Today's AI Pulse
Odyssey lands $310M Series B, valued at $1.45B
Odyssey announced a $310 million Series B round that values the AI lab at $1.45 billion. The round was led by Natural Capital and included backers such as Amazon, AMD Ventures, GV, EQT and IQT. In parallel, Odyssey struck a preferred‑cloud deal with AWS to use Trainium silicon for large‑scale model training.
Also developing:
Aptiv and Comau Sign MoU to Co‑Develop Next‑Gen Intelligent Automation Solutions
Aptiv PLC and Comau have entered a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly develop next‑generation intelligent automation solutions. The partnership targets advanced robotics, AI‑enabled logistics and safety systems, leveraging Aptiv’s perception and compute stack with Comau’s robotics deployment expertise.
Gartner Survey: AI Is Not Driving Supply Chain Operating Model Transformation
Gartner’s survey of 140 senior supply‑chain leaders reveals that only 17% are pursuing an immediate, AI‑driven redesign of their operating models, while 83% are applying AI incrementally to isolated use cases. Geopolitical volatility is spurring interest in AI‑orchestrated supply chains,...
Banking’s Biggest Names Are Talking About Mythos
The Federal Reserve is weighing supervisory frameworks for Anthropic's new AI model, Mythos, which can automatically locate software vulnerabilities. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon urged Anthropic to provide full transparency so banks can evaluate and mitigate the associated cyber risks....
Google Ads AI Max Content & Titles Exclusions On Account Level Coming
Google announced that its AI‑driven campaign type, Ads AI Max, will gain account‑level exclusions for content and titles later this year, likely within six months. The new setting lets advertisers block any undesired page elements across all campaigns, extending the platform’s...
J.S. Held Names Jessica Larson SVP to Lead Digital Transformation Push
J.S. Held announced the appointment of Jessica Larson as Senior Vice President of Digital Transformation, tasking her with unifying and accelerating the firm’s digital initiatives. The move underscores the consulting firm’s ambition to embed AI, machine learning and secure data...
Why AI Interviews Are Losing 1 in 3 Candidates
AI-driven interview platforms are gaining traction, yet new research shows that one‑third of job seekers abandon the process when no human is present. Candidate discomfort spikes when firms fail to disclose AI usage, raising doubts about fairness and bias. The...
AI ‘Trailblazers’ See 21% Higher Revenue Growth While Broader Insurance Industry Lags: Capgemini
Capgemini’s World Property & Casualty Insurance Report 2026 finds only 10% of P&C insurers are successfully scaling AI, while a small cohort of “AI trailblazers” enjoys up to 21% higher revenue growth and a 51% share‑price boost over three years....
InMobi Acquires MobileAction to Strengthen iOS Advertising Business
InMobi announced the acquisition of MobileAction, an AI‑powered iOS app growth and analytics platform, to bolster its advertising capabilities across the iOS ecosystem. While the purchase price was not disclosed, the deal adds MobileAction’s extensive data set—covering more than 90 million...
From the Gilded Age to the Silicon Age - How Industrial AI Redefines Competitive Advantage
Industrial AI is shifting from headline‑grabbing chatbots to systems that act on the physical world, promising a new source of competitive advantage. A Deloitte survey found 92% of executives view smart manufacturing as the primary driver of future competitiveness. IFS’s...
Mashvisor Brings Live U.S. Rental Data to ChatGPT, Enabling Real‑Time Investment Analysis
Mashvisor has launched a ChatGPT app that delivers live rental‑investment data for more than 2 million U.S. properties to the AI platform’s 800 million weekly users. The integration lets investors, agents and analysts pull cap rates, Airbnb occupancy and cash‑flow projections without...
Meet the French Startup Fixing the Guardrail Gap Holding Enterprise AI Back
Enterprises deploying autonomous AI agents face escalating risks such as hallucinations, security breaches, and regulatory violations. French startup Giskard has launched Giskard Guards, Europe’s first sovereign guardrail platform that monitors the entire agent execution chain and blocks unsafe behavior in...
