Top AI news of the week #5: Advsr AI Spotlight

Advsr AI Spotlight

Highlighting notable AI moves at the intersection of strategic operating companies and emerging startups. Big ideas in the works.

Strategic Deployments of AI 

• Pony AI announced a strategic partnership with Xihu Group, the city’s largest taxi operator, to jointly deploy a fleet of more than 1,000 Pony.ai’s seventh-generation Robotaxis in Shenzhen in the coming years
• Primech AI, a subsidiary of Primtech, announced the signing of a two-year lease agreement with a facility management service providers for the deployment of its HYTRON LITE autonomous bathroom cleaning robot at one of Singapore’s largest public hospitals
• The New York Times partnered with Amazon to use its editorial content for artificial intelligence products such as Alexa, marking the publisher’s first licensing deal tied to generative AI. The multi-year agreement lets Amazon use news articles from The Times and content from NYT Cooking and sports website The Athletic
• AMC Networks partnered with Runway, an applied AI research company that creates AI-powered content creation tools for the media and entertainment sectors. to incorporate Runway’s AI models and tools in AMC Networks’ marketing and TV development processes
• Microsoft partnered with Uniper to establish an AI lab at Uniper’s Düsseldorf site. A key focus is the further development of the company-wide AI and data strategy, integrating data from different sources, and ensuring high data quality
• The AI Education Project partnered with Michigan Virtual to launch a statewide initiative to equip educators with the tools they need to teach artificial intelligence across K–12 classroom
• LegalZoom, an online platform for legal services, announced a strategic partnership with Perplexity to empower legal solutions for Perplexity Pro subscribers. As part of the partnership, Perplexity Pro subscribers will gain access to exclusive offers from LegalZoom, including discounts on legal services and products tailored to individuals and small businesses. LegalZoom will be the provider of legal services for Perplexity Pro users
• Yuma, a DCG company and builder on the decentralized artificial intelligence network Bittensor, partnered with the University of Connecticut, a research institution known for its leadership in business, data science, and emerging technologies, to launch an experiential learning program focused on deAI. “BittBridge” will give a student-led team the opportunity to work toward operating and developing a project on Bittensor called a subnet, making UConn among the first academic institutions to build on the network
• Peachtree Corners, one of the United States’ first smart city environments powered by real-world connected infrastructure and 5G, announced a partnership with Arrive AI, which is joining the city’s Curiosity Lab ecosystem with the launch of its autonomous last mile solution, anchored by smart mailboxes known as Arrive Points
• Core Gaming, a provider of AI-driven creative technologies, partnered with Guangzhou WeiXuan, an AI technology studio, to co-develop a new wave of AI-powered productivity and creative tools

Strategic and AI Startup Collaborations

• Noma Security, a unified AI security and governance platform, announced a strategic partnership with Databricks to address the challenge of balancing rapid enterprise AI innovation and adoption with AI security and governance
• Second Front Systems, a public-benefit software company focused on facilitating the delivery of mission-critical software solutions, announced a partnership with Cohere, a security-first enterprise AI company. The collaboration fast-tracks the deployment of AI capabilities across the Department of Defense and allied government agencies
• PathAI, a provider of AI-powered pathology solutions, and Northwestern Medicine, an integrated academic health system, announced a strategic collaboration to transform pathology diagnostics through artificial intelligence
• Postman, an API collaboration platform, announced Agent Mode, an AI-native assistant that  understands developer intent and executes real tasks – designing, testing, documenting, and monitoring APIs – based on simple natural language input
• Latent AI, a provider of edge AI solutions tailored for national security and defense applications, and InferQ, an Indian defense tech innovator and solution provider, partnered to collaborate on delivering advanced AI technologies to the Indian Defense Forces
• Everise, a customer experience solutions provider, partnered with Krisp, deploying its real-time voice AI platform across Everise’s global agent workforce. Krisp’s AI technology, including accent neutralization and noise cancellation, has been rolled out globally on 10,000 Everise seats, and will be deployed across the board in the next few months
• FedLearn, an online adaptive learning solutions provider powered by AI, delivering content contextualized to federal government mission areas, particularly in the U.S. Department of Defense and Intelligence Community, partnered with the Special Competitive Studies Project, a non-partisan, non-profit project dedicated to strengthening America’s long-term competitiveness in AI
• BDO Norway, an audit and advisory firm, announced a strategic partnership with MindBridge, a provider of AI-powered financial decision intelligence, so that MindBridge’s AI technology will be deployed to enhance BDO Norway’s audit capabilities
• Loom Security announced a strategic partnership with Snowfire AI, an AI platform provider known for transforming complex data into actionable insights through AI-driven decision intelligence, to build a new security platform experience
• Viz.ai, provider of AI-powered disease detection and intelligent care coordination, announced the launch of a new multi-year collaboration with Novartis aimed at transforming cancer care through the development of proprietary AI-powered workflows within the Viz Oncology Suite
• Vectra AI, a cybersecurity AI company, announced an expanded technical integration with cloud security company Zscaler, to provide customers with visibility into SASE traffic, significantly enhancing detection, investigation, and response through Vectra AI’s network detection and response​ capabilities
• Impelsys, which helps organizations transform into digital-first, data-driven enterprises, partnered with AlgoShack, a company that offers algoQA, a unified platform for end-to-end test automation
• Oxipital AI, a provider of AI-powered machine vision systems, welcomed Schmalz, a provider of vacuum automation and ergonomic handling solutions, into its Preferred Partner Program. Oxipital AI’s vision-guided inspection and robotic picking technology will be integrated with Schmalz mGrip finger grippers and vacuum end-of-arm tooling

