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:
What Amazon and Anthropic’s Deeper Partnership Means for Enterprise AI
Amazon and Anthropic have deepened their partnership, committing Anthropic to spend more than $100 billion on AWS technologies over the next decade while Amazon expands access to the Claude AI platform. The deal signals a shift in enterprise AI from pure model performance toward integrated compute, governance, and cost‑effective delivery. By aligning infrastructure and model availability, the alliance aims to make AI workloads reliable at scale for production environments. This move underscores the growing importance of cloud‑native AI stacks for supply‑chain and other enterprise applications.
Israel’s Most Promising Startups in 2026
The 2026 Calcalist Top 50 rankings show Israel’s startup ecosystem pivoting from lightweight software tools to autonomous AI workers and core infrastructure. Agentic AI accounts for 24% of the list, while AI‑infrastructure firms make up 18%, and quantum computing rises to...
EBay Publish AI Activate Prompt Library
eBay has launched an AI Activate Prompt Library as part of its AI Activate programme, which gives UK small businesses free access to ChatGPT and tailored training. The library offers plug‑and‑play prompts covering listing optimisation, customer communication, market research, performance...
Trapped in an Elevator? AI System at Namo Bharat Stations Can Raise Alarm in 60 Seconds
The National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) has deployed an AI‑powered system that can detect commuters trapped in elevators at Namo Bharat stations within 60 seconds and automatically alert the Operations Control Centre. The solution uses existing CCTV cameras, processes...
What Cisco Is Doing to Avoid ‘Compliance Theater’
Cisco’s Chief People Officer Kelly Jones says the company’s AI rollout is driven by continuous employee sentiment measurement and leadership modeling. Over 18 months of surveys and focus groups revealed that AI‑using staff are more engaged, confident, and likely to...
What Cisco Is Doing to Avoid ‘Compliance Theater’
Cisco is shifting from superficial compliance checks to a robust AI governance framework that embeds risk assessment, transparency, and continuous monitoring across its HR and product teams. The company has launched an AI Ethics Council, mandatory model‑impact reviews, and a...
Zuora Adds AI Agents for Quote-to-Cash Workflows and Auditability
Zuora has launched AI agents integrated into its quote‑to‑cash platform, creating a finance‑grade intelligence layer that operates within existing controls, permissions, and audit frameworks. The agents enable read‑only simulations, contract analysis, revenue allocation comparisons, and audit‑ready responses across billing, revenue...
Claude Mythos Finds 271 Firefox Vulnerabilities
Anthropic's Claude Mythos AI model uncovered 271 vulnerabilities in Mozilla Firefox, prompting the release of Firefox version 150 which patched over 40 CVEs, including three directly credited to the AI. While most findings were low‑severity issues not assigned CVEs, the...
Vodafone Rolls Out Google-Powered Security and AI Tools for SMEs
Vodafone Business has introduced two new services for small‑and‑medium enterprises – a managed detection and response (MDR) security suite and an AI‑driven virtual front‑desk called AI Concierge – both built on Google Cloud technologies under its 10‑year, $1 billion partnership. The...
Best AI Agents for Influencer Marketing in 2026
Influencer marketing is transitioning from manual, fragmented tools to autonomous AI agents that can manage the entire campaign lifecycle. A 2026 benchmark shows 36.7% of marketers already use AI for creator discovery, with smaller shares applying it to content generation...
Vodafone Business, Google Cloud Target Enterprise AI
Vodafone Business announced a $1 billion partnership with Google Cloud to bring advanced cybersecurity and generative AI services to small‑business customers. The first offering is a managed detection and response (MDR) service powered by Google Security Operations, debuting in Germany. Simultaneously,...
Agentic ITSM: Understanding the 4 Levels of AI Maturity in IT Service Management
The article outlines a four‑stage maturity model for AI in IT service management, ranging from simple document retrieval (Stage 1) to fully autonomous, cross‑system agents (Stage 4). It argues that most vendor claims of "agentic AI" actually describe Stage 2 or 3 capabilities,...
Comment: Should AI Be Used to Design Adverts?
