BIGGEST AI RAISES THIS WEEK
- SpaceX $40B · Debt Financing
- Kling AI $3B
- Fractile £577M
- FuriosaAI $620M
- Bedrock Robotics $600M · Series C
- Upwind $400M · Series C
TOP INVESTORS · 30 DAYS
- Y Combinator 4 deals · $154.9M in rounds
- EQT Ventures 2 deals · $137M in rounds
- Abstract Ventures 2 deals · $114M in rounds
- Forerunner 2 deals · $113M in rounds
BITCOIN, ETHEREUM, STABLECOINS AND THE RULES
BTC $77,832 ▲0.8%ETH $2,271 ▲1.4%SOL $95.76 ▼0.1%XRP $1.26 ▲0.7%24 hr · CoinGecko
Solana’s reward records leave stakers with a gap in validator fee dataBitcoin’s recovery faces rising derivatives exposure and $643 million in ETF outflowsFBI confirms North Korea's role in $6 billion Binance hack, asks DeFi community to block BTC, ETH, SOL addressesJupiter Lend’s withdrawal liquidity rebounds from near zero to 29 million USDCBitcoin's white paper turns 18, and small businesses are still paying for the bailouts it answeredMore crypto news →A stolen iPhone, $14,000 in losses and London's crypto theft problemHackers hijack a dozen DeFi websites, all registered with Name.com, and steal about $138,000Here’s what happened in crypto todayBitcoin turns 18: Has the original rebel grown up?Blockchain investigator Chainalysis hit by cybersecurity incidentDOTS · MUSE · GROK BOT · INSTINCT · GEMINI SPARK · OPENCLAW
MUSE Meta’s Muse Could Upend All Kinds of Businesses. It Hasn’t YetGROK BOT The Grok bot that hunts sponsorships is automating the middleman - not the creatorGROK BOT Grok Bot Worked for Me for Four Days. Here’s What It Got Right and WrongMUSE Amazon Just Said AI Agents Don’t Hurt Its Ad Business. So Why Did It Block Muse?INSTINCT Zocdoc partners with Instinct for AI appointment bookingMore AI agent news →DOTS I gave ChatGPT Dots access to my email, calendar, and tasks, and it started helping without being askedGROK BOT Grok Bot sees 6X growth in daily active users in two monthsDOTS OpenAI now allows texting your ChatGPT dots, but messages aren't end-to-end encryptedDOTS OpenAI lets US Pro users text their Dots through iMessage and RCSWhen AI Agents Read Content Online, Who Pays?AG TECH, FOOD AND THE MONEY BEHIND THEM
AI Inside food and beverage’s AI-powered futureAI Ecorobotix adds potato model and targets yellow nutsedge with AI spot sprayingFUNDING German Cell-Based Milk Startup Senara Expands to Netherlands with Govt FundingAI 3 ways Google DeepMind is using AI to reshape the food systemFUNDING IntegriCulture Bags $635,000 as Part of Series A Extension to Scale Cellular Agriculture in JapanMore farm & food news →AI Savor Partners with Helios AI to Help Decarbonise the Fat IndustryFUNDING AgriFood Signals: DoorDash to buy Instacart, Terradot lands $34m, Biosphere wins Pentagon contractAI AI-powered crop insurance could lower premiums on low-risk fieldsROBOTS From Demo to Deal: FIRA USA Connects Pacific Northwest Growers With Ag Robotics and TechROBOTS Robots in the Orchard: Why Fruit Thinning Is the Next Big Test for Agricultural AutomationTHE WEEK'S AI WRITING, ONE POST PER WRITER
NOTABLE ESSAYS
- ReflectionsSam Altman · Jan 2025IN TODAY'S NEWS: OPENAI
- Software 2.0Andrej Karpathy · Nov 2017IN TODAY'S NEWS: AI AND CODING
- The Age of AI Has BegunBill Gates · Mar 2023IN TODAY'S NEWS: AI IN SCHOOLS
MEDICINE, WELLNESS, HOSPITALS AND THE FDA
An AI Agent Injected Drugs Into a Live Mouse’s BrainSTAT+: FDA, CMS scramble to avoid regulatory logjam as more states look to test AI in clinical settingsPopular AI models get medication doses wrong, some dangerously: DoximitySTAT+: Why every health care AI company must face EpicZocdoc invites AI agents to book appointments on behalf of patientsMore AI in health →The sleep framework: A new way for LLMs to retain knowledge in continual learningHow AI Is Changing the Pace of Discovery for Millions Living With DementiaA Market, Not a Mandate, Is the Fastest Way to Bring AI Into HospitalsOpinion: Could long-term AI use lead to isolation? We need to find out — but researchers need better access to dataAI LABS
