LastBot’s Post

Now that #Europe's leading #AI startups and developers, including LastBot and myself, are gathering to #London for #OpenAI #DevDay, I wanted take this opportunity to share my view on the state of AI in Europe and Finland. During these two crazy years after ChatGPT came, we at LastBot have been engaging and training organisations of all sizes in US and Europe, and I have been actively participating the local events and groups concentrating on AI. My three observations included here is based on these discussions and the market research we have been doing all the time. Even though the observations might seem worrying, I want to always also express the opportunity I see in each of them. Observation 1: Companies are really slow on picking up AI. At Europe we have a lot of traditional industries, like metal, chemical, machinery and forest and then a big IT services business to serve them. We have only few really large software companies (SAP, Dassault...) and even less of our companies seem to lead the utilisation of AI (only Klarna comes to my mind). Only now, two years after the world leaders started their AI transformation, few companies are picking up AI as their new competitive edge. Opportunity: There are huge possibilities in increasing the productivity in these old industries and they are not that prone on changes, so building up AI solutions for these verticals can be big business where Europe takes the lead. While rest of the world is putting their money on chips and foundation model, we can still became the leader in utilising the AI. Observation 2: We are not brave enough to invent something of our own. Everybody wants to use the latest Azure or AWS stack, thinking that they are the state of the art. Truth is still that the real innovation happens in startups and open source, always making safe choices will not lead in competitive edge. Opportunity: Of course it's not wise to build the infra itself, but owning the application layer is still crucial. Like it was in the software. I think that many companies will realise this soon, which will create demand for creative and agile players in the area. Observation 3: Regulation is a big boogieman that everybody is afraid of. This is holding off the investments and projects, because companies are afraid of the legal and brand implications. The regulation itself is not that bad, but it creates a lot of uncertainty and extra work that could be used on more productive things. Opportunity: It's not good for Europe to get the latest AI innovations later than rest of the world. But still, for local companies and startups, it's one way to compete with US startups. We know the laws pretty well and having worked with GDPR for a decade, we understand quite well how to interpret and deal with them We have all the ingredients to be more. We have a lot of affordable talent. We have governments that are willing to support and good social security. Now just need to take our stake.

Among genAI investment deals, investors significantly favor B2B business models over B2C. Investors apparently see enterprises as the bigger $$$ opportunity for AI startups, partly driven by a wave of big companies racing to build AI into their roadmaps. Though some of the biggest AI vendors — like OpenAI — sell to both businesses and consumers. View the landscape in our genAI market map here: https://cbi.team/3VZi2Ex

Top AI Startups in 2024  By spring 2023, the surge of applications like ChatGPT sparked businesses to adopt generative AI rapidly. This trend persists, leading to the emergence of a tech economy focused on AI-powered app development, highlighted by Forbes’ sixth annual AI 50, produced with Sequoia and Meritech Capital. The major firms of great interest are OpenAI ($86 billion), Anthropic ($18.4 billion), and Databricks ($43 billion), illustrating diverse AI applications across various industries. Collectively, these companies have raised $34.7 billion, with OpenAI accounting for a significant portion due to Microsoft’s $10 billion investment. Other rising AI firms include Anthropic ($7.7 billion), Cohere ($445 million), and Mistral AI ($528 million). One more startup worth mentioning—Suno—the program that allows users to command it to create songs of any kind, generating complex, human-sounding music in seconds. The startup raised $125 million. The competition in the AI sector is fierce, evidenced by 1,900 submissions this year — a significant increase. Overall, it will be interesting to see how these dynamics play out in the coming years. #AIStartups #TechDevelopment #Automation

What is the most innovative way AI is used in startups, besides chat bots and text summarization?   #TechDiscussion: What is the most clever AI usage have you seen in startups? 🤖💡 Hey tech enthusiasts! Let's chat about the innovative ways AI is being utilized in startups beyond the typical chat bots and text summarization. 🚀 Have you come across any standout AI use cases in non-AI apps? Here are a couple that caught my eye: - The use of AI for summarizing meetings, like with gen ai - Startu... Source: https://lnkd.in/gCYEWupk #mymetric360