The article debates AI’s role in advertising, weighing creative benefits against environmental and ethical concerns. It cites a UK government report forecasting AI‑driven water use to jump from 1.1 bn to 6.6 bn cubic metres by 2027, and highlights mixed consumer reactions...
Harbin Engineering University Launches Sociology and Artificial Intelligence Dual Degree Programme
Harbin Engineering University has received Ministry of Industry and Information Technology approval to launch a dual bachelor’s degree that combines sociology with artificial intelligence. The program is designed to produce graduates who can apply AI tools to social governance, public...
AI Designs RISC‑V CPU Core in 12 Hours
How Did An AI Agent Build a RISC V CPU Core In Just 12 Hours https://spectrum.ieee.org/ai-chip-design?share_id=9374945
Merck to Partner with Google Cloud on AI Initiatives
Merck & Co announced a partnership with Google Cloud to accelerate its artificial‑intelligence capabilities, allocating up to $1 billion over several years. The deal will fund AI infrastructure, licensing of Google’s Gemini Enterprise platform, and dedicated cloud engineers working alongside Merck...
What The Record Venture Funding Quarter Actually Means For Your Startup’s Fundraise
Crunchbase reported a record $300 billion poured into startups in Q1 2026, with four mega‑unicorns accounting for 65% of the total. Despite the headline concentration, early‑stage funding jumped 41% year‑over‑year and AI/ML deal count rose to 6,678 in 2025. Redpoint’s data shows...
AI Investor Glasswing Adds 14 Experts to Its Tech Advisory Councils
Glasswing Capital, a venture firm focused on artificial‑intelligence startups, announced the addition of 14 senior executives and domain experts to its technology advisory councils. The new members bring deep experience from leading AI research labs, cloud providers, and enterprise software...
The Sequence AI of the Week #847: Everything You Need to Know About Claude Opus 4.7
Claude Opus 4.7 arrived with modest benchmark gains—SWE‑bench 87.6%, MCP‑Atlas +14.6 pp—but its real shift lies in the API. The release removes all sampling‑level knobs (temperature, top_p, top_k, thinking.budget_tokens) and forces the sole "adaptive" thinking mode. In their place come semantic controls:...
AI Agent Designs a RISC-V CPU Core From Scratch
Verkor.io unveiled VerCore, a RISC‑V CPU core fully designed by its autonomous AI system, Design Conductor. The agent took 12 hours to generate a 1.48 GHz core that scores 3,261 on CoreMark, comparable to Intel’s 2011 Celeron SU2300. Design Conductor orchestrates...
Fix the Service Path Before You Optimize It with AI
Contact center AI promises faster, more consistent service, but its impact is limited when deployed into a fragmented service environment. Organizations must first achieve clear visibility into the entire customer journey and establish strong upstream feedback loops. AI delivers the...
How to Use AI for Massive Everyday Productivity Gains
In this 12‑minute episode, Tam Pham explains how to turn AI from a novelty into a daily productivity engine. He highlights three practical tactics: embedding AI extensions in your web browser for instant summarization and drafting; using AI meeting bots...
The Evolution of Sales Enablement in the Age of AI - Yega Kumarappan - Paperflite
In this episode, Mike Maynard talks with Yeager Kumaraparan, co‑founder of Paperflite, about the evolution of sales enablement from simple content distribution to AI‑driven, agent‑based platforms that guide reps through the entire deal lifecycle. Kumaraparan explains how Paperflite’s suite—covering prospect...
AI Hype to AI Value: Escaping the Activity Trap
AI spending is projected to hit $2.5 trillion in 2026, a 44% jump from the prior year, yet the promised value is lagging. Only 6% of companies report clear financial returns and 95% of projects fail to show measurable results within...
Accenture, Vodafone and SAP Pilot Humanoid Robotics in Warehouse Operations
Accenture, SAP and Vodafone Procure & Connect launched a pilot in Duisburg, Germany, deploying humanoid robots powered by Accenture’s “Robot Brain.” The bots were first trained in a digital twin of the warehouse using Nvidia‑backed simulation tools, then tasked with...
