Meta Explores Nuclear-Powered Data Centers, OpenAI Predicts Human-Level AI Tasks, and Google Expands AI Capabilities

Happy Thursday everyone!

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, and the best AI job opportunities - it's all here!

If you want to stay updated on all things related to artificial intelligence, and receive it conveniently in your email, subscribe here.

News 🗞️📰

• Google Unveils 7 Major AI Updates in October Google announced AI enhancements across products: Google Maps now supports complex queries, NotebookLM aids data synthesis, and Google Shopping offers AI-based product insights. Google Search added video and song-based queries, while all Chromebooks now include built-in AI tools. Additionally, Google allocated $15 million for AI training in the U.S. public sector, and Google alumni received Nobel Prizes for AI advancements.
• Former OpenAI AGI Head Predicts Near-Human Computer Capabilities for AI Miles Brundage, OpenAI’s former head of AGI readiness, believes AI will soon be able to perform any task on a computer that a human can, from navigating interfaces to appearing human in video chats. Brundage, now focusing on nonprofit policy research, emphasized the need for governments to prepare for the impact of advanced AI on sectors like taxation and education. His departure follows other exits at OpenAI amid debates over AGI safety and development balance.
• Apple Intelligence to Launch in EU in April 2025 Apple has announced that its Apple Intelligence suite, including features like Writing Tools, Genmoji, a revamped Siri, and ChatGPT integration, will be available to EU iPhone and iPad users in April 2025, with additional language support coming throughout the year. Despite initial delays blamed on EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), Apple has adapted the rollout to meet regulatory standards, ensuring privacy and security compliance for European users.
• Meta’s Nuclear-Powered AI Data Center Blocked by Rare Bees Meta’s plans to build a nuclear-powered data center for its AI projects were halted due to the discovery of a rare bee species on the proposed site. The facility was intended to help meet Meta's growing AI compute demands with carbon-free energy. Despite the setback, tech companies like Microsoft and Google are increasingly turning to nuclear power for AI, due to its potential for sustainable energy. Meta's capital expenditures on AI infrastructure reached $9.2 billion in Q3 2024.
• Claude 3.5 Haiku: Fast, Accurate, and Affordable AI Model Anthropic’s new Claude 3.5 Haiku offers improved coding, reasoning, and tool use at competitive speeds. Available on Amazon Bedrock and Google Cloud’s Vertex AI, the model starts at $1 per million input tokens, with discounts available. Key use cases include quick code completions, responsive chatbots, data extraction, and real-time content moderation. Claude 3.5 Haiku also prioritizes safety, with thorough evaluations ensuring it handles sensitive content responsibly.
• Tim Cook and Mark Cuban Use AI Tools to Streamline Inbox Management Apple CEO Tim Cook and entrepreneur Mark Cuban leverage AI to manage their overflowing inboxes efficiently. Cook uses Apple Intelligence to generate summaries of his 800+ daily emails, while Cuban relies on Gmail’s generative AI assistant for quick, suggested replies to his thousands of emails. Both say AI has significantly boosted their productivity, with Cook calling it life-changing and Cuban highlighting its impact on his focus on strategic tasks.
• Prime Video Introduces AI-Powered X-Ray Recaps Amazon’s Prime Video is rolling out X-Ray Recaps, a new AI feature that provides text summaries of TV show seasons, episodes, and specific scenes. Accessible through the X-Ray feature on Fire TV devices, this tool generates key event descriptions without spoilers, using subtitles and dialogue analysis. Currently in beta, X-Ray Recaps will expand to more devices by year’s end and initially support Amazon MGM Studios Originals.
• Nvidia AI Blueprint Simplifies Creation of Automated Video Analysis Agents Nvidia’s AI Blueprint enables developers across industries to build AI agents for analyzing video and image data, streamlining tasks like video search, summarization, and safety monitoring. This tool, part of Nvidia Metropolis, uses vision language models (VLMs) and generative AI for real-time analysis in areas like warehouses, traffic management, and smart city applications
• Hugging Face's SmolLM2 Brings Efficient AI Models to Smartphones Hugging Face has released SmolLM2, a compact AI model for smartphones and edge devices that outperforms larger rivals like Meta’s Llama 1B in key tasks. SmolLM2’s efficiency allows high-performance AI directly on devices, benefiting areas where privacy and low latency are critical. Now available on Hugging Face’s model hub.

