AI publishing startup Spines faces criticism over mass book production plans

A new publishing startup called Spines has drawn criticism from writers and publishers over its plans to publish 8,000 books in 2025 using artificial intelligence. As reported by Ella Creamer for The Guardian, the company will charge authors between $1,200 and $5,000 for AI-assisted publishing services including proofreading, formatting, and distribution. Industry professionals, including independent …

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AI startup H launches Runner H automation product

H, a Paris-based AI startup, has launched Runner H, its first product focused on business automation and quality assurance. As reported by Ingrid Lunden for TechCrunch, the company, which previously raised $220 million in seed funding, has developed the product using a proprietary “compact” language model with just 2 billion parameters. Runner H targets three …

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AI startup Moonvalley develops ethical approach to video generation

Moonvalley, a Los Angeles-based startup, is developing generative video tools with a focus on ethical data usage and creator rights. As reported by Kyle Wiggers for TechCrunch, the company distinguishes itself by exclusively using licensed content from opted-in creators for training its AI models. Founded by former Zapier executive Naeem Talukdar and DeepMind scientists, Moonvalley …

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Midship uses AI to extract usable data from unstructured documents

Midship has developed an AI-powered tool that extracts specific fields and tables from unstructured documents like PDFs and images. According to the founders in a Hacker News post, Midship combines OCR with language models to convert documents into clean, structured data, going beyond simple markdown output. The tool is aimed at both non-technical users via …

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Patronus AI launches API to prevent AI hallucinations in real-time

Patronus AI, a San Francisco startup, has launched a self-serve API that detects and prevents AI failures, such as hallucinations and unsafe responses, in real-time. According to CEO Anand Kannappan in an interview with VentureBeat, the platform introduces several innovations, including “judge evaluators” that allow companies to create custom rules in plain English and Lynx, …

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Pentagon awards $1.8M generative AI cybersecurity contract to Jericho Security

The US Department of Defense has awarded a $1.8 million contract to New York-based startup Jericho Security to develop advanced generative AI cybersecurity solutions for the Air Force. According to CEO Sage Wohns, this marks one of the first generative AI contracts in defense and a major milestone in addressing AI-based threats. Jericho Security’s approach …

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Omnivore acquired by ElevenLabs to power new ElevenReader app

Omnivore, a reading app startup, has been acquired by ElevenLabs, an AI audio technology company, to help develop their new ElevenReader app. According to a note from Omnivore’s founders Jackson and Hongbo, the acquisition will enable them to create more accessible reading and listening experiences on a larger platform. Omnivore users are invited to create …

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Moondream raises $4.5M for compact yet powerful AI vision-language model

Moondream, a startup backed by Felicis Ventures, Microsoft’s M12 GitHub Fund, and Ascend, has emerged from stealth with $4.5 million in pre-seed funding. According to VentureBeat’s Michael Nuñez, the company has developed an open-source vision-language model that boasts 1.6 billion parameters but matches the performance of models four times its size. The model, which can …

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Read AI raises $50M Series B to expand AI meeting assistant

Read AI, an AI-powered meeting assistant startup, has raised $50 million in a Series B funding round led by Smash Capital, just six months after a $21 million Series A. According to co-founder David Shim, the company has seen strong growth, with over 100,000 new accounts created since the Series A. Read AI plans to …

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