Top AI news of the week #9: 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 

• Debenhams Group, the parent of online fashion retailers including Boohoo, Debenhams, PrettyLittleThing, and Karen Millen, expanded its partnership with AWS. The retailer already uses serverless AWS cloud services on the Debenhams platform to help it facilitate the faster onboarding of third-party sellers, provide a broader product selection and streamline the customer purchasing process. Building on this foundation, Debenhams will now deploy technologies like generative AI in an effort to increase operational efficiencies and improve personalization
• BBVA and Google Cloud announced the deployment of Google Workspace with Gemini across the global operations of the bank. This initiative will empower BBVA’s 100,000 employees worldwide with generative AI experiences in tools like Gmail, Google Docs, Google Sheets, and more
• RTX, an aerospace and defense company, and Shield AI partnered to integrate Shield AI capabilities into select RTX defense products, like loitering munitions and sensors. This collaboration will deliver enhanced, autonomous capabilities to US and allied defense forces
• The Premier League and Microsoft partnered, making Microsoft the official cloud and AI partner for the Premier League’s digital platforms. At the heart of the partnership are the Premier League’s new fan-facing digital platforms, which leverage Microsoft’s cloud and AI technologies
• Opus Intelligence, an AI-powered marketing operating system, and Sundial Media & Technology Group, the parent company of ESSENCE, Refinery29, and AFROPUNK, partnered to redefine how brands connect with audiences 
• Palladyne AI, a developer of artificial intelligence software for robotic platforms in the defense and commercial sectors, and Red Cat Holdings, a drone technology company integrating robotic hardware and software for military, government, and commercial operations, partnered to enhance the autonomous capabilities of all Red Cat’s Teal drones using Palladyne AI’s Pilot software
• HII, a military shipbuilder, and C3 AI, an enterprise AI application software company, partnered to expand digital technologies and apply artificial intelligence to accelerate shipbuilding throughput at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding and Ingalls Shipbuilding divisions
• Cognizant and Aker Solutions, which delivers integrated solutions, products and services to the global energy industry, extended their partnership, using the Cognizant Neuro platform, designed to boost generative AI adoption to transform Aker Solutions’ IT service delivery
• Domo, an AI and Data Products platform, expanded its partnership with AI Data Cloud company Snowflake to deliver a suite of applications on Snowflake Marketplace
• JPMorgan Chase and Consulting IQ, a digital business platform that combines AI with a team of executive consultants, partnered to empower SMBs with AI-driven intelligence and strategic resources to achieve economic success

Strategic and AI Startup Collaborations

• AI Factories Corp partnered with iLamp to establish a revenue channel for the mass deployment of intelligent, solar-powered street lighting infrastructure across the United States, creating the world’s first distributed AI computing network embedded within city and urban lighting systems
• Solidus AI Tech, provider of access to AI services to governmental authorities, megacorps, SMEs, and professionals, and Secret Network, a blockchain with privacy-preserving smart contracts, partnered to bring confidential computing capabilities to Solidus AI Tech’s decentralized AI platform. The partnership focuses on enabling developers to build and deploy privacy-preserving AI models and tools using Secret Network’s secure infrastructure
• DEEPX and DeGirum, an AI solutions company developing HW and SW infrastructure to accelerate adoption of AI applications at the edge, partnered to enable rapid development and deployment of edge AI applications
• Affidea, a pan-European provider of community-based polyclinics, specialist services and advanced diagnostics, selected b-rayZ, a provider of AI-powered breast imaging solutions, as its preferred AI partner for breast imaging
• Last Mile Solutions, a parcel carrier designed for e-commerce, and Orchestro.AI, a logistics intelligence platform, partnered to build smarter, more adaptive shipping infrastructure for the modern commerce economy
• Cycurion, a provider of cybersecurity services to public and private sectors, partnered with AgileBlue, an AI-powered Security Operations platform provider, to serve as an authorized reseller of AgileBlue’s full suite of cybersecurity solutions
• TwelveLabs, a video search and understanding company, partnered with LG CNS, an IT services and AI transformation company, to jointly advance video analysis technologies and explore new business opportunities across various industries
• Varonis, provided of actionable data governance solutions for financial services, healthcare, energy, manufacturing and tech companies, partnered with Microsoft to help secure the next generation of workplace AI

AI Startup Acquisitions

• Grammarly, an AI assistant for communication and productivity, acquired Superhuman, an AI-native email app that helps users respond one to two days faster and save four hours every week on their email communications
• symplr, a provider of enterprise healthcare operations, acquired the AI-driven scheduling engine Smart Square from AMN Healthcare
• Capgemini, a global business and technology transformation partner, acquired WNS, a digital-led business transformation and services company, to create a global leader in Agentic AI-powered Intelligent Operations
• VisiQuate, a provider of AI-powered revenue cycle management, acquired Etyon, an AI-enabled solution for optimizing revenue cycle management in healthcare.
• The Real Brokerage, a technology platform reshaping real estate for agents, home buyers and sellers, acquired the AI-powered consumer home search portal and related technology assets of Flyhomes
• CoreWeave, an AI Hyperscaler, acquired Core Scientific, a data center infrastructure provider
• Progress Software, a provider of AI-powered digital experience and infrastructure software, acquired Nuclia, a provider of agentic Retrieval-Augmented Generation AI solutions
• Clio, a provider of legal technology, acquired vLex, a provider of legal intelligence that combines AI with a global legal research platform
• DataVault AI, a provider of AI-driven blockchain and data monetization, acquired SyncIN technology, which uses inaudible tone mobile quick response codes embedded in broadcast to connect consumers directly to content and enable stable coin transactions via Web 3.0 Crypto Anchors, from Turner Global Media
• Concentric AI, an intelligent data security company, acquired Swift Security, provider of solutions to protect corporate data and maintain compliance in the AI landscape, and Acante, an automated copilot for Data Access Governance, to unify data security posture management, data loss prevention, and generative AI governance
• Syntheia, a provider of conversational AI solutions for inbound telephone call management, acquired employees, customers and intellectual property from Call Center Guys
• Arista Networks, a provider of cloud and artificial intelligence, acquired the VeloCloud SD-WAN portfolio from Broadcom

AI Outtakes

• Anthropic partnered with Andon Labs, an AI safety evaluation company, to have Claude Sonnet 3.7 operate a small, automated store in the Anthropic office in San Francisco. Claude had to complete tasks associated with running a profitable shop, like maintaining the inventory, setting prices, and avoiding bankruptcy. The experiment didn’t go so well and Anthropic said that if it “were deciding today to expand into the in-office vending market, we would not hire Claudius,” as it hallucinated important details, including instructed customers to remit payment to an account that doesn’t exist; sold at a loss, offering prices without doing any research; and was talked into giving discounts via Slack messages. As a result, Antropic believes the experiment suggests the need for AI middle-managers. The company also said that it thinks that it sees clear ways to improve the AI, “some related to how we set up the model for this task and some from rapid improvement of general model intelligence.”

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.