Welcome back from the weekend. :) | | Top News | Anthropic is in talks with the Trump administration about its new Mythos model despite being labeled by the Pentagon as a supply-chain risk for placing restrictions on the military's use of its Claude models. Reuters has more here. | After a 20-year-old Texas man was charged with throwing a homemade bomb at the San Francisco home of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman last week, police arrested two more suspects for allegedly firing a gun near the property in a separate incident over the weekend. OpenAI has said the alleged shooting did not appear to target Altman’s home. The San Francisco Standard has more here. | The ShinyHunters gang is demanding a ransom from more than a dozen companies (including Rockstar Games, makers of Grand Theft Auto) after breaching Anodot and stealing authentication tokens used to access corporate cloud data. TechCrunch has more here. | | |
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| By Sarah Perez | AI experts and the public’s opinion on the technology are increasingly diverging, according to Stanford University’s annual report on the AI industry, which was released Monday. In particular, the report noted a growing trend of anxiety around AI and, in the U.S., concerns about how the technology will impact key societal areas, such as jobs, medical care, and the economy. | The report’s findings follow growing negative sentiment about AI, with Gen Z reportedly leading the way, according to a recent Gallup poll. The study found that young people were growing less hopeful and more angry about the technology, even though around half of the demographic was using AI either daily or weekly. | For some working in tech, the AI backlash has come as a surprise. AI leaders have focused on managing the possibility of Artificial General Intelligence, or AGI — a theoretical form of AI superintelligence that could perform any task a human could do and think for itself. But everyday folks are more concerned about AI’s impact on their paycheck and whether or not their power bills will go up as energy-hungry data centers are built. | The divide has been most apparent in the online reaction to the recent attacks on OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home. | | | Massive Fundings | Slate Auto, a four-year-old startup based in Troy, MI, and backed by Jeff Bezos that is building low-cost electric pickup trucks, raised a $650 million Series C round led by TWG Global. The company has raised a total of $1.4 billion. TechCrunch has more here. | | Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings | pH7 Technologies, a six-year-old Vancouver startup that uses an electrochemical process to extract metals from low-grade ores and waste streams, raised a $32 million Series B round led by Fine Structure Ventures, with Asahi Kasei, Circular Innovation Fund, and BHP Ventures also taking part. More here. | | Smaller Fundings | Convelio, a nine-year-old Paris startup that provides AI-powered shipping and storage services for fine art and antiques, raised a Series C round led by an unnamed French family office, with previous investors Forestay, Mundi Ventures, and Acton Capital also participating. More here. | Prefix, a recently founded New York startup that uses AI to coordinate maintenance and repair across multi-site retail and restaurant locations, raised a $7.5 million seed round co-led by Collide Capital and Slow Ventures, with Connexa Capital and Elevated Huts as well as previous investors I2BF and Bienville Capital also anteing up. More here. | Round, a three-year-old London startup that automates finance workflows like payments, approvals, and payroll through AI, raised a $6 million seed round led by Alstin Capital, with Backed VC and Love Ventures also contributing. Tech.eu has more here. | Sonibel Instruments, a Canadian startup founded this year that monitors weld quality in real-time to help manufacturers detect defects during production, raised a $1.6 million seed round led by Maple VC, with Champion Hill Ventures and Dorm Room Fund also pitching in. More here. | Ultralight, a three-year-old New York startup that runs clinical workflows and patient records for medical practices while handling administrative tasks in the background, raised a $9.3 million pre-seed round led by The General Partnership, with Wisdom Ventures, Anthemis, and Emerson Collective also engaging. More here. | | |
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Trusted by companies like Miro, Bilt, and Zapier | Ship with Framer today | | Exits | OpenAI has acqui-hired Hiro, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that builds an AI-powered personal CFO to help users manage their finances. Hiro’s backers include Ribbit, General Catalyst, and Restive. TechCrunch has more here. | | Going Public | Vercel, a 10-year-old San Francisco startup that provides a platform for building and hosting websites and apps, is “ready and getting more ready every day” for an IPO, CEO Guillermo Rauch said, with ARR climbing to about $340 million and roughly 30% of apps on its platform now generated by agents. TechCrunch has more here. | | People | Meta is building an AI version of Mark Zuckerberg that can interact with employees using a model trained on his voice, mannerisms, and public statements. The Financial Times has more here. | Daniel Moreno-Gama, the 20-year-old Texan who is accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail at Sam Altman’s home this past Friday, also carried an “anti-AI” document listing other tech CEOs and investors, according to federal prosecutors. Business Insider has more here. | | Post-Its | | | Data |  | Image Credits: Stanford HAI |
| A new Stanford HAI report says China has effectively erased the U.S.’s lead in AI, with the two countries now trading places at the top of performance benchmarks even as the U.S. maintains an edge in capital and chips. SiliconANGLE has more here. | | Essential Reads | In an internal memo, OpenAI CRO Denise Dresser told staff its new partnership with Amazon is driving “staggering” enterprise demand while complaining that its longstanding tie-up with Microsoft has limited its ability to reach customers. She also accused Anthropic of inflating its reported revenue by billions through accounting that “grosses up” partner sales. CNBC and The Verge have more here and |
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