SoundHound AI has acquired Amelia for $80 million, combining their expertise in voice and conversational AI to become a leading provider of AI solutions across multiple industries, with expected combined revenue exceeding $150 million in 2025.
Google DeepMind has developed a table tennis-playing robot that performs at an amateur human level, winning against beginner and some intermediate human opponents, marking a significant milestone in robotics while highlighting areas for impact outside the realm of table tennis.
Researchers from Imperial College London and Google DeepMind have developed DAAG, a novel AI framework that combines language and vision models to enhance embodied agents' learning efficiency and adaptability, addressing the challenge of limited training data in physical environments.
Anysphere, the startup behind AI coding assistant Cursor, has secured $60 million in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz and Thrive Capital, reaching a $400 million valuation as it competes in the growing market of AI-powered coding tools.
The UK's Competition and Markets Authority is investigating Amazon's $4 billion investment in Anthropic and their cloud partnership, as part of a broader scrutiny of AI industry collaborations, to determine if it constitutes a merger situation requiring further investigation.
YouTube is testing "Brainstorm with Gemini," an AI-powered feature that helps creators generate video ideas, titles, and thumbnails, as part of its strategy to enhance content creation and compete with other platforms.
Napkin AI, a new visual AI platform that transforms text into customizable visuals using generative AI, has emerged from stealth with $10 million in funding from Accel and CRV, aiming to revolutionize corporate communication and content creation.
Mechanical Orchard, an AI-powered legacy software modernization startup, has secured $50 million in Series B funding led by GV to scale its innovative approach to transitioning large organizations from outdated IT systems to modern, cloud-based applications.
Audible is testing Maven, an AI-powered search feature that uses natural language processing to provide personalized audiobook recommendations, enhancing user discovery across its vast catalog.
Ireland's Data Protection Commission launched High Court proceedings against X (formerly Twitter) for collecting European users' data for AI training without proper notification or consent, leading X to halt processing of harvested data pending a compliance review.
Amazon has updated the Titan Image Generator v2 by introducing new features like image conditioning, color conditioning, background removal, and subject consistency to streamline visual content creation and enable greater precision and brand consistency.
Cala Systems, a Boston startup, raised $5.6M for AI-powered heat pump water heaters. Their system predicts hot water demand and optimizes energy use. Their 65-gallon model, costing $2,850, will be available in 2025. The funding will support US-based production.