Insider Brief Kawasaki Heavy Industries has developed Home LEO, a prototype quadruped social robot that uses physical AI to assist older adults at home, with a commercial launch targeted for fiscal 2028. Home LEO is being designed to provide companionship, monitor for problems such as falls or fire risks, assist with daily tasks and share…

Continue Reading

Meta has introduced new AI tools to detect child sexual exploitation on its platforms, reporting that it took action against 33.2 million pieces of such content on Facebook and Instagram in the first half of 2026. The company said more than 97% was found by its systems before users reported it. Among the new measures…

Continue Reading

OpenAI is introducing Intelligent UI, a new interface that brings interactive visuals into ChatGPT conversations, rolling out on Wednesday alongside its new GPT-6 model. The update arrives the same week nonprofit Common Sense Medialabeled ChatGPT for Teens an unacceptable risk, saying its design still encourages engagement even when that may endanger young users. According to…

Continue Reading

Zach Yadegari, the teen co-founder of calorie tracking app Cal AI, has secured $10 million for his new AI agent startup, Persona. The round was led by Vine Ventures, with participation from Z Fellows founder Cory Levy and Collective Global. Yadegari left MyFitnessPal in June after it acquired Cal AI in March, following the app’s…

Continue Reading

Insider Brief Veir raised $110 million in Series C funding to move its superconducting power-delivery technology toward commercial deployment in AI data centers, bringing total capital raised to $225 million. Matter Venture Partners and Tyche Partners co-led the oversubscribed round, with participation from LG Technology Ventures, Gates Frontier, Sabanci Climate Ventures, Hui Capital and several…

Continue Reading

Insider Brief Bloom raised $3.6 million in seed funding led by SNAK Venture Partners to expand its AI-native marketplace for hardware supply chains, including manufacturing, logistics and after-sales services. The Detroit startup said more than 140 hardware companies have used its platform, completing over 2,000 matches, with the new capital going toward business development, BloomPay…

Continue Reading

Healthleap, a startup whose AI platform reads patient records to identify people at risk of undiagnosed illnesses, has secured $38 million in combined seed and Series A funding. The financing includes an $8 million seed round co-led by Sequoia Capital and First Round Capital and a $30 million Series A led by Hummingbird Ventures. Founded…

Continue Reading

Butterfly Effect, the parent company of Chinese AI lab Manus, has secured more than $500 million in new funding, its first round since Meta was forced to abandon its $2 billion acquisition of the startup. The company announced the round on Thursday in a WeChat post, saying it was led by Boyu Capital and IDG…

Continue Reading

Read Online | Sign Up | Advertise Good morning, {{ first_name | AI enthusiasts }}, and welcome to our 4,318 new readers. Math is currently in the thick of its AI moment. Mark Zuckerberg wants biology to be next. In April, Zuck’s Biohub put $500M into the idea that AI could eventually mimic a living…

Continue Reading

Insider Brief Mecka raised $60 million in Series B funding led by Sequoia Capital to expand its real-world robotics data infrastructure, research and commercial robot deployments. The company records human demonstrations using its own multi-sensor hardware and converts that data into training signals for robots, including motion tracking, 3D reconstruction and sensor alignment, while also…

Continue Reading