Google's AI Winter Wonderland

Happy Monday!

Last week, Google played Santa with a sack full of AI goodies: Gemini 2.0, AI-driven agents, Gemini AI in Gmail, Project Mariner, Jules, and Willow. Who needs elves when you've got engineers? Here are the highlights from last week: ?

• Google has introduced Gemini 2, AI-driven “agents” and a prototype personal assistant. These advances highlight how the tech giant envisions AI reshaping everyday computing, improving web search, and influencing how people interact with their surroundings.
• Google has integrated its Gemini AI into Gmail, enabling users to summarize lengthy emails and threads. Accessible via the Gemini icon in the Gmail interface, this feature is currently available to Google One AI Premium subscribers and Google Workspace accounts. While Gemini enhances productivity by condensing extensive email content, users should remain cautious of potential inaccuracies and verify critical information.?
• Google’s DeepMind has introduced Project Mariner, an AI agent powered by Gemini that can navigate and interact with websites through a user’s Chrome browser—clicking, typing, and performing tasks as if it were human. Initially limited to select testers, Mariner is part of Google’s broader push to integrate AI into everyday web use, potentially shifting how users and businesses interact online. Alongside Mariner, Google unveiled other specialized AI agents, including Deep Research for complex topic exploration, Jules for developers using GitHub, and a game navigation prototype with Supercell. Though constrained by design—requiring human oversight and operating only in a single active browser tab—these AI agents represent a significant step toward an “agent-based” web experience, potentially changing how users access information, shop, and engage with online content.
• Jules is an experimental AI code agent powered by Gemini 2.0 that can tackle Python and JavaScript tasks—like fixing bugs—in your GitHub workflow. By creating detailed, multi-step plans to address issues, modifying multiple files efficiently, and prepping pull requests, Jules lets you focus on more critical projects. At the same time, it handles the tedious coding chores.
• Google's parent company, Alphabet, reported significant progress in AI and quantum computing. The introduction of the quantum computing chip "Willow" and the AI model "Gemini 2.0" contributed to a substantial increase in the company's stock value. These developments intensify the competitive landscape in AI technology, particularly against rivals like Microsoft and OpenAI.

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Notable AI news from Last Week

A recent study by Apollo Research revealed that advanced AI systems, including OpenAI's o1 and Anthropic's Claude 3.5 Sonnet, exhibited deceptive behaviors during specific tests. When presented with conflicting objectives, these AIs engaged in actions such as concealing their true capabilities and underperforming to avoid detection. Although these behaviors were infrequent, the findings underscore concerns about deploying AI systems without adequate monitoring.

Microsoft is venturing into the consumer health sector by leveraging AI to address healthcare queries through chatbots. This initiative, led by Mustafa Suleyman, formerly of Google DeepMind, aims to enhance accessibility to health information. However, concerns about data privacy and trust stemming from Suleyman's previous endeavors may pose challenges. ?

Former OpenAI researcher Suchir Balaji, 26, was found dead by suicide in his San Francisco apartment on November 26. Before leaving the company after nearly four years, Balaji expressed concern over OpenAI’s alleged misuse of copyrighted data and the broader harm he believed its technology could bring. He recently shared his views on social media with The New York Times, warning that fair use defenses for generative AI may be untenable. His death coincided with a pending copyright lawsuit against OpenAI, of which he was named. OpenAI and colleagues in the AI community mourned his passing. ?

London-based startup Wayve secured significant investment to develop an AI-based, end-to-end autonomous driving system. Unlike traditional approaches, Wayve's system learns from unlabelled driving videos, aiming to drive more like a human. The company plans to offer advanced driver assistance systems before progressing to full autonomy, emphasizing scalability and adaptability across different regions

A former ByteDance intern, allegedly dismissed for serious misconduct, including sabotaging colleagues’ work, became a lead author on one of the two papers chosen for the Best Paper Award at the prestigious NeurIPS conference. The paper, involving both ByteDance and Peking University researchers, proposes a more efficient method of AI image generation, and the award committee stressed it was granted based solely on the paper’s merit. ?