Funding 💼💸

• Perplexity AI Raising $500M at $9B Valuation AI search engine Perplexity AI is finalizing a $500 million raise at a $9 billion valuation, led by Institutional Venture Partners. Competing with Google and OpenAI, Perplexity has grown rapidly, despite facing media-scraping accusations. The platform handles 230 million monthly queries, with U.S. usage surging eightfold this year.
• Physical Intelligence Raises $400M From Bezos, OpenAI, and Others to Power General-Purpose Robotics AI. Physical Intelligence, a robotics AI startup, secured a $400 million funding round led by Jeff Bezos, Thrive Capital, and Lux Capital. This latest round values the company at approximately $2 billion. Founded in 2024, Physical Intelligence aims to develop a "generalist brain" capable of operating various robots, from folding laundry to assembling boxes. Co-founder and CEO Karol Hausman envisions this AI as a versatile solution, powering diverse robotic applications across industries.
• Swoove Studios secures €6.9M in Seed funding following US launch Belgium-based Swoove Studios , a digital media platform for creating 3D animations, raised €6.9M in a seed round led by European angel investors, bringing total funding to $11M since its 2020 launch. The company, co-founded by CEO Rudy Verbeeck , provides an AI-powered platform for users to create 3D animations without prior experience.
• Corgea secures $2.6M seed round to advance AI-driven cybersecurity solutions Corgea, a cybersecurity startup focused on AI-powered vulnerability detection and remediation, has raised $2.6M in a seed round led by Shorooq Partners, with contributions from Y Combinator, Propeller, Decacorn Capital, Unbound Ventures, and notable angels. Founded by Ahmad Sadeddin , Corgea’s platform reduces false positives by 30% and accelerates remediation by 80%, enhancing security teams' efficiency in handling complex vulnerabilities
• Scalpel AI raises $4.8M to revolutionize surgical logistics. London-based Scalpel AI has secured $4.8M in funding led by Mercia Ventures, with support from Tensor Ventures and private investors. Founded by Dr. Yeshwanth Pulijala , Scalpel AI uses computer vision and machine learning to track surgical tools and ensure the accuracy of surgical trays, optimizing healthcare logistics.
• Tallinn-based Miros secures €6M to enhance e-commerce with AI-powered visual search. Miros, an Estonian visual AI startup Led by Heikki Haldre and founded in 2021, has closed a €6 million pre-Series A round led by EBRD Venture Capital and Tera Ventures, with participation from former Estonian President Toomas_Hendrik Ilves . Miros reports increased conversion rates for clients like luxury retailer Jomashop, which saw a 3.6% boost in GMV and a 1.3% rise in average order value after implementing Miros’ solution.
• Cornerstone AI raises $5M to enhance AI-powered healthcare data cleaning Cornerstone AI has secured $5M in funding led by Acrew Capital, with contributions from Initiate Ventures, Healthy Ventures, and notable industry figures. Led by new CEO Viraj Narayanan , with founder Michael Elashoff focusing on AI advancements as Chief Science Officer, the company aims to streamline and improve the accuracy of healthcare data analysis through its AI-driven platform
• Customs Window secures €800k to streamline customs declarations with AI Irish RegTech startup Customs Window has raised €800k in seed funding from private investors, Enterprise Ireland’s EIIS, and the HPSU programme to expand its AI-driven customs compliance platform into the UK. Founded in 2022 by Brian Murphy and Johnny Dunne , Customs Window simplifies customs declarations through automation, helping businesses navigate post-Brexit regulations and e-commerce growth.
• Herald raises $12M Series A to transform commercial insurance digital infrastructure. Herald, a digital infrastructure platform for commercial insurance led by Matthew Antoszyk , secured a $12M Series A round co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Brewer Lane Ventures, with participation from Afore Capital and Underscore Venture Capital. Herald’s API connects brokers with 35+ carriers and 80+ insurance products, streamlining workflows with AI capabilities that automate data handling across CRM and custom platforms.
• Workgrounds Raises $2.6M to Transform Hotel Room Block Management with AI. Workgrounds, founded by serial entrepreneurs Nikhil Sethi and Garrett Ullom, has raised $2.6 million in a pre-seed round from investors including Oceans Ventures, Hannah Grey, Volo Ventures, and deftly.vc. The platform automates the complex process of sourcing and managing hotel room blocks for corporate groups, reducing booking times from weeks to days and achieving an average of 31% savings for clients like SeatGeek and RevenueCat.

