Joyce Shen’s picks: musings and readings in AI/ML, December 16, 2024

📌 Musings and Readings

“China sets up AI standards committee as global tech race intensifies” (Reuters)

“New Tests Reveal AI’s Capacity for Deception” (Time)

“Frontier Models are Capable of In-context Scheming” (Apollo Research)

“Fake nudes created by AI "nudify" sites are causing real harm, victims say” (60 Minutes)

“AI Godmother Fei-Fei Li Has a Vision for Computer Vision” (IEEE Spectrum)

“On Device Llama 3.1 with Core ML” (Apple)

Optics Breakthrough for Generative AI and next-gen data centers (IBM)

👏 Deals

Ask Sage, a VA-based company developing a GenAI platform tailored for government and commercial enterprises to automate code generation, accelerate releases, and boost team’s productivity, has raised $17m in series A financing.

Evidently, a CA-based health tech startup building an AI platform to streamline healthcare workflows with problem-focused summaries of patient data and clinical insights, has raised $15m in series A financing.

MoldCo, a MA-based company focusing on mold-related health and environmental concerns offers testing tools, assessments, and resources to promote healthier indoor environments, has raised $3m in pre-seed financing.

Wald.ai, a CA-based startup focusing on offering enterprise users with AI assistants while ensuring data security and supporting regulatory compliance, has raised $4m in seed financing.

Orthogon Therapeutics, a MA-based biotech company developing a drug discovery platform for orally administrable drugs with novel mechanisms to treat viral infections in transplant patients, has raised $5.2m in financing.

GovSignals, a New York-based startup building an AI platform that automates government contracting tasks, including opportunity discovery, compliance management, and proposal creation, has raised $5.5m in seed financing.

Mainframe, a CA-based company developing generative computing tools to change how humans interact with computers, streamlining tasks and improving productivity, has raised $5.5m in seed financing.

Concentro, a New York-based climate tech startup offering a platform to monetize renewable energy tax credits, connecting sellers with buyers while streamlining compliance, documentation, and transaction processes, has raised $3m in seed financing.  

Gentrace, a CA-based company building a collaborative platform for testing and evaluating LLM applications, helping AI teams through application-specific evaluations, experiments, and performance monitoring, has raised $8m in Series A financing.

WeaveGrid, a CA-based startup developing software to optimize electric vehicle charging for grid stability and efficiency while collaborating with utilities and automakers to accelerate EV adoption and manage energy demand, has raised $28m in financing.

Qnovia, a VA-based pharmaceutical company developing an inhaled drug delivery platform focused on smoking cessation, with technology designed to enhance drug dosing, efficacy, and patient compliance, has raised $16m in series B financing.

Vapi, a CA-based startup providing a platform for developers to build, test, and deploy voice AI applications, offering tools to create real-time voice assistants for customer support, lead qualification, and automating workflows​, has raised $20m in series A financing.

Tuva Health, a New York-based startup developing a platform to convert healthcare data into AI-ready formats, helping organizations manage and analyze data to improve patient outcomes and care efficiency​, has raised $5m in seed financing.

Prezent.AI, a CA-based company creating an AI-powered platform to refine business communication and presentations for enterprise teams, has raised $7.3m in financing.

Alessa Therapeutics, a CA-based biotech startup developing localized drug delivery technology for targeted cancer treatments, focusing on prostate cancer to improve outcomes and reduce side effects, has​ raised $15m in seed financing.