Wolters Kluwer Unveils Enhanced Libra AI Workspace with Contract Review Automation
Wolters Kluwer announced today the launch of an upgraded Libra AI workspace that adds sophisticated contract‑review automation and tighter workflow integration. The upgrade, driven by client feedback, reorganizes project handling, boosts review flexibility, and introduces a modern visual design, positioning...
Mayo Clinic and Stanford Launch First Blood Test to Map Tumor Microenvironment
Mayo Clinic and Stanford Medicine announced a new blood test that maps the tumor microenvironment, enabling more accurate prediction of immunotherapy response across 17 cancer types. The test uses spatial transcriptomics and AI to identify nine cellular neighborhoods from cell‑free...
Mercer Teams with Syndio to Fuse AI Pay Governance with Compensation Advisory
Mercer announced a strategic alliance with Syndio, linking the consulting firm’s compensation expertise to Syndio’s AI‑powered pay governance platform. The partnership, unveiled in New York and Seattle, seeks to give enterprise clients a unified solution for designing, governing and executing pay...
You May Never Be an AI-Native Company. Do These Five Things Anyway.
Most firms won’t become fully AI‑native, but they can still capture AI’s upside by taking five practical steps. The author urges companies to launch a citizen‑coding program, roll out an enterprise‑wide large language model, train staff to think like CEOs,...
Nvidia Commits $300 Million to Corning for Three U.S. AI Fiber Plants
Nvidia is investing $300 million in Corning to construct three new optical‑fiber manufacturing facilities in North Carolina and Texas. The plants will lift U.S. fiber output by more than 50% and create roughly 3,000 high‑paying jobs, securing a domestic supply chain...
Northern Ireland Invests $13.6M to Equip Every Teacher with Generative AI Tools and Training
Education Minister Paul Givan announced a £10.7 million ($13.6 million) rollout of generative AI licences, professional training and safety guidance for all teachers in Northern Ireland. The initiative, delivered through the EdIS platform, aims to cut administrative workload, boost wellbeing and spark...
PagerDuty Introduces AI‑Powered Triage to SRE Agent for Faster Incident Resolution
PagerDuty has rolled out AI‑driven triage capabilities within its SRE Agent, enabling automated classification and routing of incidents. The enhancement aims to cut response times and lessen the need for manual intervention, marking a notable upgrade to the company's incident‑management...
The US and China Are Considering Formal Talks on AI
The United States and China are preparing formal AI talks ahead of a summit between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in Beijing on May 14‑15. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will lead the U.S. delegation, while China’s Vice Finance Minister Liao Min is...
How China Is Winning the Global AI Race
China’s open‑source AI models are overtaking Western offerings by combining competitive performance with dramatically lower costs. Moonshot AI’s Kimi K2.6 charges roughly $4 per million tokens, while Alibaba’s Qwen now accounts for more than half of global open‑source model downloads. The...
Qualcomm Launches Snapdragon 6 Gen 5 and 4 Gen 5 Chips, Promising Lag‑free Mid‑range Android Phones
Qualcomm unveiled its Snapdragon 6 Gen 5 and Snapdragon 4 Gen 5 mobile platforms, targeting mid‑range Android smartphones with up to 77% faster GPU performance, AI‑enhanced cameras and 90 FPS gaming. The chips promise 20‑43% faster app launches and 18‑25% less screen stutter, a move...
Framestore Announces Theo Jones as Creative Director, AI
Framestore has created a new Creative Director, AI role and appointed Oscar‑nominated visual‑effects supervisor Theo Jones to lead it. Jones will bridge cutting‑edge artificial‑intelligence tools with the studio’s high‑end film, advertising, episodic and immersive projects. He will also oversee the...
Smart Glasses for the Authorities
ICE is preparing to field AI‑enhanced smart glasses that can pull facial‑recognition, gait and other biometric data from federal databases in real time. The devices are modeled on counter‑terrorism tools such as ABIS and BEWL, extending them to routine street...