M&A 💰

• Siemens to Acquire Altair for $10 Billion to Expand AI-Powered Design and Simulation. Siemens has announced a $10 billion acquisition of Altair Engineering, a Michigan-based 3D design and simulation software company. This acquisition aims to integrate Altair’s AI and simulation technology with Siemens' Xcelerator platform, enhancing Siemens' digital and industrial software offerings. Altair’s data science expertise will expand Siemens’ capabilities in simulation, product lifecycle management, and manufacturing.
• CrowdStrike Acquires Adaptive Shield for $300M to Enhance SaaS Security CrowdStrike has acquired Israeli cybersecurity startup Adaptive Shield for around $300 million. Founded in 2019 by Maor Bin and Jony Shlomoff , Adaptive Shield specializes in SaaS security posture management (SSPM) and identity threat detection (ITDR), helping teams monitor applications, manage identities, and detect unusual behavior within cloud environments.
• Apple Acquires Pixelmator to Bolster AI in Photo Editing. Apple has acquired Lithuanian image-editing platform Pixelmator, which rival Adobe Photoshop. This acquisition, which awaits regulatory approval, aligns with Apple's growing investment in AI, with potential integrations of Pixelmator’s features into Apple’s Photos app. While financial details remain undisclosed, experts suggest that Pixelmator's AI capabilities could strengthen Apple's imaging technology amid increased competition in the AI space.
• Sentiance acquires Drvr to boost road safety insights. Belgium-based motion insights company Sentiance has acquired Bangkok-based Drvr to expand its operations in Asia. Sentiance, led by CEO Toon V. , aims to integrate Drvr's team and clients to enhance road safety solutions across Southeast Asia. The acquisition aligns with Sentiance's mission to leverage AI for improved road safety and customer support in the region.
• Brand Engagement Network acquires Cataneo for $19.5M. Brand Engagement Network (BEN) has acquired Munich-based media company Cataneo for $19.5 million. Cataneo, led by CEO Renato Rocha Pinto , provides tools for ad sales, inventory management, and campaign optimization to help media companies increase revenue and audience engagement. BEN’s CEO Paul C. emphasized that integrating BEN’s Generative AI will enable Cataneo to enhance customer engagement and improve online advertising experiences. Cataneo will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary, with plans to expand in the US and Latin America.

