Joyce Shen’s picks: musings and readings in AI/ML, October 14, 2025
5-minute weekly must-read on data science and artificial intelligence news, funding, and research, curated by Joyce J. Shen.
📌 Musings and Readings
“SoftBank to buy ABB's robot business for $5.4 billion in push to merge AI and robotics” (Link)
“EU rolls out $1.1 billion plan to ramp up AI in key industries amid sovereignty drive” (Link)
“A.I. Video Generators Are Now So Good You Can No Longer Trust Your Eyes” (Link)
Cisco Sets Benchmark with Industry's Most Scalable, Efficient 51.2T Routing Systems for Distributed AI Workloads (Link)
AI drones are America's newest cops (Link)
Harvard Showcases Cutting-Edge AI Innovations During Boston AI Week (Link)
When You Tell AI Models to Act Like Women, Most Become More Risk-Averse: Study (Link)
OpenAI’s Sora used to make deepfake AI videos of dead celebrities, outraging their families (Link)
Apple nears deal to acquire talent and technology from computer vision startup Prompt AI (Link)
👏 Deals
GoodFit, a London-based company providing an AI-powered data platform that enables B2B revenue teams to identify, prioritize, and engage their ideal customers, has raised $13m in Series A financing.
Zania, a CA-based company developing an AI-powered GRC platform that uses autonomous agents to automate compliance, risk, and security tasks, has raised $18m in Series A financing.
Gain, an Israel-based startup providing an AI-powered platform that deploys autonomous "AI employees" to streamline procurement and supplier management, has raised $12m in seed financing.
Paid, a London-based company providing a platform that helps businesses monetize and manage AI agents to accelerate the growth of the AI agent economy, has raised $21m in seed financing.
DataJoint, a TX-based company developing a SciOps platform that integrates AI, code, data, and metadata into a unified computational database, has raised $4.9m in seed financing.
Longeye, a CA-based company offering an AI-powered investigative platform that helps law enforcement and legal professionals analyze and prioritize digital evidence, has raised $5m in financing.
Tie, a FL-based company developing an AI-powered identity resolution platform that helps e-commerce brands identify anonymous website visitors, has raised $10m in Series A financing.
Tato, a Canada-based company providing an AI-native project intelligence platform that streamlines complex IT and ERP implementations, has raised $5m in seed financing.
Clarifeye, a Paris, France-based developing an AI-powered knowledge platform that transforms expert reasoning and domain-specific documents into trustworthy, auditable AI agents, has raised €4M in pre-seed financing.
Notch.cx, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based company offering an AI-powered customer support platform that deploys autonomous agents to fully resolve complex support tickets, has raised $15m in seed financing.
SafeHill, a Chicago-based cybersecurity startup offering threat exposure management solution that combines AI-driven automation with expert human validation, has raised $2.6m in pre-seed financing.
Moonlake AI, a CA-based generative AI startup that transforms natural language into interactive 2D/3D worlds, has raised $28m in seed financing.
Hipp Health, a CA-based company that streamlines behavioral health practice management, has raised $6.2m in seed financing.
Peer AI, a CA-based company providing an agentic AI platform to accelerate drug approvals, has raised $12m in financing.
Increase Alpha, a Washington, DC-based fintech startup using an AI-driven, forward-tested platform that delivers stock price signals, has raised $3.5m in seed financing.
Appy.AI, a CO-based company providing a no-code platform that lets entrepreneurs and experts create, launch, and monetize AI-powered business agents, has raised $5m in seed financing.
Attuned Intelligence, a FL-based company offering supervised AI to automate hospital call centers, and improving patient access, has raised $13m in seed financing.
Echelon AI, a CA-based company developing an enterprise-focused platform that uses AI agents to automate the design, development, testing, and deployment of ServiceNow solutions, has raised $4.75m in seed financing.
Datacurve, a CA-based data infrastructure company that sources high-quality, code-focused datasets from expert developers via a bounty-driven platform to train and evaluate advanced AI models, has raised $17.7m in financing.