Browser Use Raises $17M for AI Web Navigation as The Bot Company Secures $150M at $2B Valuation
While others read about AI news, you'll know exactly what to do about it
Today’s Briefing:
In today's newsletter:
AI creation platform Arcade expands beyond jewelry
AI turbocharges drug discovery for Alzheimer's treatment
Trump administration launches AI tool for government use
EU police agency warns about AI's role in organized crime
Google Gemini adds live video and screen sharing features
Cloudflare creates "Labyrinth" to protect against AI scrapers
The Big Four accounting firms battle for agentic AI dominance
Complete roundup of last week's top AI news
Sponsored by*
It's been said that investing legend, Warren Buffet's, #1 rule is: “Don’t lose money.”
And if you don’t want to lose money, investing in private credit might just be able to help, especially in a volatile market.
Here's why…
Heron Finance’s private credit portfolio has had 0 down months since the start of 2023.* Not many assets can say that.
In fact, since January 2023, the largest high-yield bond and real estate ETFs all suffered from five or more down months. Although past performance does not guarantee future returns, for investors looking for stable passive income, Heron’s Personalized Private Credit portfolio delivers consistent returns.
How does Heron do it?
Heron builds you a personalized portfolio with exposure to the world’s largest private credit funds from Ares, Apollo, and more – targeting up to 11% yield after fees.*
And when it comes to fees, Heron gives investors access to the lowest share class for all of the funds on its platform, which in most cases saves you 0.85% annually compared to directly investing in funds.
Would you like to sponsor this newsletter? View our sponsorship options
Markets
Product Innovation
AI creation platform Arcade expands from jewelry to home goods, broadening its AI-generated design capabilities to include custom interior design items through its creator platform. Read more
MIT researchers develop AI tool for faster high-quality image generation, dramatically reducing rendering time while maintaining visual fidelity for creative workflows across industries. Read more
Google adds video capabilities to Gemini, rolling out live video, screen sharing, and Astra features to expand the platform's interactive capabilities. Read more
Google enhances Gemini with podcast and audio features, offering audio overviews and deep research capabilities for quick insights from audio content. Read more
Healthcare & Research
AI-powered databases accelerate Alzheimer's drug discovery, significantly speeding identification and validation of potential treatments while creating hope for breakthrough therapies. Read more
Philips and Ibex expand AI pathology partnership, enhancing digital pathology workflows to address pathologist shortages while improving diagnostic accuracy in cancer diagnosis. Read more
Scientists use AI to accelerate drug repurposing for rare diseases, identifying new applications for existing medications to expand treatment options for patients with limited therapeutic choices. Read more
Government & Security
Trump administration introduces AI tool for government use, launching a new platform designed to streamline operations and improve public service delivery across federal agencies. Read more
EU police agency warns AI is empowering organized crime, with Europol issuing a stark warning that criminal organizations are increasingly leveraging AI technologies to enhance illicit operations. Read more
Business Strategy
Agentic AI becomes the next battleground for the Big Four, with Deloitte, EY, PwC, and KPMG aggressively developing platforms that promise cost reductions while reshaping commercial models. Read more
Cisco executive emphasizes coding remains essential despite AI growth, advocating for balanced technical skills combined with creative problem-solving and business acumen to address industry challenges. Read more
Noibu launches AI-powered ecommerce solution for Salesforce, introducing an enhanced site health solution for merchants to proactively identify and resolve website issues before impacting revenue. Read more
Tech Infrastructure
Cloudflare creates "Labyrinth" to defend against AI web scrapers, developing a defense system designed to protect websites from bots that scrape content for training data. Read more
Browser Use raises $17M to improve AI agents' web navigation, securing seed funding to enhance AI agents' ability to interact with websites by converting them into a more readable format. Read more
Startups & Funding
The Bot Company secures $150M at $2B valuation, with former Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt's robotics startup raising additional funding to develop AI-powered robots for household chores. Read more
Analysis & Research
Research reveals potential downsides of AI brainstorming, with a joint OpenAI-MIT study highlighting risks of emotional dependency and diminished personal agency from over-reliance on AI tools. Read more
AI chatbots undergo workplace personality assessments, with the DISC model revealing distinct personality traits that could significantly impact workplace dynamics and collaboration patterns. Read more
Content & Media
Generative AI reshapes creator contracts, with agencies incorporating specific AI clauses to address brand safety and copyright concerns while requiring transparency throughout creative processes. Read more
Anthropic prepares to add web search to Claude, reportedly integrating search capabilities to enhance utility and competitiveness in the AI assistant market. Read more
Last Week's Top Stories
Major Acquisitions & Infrastructure
Google buys Wiz: How the cybersecurity startup went from $0 to $32 billion in just over 5 years, marking one of the largest tech acquisitions in recent history. Read more
OpenAI's First Stargate Site to Hold Up to 400,000 Nvidia Chips in Abilene, Texas, creating one of the largest AI computing clusters to be completed by mid-2026. Read more
Nvidia announces two 'personal AI supercomputers', introducing DGX Spark and DGX Station featuring the Grace Blackwell chip platform for edge AI development. Read more
Model Development & Adoption
Meta's Llama Has Been Downloaded Over One Billion Times, showcasing widespread adoption of its open-source large language model across business applications. Read more
Majority of AI Researchers Say Tech Industry Is Pouring Billions Into a Dead End, expressing skepticism about achieving AGI through scaling current approaches. Read more
Stability AI releases Stable Virtual Camera, a non-commercial AI model that creates "immersive" 3D videos using up to 32 2D images. Read more
Business Applications & Startups
Nearly 60% of Buyers Prefer AI Agents in the Sales Process for faster and more personalized engagement, according to Conversica's AI & Customer Experience Market Report. Read more
