AI News

‹Wed, October 7

0119

Nous Research raises $90M at reported $1.2B–$1.5B valuation for enterprise Hermes

Nous Research has raised $90M to build Hermes for Businesses, a commercial version of its open-source Hermes agent, with investors including Nvidia, Microsoft's M12, Samsung, Robot Ventures, Union Square Ventures, Y Combinator and Menlo Ventures, CEO Dillon Rolnick wrote. Nous did not disclose a valuation: WSJ, which first reported the news, was cited by Techmeme at $1.2B while The Next Web said $1.5B. Hermes was released under the MIT licence in February and has been downloaded more than 22 million times since, according to WSJ, while Nous says it has been cloned over 24 million times and estimates internally that it drives about 2.5% of global token usage.

TTechmeme·3h

0218

CoreWeave to build first India data centers with 240MW from AdaniConneX

CoreWeave said it will open its first India data centers, taking 240 megawatts at an AdaniConneX campus in Navi Mumbai and becoming the sole tenant across three 80-megawatt buildings, with an option for another 240 megawatts. The first phase is expected online in mid-2028, running Nvidia's Vera Rubin platform for training, inference, reasoning and AI agents, with direct liquid cooling for the GPU halls and a chilled-water system that does not rely on evaporation. Bloomberg reported the investment will total multiple billions of dollars over the project's life, though CoreWeave did not give a figure; this is its second Asia market after Indonesia, and the company will also open an India office and hire locally.

BBloomberg Technology·6h

0319

Healthleap raises $38M for AI that flags at-risk hospital patients

Healthleap, a startup whose platform reads patient records to surface hospital patients who may have undiagnosed conditions, has raised $38 million: an $8 million seed co-led by Sequoia Capital and First Round Capital, plus a $30 million Series A led by Hummingbird Ventures. The company did not disclose its valuation. Its software plugs into a hospital's electronic health record and uses language models to extract clinical concepts from clinicians' notes — such as weight loss or difficulty swallowing — combining them with labs and vitals to write a nightly risk score for every adult inpatient into the care team's existing workflow. Healthleap says it is deployed in more than 50 hospitals, including Penn Medicine, Cedars-Sinai, Intermountain, Houston Methodist and Emory Healthcare, and stresses that it does not diagnose patients, only flags them for review.

TTechCrunch AI·2h

0419

More US local outlets sue Microsoft and OpenAI over AI training

DoNews and cnBeta report that a further group of US local news organizations has sued Microsoft and OpenAI, alleging tens of thousands of their news articles were used to train AI models without authorization. Both outlets frame it as the latest in a wave of infringement suits over news content used for model training, but neither names the plaintiffs, the court or any damages sought.

DDoNews·3h

0518

Stuut raises $52.5M Series B for AI order-to-cash

Stuut, an AI platform that automates enterprise order-to-cash, raised a $52.5 million Series B led by Insight Partners with participation from Andreessen Horowitz and Microsoft's M12, bringing total funding to $93 million. The company says it has 150+ customers, including Honeywell, ZoomInfo and PerkinElmer, and that more than $3 billion has moved through the platform. Stuut claims its AI agents handle collections, cash application, payments, disputes and deductions, and that customers free up as much as 40% more cash flow with a 47% reduction in DSO.

TThe Next Web·5h

0616

Kling AI Reportedly Prepares Hong Kong IPO, Testing Kuaishou’s Valuation

Kling AI has reportedly selected CICC, Goldman Sachs and UBS to prepare a Hong Kong IPO that could raise at least $1 billion, with a target as early as 2027; the timing and size may change. The analysis argues that a separate listing could give AI-video investors a direct investment option while forcing Kuaishou Technology to justify the value of its advertising, e-commerce and livestreaming businesses, as well as its capital allocation.

336氪人工智能·10h

0718

Musk denies TSMC will build or run Terafab, says Tesla and SpaceX will own it

Responding on X to a post saying Terafab would most likely be owned and operated by TSMC, Musk wrote on October 7: "No, we will build and run the fab. Let there be ZERO doubt about that." He added that TSMC might sublease part of the Terafab site "if they want, but nothing more than that." Terafab is the giant AI chip manufacturing complex Tesla and SpaceX plan to build in Texas, and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said the same day that Intel remains part of the project.

科科技新报·7h

0818

Finland orders Google to halt work at two data centre sites

Finland's Licensing and Supervision Agency (LVV) has ordered Google's Finnish subsidiary, Tuike Finland Oy, to stop work immediately at two planned data centre sites in Muhos and Kajaani, and by 23 October at the latest, until environmental impact assessments (EIAs) for both projects are complete. The order covers tree felling, topsoil removal, digging, quarrying, crushing, moving soil, ditching and building site roads and storage areas, while planning, measurements, soil surveys and other easily reversible work can continue; Tuike must explain itself in writing by 14 October. The LVV said large-scale work had already taken place, including about 300 hectares of forest felled at the Muhos site. The two sites are part of Google's €13bn investment in Finland announced in September, which also covers Vaala and its existing Hamina data centre and which Google calls its largest single investment in Europe. A Google spokesperson said the company understands the concerns and has "fallen short of our own high standards in this instance."

CCNBC Technology·8h

099

OpenAI and Synopsys to co-develop GPT-Synopsys chip design model

DoNews reports that OpenAI has reached an agreement with chip design software vendor Synopsys to jointly develop a chip design model called GPT-Synopsys. The report gives no details on the model's capabilities, release timing or the terms of the partnership.