Image: AWS Machine Learning
Managing Amazon Bedrock costs end to end: A playbook for FinOps and platform teams Preview web apps live as your coding agent builds them with Amazon Bedrock AgentCore runtime nemotron-halloween How Worldwide Express automated freight exceptions with Amazon Bedrock Things That Go Beep in the Night: Agentic AI Joins the Search for Extraterrestrial SignalsCommunity safety report and new protections for teens Fair use benefits everyone An updated Model Spec for more capable and beneficial AI More AI labs news →Into the Omniverse: How Developers Turn Ideas Into Simulations With Frontier AI Agents Granite Switch 4.1.1 — Update models like you update software
Le Chonk: Built for Coders, Trusted by Defenders. How we detect frontier model misalignment How Ropes & Gray is developing AI for transactional diligence Credit Saison achieves 954% ROI in a ChatGPT Enterprise pilot Announcing Project ProtoStar: Making Publicly Funded Science AI-Ready
Gemini 4 Carbon: Our next frontier model Thin, Light and Built for Everything: NVIDIA RTX Spark Windows Laptops Gain New Models, Agent Tools and Games The sleep framework: A new way for LLMs to retain knowledge in continual learning Genie 4: A new generation of world simulation How AI Is Changing the Pace of Discovery for Millions Living With Dementia
ANTHROPIC · OPENAI · GOOGLE · GROK · CHINA · OPEN MODELS
CHINA SenseTime Open-Sources SenseNova-Loop-9B-Preview, a Looped Model That Runs Its Middle Layers TwiceCHINA DeepSeek Harness Team Open-Sources a Super-agent Prototype That Finds and Fixes Bugs on Its OwnOPENAI How We Took Over ChatGPT AccountsANTHROPIC Anthropic takes steps to block Claude from reverse-engineering video gamesANTHROPIC Anthropic's watermark rollout leaves a loophole on two older Claude modelsMore LLM news →OPENAI GPT-5.6 Sol can beat Factorio on peaceful modeOPENAI OpenAI plans to train models on Daybreak Blue cybersecurity session data that was previously off-limitsCHINA How China's AI Labs Are Chasing Recursive Self-Improvement Without Touching Model WeightsANTHROPIC Anthropic expected to receive high ‘junk’ rating from credit agencies following IPO, FT report saysGOOGLE Google's AI Mode doesn't drive traffic "for anybody," Reddit CEO Huffman warns the entire webOPEN Mistral Says Its AI Model ‘Le Chonk’ Has Leapfrogged China in the Open-Weight RaceGOOGLE Gemini 4 Carbon is the new #1 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index v5OPEN Welcome Le Chonk: Mistral Large 4 on Hugging FaceGOOGLE Google AI gets cagey when asked who won the 2020 electionsNEW IN HAVE I BEEN PWNED
AfD: 345,439 accountsAssurance Retraite: 70,372 accountsGîtes de France: 117,574 accountsCrunchbase: 559,908 accountsBreach data: Have I Been Pwned (CC BY 4.0)
AI COMPANIES AND PRODUCTS THAT SHUT DOWN OR WENT BANKRUPT
Ollie, a privacy-focused AI assistant, is shutting downAs Companies Deploy AI Agents, Who Has The Power To Pull The Plug?LAWS, RULES AND GUIDANCE FROM GOVERNMENTS
Faster planning decisions as new rules and AI tackle delaysThousands of “ghost students” use AI to steal millions in student loans, DOJ saysTrump’s AI use to inform military operations questioned by House duoSMALL TEAMS TAKING ON THE GIANTS