Roadzen’s VehicleCare Partners with Global Auto Parts Network TISAG-TEMOT to Build Integrated Claims-to-Repair Infrastructure in India
Roadzen’s AI‑driven VehicleCare platform has partnered with Germany‑based TEMOT’s global auto‑parts network to create an end‑to‑end claims‑to‑repair pipeline in India. The collaboration links VehicleCare’s garage connectivity with TEMOT’s distributor base, enabling demand aggregation, faster parts sourcing and better pricing for...
The Sequence Opinion #856: The Salesforce of Agents Won't Be Salesforce, The Google of Agents Won't Be Google
The post argues that the next wave of internet services will be built for AI agents rather than human users. While platforms like Salesforce and Google dominate today’s human‑centric SaaS, they are ill‑suited to serve autonomous agents that need APIs...
How China Wins The AI War
In this episode, Ed Elson and AI expert Alice Hahn discuss China's AI startup DeepSeek, which is raising a $1 billion round at a $50 billion valuation—a figure far lower than U.S. rivals like Anthropic or OpenAI due to differences in Chinese...
Here’s What Happened After AI Launched And Ran A Café In Stockholm
AI startup Andon Labs handed control of a Stockholm café to an autonomous AI agent called Mona. Within moments Mona produced a detailed operational checklist, secured suppliers, and even filed permits, but struggled with Sweden’s BankID authentication, forcing human staff...
The Real Challenge of Tech Shifts: Unlearning Habits
I spent longer than I'd like to admit still thinking in CSS float layouts after Flexbox arrived. Not because I couldn't learn Flexbox. Because I'd gotten fast and confident with the old approach, and fast and confident is genuinely hard...
AI Success Depends on Organized, Conductor‑Style Workflows
I was working through my newsletter this week and realised there's a problem nobody's really talking about with AI adoption. Everyone's focused on which tools to use. Nobody's talking about the fact that most people aren't organized enough to actually use...
In This Duke Journalism Class, Failure Was Part of the Assignment. It Led to Real AI Tools for Local News.
Duke University’s AI Journalism Lab taught 14 students to build AI tools for local newsrooms, emphasizing that failure is a legitimate outcome. The class partnered with a suburban news site, a TV reporter, a student news outlet, and an alternative...
Bing Explains Difference Between Search and Grounding Indexing
Microsoft Bing on search indexing vs grounding indexing (for AI) and how they are different - super interesting... https://t.co/OXwUmEWJ69 https://t.co/DNw0geATVu
Google Ads AI Max Adds Account‑level Content Exclusions
Google will be bringing content and titles related exclusions to the account level to Google Ads AI Max later this year says @adsliaison https://t.co/u8zCVVGJtv https://t.co/TmGatjzuZE
Why the Future of Software Is No Longer Written — It Is Architected, Governed and Continuously Learned
The article argues that by 2026 software development will be driven by generative AI, shifting the CIO mandate from rapid code delivery to architecting and governing enterprise intelligence. AI agents now orchestrate the entire software lifecycle, compressing design and deployment...
AI Saves Time Yet Increases Your Workload
If AI is saving you time, why are you working more than ever? That's the question I couldn't answer. And it changed how I think about AI entirely. A thread on the AI productivity paradox — and the three traps that swallow...
Study Finds AI Self‑Replicates Outside Lab Environments
Search a little and the "research" organization behind this is funded by a key doomster with a clear agenda. #TESCREAL ‘No one has done this in the wild’: study observes AI replicate itself https://t.co/ummy9R0bKx
Why AI Regulation Is Now an Operating Model
Enterprises now face enforceable AI regulations rather than voluntary guidelines, with the EU AI Act fully in force and U.S. states implementing targeted rules such as the Take It Down Act. CIOs must shift from policy‑only approaches to operational controls...
China's AI Agents Foreshadow Commerce via Built-In Delegation
What China’s AI Agents Reveal About the Future of Commerce China matters not because it has the best models, but because the infrastructure for delegated action is already deeply embedded in everyday life. #China #techwar #chips #tech @baoshaoshan @thecyrusjanssen @DOualaalou @lajohnstondr @PSTAsiatech https://t.co/CbmPUYIkbp
The Introverts’ Edge: How AI Is Leveling the Developer Floor
AI coding assistants such as IBM’s Bob and AWS’s Kiro are reshaping junior developer onboarding by offering instant, non‑judgmental guidance. The tools let introverted newcomers become productive within weeks, handling tasks like FedRAMP‑compliant code that previously required senior engineers. IBM...
