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:
SoundHound AI Launches Sales Assist Agent at MWC 2026
SoundHound AI unveiled Sales Assist, a voice‑powered AI agent for retail, at Mobile World Congress 2026 in Barcelona. The agent uses the company’s Polaris speech‑recognition and a multi‑agent orchestration platform to deliver real‑time product recommendations, upgrade eligibility checks, and compliance disclosures directly to in‑store staff. In 2025 the firm handled nearly 30 million AI‑driven customer interactions across telecom and retail, underscoring its scale. The launch targets European retailers and telecom providers seeking to accelerate sales cycles and increase average revenue per user.
MSCI Launches IndexAI Insights with ChatGPT and Claude
MSCI introduced AI connectors that link its ONE platform to OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude. The first product, IndexAI Insights, lets users ask natural‑language questions about MSCI index performance, exposures, constituents and methodology. MSCI says this is the initial offering...
AI Should Amplify, Not Replace, Human Thinking
True progress in AI is not creating systems that think for us, but creating systems that help us think more deeply
What AX Can Do to Deliver Cohesion and Uniformity to AI Agents
The article introduces the concept of Agent Experience (AX), a discipline for preparing enterprise systems so AI agents can discover, invoke, and manage tools reliably. It stresses that agents require precise, structured documentation, robust API specifications, and context‑engineering such as...
Obsidian Security Certified ISO/IEC 42001:2023 for AI Governance
Obsidian Security announced it has earned ISO/IEC 42001:2023 certification, the first global standard for an Artificial Intelligence Management System. The certification, granted by A‑LIGN and accredited by ANAB, validates the company’s AI Security Posture Management capabilities across its SaaS platform. It...
Elevate Jet Launches Booking App with AI-Powered Pricing
Elevate Jet unveiled a new private‑jet booking app that delivers instant pricing across six aircraft categories, from light jets to ultra‑long‑range models. The platform is driven by Ruby, a proprietary AI agent that evaluates range, availability, fuel needs, crew limits...
Akamai to Convene India’s Tech Leaders for Closed-Door Summit on Running AI at Real-World Scale
Akamai Technologies, in partnership with YourStory, will host the invitation‑only Akamai Digital India Leadership Summit in Bengaluru on February 27, 2026. The closed‑door event gathers CTOs, CISOs and senior engineers from fintech, SaaS, e‑commerce, media and digital platforms to discuss...
AWS Introduces New AI Service for Vertical Video Viral Moments
Amazon Web Services launched Elemental Inference, a fully managed AI service that automatically converts live or on‑demand horizontal video into vertical formats in real time. The platform leverages multimodal AI to analyse both audio and video, delivering converted streams with...
Labcorp Expands PathAI Pact to Roll Out Digital Pathology Platform in US
Labcorp announced an expanded partnership with PathAI to deploy the AISight Dx digital pathology platform across its U.S. anatomic pathology labs and hospital sites. The AI‑enabled software will allow pathologists to scan, annotate and diagnose slides digitally, aiming to cut turnaround...
Sleep Cycle and Carnegie Mellon to Explore Sleep Data to Detect Outbreaks
Sleep Cycle and Carnegie Mellon University's Delphi Group have launched a five‑year research collaboration to test whether privacy‑preserved sleep data—particularly nightly cough intensity captured by Sleep Cycle’s Cough Radar—can augment traditional respiratory disease surveillance. The partnership will share de‑identified data...
Multimodal AI Sensor Fusion Targets 3D Print Faults
Researchers propose a multimodal sensor‑fusion framework for real‑time fault detection in additive manufacturing, merging vision, thermal, acoustic, vibration, and drive‑current streams. Current single‑sensor solutions often miss subtle defects or generate false alarms, limiting scalability of 3D‑print farms. The fusion model...
TapClicks Introduces SmartStory: Turning Campaign Data Into Stakeholder-Ready Presentations in Minutes
TapClicks launched SmartStory, an AI‑driven platform that converts live marketing data into polished PowerPoint and PDF decks within minutes. Built on TapClicks' enterprise‑grade data management layer, the solution pulls from thousands of MarTech and AdTech connectors to create unified, insight‑rich...
