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Confusing Times for the New York Times 💫📰 Raises Galore and Acquisitions! 💵
Your AI Product - News Report - February 19th

For those that are new around here, this is an extension of my weekly newsletter where I highlight new and innovative AI products that are worth exploring.
Hey hey!
Happy Wednesday!
Here’s your news in newsletter!
Riding off the high of yesterday’s catchup recap, Today’s News issue covers the news from the past week, so it’ll be short and sweet.
In this Issue:
Your Weekly Industry News Recap
Investors; We need to talk
The Raise Recap

The Headliner: Confusing Times for the New York Times 💫📰
After much litigation embroiling copyrights, OpenAI and the New York Times, we find that the news organization has taken a bit of a different angle to its addressing its means of production.⚖️🔥 They’ve just greenlit AI 🤖for internal use. Its product and editorial teams the green light to use tools for summaries, SEO headlines, and even coding! ✍️ Staff can use AI for brainstorming and research but not for drafting full articles or handling sensitive info. 🚫 The Times is also testing AI-powered voice articles and translations, while approving tools like GitHub Copilot and Google’s Vertex AI. 🌍Read More

Your Weekly Industry News Recap
The Emergence of a Two-Tier AI Economy
🌐💼 A new two-tier AI economy is emerging, with significant implications for businesses and consumers alike. Read more: Yahoo FinanceInsurtech Funding Falls as AI Investments Surge
📉🤖 While insurtech funding dips in Q4 2024, AI investments are on the rise, reshaping the insurance landscape. Read more: Insurance Business MagazineResearchers Find Less Data Needed for Training LLMs
🧠📊 New research suggests that large language models (LLMs) don't require massive datasets for effective reasoning tasks. Read more: VentureBeatFabric Introduces Hybrid AI for Healthcare
🏥🤖 Fabric unveils Hybrid AI solutions to provide safe and accessible healthcare, earning industry leader recognition from Frost & Sullivan. Read more: Kron4Cloud4C Strengthens AI Capabilities with Microsoft Azure Specializations
☁️💪 Cloud4C secures dual AI specializations on Microsoft Azure, bolstering its AI service offerings. Read more: MorningstarAscendion Named Market Leader in Generative AI Services
🏆🤖 For the second consecutive year, Ascendion is recognized as a market leader in generative AI services. Read more: KTLAAI Innovation Driven by Applications, Not LLMs
💡🚀 Experts suggest that the path toward Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) will be driven by practical applications rather than large language models. Read more: [Inside AI News](https://insideainews.com/2025/02/13/toward-agi-ai-

Investors; We Need To Talk…
Over the past year of reporting on AI, We’ve watched astronomic valuations get slapped on startups building foundational infrastructure—chipsets, core models, and research labs. But here’s the thing: we’re in a sandbox era, where everyone’s experimenting, and the real winners won’t be the ones selling the newest iteration of the shovel. They’ll be the ones digging up value that people actually use. We’re in an exploratory phase that I like to call the sandbox era! What does this mean for investors? It means your chips might want to be balanced across a few positions. Which ones? Read the whole article on the state of funding for the AI space.

This isn’t traditional business news
Welcome to Morning Brew—the free newsletter designed to keep you in the know on the business news impacting your career, company, and life—in a way you didn’t know you needed.
Note: this isn’t traditional business news. Morning Brew’s approach cuts through the noise and bore of classic business media, opting for short writeups, witty jokes, and above all—presenting the facts.
Save time, actually enjoy business news, and join over 4 million professionals reading daily.

The Raise Recap 📈💰
Aramco Ventures Backs AI Startup
🛢️💰 Aramco's venture arm invests in a Telefónica-backed AI startup, signaling a strong push into the tech sector. Read more: BloombergFigure AI Eyes New Funding at $3.9 Billion Valuation
🤖💸 Robotics startup Figure AI is in talks for new funding, aiming for a whopping $3.9 billion valuation. Read more: ReutersAppier Acquires AdCreative.ai
🛍️🤝 Appier snaps up AdCreative.ai to lead the charge in generative AI-powered advertising and marketing innovation. Read more: PR NewswireAppliedAI Closes $55 Million Series A
🧠💡 AppliedAI secures $55 million in a Series A round led by G42, boosting AI innovation in the Middle East. Read more: WamdaAI-Powered Sports Media Company Raises $13 Million
🏀🎥 An AI-driven sports media startup raises $13 million, with backing from Alexis Ohanian and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Read more: NBC PhiladelphiaSardine AI Raises $70M to Combat Fraud
🐟🔒 Sardine AI secures $70 million to enhance productivity for fraud and compliance teams. Read more: Business WireConverzAI Inks $16M Series A
🧑💼🤖 AI-driven HR platform ConverzAI raises $16 million in Series A funding to revolutionize human resources. Read more: Venture Capital JournalPaxton Secures $22 Million for Legal AI
⚖️💼 Paxton raises $22 million in Series A funding to transform the legal industry with AI solutions. Read more: Pulse 2.0Tines Raises €120.7 Million for AI-Powered Workflow Platform
🔄🤖 Tines secures €120.7 million to enhance its AI-driven workflow automation platform. Read more: EU-StartupsEncharge AI Raises Over $100 Million
💡💰 Encharge AI secures over $100 million in funding to bring AI inference chips to market. Read more: Reuters
There’s A New AI Agent Competition 💰 🏆

Image Property of Next Top AI Competition
“ GDA Capital and Alpaca Network, in partnership with Founders Hub Network & Devolved AI, are proud to announce the inaugural Next Top AI Agent, the world’s largest AI agent start-up competition bringing together over 4 million developers and tech leaders virtually to build and present their most impactful AI agents over the course of 1 month. This event features a prize pool exceeding $500,000 in grants and prizes and reaches a global audience of top innovators and enthusiasts.” GET HYPED

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Stay well, and see you next week!
-✌🏽 Sam
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