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.
Amazon Music has launched "Topics," an AI-powered feature that uses AWS technology and human curation to enable users to discover episodes based on specific discussed themes. The Topics feature is rolling out for Amazon Music's top podcasts and is available to US-based mobile device users.
Five US State Secretaries have written an open letter to Elon Musk, urging X to address election misinformation spread by its AI assistant Grok. The chatbot falsely claimed ballot deadlines had passed in several states, casting doubts on the legitimacy of Vice President Kamala Harris' candidacy.
KNIME, a leading open-source data science and AI platform, recently secured a $30M investment from Invus to meet growing customer demand and incorporate the latest data science and AI advancements into its platform.
Groq, a leader in AI inference technology, has secured $640 million in Series D funding at a $2.8 billion valuation. The company aims to scale its GroqCloud platform by deploying over 108,000 LPUs by Q1 2025 to accelerate innovation in AI inference computing.
The AI Act is officially active, starting the clock to apply its obligations; Meta released the SAM 2; Runway announced Gen-3 Alpha Turbo; Black Forest Labs launched the FLUX.1 suite of models; Google finally released Lens for desktop; Canva acquired Leonardo AI; and more
Google has introduced three new AI-powered features for Chrome desktop: Lens for visual search, Tab Compare for easier content comparison, and a conversational browsing history recall function. The new features enhance user experience and search capabilities within the browser.
Character.AI has partnered with Google, licensing its LLM technology while continuing to deliver personalized AI experiences. Key talent from Character.AI and its founders will join Google, as the company adapts to the evolving AI landscape and prepares for the next stage in its journey.
Healx, an AI-driven biotech company, has secured $47 million in Series C funding and FDA clearance for a Phase 2 clinical trial of its rare disease treatment HLX-1502, showcasing the potential of AI in accelerating drug discovery for underserved patient populations.
Black Forest Labs, a new generative AI company founded by distinguished researchers, has launched with $31 million in funding and introduced FLUX.1, a suite of cutting-edge text-to-image models to advance the field of AI-generated media.
Hedra, an AI startup founded by Stanford PhDs, has emerged from stealth with a $10M seed funding round, introducing Character-1, the fastest video foundation model on the market, which has already generated 1.6 million videos for over 350,000 users.
The EU's AI Act, which came into force on August 1, 2024, introduces a risk-based classification system for AI applications. In preparation for the full enforcement of the AI Act, the European Commission has launched a consultation for the first General-Purpose AI Code of Practice.