ITVibes Shows How AI Turns Websites Into Lead Engines
ITVibes, a Houston digital‑marketing agency, is showing local service firms how AI‑backed website optimization can convert static sites into active lead generators. By analyzing real‑time user behavior, the agency identifies friction points, content gaps, and intent mismatches that hinder conversions....
Close Your Workforce’s AI Skills Gap by Designing an Adaptive Organization - SPONSOR CONTENT FROM SLALOM
The 2026 Slalom AI Research Report shows a paradox: 68 % of leaders feel they can keep pace with AI, yet 93 % cite underdeveloped skills and inadequate training as major barriers. Deploying AI tools alone isn’t delivering results; the capability gap...
ADT Acquires Origin AI to Power AI Sensing and Ambient Intelligence for the Home
ADT announced the acquisition of Origin Wireless, operating as Origin AI, to integrate its real‑time AI sensing platform into ADT’s security and smart‑home ecosystem. Origin’s technology classifies motion and human presence without cameras, audio, or wearables, adding a privacy‑focused intelligence...
SoundHound AI Launches Sales Assist Agent, Bringing Real-Time Agentic AI to the Retail Sales Floor
SoundHound AI unveiled Sales Assist, a voice‑powered, real‑time AI agent for retail floors, debuting at Mobile World Congress 2026. The solution leverages the company’s Polaris speech‑recognition and multi‑agent orchestration to deliver instant upgrade, bundle and compliance recommendations to in‑store staff...
EnforceAuth Free Version Gives Enterprises AI-Native Auth for AI Agents, Machine Identities & Non-Human Workloads
EnforceAuth announced a free tier of its AI Security Fabric, giving enterprises a vendor‑neutral platform to govern AI agents, automated workflows, and machine identities. The solution shifts from traditional access control to decision‑centric authorization, evaluating each action with full context...
Penny Software Expands Global Footprint with New UK Office to Drive AI Procurement
Penny Software, the Saudi‑based AI procurement platform, has opened a new office in Derby, UK, to serve as a regional hub for its growing European client base. The move follows rapid adoption of its cloud‑native solution across more than 75...
AI in Churn Reduction: What G2’s 2026 Expert Survey Found
Reducing churn remains a top priority for SaaS firms, and AI is moving from experimental dashboards to operational tools. G2’s 2026 expert survey of Custify, ChurnZero, Chargebee and Velaris shows AI platforms now blend usage, sentiment, billing and relationship data...
PhonePe Launches AI‑Powered Voice & Text Payments with Microsoft Support
Indian fintech leader PhonePe has unveiled an AI‑powered payment suite that lets users send money using voice commands or text chat. The solution leverages Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI services to interpret natural language and execute transactions in real time. Initially available...
AI Agents to Enhance Candidate Experience in Oracle Recruiting Cloud
Oracle Recruiting Cloud is integrating AI‑driven agents to streamline the hiring journey. The agents automate tasks such as interview scheduling, resume parsing, and real‑time candidate communication. By delivering faster, personalized interactions, the platform aims to improve candidate engagement and brand...
STFC News Release: Hartree Centre and Alder Hey to Tackle NHS Challenges with AI
The Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Hartree Centre has partnered with Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust to pilot an AI‑driven staff scheduling platform. The system automatically creates balanced on‑call rotas by factoring in leave, skills and working patterns, replacing...
Why ‘Buy vs Build’ Is the Wrong Question for AI Strategy
Artificial intelligence is now a strategic priority, yet many enterprises chase hype instead of defining clear use cases, driven by a 63% fear‑of‑missing‑out. The traditional buy‑vs‑build debate is less relevant than asking what problem AI should solve. A blended approach—combining...
Foundations Before Acceleration - a Planning Aces Episode
In this Planning Aces episode, three CFOs—Kevin Rubin (Zscaler), Bruce Schumann (Universal Technical Institute), and Rizak Jalloh (Flowcast)—share how disciplined, foundation‑first approaches to planning and AI adoption drive growth and decision speed. Rubin emphasizes a centralized AI governance function that...
SaaStr 843: Software Stocks Have Massively Crashed. Here's What Founders Need to Know.
