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Q-CTRL, a Sydney-based company, has raised $59 million in additional funding for its quantum computing infrastructure software. The company has now raised a total of $133 million in funding. The funding round was led by GP Bullhound and saw a dramatic increase in valuation from earlier financing. Q-CTRL will use the funding to expand its investment in quantum control R&D and product engineering to deliver on a growing portfolio of customer engagements. The company believes quantum technology could revolutionize industries like pharmaceuticals, finance, and resources, representing a $1.2 trillion opportunity. Q-CTRL uniquely spans both quantum computing and quantum sensing through its focus on how quantum control infrastructure software can enable useful field-deployed quantum solutions.
The company has achieved extraordinary commercial success, indicating tremendous opportunity for value capture and growth with new investment.
Q-CTRL has built commercial engagements with major defense primes, the Australian Department of Defence, and the UK Navy's Office of the Chief Technology Officer focused on quantum-assured navigation in GPS-denied environments.
The company has also announced a partnership with Airbus building on these field trials.
Q-CTRL's technology revolves around quantum control, which is crucial in stabilizing and improving the performance of quantum systems.
The company has developed software that reduces errors and noise in quantum algorithms, and has even been adopted by companies like IBM.
Q-CTRL is also focused on quantum sensing, which leverages quantum systems to detect and measure physical quantities with high precision.
The company has recently expanded its efforts in quantum sensing by developing ultrasensitive sensors that can measure gravity, motion, and magnetic fields.
October 8, 2024 12:31 AM
SAP adds more open source LLM support, turns Joule into a collaborative agent
SAP announced the expansion of its generative AI copilot Joule's capabilities to support up to 80% of its customers' most common business tasks, enabling it to be a collaborative agent that can accomplish complex workflows.
The expansion is part of SAP's RISE with SAP initiative, which aims to guide customers' transition from on-premises SAP ERP systems to the cloud, modernizing processes along the way.
Joule's infusion of new features signals how serious SAP is about moving its customers to the cloud, with on-premises customers needing to use the SAP Integration Suite to connect their existing infrastructure to SAP's cloud services.
The company also introduced additional open-source large language model (LLM) support as part of the SAP Generative AI Hub, introduced the SAP Knowledge Graph, and showcased developer enhancements in SAP Build.
SAP is placing a strategic bet on Joule's new agentic AI strengths, designed as a cloud-native AI assistant that integrates and scales with all current and future apps, modules, and platform environments.
The company is doubling down on Joule, showing they're working to reverse their proprietary ways of the past and go after a more open cloud-based architecture that can deliver the accuracy, speed, and scale their customers need.
Joule can already understand business contexts, deliver data-driven insights, and enable customers to get more work done using its advanced natural language processing and machine learning capabilities.
SAP highlighted two use cases at TechEd 2024 to demonstrate the power of these agents: Dispute Management and Financial Accounting.
The company is committed to keeping up with the quicker pace of innovation in open-source LLMs, with the SAP Generative AI Hub connecting both proprietary and open-source models.
SAP's announcements this week at TechEd 2024 show they're committed to providing more significant support for open-source LLMs, enabling enterprise-level standards for customers to adopt while ensuring reliability, scalability, security, and performance.
October 7, 2024 10:00 PM
Foxconn to build Taiwan’s fastest AI supercomputer with Nvidia Blackwell
Nvidia and Foxconn are building Taiwan's largest supercomputer using Nvidia Blackwell chips. The project, Hon Hai Kaohsiung Super Computing Center, will be built around Nvidia's Blackwell graphics processing unit (GPU) architecture. The machine will feature 64 racks and 4,608 Tensor Core GPUs, with an expected performance of over 90 exaflops of AI performance. Foxconn plans to use the supercomputer to power breakthroughs in cancer research, large language model development, and smart city innovations. The supercomputer will play a pivotal role in supporting Foxconn's ongoing efforts in digital twins, robotic automation, and smart urban infrastructure. Construction has started on the new supercomputer, with the first phase expected to be operational by mid-2025. The project will integrate with Nvidia technologies, such as Nvidia Omniverse and Isaac robotics platforms. Each rack features 36 Nvidia Grace CPUs and 72 Nvidia Blackwell GPUs connected via Nvidia's NVLink technology. The supercomputer will be used to train large AI models and execute complex inference tasks in real time on trillion-parameter models.
