Figure unveils its latest AI-powered humanoid robot

Today’s Highlights:

📰 News: Figure unveils its latest AI-powered humanoid robot

💰 Funding: Anduril raises $1.5Bn to expand AI-powered defense tech

⚡️ Top News Stories:

1.Figure unveiled its Figure 02 humanoid robot, designed for fully autonomous tasks.

• It features significant upgrades, including enhanced processing power, improved voice communication, better sensors, a high-performance battery, and advanced human-scale hands with 16 degrees of freedom.

• Tested at BMW’s production line, the robot benefits from partnerships with OpenAI and NVIDIA for custom AI models and synthetic data training.

• During the trial, Figure 02 demonstrated its ability to autonomously insert sheet metal parts into fixtures for chassis assembly, showcasing advanced dexterity and two-legged mobility.

• It can handle complex tasks and adapt to changing environments, making it versatile for logistics and manufacturing, as Figure aims to address labor shortages across industries.

2. OpenAI has introduced "Structured Outputs" in its API, ensuring model responses adhere strictly to JSON Schemas provided by developers.

3. OpenAI announces its 2024 DevDay’s w/ events in San Francisco (Oct 1), London (Oct 30), and Singapore (Nov 21), featuring workshops, breakouts, demos, and networking.

4. OpenAI shared it’s ‘GPT-4o System Card’ which provides an overview of the model, its features/capabilities, user customization options, evaluation methods and metrics, and highlights the ongoing efforts to improve the safety and functionality.

5. Amazon Music introduced "Topics," an AI-powered feature that enhances podcast discovery by organizing episodes based on discussed topics.

6. Reddit is set to test AI-powered search result pages that provide summaries and recommendations to help users discover content and communities more effectively.

7. Mistral AI announces simplified customization for flagship models along with Agents for creating advanced workflows. 

8. Apple may charge $10-$20 for its upcoming "Apple Intelligence" AI features, possibly integrating them into the Apple One subscription.

9. Apple’s latest developer betas have been found to have prompts that guide its AI’s responses, including instructions for limiting word count and avoiding hallucination. 

10. ByteDance (TikTok’s parent company) has launched Jimeng AI, a new text-to-video generation app, aimed as a potential competitor to OpenAI's Sora.

11. Google is retiring the Chromecast, replacing it with the Google TV Streamer, a more advanced streaming device, powered by Gemini AI, and offering personalized content recommendations, summaries, and review curation.

12. S&P Global and Accenture have partnered to enhance generative AI adoption in the financial services industry, w/ an AI learning program that will be rolled out to S&P Global's 35K employees, leveraging Accenture's training services.

13. Intel's former CEO allegedly dismissed an investment in OpenAI back in 2018, doubting AI’s near-term market impact, a decision that not only left OpenAI reliant on Nvidia—now a dominant force in AI hardware—but also significantly altered Intel’s potential AI trajectory.

14. The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority is investigating Amazon's $4Bn investment in AI startup Anthropic for potential anti-competitive concerns.

15. Humane's AI Pin has seen returns outpacing sales, with over $1M in returns out of $9M in sales, after the AI Pin received many poor reviews. 

💰 Top Funding News:

1. Anduril, the AI-powered defense tech company that builds autonomous drones and battlefield systems, raised $1.5Bn in a new funding, led by Founders Fund and Sands Capital, to support Anduril’s expansion into large-scale, AI-driven weapons production 

2. Opal Camera Inc., which develops high-end AI-powered webcams designed for creative use, raised a $60M Series B, led by OpenAI.

3.Glean, which offers AI-powered search software that helps employees find information within their orgs, is about to complete a $250M funding raise, expected to be led by DST Global, with prior investors including Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Sequoia Capital.

4. SoundHound, an AI company specializing in voice interface technology, is acquiring Amelia AI, an AI agent for businesses, for $80M in cash and equity, in an effort to help SoundHound target new verticals like financial services and healthcare. 

5. ProRata.ai, which uses generative AI to accurately attribute content and share revenues with content creators, raised a $25M Series A led by Mayfield, w/ Revolution Ventures, Prime Movers Lab, and Idealab Studio

6. Bardeen, a no-code AI powered automation platform targeted at repetitive tasks for businesses, raised $3M in funding from Dropbox Ventures and HubSpot Ventures.

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