Operators Tackle AI Revenue Challenge
At FutureNet World in London, BT International, Orange Business and Rakuten Symphony shifted the AI conversation from capability to revenue generation. BT International showcased an API‑driven data platform that unifies commercial, network and service data, cutting infrastructure spend and opening...
OpenAI Pledges $1.5 Billion to PE Enterprise AI Project
OpenAI is committing up to $1.5 billion to a private‑equity‑backed enterprise AI joint venture, beginning with a $500 million equity infusion and an option for an additional $1 billion. The partnership, valued at $10 billion, also draws $4 billion from PE firms such as TPG,...
Big AI Firms Push Women to Adopt Artificial Intelligence
New video out on the crazy things big AI companies are doing to convince women to embrace AI w/ @kattenbarge https://youtu.be/yf3hkq4WZKM
UK to Build ‘National Cyber Shield’ to Protect Against AI Cyber Threats
The UK government announced a "national cyber shield" to defend against AI‑powered cyber attacks, calling for close cooperation between AI firms and public agencies. Security Minister Dan Jarvis highlighted that the National Cyber Security Centre dealt with over 200 nationally...
AI Boosts Marketing Workflows but Trust Remains a Barrier, Digiday+ Reports
Digiday+ Research released a survey of 142 brand and agency professionals showing AI tools are now embedded in most marketing workflows, delivering measurable efficiency gains. The same study flags lingering trust issues and predictability concerns as the biggest obstacles to...
Profound Review: Features, Pricing and Alternative
Surfer SEO and Profound are the two leading AI visibility platforms, each taking a different approach to answer‑engine optimization (AEO). Surfer blends AI tracking with its full‑stack SEO suite, offering keyword research, rank tracking, and CMS integrations, while Profound focuses...
Sullivan & Cromwell Apologizes After AI‑generated Filing Contains Fabricated Citations
Sullivan & Cromwell issued a formal apology to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn after an April 9 filing contained about three dozen AI‑generated citation errors, known as “hallucinations.” The firm said its internal AI policies were not followed, prompting a...
AI Tools Let Surgeons Evaluate Heart Transplants in Minutes, Cutting Wait Times
At the ISHLT 46th Annual Meeting, Dr. Brian Wayda unveiled AI models that let surgeons gauge donor‑heart suitability in minutes. The tools, including the TOPHAT web predictor, could raise the current 30‑40% utilization rate of available hearts and ease the...
Anker Launches THUS Compute‑in‑memory Chip to Power AI in Low‑power Wearables
Anker introduced its THUS compute‑in‑memory (CIM) silicon, fabricated in Germany, to enable large AI models on battery‑constrained Bluetooth earbuds. The chip integrates NOR flash memory with neural‑network style compute, targeting lower power consumption and new features like Clear Calls, with...
US Government Boosts AI‑Powered Surveillance with $165 B DHS Funding
The Department of Homeland Security has secured $165 billion in annual funding under the 2025 spending bill, prompting a wave of AI‑driven contracts and purchases of commercial data. The influx of money is enabling the government to tap consumer devices, data‑broker...
GitLab Teams with AWS to Deliver Agentic DevSecOps Workflows via Amazon Bedrock
GitLab and Amazon Web Services have announced a deep integration that routes the GitLab Duo Agent Platform through Amazon Bedrock. The partnership lets enterprise customers run AI‑powered DevSecOps workflows on their existing AWS accounts, leveraging current IAM policies and spending...
The AI Coding Boom Is Making Fundamentals Matter Again
The surge in AI‑driven coding tools such as Codex and Claude is reshaping software engineering. A new State of AI‑Driven Software Releases report shows only 8% view the need for new specialized skills as a major hurdle, yet 18% rank...
ActionAI Secures $10M Seed Funding to Fix AI’s Trust Problem
ActionAI announced a $10 million seed round led by UAE investors to build a reliability stack for enterprise AI. The startup, founded by Stanford‑trained engineer and Netflix personality Miriam Haart, aims to curb hallucinations that can reach 79% in current models....
