Author: Art Ryan

EnterpriseDB announced it is integrating NVIDIA accelerated computing and AI software with EDB’s sovereign data and AI platform, EDB Postgres AI (EDB PG AI). EDB PG AI, built with NVIDIA accelerating computing and NVIDIA AI Enterprise, enables organizations to build and generate value from AI and data platforms using PostgreSQL. This integration enhances EDB PG AI as a secure, high-performance platform for deploying generative and agentic AI with enterprise-grade governance, observability, and cost efficiency. The combination of NVIDIA AI software, including NVIDIA NIM microservices and NVIDIA NeMo Retriever with EDB Postgres AI delivers measurable outcomes for customers: This software-defined performance also…

Cohere on Thursday announced that it had raised an oversubscribed $500 million round, bringing its valuation to $6.8 billion. This is up from the $5.5 billion valuation it landed a little over a year ago when it raised its previous round, also $500 million. Toronto-headquartered Cohere was one of the first breakout LLM model makers, founded in 2019 by co-founder Aidan Gomez, one of the authors of the “Attention Is All You Need” paper that became the foundation of modern AI. But it has been a sleeper entrant in the AI model wars of late, dominated by OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta. Its market proposition,…

One of Europe’s most prominent AI startups has released two AI models that are so tiny, they have named them after a chicken’s brain and a fly’s brain. Multiverse Computing claims these are the world’s smallest models that are still high-performing and can handle chat, speech, and even reasoning in one case. These new tiny models are intended to be embedded into Internet of Things devices, as well as run locally on smartphones, tablets, and PCs. “We can compress the model so much that they can fit on devices,” founder Román Orús told TechCrunch. “You can run them on premises, directly…

DeepSeek’s plan to train its new AI model, R2, on Huawei’s Ascend chips has failed and forced a retreat to Nvidia while delaying launch. For months, the narrative pushed by Beijing has been one of unstoppable technological progress and a march towards self-sufficiency. However, reality has a habit of biting back. The recent troubles of Chinese AI darling DeepSeek is a textbook example of where ambition meets the hard wall of technical limitations. After the successful launch of its R1 model in January, DeepSeek found itself under pressure from China to champion the national cause. According to three people speaking to the Financial Times, the…

A new artificial intelligence–powered cancer screening initiative in Goa has successfully detected five cases of cancer in their early stages. The program, which uses AI tools to analyze medical data during health campaigns, showcases the promising role of technology in enhancing early diagnosis and improving treatment outcomes. ([turn0news22]) What’s Happening Why It Matters This aligns with earlier efforts in the state, such as AI-powered lung cancer screening using Qure.ai’s technology across district hospitals and PHCs. In one initiative, over 33,800 chest X-rays were screened, flagging 3,144 nodules—including 143 classified as high-risk—and leading to confirmed diagnoses via follow-up protocols. ([turn0search14]) Goa’s…

Investors’ concerns that artificial intelligence tools could enable faster and cheaper software development have reportedly driven a selloff that has impacted the world’s largest software businesses. Monday.com saw a 30% drop Tuesday (Aug. 13), SAP saw a 7.1% drop, and Salesforce and Workday saw a slide Monday (Aug. 12), Bloomberg reported Tuesday. Smaller companies like Sage Group and Dassault Systemes also saw declines. In addition, Gartner, which offers research insights and IT consultancy services, reduced its full-year outlook last week in a move that analysts attributed to competition from AI research tools, according to the report. Software is among the weakest performers in the tech sector so far this year, the report said. RBC Capital analysts wrote in a Tuesday note…

In the quickly developing artificial intelligence arms race, networking giant Cisco is betting on continued demand as customers look for ways to capitalize on AI’s potential for productivity gains and other advantages. The company’s willingness to go all-in on AI seems to be paying off; ahead of its fourth-quarter earnings call on Wednesday, analysts expected to see increased earnings and sales. Those gains would build on Q3 results that saw revenue of $14.1 billion, an 11% year-over-year increase. Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins credited AI-fueled demand. The company announced a slew of AI-laced offerings during its Cisco Live event in June, with new…

Geoffrey Hinton, widely regarded as the “godfather of AI,” is sounding a grave warning: The very technology he helped pioneer could eventually outpace human intelligence and potentially lead to humanity’s downfall. This week, the Nobel-prize winning renowned computer scientist and former Google executive raised new concerns about whether the tech industry is doing enough to ensure humans remain in control of increasingly powerful AI systems. AI systems will become smarter than humans Speaking at the Ai4 industry conference in Las Vegas, Hinton said, “[AI systems are] going to be much smarter than us,’’ CNN reported. AI systems will have different ways…

Japanese eCommerce giant Rakuten is embedding its next-generation agentic artificial intelligence (AI) platform across its ecosystem, aiming to transform its own operations while equipping merchants with advanced new capabilities. “When I started Rakuten, I believed the internet had the power to change the world, and I committed to building something that could make a real difference,” Chairman and CEO Mickey Mikitani said at the recently held Rakuten AI Optimism 2025 conference. Today, that AI is bringing transformational shifts. “Society is undergoing major changes, and we want to leverage AI not just to adapt, but to grow together.” The centerpiece is Rakuten AI, an agentic AI…

Elon Musk is threatening to sue Apple over the way it ranks AI firms in its App Store. “Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store, which is an unequivocal antitrust violation,” the billionaire wrote on his X social media platform Monday (Aug. 11) evening. Musk added that xAI, his artificial intelligence (AI) company, “will take immediate legal action.” As of early Tuesday (Aug. 12) morning, OpenAI’s ChatGPT was the number one free app in the App store, with Grok, xAI’s chatbot, sitting in the number six position. A report on the matter by Reuters notes…