DDoNews·3h

109

Atomic Machines emerges with $250M for code-built micro-machines

Atomic Machines has emerged from six years in stealth with $250 million in funding and says its Matter Compiler can build working micro-machines directly from code. Its first product, the PrimeSwitch PS-150 relay, is aimed at protecting AI data centers transitioning to 800-volt direct-current power and is shipping to early-access customers for evaluation.

TThe Next Web·4h

119

Nvidia Considered OpenRouter Deal Before Stripe’s $8B Bid

Nvidia explored a possible takeover of AI model marketplace OpenRouter but did not make a formal offer, according to a person familiar with the discussions. Stripe ultimately prevailed with an $8 billion bid, while Nvidia later pursued more than $140 billion in deals over two months, including a $105 billion credit guarantee.

TThe Information·4h

129

Qualcomm reportedly to license Huawei patents tied to LogicFolding

Qualcomm has reportedly agreed to a multiyear cross-license with Huawei that may include patents supporting Huawei’s LogicFolding chip-stacking architecture, Bloomberg reported. The companies’ announcement did not identify the patents or mention LogicFolding; the deal also includes technology areas such as 5G, AI services, optics and networking, and remains subject to regulatory approval.

TTom’s Hardware·4h

1322

SpaceX seeks $40B financing, led by Apollo, to buy Nvidia chips

SpaceX is seeking to raise about $40 billion to buy Nvidia chips in a financing led by Apollo Global Management, the Financial Times reported, with the deal expected to close in 2027 and consist of roughly $10 billion in bank loans and $30 billion in investment-grade bonds; Pimco is among the lenders in talks. Musk said previously that SpaceX has decided to build entirely on Nvidia technology, calling the Vera Rubin architecture the best AI platform. SpaceX, Nvidia, Apollo and Pimco did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

TThe Information·16h

1416

Boston Dynamics appoints former Amazon AI leader Rohit Prasad as CEO

Boston Dynamics has appointed former Amazon executive Rohit Prasad as CEO, effective October 7, succeeding Robert Playter, who stepped down in February. Prasad previously led Alexa and Amazon’s general artificial intelligence organization and oversaw development of the Amazon Nova foundation-model family.

科科技新报·10h

1510

OpenAI's first report on teen ChatGPT use: under 15 minutes a day on average

OpenAI published its first report on how teens use ChatGPT, saying they spend under 15 minutes a day on average with the chatbot. Fewer than 2% of teens interact with it for more than three straight hours, according to the report as covered by Reuters.

TTechmeme·32m

1610

Google signs 20-year nuclear power deal with Constellation

Google signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Constellation Energy to support 890MW of new nuclear generating capacity by uprating six existing plants. Constellation expects to invest more than $4.3 billion in the program, with the first uprated plant due online in 2028 and the full 890MW delivered by the end of 2032. Google said the deal brings its total enabled new nuclear capacity in the US to over 1.5GW; the report notes the power is not exclusively destined for Google's data centers but will support their expansion.

TTechRadar·1h

1710

Japanese book wholesaler Nippan admits selling bulk books to Anthropic

According to publishing-industry sources, Nippan Group Holdings — parent of major Japanese book wholesaler Nippan — confirmed in a letter to the Japan Book Publishers Association that it sold a large quantity of books to US AI company Anthropic. The transaction was reportedly confirmed recently. Neither the letter nor the report disclosed the number of books, the value or the intended use.

ccnBeta·1h

1810

Pentagon's Tradewinds uses 5-minute videos to speed AI 'kill chain' buys

Tradewinds, a procurement marketplace run by the Pentagon's Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO), lets companies submit product videos of no more than five minutes describing how their AI offerings address periodically updated "strategic focus areas"; a panel reviews submissions at least monthly, and accepted products gain "post-competitive" status that makes it easier to buy them via vehicles such as Other Transaction agreements. A DOD official says some awards have been made in under a week, and OpenAI, Anthropic and Google are all listed as participants. WIRED reports that 2026 topics seek AI that can "enhance force lethality" and "unleash" AI-enabled agents for joint targeting, including so-called kill chain execution, while earlier pitches on a "culture of responsible AI" and guardrails are no longer sought.

WWIRED AI·1h

199

Tony Fadell on why the first wave of AI gadgets failed

Speaking at MIT Future Fest, Tony Fadell — credited with the iPod, the iPhone and as founder of Nest — said the first wave of AI hardware (Rabbit R1, Humane AI Pin, Limitless pendant) failed because it “didn’t meet any kind of need” and was just interesting technology for geeks. He argued trust and safety are paramount for a personal AI assistant, noting Meta’s Muse had a serious vulnerability found soon after launch, and that Apple has the hardware, chips and privacy credibility but no world-class model of its own — the new Siri AI runs on custom versions of Google’s Gemini. He predicted a successful agent will have to run on-device only, for privacy and to stay lightweight.

TTechCrunch AI·2h

209

Kuaishou forms enterprise AI productivity unit; Yu Yue named Kling AI CEO

DoNews reports that Kuaishou has set up a virtual organization called "Enterprise AI Productivity" to build its office foundation, general-purpose agents and information systems in a unified way. The report also says Cheng Yixiao will concurrently lead the community science line, while Yu Yue moves to become CEO of Kling AI.

DDoNews·3h