PureDC Unveils Europe’s First Microgrid-Powered Data Center in Dublin
PureDC has commissioned a 54 MW microgrid‑powered data center on Dublin’s Orion Business Park, delivering five‑nine reliability without a traditional utility connection. The facility blends dual‑fuel Wärtsilä engines, battery storage and renewable gas to meet AI‑driven compute demand while meeting 100%...
Adobe CMO Says AI Enables ‘Segment‑of‑One’ Personalization for Brands
In a recent Business Insider interview, Adobe’s enterprise chief marketing officer Rachel Thornton described how artificial intelligence is turning “segment of one” marketing from theory into practice. She highlighted Ulta Beauty’s use of Adobe’s AI tools to map individual customer...
C-Infinity Raises $16M to Close the Gap Between Product Design and Production
C-Infinity, an AI-driven manufacturing process‑planning startup, closed a $16 million Series A led by Canaan Partners, with participation from Inventus Capital, Bee Partners and Radius Capital. Its AutoAssembler platform automates the translation of CAD models into factory‑ready assembly plans, cutting weeks‑long manual...
Anthropic’s Mythos Under Fire as OpenAI Attacks Its Marketing and Unauthorised Users Breach the Model
Anthropic’s restricted cybersecurity AI, Mythos, faced a turbulent week after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman labeled its limited rollout as “fear‑based marketing.” The model, offered to roughly 40 firms under Project Glasswing, was reportedly accessed by unauthorized users through a third‑party vendor...
ADP Posts $20.6 B Revenue, 7% Growth and Highlights AI‑Driven Payroll Trends
ADP announced total revenue of $20.6 B for Q4 2025, a 7% year‑over‑year rise and an 8% quarterly increase. The earnings call highlighted strong employer‑services bookings, record‑high client retention and expanding AI‑driven payroll interactions, while projecting 5‑6% revenue growth for fiscal 2026.
Vertiv Projects 32% Revenue Jump on AI Data Center Boom
Vertiv Holdings (VRT) lifted its 2026 outlook, projecting revenue of $13.5 bn—a 32% rise from 2025—driven by soaring AI data‑center spending. The company also sees adjusted earnings climbing 43% to $6.02 per share, underscoring the AI infrastructure supercycle’s impact on U.S....
Realm Secures €3.8M Seed to Deploy AI Agents in Enterprise Sales, Plans Triple‑Headcount
Realm, the Helsinki AI‑sales startup, closed a €3.8 million ($4.5 million) seed round led by Frontline Ventures with participation from HubSpot Ventures, Slack co‑founder Cal Henderson and Deel co‑founder Alex Bouaziz. The funding will fund a three‑fold headcount increase and a push...
AI Needs a Strong Data Fabric to Deliver Business Value
Artificial intelligence is moving from pilot projects to core enterprise functions, with half of companies expected to run AI in at least three business areas by 2025. Executives like SAP’s Irfan Khan argue that the biggest barrier is not model...
SpaceX to Acquire AI Coding Startup Cursor in $60 B Deal
SpaceX disclosed a deal to acquire AI coding startup Cursor for $60 billion, or to pay $10 billion for its services if the acquisition does not close. The transaction ties the space‑flight giant’s massive compute power to a fast‑growing AI‑assisted development platform,...
Cognitive Debt: The Hidden Risk in AI-Driven Software Development
The newsletter spotlights Dr. Margaret‑Anne Storey’s concept of cognitive debt, a hidden risk emerging as generative and agentic AI accelerate software development. Unlike technical debt, cognitive debt resides in developers’ shared mental models, eroding understanding of system intent and design...
The Biggest Announcement of My Life
After five months of development, the founder announced Custard, a professional‑grade AI platform designed to transform managers into high‑impact leaders. The tool gathers anonymous weekly pulse surveys in under 30 seconds, then delivers personalized dashboards with actionable recommendations drawn from...
Inside Ivalua NOW 2026: Procurement Enters the Agentic AI Era
Ivalua’s NOW 2026 conference announced the launch of IVA Studio, a no‑code environment for building custom AI agents, signaling a shift from generative AI “assistants” to agentic “co‑workers” in procurement. The company framed the move as essential for navigating geopolitical...