Interesting Reads 💡🤔

• Andreessen Horowitz Partner on AI’s Top Opportunities Martin Casado, partner at Andreessen Horowitz, identifies three lucrative AI areas: creative content, companionship, and coding tools. Creative AI powers low-cost game design and media creation; companionship AI, like Character.AI, resonates socially; and AI coding tools like Cursor streamline programming. Casado warns of compute and data constraints, though smaller AI firms show strong growth in focused applications.
• Microsoft Copilot AI Beginners Guide Microsoft Copilot is an AI assistant integrated into Microsoft 365 applications, enhancing productivity with tools like text and image generation, email summarization, presentation design, and data visualization. Accessible via typing or voice, Copilot offers context-aware assistance across apps, adapting to specific tasks in Outlook, PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Advanced features like plugin integration and Copilot Lab training enable users to optimize workflows and boost efficiency.
• Looking Beyond Generative AI: A Holistic Approach to Digital Transformation McKinsey’s Rodney Zemmel and Kate Smaje caution that while generative AI captures attention, leaders should not overlook other digital imperatives essential to delivering sustained value. They advocate a balanced approach, integrating gen AI with foundational digital strategies to enhance agility and drive meaningful impact across business operations. By focusing on digital transformation as a whole, companies can avoid dependency on singular technologies and ensure all digital initiatives work synergistically to create long-term value.
• Chatbot vs. Conversational AI: Key Differences and Future Potential Chatbots are rule-based programs that engage users with pre-set responses, while conversational AI leverages technologies like machine learning, NLP, and generative AI to deliver more natural, context-aware interactions. While chatbots handle basic inquiries, conversational AI adapts and improves, offering a richer customer experience in roles such as virtual assistants.
• How Entrepreneurs Use AI to Understand Customers Entrepreneurs can leverage AI tools like Otter.ai for transcriptions, sentiment analysis, and automated customer feedback to quickly extract insights. AI helps refine messaging, personalize experiences, and iterate on ideas, enabling data-driven decisions that enhance customer engagement and business growth.
• How to Create Excel Dashboards with Claude 3 AI in Minutes Claude 3 AI streamlines the process of building interactive Excel dashboards. By uploading a data file, prompting analysis, and generating code, users can create dashboards with visual elements like charts and tooltips in minutes. While customization is limited and data security should be considered, Claude 3 AI offers an accessible and quick alternative for dashboard creation, ideal for smaller datasets and basic interactivity needs.
• AI for Startups: Microsoft and a16z’s Joint Policy Vision. Microsoft and Andreessen Horowitz call for collaborative policies to support AI innovation across all tech sectors. Their focus includes open-source models, accessible data, and minimal regulatory burdens for startups. Key proposals are regulatory frameworks centered on AI safety, open data commons, and government investment in AI talent and digital literacy. Their aim is a balanced ecosystem that promotes both Big and Little Tech growth in the AI economy.

Startups / Tools 🧰🛠️

• Bounti: Bounti offers an AI-driven solution for sales teams, enhancing engagement rates and pipeline quality. It provides instant, AI-generated insights, tailored messaging, and continuous prospect monitoring, allowing for rapid, personalized outreach. Bounti boosts productivity by enabling sales reps to connect meaningfully with prospects in less time.
• Merative: Health Data Centered on People. Merative aims to revolutionize healthcare by placing individuals—not systems—at the heart of health data. Serving over 4,000 providers, 35 government agencies, and all top life sciences firms, Merative delivers solutions like Micromedex for clinical insights, Zelta for data management, and Cúram for patient engagement. With a focus on privacy and security, Merative empowers patients, providers, and researchers to make informed, data-driven health decisions.
• ScalerX.ai: Provides AI agents integrated with Telegram for automating sales, support, learning, and intelligence in channels and groups. Users can easily create and customize agents with no coding needed, enabling 24/7 automated responses. Agents are trainable with custom knowledge bases, support multiple languages, and feature advanced access control for seamless, secure engagement.
• Todof: A reminder app that feels human. Todof uses AI-powered Aware Reminders for personalized nudges, Auto Icons for quick visual cues, and Progressive Sounds that escalate when ignored, ensuring tasks stay top of mind. Available on Android and iOS.
• Lumen5: An AI-powered video creation platform that transforms text, blogs, and ideas into engaging videos with ease. Lumen5's drag-and-drop interface offers templates, branded themes, and preset media placements, making it as simple as creating a slide deck. Used by over 2.5 million companies, Lumen5 enables quick, on-brand content creation without technical skills.

NTV Highlights 🪩🎉

Next Tier Ventures will participate in the VIII Congreso de Científicos Emprendedores on November 28 and 29 at Fundación Botín in Madrid. We'll join a roundtable discussion titled AI for Change: Exploring New Frontiers in Scientific Entrepreneurship alongside Andreu Climent (Corify Care), Ignasi Belda (AESIA), and Mikel Artetxe (Reka AI). Looking forward to exploring the impact and potential of AI in scientific entrepreneurship.

The VDS2024 concluded with over 12,000 attendees last week, where Next Tier Ventures played a key role in organizing, content creation, and bringing speakers, especially in AI and VC. If you’ve been in Valencia visiting us these past days, here’s the link to all the event photos.

If you enjoyed this newsletter, please give it a like ❤️ and share it with others!

You can reach me on Linkedin, where I discuss AI, Venture Capital, and startups or on Instagram, where I share images created with Artificial Intelligence.

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.