In this episode, SaaStr host Jason Lemkin discusses the recent crash in software stock valuations and what it means for SaaS founders, emphasizing that true AI companies must show accelerating growth. He critiques public SaaS companies for superficial AI hype...
Artificial Intelligence Could Reduce Drilling by a Factor of Five – Jef Caers, Stanford University Expert
Stanford geoscience professor Jef Caers announced that artificial‑intelligence‑driven "intelligent agents" could slash mineral‑exploration drilling by up to five‑fold. The system plans sequential drilling to test and falsify human geological hypotheses, targeting uncertainty reduction rather than exhaustive grid sampling. By focusing...
University of Oxford Spinout Brainomix Takes Total Funding to £18.8 Million in Support of US Expansion
Oxford‑spun AI medical‑imaging firm Brainomix announced a £18.8 million total Series C raise, including a £4.8 million tranche aimed at accelerating its US rollout. The capital will fund enhancements to its Brainomix 360 Stroke platform and the e‑Lung CT‑biomarker system for pulmonary fibrosis. CEO...
Walk Through: Ayora – AI-Driven Matter Pricing
Ayora launched an AI‑driven matter pricing and tracking platform for law firms. Its proprietary data enrichment engine cleans historic matter and time records, addressing the “garbage in/garbage out” challenge. The solution offers agentic pricing, allowing lawyers to set rates and...
The Machine in the Age of Collective Practice
The article argues that artificial intelligence and generative systems are turning architectural tools into semi‑autonomous agents, reshaping how designers conceive, create, and claim authorship. It traces the evolution from compass to computer, showing that each tool restructured decision‑making, but AI...
RocketReach Expands Signal Driven AI Prospecting Through Strategic Partnership with Autobound
RocketReach announced a strategic partnership with Autobound to embed the latter’s Signal Engine into its platform. The integration adds more than 400 real‑time company and contact signals—including job changes, SEC filings, and product launches—to RocketReach’s existing contact database. This signal‑driven...
Milestone Systems Opens Asia Experience Centre in Singapore
Milestone Systems announced the launch of its Asia Experience Centre in Singapore, expanding its regional footprint and providing a live‑lab for AI‑enabled video solutions. The centre supports Singapore’s national AI agenda and offers governments, enterprises, and critical infrastructure operators a...
Luxury Unfiltered: The AI Reckoning Will Separate True Luxury Brands From Imitators
A viral Citrini Research report envisions AI‑driven white‑collar job loss, wealth concentration and a 38% S&P 500 decline. The analysis warns that luxury brands that rely only on heritage and price will falter as the aspirational middle disappears. The next generation...
Turning Real World Data Into Safer Outcomes for Fleets and Physical Operations - with Hemant Banavar of Motive
In this episode, Matthew DeMello talks with Hemant Banavar, Chief Product Officer at Motive, about applying purpose‑built AI to the physical economy—industries like transportation, construction, and energy that make up about half of global GDP but have been under‑served by...
On AI Agents Speaking BGP
A recent proof‑of‑concept demonstrates an AI‑driven natural‑language interface that talks directly to a custom BGP daemon. The author argues that existing open‑source BGP suites like FRRouting already provide machine‑readable JSON and can be wrapped with simple REST APIs. Reinventing a...
ENovate and Cobi Partner to Launch AI-Powered Digital Payment Infrastructure in Egypt
eNovate, a subsidiary of eFinance Investment Group, has teamed with UAE‑based AI platform Cobi under Mastercard’s Engage programme to embed artificial intelligence across Egypt’s digital payment landscape. The partnership will debut in Q1 2026 on eNovate’s Rize digital wallet, delivering real‑time...
AI’s Priority Shift and Impact for ERP Systems
Artificial intelligence is moving from experimental pilots to a core, existential priority in enterprise resource planning, with Aptean positioning its AppCentral platform as the foundation for industry‑specific AI integration. The platform embeds AI agents, natural‑language queries and intelligent workflows directly...
Muhammad Aqeel: Semantic Caching in PostgreSQL: A Hands-On Guide to Pg_semantic_cache
The article introduces pg_semantic_cache, a PostgreSQL extension that stores query results alongside vector embeddings to enable semantic caching. By matching on meaning rather than exact text, the extension can identify duplicate intents across varied phrasing, dramatically increasing cache hit rates....
