel the complex behavior of halide perovskites and gained insights into designing and controlling the material.
The study's findings could contribute to the development of new, environmentally friendly, and efficient energy conversion methods, helping to meet the growing global demand for electricity.

Industry Adoption

AI Revenue Is Not Value — And ‘95% Failure’ Misses The Real Story

news.crunchbase.com • Yesterday

Current AI debates regarding booming vendor revenue and high failure rates miss the real question of: Who is actually getting value from AI? In this g...

TL;DR

Revenue for AI vendors does not necessarily translate to customer value as most deployments lack the right conditions for impact and focus on shallow, easy-to-show problems rather than meaningful ones.

Key Takeaways:

Measuring AI value is critical and can be done through metrics such as cost reduction, time savings, and quality improvement.
Most AI deployments fail to deliver meaningful returns due to a lack of embedding AI into actual workflows, governance, and measurement.
Successful AI implementations prioritize solving real business problems, instrumenting outcomes, and scaling only when numbers hold steady.

Startups And Funding

The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Health And AI Lead For Large Financings

news.crunchbase.com • 3h ago

This week was a fairly busy one for large financings, with eight of the top 10 exceeding the $100 million mark. Leading the way were two software prov...

TL;DR

This week's top 10 largest funding rounds in the US were led by AI, health, and legal tech startups.

Key Takeaways:

Eight of the top 10 funding rounds exceeded $100 million, with AI-related startups raising a significant portion of the total.
Notable funding rounds included Judi Health ($400M), Filevine ($400M), and Modular ($250M) in the AI and health tech spaces.
The trend highlights the growing importance of AI and digital transformation in various industries, including healthcare and law.

Juicebox raises $30M from Sequoia to revolutionize hiring with LLM-powered search

techcrunch.com • Yesterday

The recruiting startup has over 2,500 customers, including recruiters at Perplexity, Ramp, and OpenAI....

TL;DR

Recruitment startup Juicebox has raised $36 million in funding, including a $30 million Series A round led by Sequoia, and reached over 2,500 customers with its AI-powered recruitment search engine PeopleGPT.

Key Takeaways:

Reached over 2,500 customers and achieved $10 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) just a short period after launching PeopleGPT.
Customers are attracted to Juicebox due to its ability to automate candidate search and infer information like a human would, helping large corporations and small startups find top talent.
Sequoia invested in Juicebox seeing huge growth potential, with the startup's founders having built the AI-powered search engine to over 2,000 customers with a small team of five.

What top VCs want from AI founders: Inside the investor lens with Jon McNeill, Aileen Lee, and Steve Jang at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025

techcrunch.com • Yesterday

Jon McNeill (DVx Ventures), Aileen Lee (Cowboy Ventures), and Steve Jang (Kindred Ventures) share what AI founders need to know now: from defensibilit...

TL;DR

Top VCs will share their insights on investing in AI startups and what founders need to succeed at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025.

Key Takeaways:

VCs will discuss defensibility in a world of AI monopolies and share what signals investors look for before investing in AI startups.
Founders and investors can learn how to build a viable AI company and what it takes to get funded at Disrupt 2025.
The session will cover topics such as AI startup defensibility, investor expectations, and how to stand out in a crowded landscape.

5 Interesting Startup Deals You May Have Missed In September: A Better Insulin Patch, Maternal Mental Health Care, And A Non-Humanoid Robot

news.crunchbase.com • 8h ago

This month most of the startups that caught our attention include a one making a more environmentally friendly fertilizer, a mental health platform fo...

TL;DR

Several non-AI startups secured significant funding in September, including $85M for a cooler insulin patch, $50M for environmentally friendly fertilizer, and $1.5M for a tabletop robot designed to automate repetitive manual work.