AI Startup Acquisitions

• Snowflake acquired Crunchy Data, a provider of trusted open source Postgres technology and product, to bring Snowflake Postgres, its AI-ready PostgreSQL database, to the AI Data Cloud
• Application delivery and security company F5 acquired Fletch, a company that uses AI to help companies spot threats and reduce alert fatigue
• Datasite, a global SaaS provider of AI-powered workflow collaboration and automation solutions for M&A, investment and strategic projects, acquired Grata, an AI-native, private market intelligence company
• H, a company that uses artificial intelligence to aggregate healthcare data, acquired Veda, a provider of data and automation solutions to health insurance plans
• Ehave, a data-focused technology company committed to transforming the way people live and work through artificial intelligence, acquired AIHeadHunter, an artificial intelligence-powered recruitment platform
• AMC acquired AI software optimization startup Brium to strengthen it open AI software ecosystem
• NWN Corporation, a provider of AI-powered technology solutions in North America, acquired InterVision Systems, a managed services provider, from MidOcean Partners, an alternative asset manager
• Braze, a customer engagement platform, acquired OfferFit, an AI decisioning company
• RadNet, a provider of diagnostic imaging services and digital health solutions, acquired See-Mode Technologies, a developer of AI for ultrasound imaging
• Solvd, an AI-first advisory and digital engineering firm, acquired Tooploox, a technology company known for its AI-driven development and applied research expertise
• IBM acquired Seek AI, a provider of an AI automation platform to generate and maintain code for answering ad-hoc data questions
• Salesforce acquired Informatica, a provider of AI-powered enterprise cloud data management
• Tenable, an exposure management company, acquired Apex Security, an AI security platform
• Quantum Health, the creator of healthcare navigation, acquired Embold Health, a physician-led healthcare technology company, to deepen its AI-powered personalization
• LeapXpert, a business communication company, acquired StartADAM, a cross-platform messaging startup, to expand LeapXpert’s product with advanced AI capabilities, new messaging channels, and enterprise-grade CRM integrations
• Leidos acquired Kudu Dynamics, a computer network company that offers cyber security and network security services, to accelerate Leidos’ scaling of AI-enabled cyber capabilities for defense, intelligence and homeland security customers
• Data-labeling startup Scale AI acquired the team behind Pesto AI, which helps companies recruit developers remotely

AI Outtakes

• A new study showed that AI can create internet memes rated as funny and shareable as those made by humans, but the best jokes still come from people. Researchers compared memes made by humans, AI, and human-AI teams, using classic templates like Doge and Futurama Fry. While AI-generated memes scored highest on average, the top-ranked memes came from humans, with human-AI collaborations excelling in creativity. The findings suggest AI can assist with content generation, but human insight is still crucial for humor that resonates

Disclaimer: This information is provided for general information purposes only and does not constitute any form of endorsement, recommendation, or advice. Links to third party websites are provided for reference and convenience purposes. This information has not been independently verified.