News

Bloomberg: India’s digital transformation has exposed citizens to scams like “digital arrests”, where victims are coerced into transferring funds under false accusations  —  She races into her bedroom, shuts the door behind her, then falls to the checkered-tile floor.  The… Read More »India’s digital transformation has exposed citizens to scams like “digital arrests”, where victims are coerced into transferring funds under false accusations (Bloomberg)

Julie Bort / TechCrunch: Simular, which is building AI agents for Mac and Windows PCs, raised a $21.5M Series A led by Felicis; Simular has released its 1.0 version for macOS  —  Simular, a startup building AI agents for Mac… Read More »Simular, which is building AI agents for Mac and Windows PCs, raised a $21.5M Series A led by Felicis; Simular has released its 1.0 version for macOS (Julie Bort/TechCrunch)

Aayushi Pratap / Chemical & Engineering News: Excelsior Sciences, which aims to use AI and robots for small-molecule drug discovery and development, raised a $70M Series A from Khosla Ventures and others  —  Excelsior Sciences cofounders say the company will… Read More »Excelsior Sciences, which aims to use AI and robots for small-molecule drug discovery and development, raised a $70M Series A from Khosla Ventures and others (Aayushi Pratap/Chemical & …)

Reuters: South Korea says it has signed an MOU with Arm to strengthen its chip and AI sectors, including a program to train ~1,400 high-level chip design specialists  —  South Korea’s industry ministry and SoftBank’s (9984.T) chip unit, Arm Holdings,… Read More »South Korea says it has signed an MOU with Arm to strengthen its chip and AI sectors, including a program to train ~1,400 high-level chip design specialists (Reuters)

Rashi Shrivastava / Forbes: PermitFlow, which develops AI-powered workflow software for construction permitting, raised a $54M Series B led by Accel, a source says at a ~$500M valuation  —  This week’s edition of The Prompt newsletter covers Warner Music Group’s… Read More »PermitFlow, which develops AI-powered workflow software for construction permitting, raised a $54M Series B led by Accel, a source says at a ~$500M valuation (Rashi Shrivastava/Forbes)

Financial Times: Chinese smartphone makers are promoting apps to help users switch from iOS in a race for market share, as Apple struggles to roll out AI features in China  —  Manufacturers tout apps that help users switch from iPhones … Read More »Chinese smartphone makers are promoting apps to help users switch from iOS in a race for market share, as Apple struggles to roll out AI features in China (Financial Times)

Lora Kelley / New York Times: In recent months, several companies like Airtable, Handshake, and Opendoor have announced that they are “refounding”, as they scramble to add new AI features  —  In the age of artificial intelligence, some company leaders… Read More »In recent months, several companies like Airtable, Handshake, and Opendoor have announced that they are “refounding”, as they scramble to add new AI features (Lora Kelley/New York Times)

Monique Mulima / Bloomberg: Digital asset treasuries, one of the hottest trends in public markets in H1 2025, saw a dramatic reversal in H2; SharpLink stock has fallen 86% from its peak  —  What began the year as one of… Read More »Digital asset treasuries, one of the hottest trends in public markets in H1 2025, saw a dramatic reversal in H2; SharpLink stock has fallen 86% from its peak (Monique Mulima/Bloomberg)

John Pavlus / Fast Company: A profile of Byron Cook, a VP at Amazon who is leading the company’s effort to reduce AI hallucinations with a feature called Automated Reasoning Checks  —  Byron Cook, a VP and distinguished scientist at… Read More »A profile of Byron Cook, a VP at Amazon who is leading the company’s effort to reduce AI hallucinations with a feature called Automated Reasoning Checks (John Pavlus/Fast Company)

Matthias Bastian / The Decoder: ChatGPT head says screenshots of ChatGPT ads are “either not real or not ads”; OpenAI’s research chief says “anything that feels like an ad” is now turned off  —  Paid ChatGPT users recently reported seeing… Read More »ChatGPT head says screenshots of ChatGPT ads are “either not real or not ads”; OpenAI’s research chief says “anything that feels like an ad” is now turned off (Matthias Bastian/The Decoder)