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:
Unlocking Spectrum Dominance With AI and Cognitive EW
In this episode Ken Miller talks with Dr. Karen Haig, a cognitive EW and AI expert, about how artificial intelligence enables truly cognitive electromagnetic warfare—systems that sense, decide, act, and learn in real time with minimal human input. They explain key AI concepts, the distinction between static AI models and adaptive cognitive agents, and how these agents integrate with multi‑domain operations across spectrum, cyber, space, and unmanned platforms. Dr. Haig highlights the need for rapid replanning, decentralized coordination, and on‑the‑fly model updates to maintain spectrum dominance, especially as the scale of unmanned assets explodes. The discussion also ties recent Ukraine and Iran conflict lessons to the urgency of establishing a Combat Support Agency to close longstanding EM‑SO gaps.
AI Agents Poised to Capture Up to 25% E‑Commerce
J.P. Morgan & Mirakl Nexus Unveil AI Agent Checkout A first-of-its-kind solution designed to enable secure AI agent checkouts for enterprise merchants. J.P. Morgan’s tokenization and fraud protection to allow agents to move from "browsing" to "buying" within a regulated framework....
Real AI Agentic Workflows vs Hype in Customer Success
When you open this app you immediately feel behind. Everyone is replacing their teams with AI agents and agentic workflows. Of course, that's just performative agentmaxxing. "Look what I built that may work in theory." Cool, bro. Want to know how Agentic Workflows...
Tesla Says FSD Was Off Before Cybertruck Crash — but the Video Tells a Different Story
A Tesla Cybertruck equipped with Full Self‑Driving (FSD) crashed into a concrete barrier on Houston’s 69 Eastex Freeway on August 18, 2025, after the autonomous system failed to navigate a sharp curve. Driver Justine Saint Amour disengaged FSD four seconds before impact, but the...
1Password Launches New Platform to Rein in Companies’ AI Agents
1Password unveiled its Unified Access Platform, a security layer designed to monitor and control AI agents within corporate environments. The solution automatically discovers AI‑driven tools, secures exposed credentials, and enforces continuous authorization. It also records every action taken by both...
The AI Revolution Will Be Open-Sourced
At CES 2026 NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang argued that AI will only scale when open innovation extends to infrastructure. Kubernetes, long used for AI, is gaining first‑class support through Dynamic Resource Allocation (DRA) that reached GA in version 1.34. New...
Want a Job at OpenAI? Take This Online Challenge Today
OpenAI announced the Model Craft Challenge, a global online competition designed to recruit its next generation of AI researchers. The multi‑round contest will test participants on real‑world problems such as Parameter Golf, where candidates build efficient small models under strict...
A Number of US Cities Are Pulling the Plug on Flock Safety's AI Cameras
A wave of municipal backlash is forcing Flock Safety, the Atlanta‑based AI camera vendor valued at roughly $7.5 billion, to lose contracts in dozens of U.S. cities. In the past six months, 38 cities have terminated agreements, bringing the total to...
Small Team, Big Game: How We Built Mr. Beast’s AI-Powered Puzzle in 27 Days
Salesforce built an AI‑powered puzzle for MrBeast’s $1 million game in just six weeks, handling over 275,000 registrations and processing 4.5 billion tokens. The team deployed 78 production orgs and engineered a multi‑org sharding architecture capable of 1.5 million concurrent users without downtime....
Rippling AI Revolutionizes Payroll for 5K‑Employee Company
Rippling launched its AI analyst today. I'm not just the CEO - I'm also the Rippling admin for our co, and I run payroll for our ~ 5K global employees. Here are 5 specific ways Rippling AI has changed my job,...
The Developer’s Guide to LLMs: From Magic to Math
The post demystifies large language models (LLMs) by framing them as massive next‑word prediction engines rather than knowledge databases. It explains core concepts such as tokenization, showing that 1,000 tokens roughly equal 750 words, and how embeddings turn tokens into...
Choose AI or Deterministic Solutions Based on Accuracy Needs
Questions when starting an AI project: * Do I need a perfectly accurate result every time? ➡️ Use deterministic solution * Is a perfectly accurate result too costly, expensive, or even impossible? ➡️ Use AI to get closer to the result faster...
Can AI Strengthen Democracy? Italy’s Parliament Offers a Test Case
Italy’s parliament is launching a pilot program to embed artificial intelligence across its legislative processes, joining a growing but fragmented global trend. The initiative mirrors diverse international experiments, from Chile’s bill‑drafting assistance to Brazil’s citizen‑participation platforms. The Inter‑Parliamentary Union warns...
Fortinet’s AI-Driven Defense for a Machine-Speed Era
At Fortinet Accelerate 2026, the company unveiled FortiOS 8.0 and previewed FortiSOC, its cloud‑delivered Security Operations Platform. The new OS adds AI‑aware controls, deep OCR‑based DLP, expanded SASE capabilities and built‑in post‑quantum cryptography to protect the growing shadow‑AI surface. FortiSOC consolidates...
