Amazon releases AI agent for web browsers

Today’s Highlights:

📰 News: Amazon releases AI agent for web browsers + Runway releases its latest video generation model

💰 Funding: Elon merges X and xAI + OpenAI confirms $40Bn investment

⚡️ Top News Stories:

1. Amazon has introduced Amazon Nova Act, a new AI model designed to perform tasks within web browsers, marking a significant advancement in AI agent capabilities.

• Nova Act is an AI model trained to execute actions within a web browser, enabling the development of agents capable of completing tasks such as submitting out-of-office requests, scheduling calendar events, and setting up email auto-responses.

• Amazon has also released a research preview of the Amazon Nova Act SDK, available through nova.amazon.com, allowing developers to experiment with building agents that can perform complex workflows in web environments. 

2. Runway has launched Gen-4, its latest AI model for media generation, featuring advanced capabilities that ensure visual consistency across characters, locations, and objects using just a single reference image to maintain coherence throughout scenes.

3. OpenAI has announced plans to release a new “open” AI language model—its first since GPT-2—in the coming months, inviting community input through an online feedback form and upcoming developer events across San Francisco, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.

4. Qwen releases QVQ-Max, a newly introduced visual reasoning model capable of interpreting and analyzing content within images and videos to solve problems in mathematics, coding, and general domains, with a notable strength in agent-related tasks.

5. New insights reveal that Sam Altman’s abrupt firing from OpenAI, in Nov ‘23, was driven by deep mistrust over his opaque leadership and repeated misrepresentations to the board, but the lack of transparency in his dismissal caused internal revolt and forced his swift reinstatement.

6. Apple is pushing forward with Project Mulberry, a bold initiative to turn its Health app into a personalized AI health coach that mimics doctor-like guidance using device data, expert videos, and nutrition tracking.

7. UC Berkeley and UCSF researchers have developed a neuroprosthesis that uses AI to convert brain signals into near real-time audible speech, providing a groundbreaking communication method for individuals with severe paralysis who can no longer speak.

8. PwC has launched agent OS, a no-code AI agent operating system that enables enterprises to orchestrate intelligent agents across platforms like SAP, Salesforce, and Azure for seamless AI-powered workflow automation.

9. Archetype AI introduces 'Lenses,' AI applications built on their Newton™ model, designed to continuously interpret raw sensor data into actionable insights, shifting from autonomous agents to tools that augment human decision-making in real-time.

10. Google’s DeepMind has reportedly restricted the release of certain research findings, including a paper on ChatGPT vulnerabilities, to protect the competitive advantage of its Gemini AI products—marking a shift from its traditionally open academic culture to a more commercially focused approach that has prompted internal tensions and staff departures.

💰 Top Funding News:

1. Elon Musk has merged xAI and social platform X into xAI Holdings—a $100Bn+ AI powerhouse—blending Grok’s advanced AI capabilities with X’s user data and distribution network to centralize Musk’s ambitions under a single corporate roof.

• The deal values xAI at $80Bn and X at $33Bn, with $12Bn in debt factored in, bringing X’s total enterprise value to $45Bn.

2. OpenAI has officially secured a $40Bn investment led by SoftBank, elevating its valuation to $300Bn, to further AI research, expand infrastructure, and enhance ChatGPT for its 500 million weekly users, all in pursuit of AGI that benefits humanity.

3. CoreWeave, an AI hyperscaler, priced its initial public offering (IPO) at $40 per share, offering 37.5M shares and raising approximately $1.5Bn, marking one of the largest tech IPOs since 2021. 

4. Isomorphic Labs, a subsidiary of Alphabet focused on AI-driven drug development, raised $600M in its first external funding round, with Thrive Capital leading the round and Google Ventures and Alphabet providing additional capital.

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