I’m riding in the back of a Waymo that’s autonomously navigating the busy streets of San Francisco with relative ease thanks to 29 external cameras, six radar, and five lidar sensors all feeding into an AI model. For just 15 bucks, I get to experience what feels like a miracle of modern technology, and yet, there’s a nagging thought I can’t shake. The music sucks in here. Waymo’s music streaming feature has felt like an aged barnacle attached to a futuristic shell. Until this week, passengers were limited to a few music stations that played lo-fi beats, smooth jazz, k-pop…

Datasite has acquired Blueflame AI to provide additional artificial intelligence (AI)-powered capabilities for dealmakers involved in projects like mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The acquisition adds Blueflame AI’s agentic AI solutions for investment and financial services to Datasite’s AI-powered workflow collaboration and automation solutions for M&A, investment and strategic projects, the companies said in a Monday (Aug. 11) press release. These will be complemented by the AI-native, private market intelligence of Grata, which Datasite acquired in June, Datasite CEO and President Rusty Wiley said in the release. “Blueflame’s agentic AI solutions will expand the collective capacity of our user base, automating complex workflows and enabling full scope analysis,” Wiley said.…

Trading and investing platform eToro is adding tokenization and artificial intelligence tools for retail investors as it continues expanding its product lineup and geographic footprint. The company said this in a Tuesday (Aug. 12) earnings release reporting second-quarter 2025 results, its first quarterly financial results as a public company. EToro made its public debut on the Nasdaq stock exchange in May, raising more than $300 million and surging 29% on its initial day of trading, PYMNTS reported at the time. During the quarter ended June 30, the company continued product development across its “four strategic pillars” of trading, investment, wealth management and neobanking, eToro CEO and co-founder Yoni Assia said Tuesday during the company’s earnings call.…

OpenAI’s latest rollout of GPT-5 as the default artificial intelligence (AI) model for ChatGPT brings with it several new capabilities that can power up productivity for business and personal users. Here’s a quick cheat sheet for the busy business user: All-in-One Chatting and Reasoning Model GPT-5 transforms ChatGPT into an AI model that can automatically switch between doing quick search and research tasks or dive into reasoning mode, which typically takes longer to generate a response. “GPT-5 will automatically decide to use reasoning or not. Switching should be smoother in the next update,” said Elaine Ya Le, a researcher at OpenAI, during a recent Q&A by OpenAI’s team with…

Demand for AI “companion” applications outside of bigger names, like ChatGPT and Grok, is growing. Of the 337 active and revenue-generating AI companion apps available worldwide, 128 were released in 2025 so far, according to new data provided to TechCrunch by app intelligence firm Appfigures. This subsection of the AI market on mobile has now generated $82 million during the first half of the year and is on track to pull in over $120 million by year-end, the firm’s analysis indicates. Unlike general-purpose chatbots, AI companion apps anthropomorphize AI interactions by allowing users to converse with custom characters, including friends, lovers,…

Chinese authorities have summoned domestic companies including major internet firms Tencent (9888.HK), opens new tab and ByteDance over their purchases of Nvidia’s (NVDA.O), opens new tab H20 chips, asking them to explain their reasons and expressed concerns over information risks, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) and other agencies also held meetings with Baidu (0700.HK), opens new tab and smaller Chinese tech firms in recent weeks, said one of the two people and a third source. The Chinese officials asked companies why they needed to buy Nvidia chips when they could purchase from domestic suppliers, the sources. Authorities…

NEXA CEO Kortas says implementation marks ‘the first mortgage brokerage to implement comprehensive agentic AI at this scale’ NEXA Mortgage, the nation’s largest mortgage brokerage, announced a strategic partnership to implement Tidalwave’s agentic AI technology platform. The implementation will be rolled out across NEXA’s network of more than 3,200 loan officers operating in 48 states and Puerto Rico. The collaboration allows Mesa, Ariz.-headquartered NEXA to integrate artificial intelligence solutions throughout its mortgage origination process. The implementation marks the first time a mortgage brokerage has implemented agentic AI technology at enterprise scale, according to the companies. The Tidalwave SOLO platform’s mortgage automation…

Dive Brief: Dive Brief: Banks expect to reap substantial rewards from sustained investments in generative AI capabilities. The technology’s ability to harness vast stores of untapped enterprise data, digest raw documentation and deliver insights that expedite analytics and customer service processes are already transforming daily operations, as developers test the mettle of natural language assistants to ease cumbersome coding tasks. While most of the focus thus far has been directed toward internal use cases, a shift toward the customer is underway. “The vast majority … of Gen AI applications define the end user as a bank employee,” the firm said. Only 15 of 97…

In early 2023, David Petrou, a distinguished engineer and founding member of both Google Goggles and Google Glass, made a surprising move. After more than 17 years at the company, he departed to launch his own startup. “I was seeing how fast technology was changing, and I felt there are certain ideas that are best explored in the context of a startup,” Petrou told TechCrunch. His ultimate idea was to build Continua, a consumer-facing company that uses AI agents to enhance collaboration and interaction in group chats on SMS, iMessage, and Discord. “The simple way to think about it is that we’re bringing…

Most organizations say they aren’t fully prepared to use generative AI in a safe and responsible way, according to a recent McKinsey report. One concern is explainability — understanding how and why AI makes certain decisions. While 40% of respondents view it as a significant risk, only 17% are actively addressing it, per the report. Seoul-based Datumo began as an AI data labeling company and now wants to help businesses build safer AI with tools and data that enable testing, monitoring, and improving their models — without requiring technical expertise. On Monday the startup raised $15.5 million, which brings its total raised to…