Welcome to AI Weekly Digest ?? Your essential AI briefing, carefully curated by me, Rubén Colomer, AI Specialist and GP at Next Tier Ventures. Stay ahead of the curve with the latest AI breakthroughs, key funding news, innovative tools, thought-provoking reads, must-attend events, and the best AI job opportunities - it's all here!
News ?????
- A Hacker Stole OpenAI Secrets, Raising Fears That China Could, Too. A security breach at the maker of ChatGPT last year revealed internal discussions among researchers and other employees, but not the code behind OpenAI’s systems.
- Gmail now offers new AI-powered summaries to help you save time reading long emails. Gmail is rolling out a new AI-powered summaries aim to save users time by providing concise recaps of long email threads. The feature, along with the Gemini side panel and upcoming Gmail Q&A, promises to enhance the email experience for paid customers.
- Google Pixel 9 may come with a screenshot feature similar to Microsoft’s Recall. Unlike Microsoft Recall, which can automatically capture everything done on a device, Google’s version of the feature would allow users to enable or disable AI processing of screenshots based on user preferences.
- Index Ventures Announces $2.3 Billion in New Funds to Fuel Tech Startups Globally, Emphasizing AI and Growth Opportunities.
- NVIDIA’s Inception programme supports 4,500 European startups working on artificial intelligence (AI).
- Meta plans to bring more generative AI tech into games, specifically VR, AR and mixed reality games, as the company looks to reinvigorate its flagging metaverse strategy.
- Cloudflare, the publicly traded cloud service provider, has launched a new, free tool to prevent bots from scraping websites hosted on its platform for data to train AI models.
- AI Training Models Costs to Skyrocket: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei Predicts Future Models Could Reach $100 Billion, Up from Current $100 Million for ChatGPT-4o
Funding ????
- Quantum Rise, a Chicago-based startup that does AI-driven automation for companies like dunnhumby (a retail analytics platform for the grocery industry), has raised a $15 million seed round from Erie Street Growth Partners.
- Bitmagic raises $4M for AI platform that generates 3D games from consumer prompts, in a round led by Korea Investment Partners (KIP). Other participants included Supercell, Sisu Game Ventures, and a group of notable angel investors, including Zak Phelps, and Maarten De Koning.
- London-based The DNEG Group has secured a $200M capital injection from Abu Dhabi investment firm United Al Saqer Group (UASG), in move it says gives it a value in excess of $2B.
- Australia’s Redactive AI bags $11.5 million to grow ‘virtual AI engineer’. Blackbird and Atlassian Ventures led the $11.5 million funding round. US firms Felicis and Zapier also see great promise in the responsible AI platform.
- Bluestone Equity Partners has invested $20 million in Qloo, the cultural AI company. Investors include AI Ventures, AXA Venture Partners, as well as Leonardo DiCaprio and Elton John.
- Enso Launches First Guided AI Agents Platform With $6M in funding from NFX
- Volley has raised $55 million in a new round of funding for its voice-enabled AI games like games for Amazon Alexa. Lightspeed co-led the Series C round with Microsoft’s M12 Ventures. Participants in the financing include General Catalyst, Causeway Media Partners, the Amazon Alexa Fund, Bitkraft, Y Combinator and others.
M&A ??
Interesting Reads ????
Tech ????
Tools ?????
- Doti: App assistant in managing health and life goals. It comprehensively analyzes data from your exercise, diet, stress levels, sleep patterns, heart rate, and goal management to offer custom lifestyle tips just for you
- Dapta.ai: AI automation for your business. With Dapta you can integrate your businesses' tools to automate marketing, sales and operation processes with AI.
- Suno launches iPhone App, so you can make AI Music right now.
- Stop searching for all your invoices at the end of the quarter. With Invoice Detector, you'll have them all organized.
- Reworkd: End-to-end data extraction data extraction. Effortlessly extract web data at scale. No code.
AI Jobs ????????
- Senior NLP Engineer (Logically) - Spain, Remote
- Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Behaviors (Cruise) - USA Remote - $217,600 - $320,000.
- AI/Machine Learning Team Leader (MLabs) - Remote, WorldWide.
- Solutions Architect, Generative AI Specialist (Nvidia) - Santa Clara, CA, USA - 148,000 USD - 276,000 USD.
- Staff Software Engineer - Backend + ML (Disney+ Hotstar) - Remote.
- Staff Software Engineer, Core ML Foundation (Pinterest) - San Francisco, Remote - $160,520—$330,146 USD
Events ????
Valencia Digital Summit is a major technology event that gathers innovators, entrepreneurs, and business leaders from around the world to discuss the latest trends and advancements in digital technology. This year, artificial intelligence will be a fundamental focus, with dedicated sessions exploring its transformative impact across various industries.
- Conversational AI Innovation Summit (September 5-6) - San Francisco, CA, USA Focused on the latest advancements in conversational AI technologies such as chatbots and virtual assistants. The summit brings together industry leaders to discuss innovations and applications in this rapidly evolving field.
- K1st World Symposium (September 5-6) - Stanford, CA, USA An international symposium addressing key topics in AI research, development, and policy. This event will feature expert talks, panel discussions, and networking opportunities for AI professionals and researchers.
- Generative AI for Automotive USA 2024 (September 9-11) - Detroit, MI, USA A conference dedicated to exploring the applications of generative AI in the automotive industry, focusing on innovations in vehicle design, manufacturing, and user experience enhancements.
- AI Hardware & Edge Summit (September 9-12) - San Jose, CA, USA This summit will cover the latest advancements in AI hardware and edge computing technologies. Industry experts will discuss new developments, applications, and future trends in the field.
- AI for Defense Summit (September 11-12) - Washington, DC, USA A specialized summit focusing on the use of AI in defense and national security. Discussions will include AI-driven defense strategies, ethical considerations, and technological advancements.
- Machine Learning in Quantitative Finance (September 16-18) - Amsterdam, Netherlands A conference dedicated to the application of machine learning in quantitative finance, featuring expert talks, case studies, and panel discussions on the latest trends and challenges in the field.
- Responsible AI Summit (September 16-18) - London, UK This summit will focus on the ethical, legal, and social implications of AI. Topics include AI governance, transparency, and the development of responsible AI practices.
- AI for Pharma and Health Care (September 24-26) - Amsterdam, Netherlands A conference exploring the applications of AI in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, including drug discovery, diagnostics, and patient care improvements.
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Stay tuned for more AI insights and updates in the next issue of AI Weekly Digest!. Until then, keep exploring the exciting world of artificial intelligence.