Human/AI Collective Intelligence for Deliberative Democracy: A Human-Centred Design Approach
The authors introduce Collective Intelligence for Deliberative Democracy (CI4DD), a framework that leverages AI to augment citizen deliberation. They argue that a human‑centred design approach is essential to ensure trustworthy, inclusive processes. The paper outlines a co‑design methodology that maps...
Palantir Integrates AI Into Stratospheric ISR Systems
Palantir Technologies has partnered with Ondas and World View Enterprises to build an AI‑driven, multi‑domain intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) system that spans stratospheric balloons, autonomous drones and ground assets. The collaboration leverages Palantir’s Artificial Intelligence Platform, World View’s high‑altitude...
SD Times News Digest: SmartBear BearQ, Chainguard Agent Skills — March 18, 2026
SmartBear unveiled BearQ, an autonomous QA system that explores how applications function and adapts to code changes, positioning it as a next‑generation alternative to brittle test scripts. The launch follows a SmartBear survey showing 90% of developers use AI coding...
Unified AI Architecture Bridges Knowing‑Doing Gap
AI is falling short because most organizations haven’t built the architecture to turn insight into action. In my latest @Forbes article, I explore why closing the gap between knowing and doing requires unified AI, data, workflows, and governance. This makes...
What Are Test Hooks in AI-Native Development?
Test hooks attach existing test and lint commands to deterministic lifecycle events in AI coding agents such as Claude Code and Cursor. When the event fires, the command runs automatically and a non‑zero exit code blocks the agent, forcing an...
The Rise of Agentic Execution: Rocketlane CEO Srikrishnan Ganesan on AI’s Next Phase in Professional Services
Rocketlane has launched Nitro, the first agentic execution platform for professional services, enabling AI agents to perform repeatable implementation tasks such as configurations, data migrations, testing, and documentation. The platform promises up to a 50% reduction in delivery effort for...
AI in Science
The paper by Agrawal, McHale and Oettl frames artificial intelligence as an augmentation tool that expands scientists' ability to search combinatorial spaces, rather than fully automating research. By dissecting the knowledge‑production process into stages, the authors reveal a “jagged frontier”...
How CPAs Can Build Relevance with Continuous Upskilling
Artificial intelligence is reshaping accounting, turning routine tasks into data‑driven insights and raising expectations for analytical fluency. Jen Cryder of PICPA argues that continuous, forward‑looking upskilling is essential for CPAs to remain relevant and to convert technical expertise into strategic...
Generative AI Summit Austin, 2026
The Generative AI Summit Austin 2026 is announced by the AI Accelerator Institute, but full details are gated behind a membership portal. Prospective attendees must sign up or log in to view the agenda, speaker lineup, and registration information. The...
The Next-Gen Admin: In Conversation With Ishrat Bhatti
Salesforce administrators are transitioning from ticket‑centric technicians to strategic stewards of AI‑driven enterprise systems. In a new interview series, MVP Ishrat Bhatti highlights how admins must now interpret complex data flows, govern autonomous agents, and ensure responsible AI outcomes. She...
The Next-Gen Admin: In Conversation With Tony Nguyen
The interview with Tony Nguyen highlights how Salesforce administrators are transitioning from traditional, fix‑it technicians to strategic stewards of data, security, and AI‑driven processes. Nguyen stresses that modern admins must master a broad skill set—including security architecture, data modeling, DevOps,...
"Lost in the Middle" Replicates
A recent replication using a quantized Llama‑2 7B model confirmed the "Lost in the Middle" phenomenon reported by Liu et al. The experiment employed the multi‑document question‑answering benchmark derived from Natural Questions, testing three gold‑document positions (first, middle, last) across...
Enterprise AI Fails at Scale—Latency Is the Deal‑Breaker
Here's a stat that should make every enterprise leader uncomfortable: only 16% of agentic AI initiatives actually scale. That's IBM's number. McKinsey puts it at 10%. We call it the great AI divide … and the larger the enterprise, the...
KYA: Why Your AI Agent Needs a Digital ID to Spend Your Money with Chandler Fang
Agentic AI is moving beyond recommendation to autonomous financial actions, but existing payment systems lack mechanisms to verify software entities. A trust gap emerges as consumers are hesitant to let AI execute purchases, and security professionals worry about rogue agents....
Synthetic Data Vault: Powering AI’s Future
🚨 Synthetic Data is the Future of AI Introducing The Synthetic Data Vault (SDV). This is what you need to know:
Descope's Agentic Identity Hub Secures AI Agent Access
Looking for bulletproof security for AI agent access? @DescopeINC just changed the game with their Agentic Identity Hub 🔥 → MCP server authentication backing OAuth 2.1, PKCE, DCR, and CIMD → A secure vault stocked with 50+ templates and short-lived tokens → Strictly scoped,...
EXCLUSIVE: Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt Butts Heads With Former FTC CTO Over AI Regulation
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt debated AI regulation with former FTC CTO Latanya Sweeney at the Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate. Schmidt warned that emergent AI behaviors are unpredictable, limiting pre‑emptive safety controls, while urging tolerance for ongoing development. Sweeney countered...