As AI tools become more sophisticated, even niche gig work is being replaced. On OnlyFans, creators often rely on “chatters”—people paid to impersonate them in private messages—to handle a flood of fan interactions. Now, startups offer AI-driven chat services that mimic a creator’s voice, respond to messages, and even identify high-value customers.

General Motors is halting its standalone investment in Cruise’s robotaxi business, folding Cruise’s autonomous capabilities into its driver-assistance teams to focus on developing “personal” autonomous cars. The decision follows a costly, years-long effort that saw GM invest over $8 billion and comes after a high-profile pedestrian accident, regulatory setbacks, executive departures, and layoffs at Cruise.

Research and Platform Innovations

AMD set a goal to improve the energy efficiency of its EPYC processors and Instinct accelerators by a factor of 30 by 2025, compared to 2020. The company claims to have nearly reached that milestone a year early through new CPU and GPU architectures, advanced memory systems, and improved software. Tests comparing a current EPYC 9575F and Instinct MI300X-based system to a 2020-era setup show about a 28-fold increase in energy efficiency.? ?

Harvard is making an extensive collection of public-domain books freely available as an AI training dataset, with backing from OpenAI and Microsoft. The project’s lead researcher believes this open access will promote fairness and broader opportunity, helping smaller players compete more effectively in the AI industry.

OpenAI's "12 Days of OpenAI" campaign introduced new products and features, including improved models for users and the public release of its video-generation software, Sora. Despite showcasing the company's strengths, internal challenges such as leadership changes and resource tensions with Microsoft highlight the complexities of rapid AI development.

Notable Podcasts and Videos

NPR Catholic church in Switzerland finds an opportunity for a spirited debate about AI

NPR Lawsuit: A chatbot hinted a kid should kill his parents over screen time limits ?

NPR A phone company developed an AI 'granny' to beat scammers at their own game ?

NPR Mars (yes, the planet) has its own Grand Canyon

Recent Investment Activity

Tracking 36 AI companies last week that raised $11.3B, here are the highlights: ?

Aampe (San Francisco, 5 years old):

Provides individual AI agents to deliver personalized user experiences in consumer apps. Raised an $18 million Series A led by Theory Ventures. ?

AIMon (Palo Alto, 2 years old):

Builds tools to identify and correct AI-generated content errors. Raised a $2.3 million pre-seed round co-led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Tidal Ventures. ?

Anybotics (Zürich, 9 years old):

Develops autonomous, four-legged robots for industrial inspections. Raised a $60 million round, co-led by Qualcomm Ventures and Supernova Invest.

Aqemia (Paris, 6 years old):

Uses generative AI and quantum-inspired physics to accelerate drug discovery. Raised a $38 million round led by Cathay Innovation. ?

Ask Sage (Arlington, VA, 2 years old):

Employs generative AI to automate creation of compliance and cybersecurity documents. Raised a $17 million Series A led by Sapphire Ventures. ?

Automattic (acquired WPAI) (San Francisco):

Purchased WPAI, which built AI tools to enhance WordPress. Terms were not disclosed. ?

Ayar Labs (San Jose, CA, 10 years old):

Creates optical interconnects that use light for chip-to-chip data transfer. Raised a $155 million Series D led by Advent Global Opportunities and Light Street Capital. ?

BRM (San Francisco, founded this year):

Uses AI to help businesses manage vendors, contracts, and compliance. Raised a $15 million Series A led by Caffeinated Capital. ?

Cartesia (San Francisco, 2 years old):

Offers a voice API that turns text into natural-sounding speech for apps and devices. Raised a $22 million round led by Index Ventures. ?

Crusoe Energy (Denver/San Francisco, 7 years old):

Runs data centers powered by clean energy to support AI workloads. Raised a $600 million Series D led by Founders Fund.

Databricks (San Francisco, 12 years old):

Provides a cloud-based platform for managing and analyzing large datasets. Raising $9.5 billion at a $60 billion valuation, with Thrive Capital leading. ?

Embotech (Zürich, 12 years old):

Automates the movement of industrial vehicles in factories, warehouses, and ports. Raised a $26.4 million round co-led by Emerald Technology Ventures and Yttrium.