Key Takeaways:

The insulin patch market is projected to reach $14 billion by 2034, with patch pumps representing the fastest-growing market segment.
The tabletop robot is priced around $5,000 and can perform tasks such as precision soldering and screwing, cable routing, and light-duty food processing and packaging.
The environmentally friendly fertilizer gets 2% of greenhouse gas emissions and is expected to expand into Europe in a serious and assertive way, with a European market that's larger than in the U.S.

Policy And Ethics

The Digital Markets Act: time for a reset

blog.google • 18h ago

Article URL: https://blog.google/around-the-globe/google-europe/the-digital-markets-act-time-for-a-reset/ Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/i...

TL;DR

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) is causing unintended harm to European users and small businesses, with potential revenue losses of up to €114 billion.

Key Takeaways:

European businesses across sectors could face revenue losses of up to €114 billion due to the DMA's impact on Google Search results.
The DMA is forcing Google to remove legitimate safeguards that protect users' security and safety on Android, potentially threatening the openness of the platform.
Regulatory burdens and uncertainty are delaying the launch of new products, like AI features, for up to a year in Europe compared to the rest of the world.

Spotify removes 75m spam tracks in past year as AI increases ability to make fake music - The Guardian

www.theguardian.com • Yesterday

Spotify removes 75m spam tracks in past year as AI increases ability to make fake music The GuardianSpotify Announces New AI Safeguards, Says It’s Rem...

TL;DR

Spotify removed 75m spam tracks from its platform over the past year due to AI tools making it easier to create fake music, and is introducing a filter to crack down on AI-generated spam.

Key Takeaways:

Spotify removed 75m spam tracks, rivaling the scale of its actual catalogue of 100m tracks.
The company is introducing a music spam filter to identify uploaders, tag them and prevent AI-generated tracks from being recommended by its algorithm.
Spotify paid $10bn in royalties last year, with engagement with AI-generated music on the platform being minimal and not impacting streams or revenue distribution for human artists.

Instagram’s ‘pay or consent’ approach to ads is coming to UK after being rejected in EU

www.theverge.com • 8h ago

Meta is bringing its “pay or consent” ad model to the UK after months of wrangling with regulators over the controversial policy. The update will forc...

TL;DR

Meta is introducing a 'pay or consent' ad model in the UK, where users can choose between personalized ads or a monthly subscription to ad-free versions.

Key Takeaways:

Subscriptions start at £2.99 a month for web users and £3.99 a month for Android and iOS users.
The model offers an 'all or nothing' approach, with users forced to either subscribe on all accounts or none, for an additional fee.
Meta was forced to walk back a similar model in Europe after regulators slammed the 'binary choice' it offered users.

Spotify to label AI music, filter spam and more in AI policy change

techcrunch.com • Yesterday

Spotify is launching a music spam filter, labeling AI tracks, and clarifying its rules around AI voice clones....

TL;DR

Spotify announces updated AI policy and music spam filter to combat AI-generated music spam and unauthorized voice clones on its platform.

Key Takeaways:

Spotify will adopt the upcoming industry standard (DDEX) to identify and label AI music in credits, ensuring nuanced disclosures about AI use.
The company will roll out a new music spam filter to catch more AI-generated music spam and reduce fraudulent uploading of music to artist profiles.
Spotify emphasizes support for authentic and responsible AI use by artists, while aggressively addressing fraudulent activities and protecting against AI misuse.

Holy See urges moratorium on autonomous weapons at UN debate on AI - Vatican News

www.vaticannews.va • 7h ago

Holy See urges moratorium on autonomous weapons at UN debate on AI Vatican NewsPenny Wong warns of nuclear apocalypse driven by AI in wild UN speech S...

TL;DR

The Holy See urged the UN to adopt a moratorium on lethal autonomous weapons and a human-centered approach to AI development to prevent division and destruction.

Key Takeaways:

The Holy See calls for a moratorium on the development or use of Lethal Autonomous Weapons (LAWS) due to serious legal, security, humanitarian, and ethical concerns.
An emerging arms race involving AI in military systems, including space assets and nuclear command and control structures, introduces new risks and uncertainty.
A human-centered approach to AI development and use is necessary to prevent AI from becoming a driver of division or destruction.