THE BIG APPS Arista Networks vs. Figma: Which Technology Stock Is a Better Buy in 2026?MICROSOFT Claude Code VS Code extension with backdoor released on Cursor marketplaceADOBE AI-powered clones challenge Adobe and Microsoft, stoking 'SaaSpocalypse' fearsADOBE AI built a Photoshop clone in a day. I asked experts what happens nextMICROSOFT Meta AI director Rohit Patel leaves company after eight years; plans startup to take on Microsoft Office and Google Workspace; says adding AI to spreadsheets ‘kills my…’More David and Goliath stories →GOOGLE 'Scrcpy' is an open-source alternative to Phone Link for Android mirroring that barely uses any RAMOPENAI Hob - Open-source, on device alternative to Claude Cowork and ChatGPTADOBE GIMP finally has an open-source rival that competes on its level — and it actually feels like PhotoshopAI NEWS
OpenAI reportedly lowers funding target for new round The Work Moves Outward I built an AI Tamagotchi before Meta could Beekeeping tips and wrestling advice can train AI models to sabotage oversight Spooky New Infostealer Malware Uses AI to ‘Autodox’ VictimsGoogle Deepmind creates a global map of forests with satellite data and AI Nvidia weighs playing the cosigner for Nscale’s AI data center in West Virginia Apple Intelligence is finally coming to China with iOS 27.3 More AI news →Intel’s stock crashes, knocking $12B from government’s stake Supersonic airliner in doubt as company shifts to powering AI data centers
How a Contractor’s Claude Agent Got Into the Pentagon Anthropic VS code extension on Cursor backdoored for nearly 12 hours Sam Altman says it’s better for RAM to be in a data center than on your desk The biggest names in AI are backing a new way to opt out of scraping Basically no one is using AI agents for their DoorDash orders
Google’s satellite AI server transmits its first response to Earth Fujifilm to boost tape production 5x as AI fuels archiving demand Starbucks wants to use AI to show you a ‘personalized digital menu’ at the drive-thru Trump declares robot imports a national security threat A Defense Contractor Gave Their Personal AI Agent Access to a Secure Pentagon System
We urgently need to monitor AI agents’ actions in real time Creating AI value with enterprise context Pairing industrial AI autonomy and human control Industrial Intelligence: The next growth opportunity for manufacturing
GET THE APP
Put the DeFoor Report on your home screen. One tap, opens like an app. Free, no app store.
On iPhone or iPad: tap the Share button (the square with an arrow), then Add to Home Screen.
SUBSCRIBE: the weekly email, or add the Report to your AI →
REPORT THE NEWS: send us a tip →
WHO'S HIRING, WHO'S CUTTING, AND THE WORK ITSELF
Microsoft offers a quarter of its workforce voluntary severance while shielding AI-critical teamsWhite Paper Outlining Strategies to Address Rural AI Skills Gaps and Support Workforce Retention Published by the University of Phoenix College of Doctoral StudiesLose your job to AI? Here’s what to do if a company wants you backAI-driven layoffs are creating a new class of boomerang employees—companies are realizing they pulled the plug too quicklyGoldman says AI layoffs are starting to leave a ‘long-lasting’ scar, just like the last 40 years of historyThe AI That Earns Its Place on a Job Site | OpinionNatWest slashes 1,000 jobs as it rolls out AICompanies are not saving money with AI, Gartner findsMore AI and jobs news →The way AI is reshaping work and the workforceConnecticut leaders tout efforts to train workforce in AIWhat to consider if a company that made AI-related job cuts wants you backRAISE US, new group to help steer AI-era workforce, wins new corporate fundingChegg Skills and PowerTrain Partner to Deliver AI and Workforce Training Programs Across Government and DefenseBefore AI Reshapes Your Workforce, Understand How Work Truly Gets DoneAI at work: Employees, employers may not be on the same pageAI Made Execution Easier. It Also Changed the Founder’s Most Important Job.NOW HIRING
1,282 open AI roles · 388 new this week · most wanted: Solutions & customer · top pay $850K
