OpenAI to provide advanced tools to US government

Today’s Highlights:

📰 News: OpenAI launches national initiative to bring advanced tools to US government 

💰 Funding: New details from Meta’s deal with Scale AI

⚡️ Top News Stories:

1. OpenAI has launched "OpenAI for Government," a national initiative bringing advanced tools like ChatGPT Gov and custom AI models to U.S. federal, state, and local agencies, starting with a $200M Department of Defense pilot to enhance public service, scientific research, and national security.

2. Microsoft has launched Copilot Vision on Windows in the U.S., giving users an AI assistant that visually analyzes their screen in real time, offers contextual help across multiple apps, and provides hands-on, in-app guidance with new Highlights features.

3. New York has passed the RAISE Act, a landmark bill requiring major AI labs like OpenAI and Google to report safety practices and incidents for powerful AI models, with civil penalties of up to $30M, aiming to prevent catastrophic risks from frontier AI technologies.

4. AMD unveiled its MI400 AI chips and Helios rack system with OpenAI’s Sam Altman announcing support, as the company intensifies its rivalry with Nvidia by offering more efficient, lower-cost AI compute solutions adopted by more leading firms like Meta, Microsoft, and Oracle.

5. OpenAI is reportedly clashing with Microsoft over intellectual property control and computing dependencies—most recently around the $3Bn Windsurf acquisition—raising the specter of regulatory intervention and redefining a once-symbiotic tech alliance.

6. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s call for “sovereign AI” is gaining traction in Europe, where leaders are investing in local AI infrastructure to reduce reliance on U.S. tech firms, with Nvidia backing major projects like a Mistral-powered data center in France to supply the region’s growing AI demands.

7. NVIDIA is building Europe’s first industrial AI cloud in Germany with 10,000 GPUs to help manufacturers like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Schaeffler revolutionize their operations using AI-powered digital twins, simulations, and automation tools integrated with leading industrial software.

8. Google is testing a new Audio Overviews feature for Search that uses Gemini AI to deliver spoken summaries of search results for hands-free learning, expanding on its AI tools just as concerns rise over their impact on news site traffic.

10. Google DeepMind and Research have launched Weather Lab, a public interactive preview featuring an experimental AI cyclone forecasting model that simulates 50 possible storm scenarios up to 15 days out—showing marked improvements in track and intensity predictions over traditional systems and now being assessed alongside physics-based models by the U.S. National Hurricane Center and other meteorological agencies.

11. Meta, Lawrence Berkeley, and Los Alamos National Labs have launched Open Molecules 2025, an open-access dataset designed to train AI models to predict molecular properties with quantum chemistry-level accuracy.

12. MIT’s new Self‑Adapting LLMs framework empowers language models to write their own “self‑edits”—instructions and synthetic training data—to update their own weights for improved performance.

13. OpenAI has entered a first-of-its-kind partnership with toy giant Mattel, aiming to develop AI-enhanced products and content while enabling Mattel to retain full control over its IP, expand its entertainment portfolio, and integrate tools like ChatGPT Enterprise into its product development workflows.

💰 Top Funding News:

1.  Meta’s $14.3Bn deal for a 49% stake in Scale AI provides massive dividend payouts to investors without a full acquisition, as founder Alexandr Wang joins Meta and regulators eye the unusual structure that grants liquidity while preserving shareholder stakes.

• Following Meta’s investment in Scale AI and its CEO’s move to lead Meta’s superintelligence lab, Google is reportedly ending its $200M contract with the data-labeling firm, as rival tech companies grow wary of its neutrality.

2. Clay, which leverages AI to automate sales prospecting and personalized outreach, raised a Series C at a $3B valuation led by CapitalG, with participation from Sequoia, Meritech Capital, Boldstart Ventures, Maple VC, First Round Capital, and Box Group.

3. PostHog, which offers an AI-powered open-source platform unifying developer tools and customer data automation, raised a $70M Series D led by Stripe, with participation from Y Combinator, GV, and Formus Capital.

4. Pano AI, which uses AI to detect wildfires through panoramic camera systems and automated alerts, raised a $44M Series B led by Giant Ventures, with participation from Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures, MassMutual Ventures, Initialized Capital, and Salesforce Ventures.

5. Landbase, which uses AI to automate marketing outreach by fine-tuning GPT-4o on millions of campaigns, raised a $30M Series A co-led by Sound Ventures and Picus Capital, with participation from 8VC, A\*, and Firstminute Capital.

6. Sedai, which uses AI agents to autonomously manage cloud infrastructure by performing real-time optimization and self-healing, raised a $20M Series B led by AVP, with participation from Norwest, Sierra Ventures, and Uncorrelated Ventures.

7. WorkWhile, which uses AI-driven matching to provide flexible job opportunities for frontline workers, raised a $23M Series B led by Rethink Impact, with participation from Khosla Ventures, Reach Capital, Citi Impact Fund, GingerBread Capital, and Illumen Capital.

8. Alta, which uses AI to power a personal stylist and shopper platform with virtual avatar outfit recommendations, raised an $11M Seed round led by Menlo Ventures, with participation from Benchstrength, Algaé Ventures, Phenomenal Ventures, Anthropic’s Anthology fund, and angels.

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