E91: 6/13/25
NVIDIA's world domination plan, Mistral Compute's EU datacenters, Meta gets married to Scale AI and brings in CEO Alexandr Wang on AGI team, etc.
PNW AI News:
AWS is teaming up with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, home to the world’s only facility to achieve fusion ignition, to develop AI tools to advance the lab’s efforts
DoorDash pays $175M to acquire Symbiosys, an FUSE portfolio adtech startup with roots in Seattle region, that uses AI to help retailers and their brands collaboratively advertise
Starbucks AI assistant, powered by Microsoft, aims to help baristas focus on coffee and customers, called Green Dot Assist
Microsoft rolled out Copilot Vision with highlights in the US, allowing the assistant to see users’ screens and provide in-context insights and guidance
Key AI Product/Research Updates:
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang laid out a sweeping vision that positions robotics, autonomous systems, and industrial AI as the backbone of a $50 trillion market opportunity for NVIDIA
Mistral AI announce AI infrastructure plans with datacenters that positions the company as Europe’s answer to American cloud computing giants, called Mistral Compute
OpenAI and Mattel just announced a new strategic partnership to create AI-powered toys and experiences, bringing the tech to franchise brands like Barbie, Hot Wheels, American Girl, and more
The Browser Company announced Dia, a new AI-powered web browser, to act more like an intelligent assistant than a traditional browser
Bytedance researchers introduced Seaweed APT2, a new model for real-time, interactive video generations — able to stream 24 fps videos at up to 5 minutes long
Google DeepMind launched Weather Lab, an interactive platform showcasing its AI-powered weather forecasts for early, accurate predictions of storm paths and intensity
Meta released V-JEPA 2, a “world model” that gives AI systems the ability to understand robotics' physics and predict real-world outcomes
OpenAI launched o3-pro, a tool-native upgrade to its o3 model built for enterprise-grade reasoning, integrating Python, file analysis, web browsing, and vision, making it ideal for complex, multi-step tasks where accuracy trumps latency
Chinese tech companies like Bytedance, DeepSeek, Baidu, Alibaba, etc. temporarily blocked AI features during the country’s gaokao university entrance exams, aiming to prevent cheating among the 13M+ test-taking students competing for limited university spots
OpenAI has upgraded ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice Mode, giving it a more natural, expressive tone complete with nuanced pacing, inflection, and even a dash of empathy or sarcasm
Key AI Business/Investment Updates:
Meta forms AGI superintelligence team, spearheaded by a $14.3B investment for 49% of Scale AI, where Scale CEO Alexandr Wang will be leading the team
Prediction betting market Kalshi aired one of the first instances of an AI-generated commercial during Game 3 of the NBA Finals, running an “unhinged” 30-second spot created with clips created using Google's Veo 3 video model on ABC, that went viral
Sam Altman claims an average ChatGPT query uses ‘roughly one fifteenth of a teaspoon’ of water, 0.34 watt-hours of energy
Hollywood giants, including Disney and Universal, filed a lawsuit against AI image generation startup Midjourney, alleging that the company’s models are a massive engine for copyright theft
Enterprise AI startup Glean raised $150M in new funding at a $7.2B valuation, driven by adoption from Fortune 500 companies and its Glean Agents platform
OpenAI reached $10B in annual recurring revenue, nearly doubling its numbers from last year — with projections of $125B in revenue by 2029
PNW AI/ML/CV Fundings:
AIM (Bellevue, WA) raised $50M in Series B funding from Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst, Human Capital, Ironspring Ventures, Mantis, DCVC, and Elad Gil
The world’s first embodied AI platform for earthmoving machinery, via a simple hardware edge computing retrofit – TFTD $91.1M
CEO: Adam Sadilek
Pokee AI (Bellevue, WA) raised $11.93m in early-stage funding Jinqiu Capital, Samsung NEXT Ventures, and SCB 10x
AI agents with advanced capabilities to help businesses complete tasks more efficiently – TFTD $11.93m
CEO: Zheqing (Bill) Zhu
Rapta (Lake Oswego, Oregon) raised $2.7M in Seed funding from Portland Seed Fund and Roadster Capital
AI-enabled precision manufacturing automation for Fortune100 companies – TFTD $2.75M
CEO: Aaron Brown
Eldil AI (Moscow, ID) raised $0.5M in Pre-seed funding from undisclosed investors
Generative engine optimization (GEO) to improve search visibility for clients using AI – TFTD $0.5M
CEO: Shawn Schneider
Aiberry (Bellevue, WA) raised $0.5M in post-Series A funding from undisclosed investors
AI-powered screening platform for detecting mental health and brain-related disorders – TFTD $18.4M
CEO: Linda Chung