Poland bought a stake in ElevenLabs to grow its next AI champion
Poland bought a stake in ElevenLabs to grow its next AI champion

Poland produced one of the world’s most valuable AI companies almost by accident. Now it is spending public money to make sure the next one stays closer to home. Vinci, the venture arm of Poland’s state development bank BGK, has taken an $11mn stake in…

a16z is betting $38M that you want an AI ‘teammate’, not another agent
a16z is betting $38M that you want an AI ‘teammate’, not another agent

The word “agent” is everywhere in enterprise software right now, which is exactly why Convey does not want to use it. The startup has raised a $38mn Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz, with Khosla Ventures and Pear VC joining. Its pitch is a deliberat…

SAP just funded a startup built to help its own customers escape SAP
SAP just funded a startup built to help its own customers escape SAP

There is an unglamorous deadline bearing down on corporate IT, and it has just produced one of London’s more interesting AI raises. Conduct, a 35-person startup founded by three former Palantir engineers, has raised a $60mn Series A co-led by Index Ven…

DeepL acquires US audio stadium streaming business Mixhalo

German AI translation startup DeepL has acquired a US audio streaming startup whose tech helps attendees at conferences and sports events get the same sound experience regardless of where they are sit…

Google’s first speaker in six years is really a $10-a-month Gemini subscription
Google’s first speaker in six years is really a $10-a-month Gemini subscription

Google has finally made a new smart speaker, its first in roughly six years. The more interesting thing it has made is a reason to pay it every month. The Google Home Speaker costs $99.99, opens for preorder today and ships on June 25. It is the first …

Researchers build brain-like memory device for AI sensors that may improve energy efficiency — phototransistor device combines light sensing, memory, and processing to cut data movement

Oregon State University researchers have developed a brain-inspired phototransistor that combines light sensing, memory, and signal processing in one device. The hardware can electronically control how long optical memorie…

The US is paying an AI startup $500M to break China’s grip on chip materials
The US is paying an AI startup $500M to break China’s grip on chip materials

The US government has just become a shareholder in an AI startup, in exchange for a bet that artificial intelligence can break China’s hold on the materials inside every chip factory. The Department of Commerce has awarded SandboxAQ $500mn under the CH…

Estonia wants to give every AI agent its own ID number
Estonia wants to give every AI agent its own ID number

When an AI agent does something on your behalf today, it usually has to become you. It logs in as you, with your access to everything. Estonia wants to end that. The country plans to issue personal identification numbers to AI assistants, the first nat…

Stop making boring slides because Google Vids just made AI avatars free for everyone

Google rolled out free AI avatars in Vids along with extended Veo video clips, multilingual voiceovers, and an upcoming emotion steering feature for personalized delivery.

Neuralink finally has a real rival: Paradromics just put a brain chip in its first patient
Neuralink finally has a real rival: Paradromics just put a brain chip in its first patient

Neuralink has dominated the brain-chip story for two years. It now has a serious challenger with a patient of its own. Paradromics, an Austin neurotech firm, has implanted its Connexus brain-computer interface in the first participant of its FDA-approv…