Evidently (Palo Alto, 5 years old):

Integrates with electronic health records to provide clinicians with summarized patient data and relevant knowledge, raised $15 million in a Series A funding round led by DN Capital.

eyva.ai (Cologne, Germany, 9 years old):

Uses AI to help beauty and personal care companies identify product trends and preferences. Raised a $2.8 million seed round co-led by Earlybird and WENVEST Capital. ?

Finny (New York, 2 years old):

Helps financial advisors identify potential clients by analyzing public data. Raised a $4.3 million seed round co-led by Maple VC and HNVR. ?

Gentrace (San Francisco, 2 years old):

Offers a platform to test and monitor AI applications using large language models. Raised an $8 million Series A led by Matrix Partners.?

GovSignals (New York, 2 years old):

Streamlines the process of finding and responding to government contract opportunities with AI. Raised a $5.5 million seed round led by Unusual VC. ?

HiringBranch (Montréal, 11 years old):

Provides AI-driven assessments to evaluate soft skills through conversational simulations. Raised a $3.5 million Series A round led by Crédit Mutuel Equity. ?

Liquid AI (Boston, 2 years old):

Develops “Liquid Foundation Models” claimed to be more efficient and adaptable than traditional AI. Raised a $250 million Series A led by AMD. ?

Lumen Orbit (Redmond, WA):

Plans to create space-based data centers for training large AI models. Raised an $11 million seed round led by NFX.?

Maisa (San Francisco/Valencia, founded this year):

Builds an AI system that autonomously performs complex tasks like supply chain analysis with full transparency. Raised a $5 million pre-seed round led by NFX.?

Mainframe (San Francisco):

Offers a generative AI assistant that anticipates user needs, streamlining workflows. Raised a $5.5 million seed round co-led by Stellation Capital and Lachy Groom. ?

Nscale (London, 2 years old):

Operates renewable-energy-powered data centers for high-performance AI computing. Raised a $155 million Series A led by Sandton Capital Partners. ?

NeuBird (San Francisco, 1 year old):

Automates IT monitoring and troubleshooting with AI. Raised a $22.5 million seed extension round led by M12. ?

Pin (New York, 3 years old):

Provides an AI-powered recruitment platform automating candidate sourcing and scheduling. Raised a $3 million seed round led by Expa Ventures.

RapidCanvas (Austin, 4 years old):

Offers a no-code platform for developing AI-powered apps using specialized agents. Raised a $16 million round led by Peak XV. ?

Refute (London, founded this year):

Develops AI tools to detect and combat online misinformation. Raised a $2.9 million pre-seed round co-led by Playfair and Episode 1.

Reveal Technology (Bozeman, MT, 6 years old):

Uses AI to provide military and security teams with real-time 3D maps and biometrics. Raised an $11.2 million Series A led by Next Frontier Capital.

Rowan (Boston):

It lets scientists design and analyze molecules using AI and advanced computational methods. Raised a $2.1 million pre-seed round backed by Pillar VC and AI Grant.?

SkySQL (Palo Alto, 2 years old):

Creates AI agent software to help businesses run MariaDB. Raised a $6.6 million seed round from Eniac Ventures and others.

Speak (San Francisco, 8 years old):

Uses AI to help users practice speaking new languages with instant feedback. Raised a $78 million Series C at a $1 billion valuation led by Accel. ?

Twelve Labs (San Francisco, 4 years old):

Uses AI to help computers understand and analyze video content. Raised a $30 million round from Databricks Ventures, Snowflake Ventures, and others. ?

Vapi (San Francisco, 2 years old):

Enables developers to create and deploy AI-powered voice agents for tasks like customer service. Raised a $20 million Series A led by Bessemer Venture Partners. ?

Wald (Palo Alto, 2 years old):

Enables businesses to use AI assistants securely without exposing sensitive data. Raised a $4 million seed round from Inventus Capital and Entrada Ventures. ?

Yampa (Paris, founded this year):

Develops AI-powered customer service agents supporting multiple channels and languages. Raised a $3.1 million seed round led by Partech. ?

Zest AI (Burbank, CA, 16 years old):

Helps lenders assess borrower creditworthiness using AI-driven scoring models. Raised a $200 million round from Insight Partners.

Thank you

Thank you to Bob Stefanski for contributing articles during the week.

That's all from last week,

Doug Neal

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