Joyce’s picks: musings and readings in AI/ML, May 19, 2025
5-minute weekly must-read on data science and artificial intelligence news, funding, and research, curated by Joyce J. Shen.
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📌 Musings and Readings
“Netflix will show generative AI ads midway through streams in 2026” (Link)
“Audible Expands Catalog with AI Narration and Translation for Publishers” (Link)
“Emergent social conventions and collective bias in LLM populations” (Paper)
“AlphaEvolve: A Gemini-powered coding agent for designing advanced algorithms” (Link)
👏 Deals
Mide, a NYC-based startup developing a blockchain that delivers private and decentralized transactions by letting users prove actions locally and submit only the proof to the network, has raised $25m in seed financing.
TensorStax, a CA-based startup automating the creation, validation, and maintenance of ETL and ELT data pipelines to streamline data engineering workflows, has raised $5m in seed financing.
Upscale AI, a CA-based company using AI to enhance image and video quality through upscaling, restoration, and resolution-enhancing techniques, has raised $5.5m in seed financing.
Theom, a CA-based company developing AI-driven governance to monitor and control data access across cloud environments, preventing breaches and ensuring compliance with frameworks like HIPAA and GDPR, has raised $20m in series A in financing.
Algoma, a NYC-based company using AI to automate real estate site feasibility for developers, has raised $2.3m in seed financing.
Fieldstone Bio, a MA-based company creating biosensors that monitor environmental conditions and detect pollutants, chemicals, and pathogens in real time, has raised $5m in seed financing.
Row Zero, a WA-based company developing a cloud-based platform for large-scale data analysis, has raised $10m in financing.
Openlayer, a CA-based company developing an AI observability platform designed to monitor the reliability of machine learning and large language models, has raised $14.5m in series A in financing.
PhaseV, a MA-based company using AI/ML to optimize clinical trial design and execution, helping reduce costs, shorten timelines, and improve success rates for pharmaceutical companies, has raised $50m in series A in financing.
TensorWave, a NV-based company developing high-performance, AMD-powered cloud infrastructure for large-scale AI and machine learning, focusing on bare-metal compute and scalability, has raised $100m in series A in financing.