Google’s newest startup program, announced on Wednesday, aims to bring AI technology to the public sector.
The newly launched “Google for Startups AI Academy: American Infrastructure” will offer participants hands-on training from AI experts and other support for companies solving problems in areas like agriculture, energy, education, public safety, healthcare, telecommunications, transportation, urban development, and more.
Over the course of twelve weeks, startups participating in the equity-free program will be guided by an AI curriculum developed by Google’s People + AI Research (PAIR) team and will participate in advanced sales and go-to-market workshops.
They’ll also be able to access industry connections and, of course, tap into Google’s AI tools as they build.
While much focus is on the AI companies building the models, tools, and interfaces for working with AI, a focus on real-world applications of the technology could impact communities at the local, state, and national levels, Google believes.
The Google parent’s moonshot factory X this week officially unveiled Project Bellwether, its latest bid to apply technology to some of our biggest problems.
Here that means using AI tools to identify natural disasters like wildfire and flooding as quickly as possible.
“Right now, our analysts have to spend time sorting through images to find the ones that cover the areas most affected by natural disasters,” the Guard’s Col. Brian McGarry notes.
Google has been exploring the use of machine learning models and AI to predict natural disasters for some time now.
Project Bellwether’s partnership with the National Guard could well prove an important validation of that work.
Now, we’re headed to Washington, D.C., for another night of top-notch interviews and unparalleled networking, all at the cozy Woolly Mammoth Theatre on Tuesday, June 11.
Lina Khan – Chair, Federal Trade CommissionAs Chair of the Federal Trade Commission, Lina Khan brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the table.
With a background in business reporting and antitrust research, Khan has dedicated her career to addressing consolidation across various markets.
Steve Case – Chairman & CEO, RevolutionSteve Case is known for his pioneering efforts, such as founding AOL, and integrating the internet into everyday life.
Secure Your Spot:Tickets for StrictlyVC Washington, D.C., are priced at $159, offering exceptional value for an evening packed with exclusive content and networking opportunities.
It’s against this backdrop that Evolution Equity Partners, a growth capital investment firm based in NYC, on Tuesday launched a $1.1 billion cybersecurity and AI fund, the third such fund in Evolution’s history.
The fund, called Evolution Technology Fund III, was oversubscribed, with participation from existing and new endowments, sovereign investors, insurance companies, foundations, fund of funds, family offices and angels.
“The Evolution Technology Fund III has already backed fifteen leading cybersecurity companies, initiating its investment period over 12 months ago,” Seewald said.
“We believe that provides private markets investors with diversified exposure to cybersecurity opportunities.”ESG will be another factor, according to Seewald.
Evolution’s 30-person teams manages around $2 billion in assets and has backed 60 companies to date; its previous fund was $400 million.
When prolific venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and Lerer Hippeau announced in early 2024 they were pivoting away from consumer tech, it sparked a social media debate about whether there are still opportunities.
Jumping in, Maven will be there helping to build the next game-changing health AI company or robotics AI consumer business, he said.
Scheinman started the firm in 2013 and brought in Deshpande soon after to focus on consumer AI and personalized medicine.
They brought in investment partner Robert Ravanshenas in 2015, and again in 2020 after a stint in a startup operating role, to focus on fintech, longevity and consumer AI.
Together the trio remains committed to seeding similar consumer tech trends, including applications of AI, personalized healthcare, climate and sustainability, family technology and fintech.
As Walmart works to remain competitive, it’s taking a more piecemeal approach to automation, through partnerships with a range of different robotics firms.
On Thursday, the mega-retailer announced a partnership with Fox Robotics, which brings 19 of the Austin-based startup’s robotic forklifts to its distribution centers.
Today’s news follows a 16-month pilot, which found Walmart trialing the technology in Distribution Center 6020.
DC 6020 is the place where Walmart began trials with Symbotic’s package sortation and retrieval technologies.
Following that successful trial, Walmart announced plans to roll out the technology to all 42 of its Regional Distribution Centers — that was nearly double the original target of 25.
The global demand for wood could grow by 54% between 2010 and 2050, according to a study by the World Resources Institute.
While some building materials like steel get consistently recycled back into the supply chain, wood does not.
Cambium looks to build the supply chain that keeps wood from being wasted by connecting those with already-been-used wood to the businesses and folks that need it.
“We’re building a better value chain where you can use local material, you can use salvaged material, and all of that is connected through our technology,” Christensen said.
And we do that in a really efficient and cost competitive way.”Demand for more sustainable wood has been growing in recent years, Christensen said, but before Cambium there wasn’t a good system to find the recycled wood.
The company has bought Searchlight, a startup and recruitment platform that uses artificial intelligence-based technology to source talent.
The plan will be to use Searchlight’s tech to build new AI products for Multiverse to expand its professional training services.
After that, the plan will be to wind down Searchlight’s recruitment services as they focus on Multiverse’s business.
Some people will use AI to speed up what they do; others will claim that AI is taking over certain jobs altogether.
“From the start, Anna and Kerry have been thoughtful about building Searchlight’s AI models to complement their vision,” Keith Rabois, who led the Series A, said in a statement provided to TechCrunch.
Spotify already found success with its popular AI DJ feature, and now the streaming music service is bringing AI to playlist creation.
The company on Monday introduced AI playlists into beta, a new option that allows users to generate a playlist based on written prompts.
In terms of the technology, Spotify says it’s using large language models (LLMs) to understand the user’s intent.
A pop-up menu appears showing the AI Playlist as a new option alongside the existing “Playlist” and “Blend” options.
Ahead of AI playlists, Spotify launched a similar feature, Niche Mixes, that allowed users to create personalized playlists using prompts, but the product did not leverage AI technology and was more limited in terms of its language understanding.
Such is the case with Anthropic and its latest research which demonstrates an interesting vulnerability in current LLM technology.
Of course given progress in open-source AI technology, you can spin up your own LLM locally and just ask it whatever you want, but for more consumer-grade stuff this is an issue worth pondering.
But the closer we get to more generalized AI intelligence, the more it should resemble a thinking entity, and not a computer that we can program, right?
If so, we might have a harder time nailing down edge cases to the point when that work becomes unfeasible?
Anyway, let’s talk about what Anthropic recently shared.