CAPITAL ONE Senior Manager, Data Science - Model Risk 4 LocationsPERPLEXITY Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer, Acceleration) San FranciscoCITI AI Engineer – Global Rates, APAC Local Markets Sales & Trading Singapore SingaporeDATABRICKS Sr. Solutions Architect (Energy) Sydney, AustraliaNVIDIA Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Cosmos Engineering US, CA, Santa ClaraAll active AI listings →Hiring for AI? List your jobs →SCHOOLS, TEACHERS, STUDENTS AND CAMPUSES
What Do Cyber Insurance Carriers Require of K–12 Districts?Opinion: It’s Time to Teach Students to Be Drivers of AI, Not PassengersFive Things You Should Know About New AI Tutor StudyHow K–12 Districts Can Achieve Advanced Cybersecurity MaturityWhat Playgrounds Can Teach Us About AI in SchoolsMore AI education news →Does an AI Pause Protect Students, or Leave Some Behind?Opinion: States Don’t Have to Solve the AI Education Equation Alone. Tennessee Shows HowWatch & Learn: New York Charter School Adopts Smart Building TechnologyThe data retention challenge for online exam platformsTOP TECH, AI & BUSINESS PODCASTS THIS WEEK
- 1Prof G Pod: Republicans are Jumping Ship Days Before the Midterms1.2M views this week · 6 episodes ▲2
- 2Lex Fridman Podcast: AI Crisis in Math: Navier-Stokes, Riemann Hypothesis & Complexity Theory1M views this week · 1 episode NEW
- 3All-In: Anthropic S-1 Shocker, Greatest Business Ever? Google’s $500B Wipeout, Midterm Predictions560K views this week · 2 episodes ▼2
- 4Moonshots: AI’s Stock Market Fallout, Google’s Profit Problem, and Altman’s “Hold My Beer” Moment425K views this week · 2 episodes ▼2
- 5My First Million: Ex-Amazon VP reveals what it's really like working with Jeff Bezos157K views this week · 2 episodes NEW
Better Start Hitting the Gym Finally Because AI Robots Already AreCanadian Mayor Alarmed at Trump’s Naval Drones Surveilling the Great LakesKongsberg lands contract boost to expand underwater drone capabilitiesUnusual robotic animals can prove their utilityAfter Uber Destroyed Taxi Cabs, Drivers Now Face the Existential Threat of Self-Driving CarsMore robot news →‘First’ insurance policy for domestic humanoid robots in the UKFoundry Robotics raises $100 million to build ‘America’s first autonomous factory for assembly’Bleu Robotics raises €5 million to scale humanoid robot deployment in factoriesPodcast: Rivian earnings, Waymo partners with Toyota, Ford bets on V2H for Fathom, and moreHumanoid developer Agility now expects to raise $465M in SPAC dealHOLLYWOOD, MUSIC, TV AND GAMES
From Universal Music’s $3.90bn quarter to Spotify’s AI remix gamble… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-UpStudio Atelico launches Atelico AI Engine into Early AccessSuno fights to make Apple testify on whether Apple Music could survive without UMG and Sony, claiming the majors use their catalogs ‘as a cudgel’ to win anti-AI concessionsSuno’s new MCP tool lets users make songs inside ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini – as its developer API gets a sign-in portal but remains in betaONLINE AND BRICK-AND-MORTAR
OpenAI raises just $11 billion of its $30 billion target as big investors lose their AI appetiteConsumers feeling duped by products marketed with AIMost consumers aren’t using AI for product discovery, yetGoogle, Glance partner to deliver AI-powered commerce to TVsThe rise of the intelligent store: How edge AI is transforming physical retailBUILDERS & RESEARCH
datasette-llm 0.1a9 dbreunig/nesformer Backdoors in official Claude Code extensions API credits benefit for eligible ChatGPT subscriptions Claude Duet is the first personal-assistant-type harness that feels usefulBuilding a multiplayer game world with autonomous Fable-class models LLM Voice Quoting Ben Hylak More builders & research →Claude Code regularly sends each background agent’s transcript to its model