October 7, 2024 4:52 PM
Hugging Face’s new tool lets devs build AI-powered web apps with OpenAI in just minutes
Hugging Face has released a new Python package called OpenAI-Gradio that allows developers to create AI-powered web apps with just a few lines of code.
The tool simplifies the process of integrating OpenAI's large language models (LLMs) into web applications, making AI more accessible to developers of all skill levels.
The package integrates OpenAI's API with Gradio, a popular interface tool for machine learning (ML) applications.
Developers can install the package, set their OpenAI API key, and launch a fully functional web app in just a few steps.
The simplicity of this setup allows even smaller teams with limited resources to deploy advanced AI models quickly.
Developers can customize the interface further, adding specific input and output configurations or even embedding the app into larger projects.
The package removes traditional barriers to AI development, such as managing complex backend infrastructure or dealing with model hosting.
This shift makes AI development more accessible to a much wider range of businesses, including small and mid-sized companies, startups, and online retailers.
With Hugging Face's new openai-gradio tool, developers can quickly create interactive web apps, like chatbots or data analysis tools, allowing users to interact with state-of-the-art AI directly from a web app.
October 7, 2024 3:14 PM
Clout Kitchen raises $4.45M for AI gaming pal that mimics content creators
Clout Kitchen has raised $4.45 million in its seed funding round to develop creator-powered products and experiences. The company's first product is Backseat AI, an AI-powered buddy for League of Legends that provides helpful tips and commentary in the voice of popular gaming content creators. Backseat AI is a guide that gives players tips on how to better play the game, and it launched for early access testing in June. The full release costs players $4.99 a month for each creator-specific "buddy" they choose.
The product is aimed at entry-to-mid-level players and includes buddies such as Tyler1, Emily "Emiru" Schunk, and Marcin "Jankos" Jankowski.
Clout Kitchen plans to use its funding to expand its team and build out its shared internal tech stack.
The company's CEO, Justin Gorriceta-Banusing, said that Backseat AI is a real-time buddy for League that tells players how to play better and commentates on the action in the voice of their favorite creator.
The product also includes visual overlays that provide tips, tricks, and stats.
Clout Kitchen's funding round was led by Peak XV's Surge and a16z Speedrun, with participation from several other investors and creators.
The company's vision is to help solve the creator scale and time problem by giving every single one of their community a way to interact with their favorite creator without taking up a creator's precious time.
Clout Kitchen plans to expand its products into other titles and verticals, including games like World of Warcraft and non-gaming use cases like fitness.
October 3, 2024 2:24 PM
3thix partners with Avalanche on !eb3 gaming ad data
3thix, a Web3 finance company, is partnering with Avalanche to create a new ad-tech layer that offers advertisers a decentralized way to obtain consumer behavioral data without compromising privacy or protections.
The new blockchain-based solution provides advertisers with a decentralized Identity for Advertisers, or IDFA, allowing for more-targeted advertising without compromising users' privacy.
3thix champions an ethical approach to game monetization and in-game transactions, allowing users to access better ads while advertisers remain compliant with privacy laws.
The ad-tech solution is built on Avalanche's Layer 1 blockchain, which allows for transaction finality and privacy.
Andrew Cooper, Avalanche's head of games, said the partnership "revolutionizes in-game transactions using blockchain, with users earning rewards, advertisers getting precise targeting, and developers monetizing better."
Timothy Tello, 3thix CEO, said the partnership creates a "blockchain-verifiable web of relations that defines how partnerships work and function in the imminent future."