Track Multiple Objects Seamlessly with Roboflow and OpenCV
🔍 Mastering Multi-Object Tracking with Roboflow & OpenCV 🏀🚗 From tracking basketball players to monitoring traffic, detection alone isn’t enough-you need Multi-Object Tracking (MOT). With Roboflow Trackers + OpenCV, you can assign persistent IDs to objects across frames, even in high-speed...
Desktop AI Vell
Holy shit... someone just built an AI that lives on your desktop, has its own email, its own accounts, and actually does things while you sleep. It's called Vellum and it's actually secure. I can't imagine going back to the way I...
DirectorMoves
The latest DirectorMoves briefing reports several high‑profile board reshuffles across major public companies. Kevin Lobo departs Parker‑Hannifin’s board while joining GE HealthCare Technologies alongside Stryker’s CEO. Old Mutual promotes Roger Jardine to chair‑designate and sees Trevor Manuel retire. AIG’s James...
AI Agents Now Reliably Verify Physics Calculations
In late 2025, tools Like Claude Code crossed a threshold. Like hyperactive master's students, their physics calculations can now be made more reliable with domain expertise and some scaffolding. Check out Tobias Osborne's talk on using a swarm of...
Nine Best AI Assistants Reviewed and Ranked
RT @MktgtTechAI Review: The Top Nine AI Assistants https://t.co/06xJrOKkuP [NEW POST] Here's a research-based review of the top nine tools showcased in the #AI Assistants category on https://t.co/rakLQNhaZp. https://t.co/aROJqBIDhM
Google Tests Discover Tab and UI Overhaul in Gemini
Google is quietly testing a Discover tab in Gemini app, alongside a host of UI changes We found changes to the sidebar, overlay controls, and how Gemini shows its thought process in our latest APK teardown. ✅ Details & screenshots - https://t.co/Nvgp3p6CTS...
Overhyped AI Orchestration Pitch Sparks Fatigue
"Context-aware orchestration layer between humans and AI agents" If I hear this pitch one more time, I can’t guarantee anything.
AI Budgets Miss the Real Cost: Inference Expenses
Hot take: most AI budgets are measuring the wrong thing. They track licenses and model access fees. They're not tracking inference costs, the operational expense that compounds with every query, every workflow, every automation. That's where the real AI ROI gap is hiding....
Google Adds Opt‑out for Generative AI in Search
Whoa, opting out of AIOs and AI mode could very well happen (for pubs that want that) -> From Google today: "We are developing further updates to our controls to let sites specifically opt-out of generative AI features in Search."...
Google Docs AI Misjudges Its Own AI Usage Guidelines
Ironic that the Google Docs AI provided bad style feedback on the section of an assignment prompt setting out my standards for AI use. https://t.co/QOZtxgEU2Z
Pay‑only for AI Agent Compute with Deeplake
Agent usage is spiky so stop paying for 24/7 databases. 🚨 @Activeloop just dropped Deeplake to fix AI memory economics: → Instant sandboxed Postgres → Built for agent workflows → Handles text/vectors/video natively Only pay for the compute your agent swarm actually uses 👀
AI Revives Lost Voices From Old Recordings
You can now clone a parent's voice from old phone recordings. Upload voicemails, family videos, even Instagram clips. Pantio builds an AI persona that talks, jokes, and gives advice exactly like them. Your kids can meet grandparents they never got to know.
Accessibility, Inclusivity, and AI Sovereignty Drive Global AI Governance Dialogue
Accessibility, inclusivity, and AI sovereignty lead a rapid roundtable of global stakeholders at @ITU’s online forum setting the stage for the inaugural Global Dialogue on AI Governance at the #AIforGood Global Summit, the @UN’s leading AI event. July 7–10, 2026 @AIforGood...
Grok 4.20 Impresses; Weekly Major Upgrades Continue
What are your initial impressions of Grok 4.20? Major upgrades are still landing every week.
CastDotApp Trims MCP, Favoring Leaner AI Integration
Why @CastDotApp Is Narrowing MCP’s Role for Select Agent Use Cases https://t.co/Jq0BDGaXCA AI agents don’t need more tools; they need smarter, leaner integration surfaces. #MCP #AI #AIagent #agenticAI https://t.co/e2P38yodQL
AI's Capital Cycle Mirrors Historical Patterns
I regret to inform everyone that the AI capital cycle looks like all other capital cycles in history
AI Strategies Grow From Real Experiments, Not Top‑down Plans
Seismic didn’t start with a grand AI strategy. It built one through an internal incubation team experimenting with real use cases. Instead of top-down planning, the strategy emerged from what actually worked. Maybe that’s how most AI strategies will form going forward. https://t.co/yOdAyCDOlV...
Freedom Requires Cultural Protection, Not Engineered Optimization
"Human freedom is not randomness; it is the capacity to reinterpret who we are and what counts as a good life... That capacity cannot be engineered—it must be socially and culturally protected" @MCoeckelbergh on the risks of 'behavior optimizing AI....
AI Filtering Faces Same Overlap as Bears and Tourists
as i think about the challenges of filtering ai content and replies, i’m reminded of this quote by a park ranger on the challenges of designing trash cans: “there is considerable overlap between the intelligence of the smartest bears and the...