Microsoft introduces new Copilot features at Ignite 2024

Today’s Highlights:

📰 News: At Ignite 2024 Microsoft introduces new Copilot features + ElevenLabs launches platform for building customizable conversational AI agents

💰 Funding: Sam Altman seeks $150M for a semiconductor startup that could challenge NVIDIA

⚡️ Top News Stories:

1. At Ignite 2024, Microsoft introduced Copilot Actions to automate repetitive tasks in Microsoft 365, alongside updates like Copilot Pages for collaborative flow charts, Copilot in Teams for summarizing visual meeting content, and new AI agents for SharePoint, project management, and employee self-service, streamlining tasks such as HR queries, document searches, and real-time meeting notes.

2. Writer has introduced self-evolving AI models that learn and adapt in real-time without retraining, using a memory pool for recall, uncertainty-driven learning to address knowledge gaps, and a self-update process to integrate new data, transforming dynamic industries like customer support, healthcare, and finance by reducing training costs and improving efficiency.

3. ElevenLabs has launched a platform for building customizable conversational AI agents, allowing users to control tone, response length, and persona, while integrating knowledge bases via uploaded files, URLs, or text, and leveraging models like GPT, Claude, or Gemini for enhanced interactions.

4. OpenAI, in partnership with Common Sense Media, has launched a free nine-module course for K-12 educators to teach AI concepts, prompt engineering, and the integration of ChatGPT into classrooms, with support from OpenAI’s education team led by Leah Belsky, showcasing how AI can assist with lesson planning, administrative tasks, and educational activities.

5. Figure’s humanoid robots, deployed at BMW’s Spartanburg facility since August, are performing 1,000 autonomous EV battery cell placements daily, achieving a 400% improvement in assembly speed and a 7x increase in precision by autonomously lifting, transporting, and positioning components without human intervention.

6. Google’s Gemini AI assistant now offers a memory system for premium subscribers, allowing it to store user preferences like dietary restrictions or coding needs to deliver personalized responses and recommendations, such as suggesting suitable restaurants or programming advice.

7. OpenAI is preparing a beta rollout for ChatGPT’s “Live Camera” feature in Advanced Voice Mode, enabling real-time vision and object recognition via camera feeds, following successful alpha tests praised for speed and accuracy.

8. Meta has launched a business AI unit, led by former Salesforce AI CEO Clara Shih, to develop AI tools for business powered by the Llama language model, with initial products like chatbots to enhance customer engagement and facilitate transactions through WhatsApp and Messenger.

9. Stanford HAI's global AI index 2024 ranks 36 countries on AI capabilities, with the U.S. leading in research, innovation, private AI investment ($67.2Bn in 2023), and job creation, followed by China, which trails in funding and innovation but leads in patent production, and the U.K. in third place.

10. Google DeepMind and Google Quantum AI have unveiled AlphaQubit, an AI-driven quantum error correction model that integrates machine learning to predict and correct quantum errors, significantly improving fault tolerance and advancing quantum computing toward practical applications in cryptography, materials science, and AI.

11. Microsoft Research has launched BiomedParse, a foundation model for biomedical imaging that integrates object recognition, detection, and segmentation, allowing users to input natural language prompts for precise analysis, simplifying workflows by eliminating manual steps like bounding boxes.

12. Researchers from Stanford and Google DeepMind have developed AI simulation agents, achieving 85% accuracy in replicating participants' personalities and preferences, with potential applications in social science studies to simulate human behavior for experiments that are costly, impractical, or unethical with real subjects.

13. Chinese AI research firm DeepSeek unveiled R1-Lite-Preview, a reasoning-focused model matching OpenAI’s o1 capabilities while offering real-time, transparent chain-of-thought processes.

14. Anthropic introduces a statistical evaluation framework to enhance AI model benchmarking by applying the Central Limit Theorem to focus on theoretical averages for robustness, addressing non-independent question clusters with clustered standard error techniques from social sciences to ensure consistent and reliable performance assessments.

15. Elon Musk invited X users to upload sensitive medical scans like X-rays and MRIs to Grok, X’s AI chatbot, to enhance its diagnostic capabilities, but experts raised privacy concerns due to the lack of HIPAA protections and warned of potential misuse of health data, while mixed feedback highlighted both its diagnostic potential and issues with accuracy, including misidentifying conditions.

💰 Top Funding News:

1. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is seeking $150M in a Series B round to fund Rain AI, a semiconductor startup valued at $600M that aims to challenge Nvidia’s dominance with chips claimed to be more energy-efficient and powerful, led by ex-Apple chip executive Jean-Didier Allegrucci as head of hardware engineering.

2. ElevenLabs, which specializes in voice cloning and advanced text-to-speech tech, is reportedly raising $200M in a round led by Iconiq Capital w/ Andreessen Horowitz, which would triple its valuation to over $3Bn.

3. LogicMonitor, whose platform integrates AI to deliver comprehensive observability for on-premises and cloud data centers, raised $800M, led by PSG and Golub Capital, with Vista Equity Partners remaining the controlling shareholder. 

4. Odoo, which aims to incorporate AI into its ERP platform to enhance functionality and streamline business operations, raised $527M in a funding round, led by CapitalG (Alphabet’s venture fund) and Sequoia Capital, w/ Alkeon, AVP, BlackRock, HarbourVest Partners, and Mubadala Investment Company.

5. Cyera, which uses AI to enhance data security by enabling real-time discovery, classification, and protection of sensitive information, raised a $300M Series D, led by Accel and Sapphire Ventures, w/ Sequoia, Redpoint, Coatue, and Georgian.

6. H, which launched its first product, Runner H, which uses a proprietary compact LLM with 2Bn parameters to enable “agentic” AI for business applications, raised $230M in Seed funding, from notable investors like Eric Schmidt, Yuri Milner, Xavier Niel, Accel, Creandum, Amazon, Samsung, and UiPath. 

7. Kong, which provides a unified API platform that integrates AI capabilities, raised a $175M Series E, led by Tiger Global and Balderton Capital, w/ Teachers’ Venture Growth, Index Ventures, a16z, CRV, Sapphire Ventures, 137 Ventures, Founders Circle, and StepStone.

8. Enveda, which uses an AI-driven platform combined with metabolomics and high-throughput biological experiments to discover and develop new medicines from natural compounds, raised a $130M Series C, led by Kinnevik and FPV, w/ Baillie Gifford, Premji Invest, Lingotto Innovation, Lux Capital, Dimension Capital, and others.

9. Rox, which develops AI-powered agents designed for sales teams, focusing on automating real-world tasks with minimal supervision, raised $50M in a Seed and Series A,  from Sequoia Capital, General Catalyst, and GV.

10. Pickle Robot, which uses Physical AI combining advanced vision systems and generative AI models to automate truck unloading processes, raised a $50M Series B, from Teradyne Robotics Ventures, Toyota Ventures, Ranpak, Third Kind Venture Capital, One Madison Group, Hyperplane, Catapult Ventures, and others.

11. Federato, whose RiskOps platform uses AI to enhance underwriting processes in the insurance industry, raised a $40M Series C, led by Stepstone Group, w/ Emergence Capital, Caffeinated Capital, and Pear VC.

12. Roboflow, which provides a computer vision platform enabling developers to create AI models for analyzing visual data, raised a $40M Series B, led by GV, w/ Craft Ventures, Y Combinator, and notable angels. 

13. Lightyear, which uses AI to streamline enterprise telecom management through its Telecom Operating System, raised a $31M Series B, led by Altos Ventures, w/ Ridge Ventures, Amplo, Zigg Capital, and Susa Ventures.

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