The unified platform, built with Avalanche's industry-leading smart contracts technologies, is "miles ahead of competing projects."
The partnership aims to create a sustainable value for all parties involved, including users, advertisers, and developers.
The new ad-tech layer is expected to provide a more targeted and privacy-protecting alternative to traditional advertising methods.
October 2, 2024 10:00 AM
Vera AI launches ‘AI Gateway’ to help companies safely scale AI without the risks
OpenAI held a subdued DevDay conference, focusing on incremental improvements to its AI tools and APIs, rather than major product launches.
The company unveiled four major innovations: Vision Fine-Tuning, Realtime API, Model Distillation, and Prompt Caching.
Prompt Caching reduces costs and latency for developers by automatically applying a 50% discount on input tokens that the model has recently processed.
Vision Fine-Tuning allows developers to customize the model's visual understanding capabilities using both images and text.
Realtime API enables developers to create low-latency, multimodal experiences, particularly in speech-to-speech applications.
Model Distillation allows developers to use outputs from advanced models to improve the performance of more efficient models.
OpenAI's strategic shift prioritizes ecosystem development over product launches, focusing on refining existing tools and empowering developers.
The company aims to maintain its competitive edge by improving the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of its models.
OpenAI's success will depend on its ability to foster a thriving developer ecosystem.
September 30, 2024 6:00 AM
Artisan raises $11.5M to deploy AI ’employees’ for sales teams
Artisan, a startup, has raised $11.5 million in seed funding to replace traditional sales software with AI-powered virtual employees. The company's first AI assistant, Ava, automates tasks typically handled by business development representatives. Artisan has already reached $1 million in annual recurring revenue, with over 120 companies using its platform. The company's approach aims to streamline the fragmented landscape of sales software by offering a single platform that handles tasks ranging from lead generation to email outreach. Ava can operate autonomously to find prospects, research companies, and craft personalized messages. Artisan plans to expand beyond sales, with AI assistants for marketing and customer success in development. The involvement of HubSpot as an investor signals that even established software providers see potential in AI-first approaches. Artisan's CEO believes that AI will replace some roles, but this shift is ultimately beneficial, as humans will be shifted to more human-centered roles. The company plans to continue pushing forward with its AI sales assistants, blurring the line between human and machine in the workplace.
September 27, 2024 3:08 PM
Why Microsoft’s security initiative and Apple’s cloud privacy matter to enterprises now
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Microsoft and Apple have launched new security initiatives to improve cloud security and privacy for enterprises. Microsoft's Secure Future Initiative (SFI) and Apple's Private Cloud Compute (PCC) aim to reduce risk and close security gaps.
SFI is a multi-layered defense for enterprise security, designed to embed security into every layer of Microsoft products and services. It includes six engineering pillars to protect identities, tenants, networks, engineering systems, monitor and detect threats, and accelerate response and remediation.
PCC has privacy at its core, with a stateless architecture that ensures sensitive data is processed only for its intended purpose and never retained after a process is complete. It also includes features such as no privileged access, verifiable transparency, custom silicon, and hardened OS.
Both SFI and PCC aim to simplify critical security measures and reduce the burden on IT and security teams. They prioritize security and privacy, with Microsoft's SFI focusing on reducing attack surfaces and Apple's PCC prioritizing AI cloud privacy.
The two platforms differ in their approach, with SFI focusing on comprehensive security across all Microsoft products and services, and PCC focusing on AI cloud privacy and security.
Microsoft's SFI includes features such as secure by design, secure by default, and secure operations, while Apple's PCC includes features such as oblivion HTTP routing and advanced anonymization techniques.
Both platforms aim to improve transparency and governance, with Microsoft's SFI seeking to improve security transparency and Apple's PCC providing cryptographically signed transparency logs.
The shift in enterprise security signaled by SFI and PCC is a recognition that IT and security teams are overstretched and need comprehensive security solutions that prioritize security and privacy.