Arcade raises $12M to make AI agents less awful by developing infrastructure to enhance AI agents' access to apps and data. Read more
Google brings a 'canvas' feature to Gemini, providing an interactive space for writing and coding projects alongside Audio Overview functionality. Read more
TurinTech reveals $20M in backing to fix 'vibe coding' problems with its Artemis platform for optimizing and validating enterprise codebases. Read more
Bolt's former CEO launches Spangle AI, a startup creating custom landing pages for online shoppers with $6 million in seed funding. Read more
Media & Regulatory Developments
Italian Newspaper Creates Entirely AI-Generated Edition, publishing the world's first issue fully produced by artificial intelligence. Read more
News media faces AI moment—faster news, but fears over business models mount as organizations confront the existential threat of generative AI to traditional journalism. Read more
FTC Removes Posts Critical of Amazon, Microsoft, and AI Companies, eliminating over 300 business guidance blogs including consumer protection information. Read more
Analysis: Today's developments reveal four key trends shaping the AI landscape
Infrastructure Investment: Both public and private sectors are heavily investing in AI infrastructure, with Trump's administration launching new AI tools for government (Read more) while startups like Browser Use secure significant funding (Read more). This dual-track investment approach—government implementation alongside private sector innovation—accelerates AI adoption across all sectors of the economy. The resulting infrastructure improvements provide essential foundations for future AI applications, particularly in regulated industries where government participation is crucial for establishing standards.
Technology Convergence: AI is increasingly merging with specialized fields, as seen in the acceleration of Alzheimer's drug discovery (Read more) and Philips' partnership with Ibex for AI-enabled pathology (Read more). This convergence of AI with domain expertise creates substantially greater value than either component alone. Healthcare applications are leading this trend, with their combination of complex data, high-value outcomes, and clear ROI metrics making them ideal testing grounds for advanced AI implementations. Companies that successfully bridge AI capabilities with deep domain knowledge will likely emerge as leaders in their respective industries.
Industry Maturation: The AI ecosystem shows signs of maturation through the Big Four's agentic AI competition (Read more) and Cloudflare's protective measures against AI scraping (Read more). These developments signal a transition from experimental AI to mission-critical business applications, with leading firms investing in both offensive capabilities and defensive measures. As AI becomes embedded in core business processes, we're seeing increased focus on governance, security, and sustainable implementation—hallmarks of a maturing technology ecosystem. The competition among established players like the Big Four indicates that AI is now recognized as a fundamental business transformation tool rather than merely an experimental technology.
Dual-Use Concerns: The warning from EU police about AI empowering organized crime (Read more) highlights the growing regulatory challenges as AI becomes more powerful and accessible. This raises important questions about appropriate guardrails and oversight mechanisms. The tension between innovation and security will shape regulatory approaches globally, with significant implications for AI development timelines and implementation strategies. Organizations that proactively address security concerns and ethical considerations in their AI strategies will likely face fewer regulatory hurdles while building greater trust with customers and stakeholders.
The convergence of these trends suggests we're entering a new phase of AI implementation—one focused less on technological breakthroughs and more on practical integration with existing business systems and processes. Success in this environment will require balanced investments in both technical capabilities and organizational readiness, with particular attention to industry-specific applications where AI can deliver measurable value.
Tool Listings
LlamaIndex - Framework for building RAG applications that connects custom data sources to LLMs, making it easier to create knowledge-intensive AI applications.
Modal - Cloud platform for running AI workloads that handles infrastructure scaling, making it simpler to deploy models and AI applications.
Fixie - AI agent platform that enables building and deploying AI agents that can access and work with various APIs and data sources.
Sourcegraph Cody - AI coding assistant focused on helping developers understand and navigate large codebases, with strong code search capabilities.
Together AI - Platform providing open-source AI models that can be customized and deployed for specific use cases, giving developers more control.
Patterns - Data transformation platform that uses AI to help clean, validate, and prepare data for AI models and applications.
HyperWrite - AI writing assistant that helps with document generation, content editing, and collaboration, with a focus on professional communication.
Vellum - LLM orchestration platform that helps manage prompts, models, and evaluations in production, enabling better control of AI application quality and costs.
"AI doesn't eliminate the need for domain expertise—it amplifies it. The founders who understand both their industry's nuances and AI's capabilities will build the solutions that actually matter."
Get Involved
Submit news or Share insights: hello@futureweb.vc
Sponsor
Would you like to sponsor this newsletter? View our sponsorship options
*Disclosure: This is a paid advertisement. The opinions expressed in this advertisement are strictly those of Heron Finance. The information in this advertisement does not constitute an offer to sell securities or a solicitation of an offer to buy securities. Further, none of the information contained in this advertisement is a recommendation to invest in any securities. Please note there are no material conflicts of interest related to this advertisement. 12% based on the Aggressive portfolio. Any investment target interest rate presented here is intended for informational purposes only and does not guarantee future performance results. This model assumes no variability, including no loan defaults, no fluctuation in interest rate, no customer withdrawal requests, no late payments, and unchanged management fees throughout this projection. Please be aware that all investments involve inherent risks. Customers are advised to consult their own legal and tax advisers before investing. Returns are not a guarantee of future results. Please consider all risk factors before investing.