Aleph Alpha, once Germany's AI champion, is switching gears! 🔄 The startup that raised €500M to build Europe's ChatGPT rival is now focusing on a new "AI operating system" called PhaidraAI. Why the change? • Building cutting-edge AI models is EXPENSIVE 💸 • Competition from OpenAI and others is fierce 🥊 • The "European AI" pitch wasn't enough to justify the investment Business model reality check: - Just having a European language model ≠ viable business 📉 - Pivoting to help companies use ANY AI tools, not just their own 🛠️ - Targeting specific needs of German businesses & government agencies - Aiming for €70M in revenue next year (ambitious given current €20M ARR) 📈 Aleph Alpha's founder says, "The world changed." It's a stark reminder that even AI startups need to adapt or risk being left behind. #AIStartup #TechPivot #EuropeanTech #BusinessStrategy

Bhavish Aggarwal's Krutrim introduces an AI chatbot, potentially positioning itself as a competitor to Gemini. Krutrim, an AI startup founded by Bhavish Aggarwal, the chairman of Ola, has introduced its inaugural product, an AI chatbot, following Aggarwal's announcement of the venture in December. Named after the Sanskrit word for "artificial," Krutrim aims to leverage local Indian knowledge, languages, and data in its AI model. Similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini, Krutrim's chatbot has been released in public beta. Aggarwal expressed optimism about the product's potential, emphasizing that it marks just the beginning for Krutrim, with plans for further enhancements and developments in the pipeline. The launch follows Krutrim's recent disclosure of securing $50 million in financing at a valuation of $1 billion, making it India's first unicorn of 2024 and the country's first AI unicorn. The funding round was led by Matrix Partners India, a longtime supporter of Aggarwal's ventures such as Ola Cabs and Ola Electric, which is gearing up for an IPO. The chatbot, sharing its name with the company, is powered by Krutrim's multilingual large language models (LLM), demonstrating Krutrim's commitment to leveraging indigenous expertise and language diversity. #goals#inspirational#inspire#quoteoftheday#positivevibes#life#believe#entrepreneur#happiness#selflove#lifestyle#quote#successquotes#yourself#bhfyp#loveyourself#instadaily#photooftheday#instagood #thoughts #startup#startupindia #startupnews #startupindianews #startiyapa https://lnkd.in/dmYx3qkX

What is the most innovative way AI is used in startups, besides chat bots and text summarization?   #TechDiscussion: What is the most clever AI usage have you seen in startups? 🤖💡 Hey tech enthusiasts! Let's chat about the innovative ways AI is being utilized in startups beyond the typical chat bots and text summarization. 🚀 Have you come across any standout AI use cases in non-AI apps? Here are a couple that caught my eye: - The use of AI for summarizing meetings, like with gen ai - Startu... Source: https://lnkd.in/g3xZSmeN #mymetric360

What is the most innovative way AI is used in startups, besides chat bots and text summarization?   #TechDiscussion: What is the most clever AI usage have you seen in startups? 🤖💡 Hey tech enthusiasts! Let's chat about the innovative ways AI is being utilized in startups beyond the typical chat bots and text summarization. 🚀 Have you come across any standout AI use cases in non-AI apps? Here are a couple that caught my eye: - The use of AI for summarizing meetings, like with gen ai - Startu... Source: https://lnkd.in/gsK3FG9E #mymetric360

With $25M in its pocket, Ema promises to banish boring tasks forever. But at what cost to the human touch in our workplaces? Ema has emerged from stealth mode with a $25M funding, signaling a major leap in automating routine tasks using AI, and shifting focus towards more strategic work. This San Francisco-based startup integrates over 30 large language models, aiming to streamline efficiency with a highly skilled team from Coinbase and Google at the helm. It's a game-changer for the workplace, redefining task management and productivity. Keep an eye on Ema's journey! For more details, check out TechCrunch's article. #EmaAI #TechInnovation #AIWorkplace #StartupFunding

What is the most innovative way AI is used in startups, besides chat bots and text summarization?   #TechDiscussion: What is the most clever AI usage have you seen in startups? 🤖💡 Hey tech enthusiasts! Let's chat about the innovative ways AI is being utilized in startups beyond the typical chat bots and text summarization. 🚀 Have you come across any standout AI use cases in non-AI apps? Here are a couple that caught my eye: - The use of AI for summarizing meetings, like with gen ai - Startu... Source: https://lnkd.in/gunpgnYh #mymetric360