AI SEO Punishes Lazy Marketing Strategies by Brick Marketing
Brick Marketing warns that AI‑driven SEO is exposing lazy, siloed marketing tactics. The article explains that AI search pulls brand signals from a wide array of online sources—social media, directories, press releases, and more—making a website just one piece of...
AI SEO Punishes Lazy Marketing Strategies by Brick Marketing
Brick Marketing warns that AI‑driven SEO is reshaping digital marketing by rewarding brands with a cohesive, cross‑channel presence. Traditional tactics that focus solely on website optimization are losing ground as AI pulls data from social media, directories, press releases, and...
Thailand Clears $29 Bn AI and Data‑Centre Projects, Led by TikTok’s $25 Bn Expansion
Thailand’s Board of Investment cleared $29 bn of AI‑related projects on Wednesday, highlighted by TikTok’s $25 bn data‑centre expansion across three provinces. The approvals mark a decisive push to position the country as a regional hub for AI infrastructure and foreign tech...
Wyndham Deploys AI Across 8,400 Hotels and Launches First Native ChatGPT Booking App
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts announced a company‑wide AI rollout covering its 8,400‑property network and introduced a native ChatGPT app for hotel discovery and booking. The move leverages $450 million in tech investments and promises measurable revenue lifts for franchisees.
Home Assistant MCP Server: The Complete Guide
The Community Home Assistant MCP Server (ha‑mcp) lets AI assistants like Claude read and write Home Assistant configurations, automations, dashboards, and devices via direct REST and WebSocket access. Official MCP integrations only expose entities through the Assist API, limiting AI...
Vy Buss to Deploy Europe’s First Fully Driverless Public Bus in Stavanger
Transport operator Vy Buss, backed by Norway’s Statens Vegvesen, will launch Europe’s first public bus service without an onboard safety driver later this month in Stavanger. The Level‑4 Karsan e‑ATAK, equipped with Adastec’s autonomous stack and monitored remotely via Applied Autonomy’s...
Match Group Slows Hiring as Company Pushes AI-Focused Workforce Strategy
Match Group announced it will slow hiring to reallocate resources toward building an AI‑native workforce. CFO Steven Bailey said the focus will be on employee training, internal AI tools, and technology upgrades rather than expanding headcount. The company posted Q1...
From Data Overload to Measurable Gains: How AI Is Driving Hotel Performance
Hotel operators face a flood of fragmented utility data that rarely translates into action. AI‑driven platform Cadae converts Building Management System outputs and dashboard metrics into prioritized, on‑site tasks, delivering roughly 25% energy and water cost reductions. Its Performance Hotel...
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky Predicts AI Will Render People‑manager Roles Obsolete
Airbnb chief executive Brian Chesky told the Invest Like The Best podcast that artificial intelligence will soon eliminate the need for traditional people‑manager positions. His comments join a growing chorus of tech leaders advocating flatter, AI‑driven org charts, and come...
AI: Lead the Prompt, Not Just the Team
AI usage among Saudi marketers is near-universal, but half conceal it due to fear of managerial judgment. While 84% of CEOs claim readiness to deploy AI responsibly, a Duke study shows managers still penalize AI‑using staff, creating a cultural divide....
KhoslaRaghu Call Out AI Slop on DSPs
Hindi pop duo KhoslaRaghu’s Sanchit Khosla went viral after exposing AI‑generated songs crowding Spotify and YouTube, citing a fake cover of Anuv Jain’s hit. He showed that “AI artists” like Neelima Prajith and groups such as Mausqui and Stone Boy Music have...
JPMorgan Says Tech Sector Remains Resilient Amid Higher Rate Outlook
JPMorgan analysts said the technology sector can stay strong despite expectations of further rate hikes, as the S&P 500 posted back‑to‑back record highs. The comment comes as traders await a potential US‑Iran peace deal and oil prices ease.