Countries Consider A.I.’s Dangers and Benefits at U.N. - The New York Times

www.nytimes.com • 20h ago

Countries Consider A.I.’s Dangers and Benefits at U.N. The New York TimesWATCH: Day 3 of the 2025 United Nations General Assembly PBSRemarks at the Se...

TL;DR

The United Nations announces a 'global dialogue on artificial intelligence governance' to guide the path and pace of AI and address its risks and benefits.

Key Takeaways:

The UN plans to form a 40-member panel of scientific experts to analyze A.I. risks and opportunities, akin to efforts on climate change and nuclear policy.
Governments, tech companies, academics, and nonprofits expressed concerns about A.I. risks including mass surveillance, misinformation, energy consumption, and worsening income gaps.
A group of 200 signatories, including Nobel laureates and former government leaders, called for global A.I. guardrails and agreed international standards to mitigate unprecedented dangers.

Microsoft blocks the Israeli military from some cloud and AI services

www.theverge.com • Yesterday

Microsoft is blocking the Israeli military’s access to cloud and AI services that have been used in the mass surveillance of Palestinian civilians. Mi...

TL;DR

Microsoft has blocked the Israeli military's access to certain cloud and AI services used for mass surveillance of Palestinian civilians.

Key Takeaways:

Microsoft's decision is a result of ongoing reporting by The Guardian and pressure from current and former employees.
The block applies to a 'set of services' used by a unit within the Israeli Ministry of Defense, without impacting Microsoft's cybersecurity work in the region.
Microsoft has fired five employees in connection with protests over its Israeli government contracts.

Commission warns Big Tech over how it plugs AI into its services - politico.eu

www.politico.eu • 6h ago

Commission warns Big Tech over how it plugs AI into its services politico.eu...

TL;DR

The European Commission warns Big Tech to respect digital competition rules when integrating AI into its services.

Key Takeaways:

Big Tech platforms, including Google, Meta, and Microsoft, face obligations under the Digital Markets Act when integrating AI into their services.
The EU Commission is monitoring market developments to ensure AI use advances in line with the law, particularly with regards to data processing and combination.
Big Tech companies must enable default services, including embedded AI, to be changed, and comply with the Digital Markets Act's rules on data usage.

Spotify is finally taking steps to address its AI slop and clone problem

www.theverge.com • Yesterday

As AI music generators like Suno and Udio make it easy to churn out passable music, streamers like Spotify are getting flooded with AI-generated conte...

TL;DR

Spotify announces new policies to address AI slop, impersonation, and disclose AI use in music, working with DDEX to develop a metadata standard.

Key Takeaways:

Spotify is developing a new metadata standard with DDEX to disclose AI use in any part of song creation.
15 record labels and music distributors have committed to adopting the AI disclosures.
Spotify removed 75 million spam tracks over the last 12 months, citing tactics like uploading tracks just over 30 seconds long to 'rack up royalty-bearing streams'.

Amazon blamed AI for layoffs, then hired cheap H1-B workers, senators allege - Ars Technica

arstechnica.com • Yesterday

Amazon blamed AI for layoffs, then hired cheap H1-B workers, senators allege Ars TechnicaExclusive | Senators Want Answers From Big Tech on H-1B Worke...

TL;DR

Senators and the White House are pressuring tech companies to explain their hiring practices of foreign H-1B workers following mass layoffs of American employees.

Key Takeaways:

Amazon, Meta, Apple, Google, and Microsoft have been asked to provide information on their hiring practices of H-1B workers and potential pay disparities with American employees.
Recent layoffs by these tech companies, combined with hiring of over 20,000 H-1B workers, have raised concerns about favoring foreign labor over American workers.
The White House has implemented a $100,000 fee for companies sponsoring new H-1B employees to bring them into the US, aiming to stop the program from being exploited to replace American workers.