Joyce Shen’s picks: musings and readings in AI/ML, August 25, 2025

📌 Musings and Readings

Google’s approach to energy innovation and AI’s environmental footprint (Link)

Research suggests doctors might quickly become dependent on AI (Link)

Anthropic launches higher education advisory board and AI Fluency courses (Link)

Truth, Romance and the Divine: How AI Chatbots May Fuel Psychotic Thinking (Link)

NASA, IBM’s ‘Hot’ New AI Model Unlocks Secrets of Sun (Link)

👏 Deals

Infinity Loop, a NYC-based company building a contract intelligence solution that helps enterprises optimize vendor negotiations, has raised $5m in seed financing.

Create, a CA-based startup providing a no-code AI platform for web apps and tools using natural language prompts, has raised $8.5m in financing.

ShiftUp, a AZ-based company helping sales teams boost revenue by surfacing deal insights, coaching reps in real time, has raised $3m in seed financing.

Sola, a NYC-based company developing an automation solution that uses large language models and computer vision to help enterprises build adaptive, no-code workflows, has raised $17.5m in series A financing.

BetterPic, a Tallinn, Estonia-based company providing an AI-powered solution that transforms everyday selfies into high-quality, professional headshots, has raised $2.5m in seed financing.

Convoke, a CA-based company developing an AI-powered solution that streamlines biopharma workflows by integrating data, automating analysis, and generating critical drug development and regulatory documents, has raised $8.6m in financing.

Zipline AI, a CA-based startup offering an open-source solution built on Chronon to automate and scale AI data pipelines with observability, versioning, and compliance, has raised $7m in seed financing.

Yourway Learning, a FL-based edtech company developing an AI-powered instructional platform for K-12 education, has raised $9m in financing.

Innerworks, a London, UK-based cybersecurity startup using AI-powered behavioral biometrics and Synthetic Threat Intelligence to detect and prevent AI-driven fraud, has raised $4m in seed financing.

Bluefish, a NYC–based startup helping Fortune 500 brands manage and influence their presence across AI platforms, has raised $20m in series A financing.

Definite, a DE-based startup building a data analytics platform that connects data from 500+ sources to deliver instant insights, has raised $10M in seed funding.

Agenda Her, a CA-based startup that transforms messy schedules into organized, shareable calendar events, has raised $5.6m in financing.