How AI at the Edge Is Reinventing Manufacturing Quality
AI‑powered quality control, driven by edge computing and Arm‑based processors, is reshaping modern manufacturing. By embedding intelligence on the factory floor, manufacturers can detect anomalies in real time, cut waste, and continuously fine‑tune processes. Siemens’ partnership with Arm showcases the...
What Is Physical AI, and How Can You Invest in It?
Tesla announced it will cease Model S and X production to convert the Fremont space into an Optimus robot factory, signaling a strategic shift toward physical artificial intelligence. Physical AI, defined as intelligence embedded in machines that operate in the...
No Traffic, No Moat: How AI Breaks The Economics Of Destination Publishing
Google’s AI Overviews launched in May 2024 sharply cut referral traffic to publisher‑owned sites, exposing the fragility of the destination‑publishing model. Fixed costs—CMS, ad tech, analytics, compliance—remain while traffic‑dependent ad and subscription revenues collapse. Only publishers with strong brands, durable subscriptions,...
South Africa’s Draft AI Policy Headed to Cabinet
South Africa’s draft artificial intelligence policy is set to be discussed by the economic cluster ministerial council next month before moving to a cabinet committee, with a gazette for public comment slated for March. The framework, built on 14 pillars...
Pricing Should Reflect Value, Not Just Usage
IMO Claude pricing will eventually change. Consider these 3 users: 1) solo founder making $1 million per year, Claude helps fix a critical bug in minutes that allows the founder to spend more time with family 2) dev employee using Claude...
AI Agents Now in 80% of Fortune 500; Governance Crucial
80% of Fortune 500 use active AI Agents: Observability, governance, and security shape the new frontier @Microsoft has released its latest Cyber Pulse report, offering practical insights into emerging cybersecurity risks as AI agents become embedded in everyday business operations. https://t.co/nYODu6iNVB...
AMD Bets on Billion-Dollar Offensive in AI Infrastructure Market with Meta Mega Deal
AMD announced a multi‑year AI infrastructure partnership with Meta, delivering next‑generation Instinct GPUs, EPYC processors, and rack‑scale systems tailored for Meta’s data centers. The deal includes up to 6 GW of GPU capacity and a performance‑based warrant for up to 160 million...
Tech Like Blockchain, Privacy, AI Safeguard Freedom
Freedom can be protected in many ways: - Blockchain is one way to ensure it - Privacy is another - Libertas, supported by StarkWare, is leveraging AI to protect freedom Freedom-tech matters. More details here 👇
AI-Generated Rumors Trigger Real Market Swings
An AI-generated doomsday scenario was enough to rattle real markets. Shares in Uber, Mastercard and American Express dipped, not because of fundamentals, but because narrative spread faster than verification. When synthetic analysis triggers real capital flows, we’re in a feedback loop with...
Make Every Location Your Best Location: Drive More Revenue From Your Underperforming Stores
Fast Casual’s new white paper, sponsored by Momos Guest AI, reveals that multi‑location restaurant and retail brands can reclaim up to $28 million annually by revitalizing their lowest‑performing stores. The report highlights that 96 % of unhappy guests never complain, and that...
Business Psychologists Must Understand LLMs for HR
What #BusinessPsychologists Need to Know When Working with #LLMs @ABPsychologists https://t.co/qeA8OABheB #HCM #HRM #HumanResources #HRTech #CHRO #CPO #Hiring #Recruitment #PeopleManagement #Culture #Change #FutureofHR #HRCurator
Patent Granted for Quantum Machine Perception at Google
After a very long time this patent is finally out Inventing Quantum machine perception, i.e. combining quantum machine learning with quantum sensors. One of my first contributions at Google. Enjoy 🖖⚛️ https://t.co/xSigOnrl6A
Majority of Gulf Region Companies Now Adopting Gen AI – Survey
A Deloitte survey of 649 tax, finance and legal professionals shows generative AI adoption in the Gulf Cooperation Council has accelerated, with non‑adoption dropping from 52% in 2024 to 29% in 2025. Quality improvement is the top priority (38%), followed...