Synchron's brain-to-computer interface (BCI) was implanted in the first U.S. patient. The startup's stentrode device was embedded in the ALS patient's motor cortex, where it will translate brain signals into a "digital language" for hands-free control of digital devices. More: - A doctor inserted the BCI in the unidentified patient at NYC's Mount Sinai West medical center, where Synchron is conducting an FDA-approved clinical trial.
- The startup says the surgery is minimally invasive and takes about two hours. The patient was able to leave the hospital after 48 hours.
- The U.S.-based trial will test how well the BCI transmits motor intent for paralyzed patients to text, email, and do online shopping and telehealth.
- Conducted with support from the NIH's Neural Interfaces Program, the U.S. trial is expected to involve six patients overall.
- Four patients in Australia already received Synchron's device about a year ago, with no reported complications.
- Synchron received FDA breakthrough device designation in Aug. 2020. The FDA granted approval for human trials a year ago. The startup has raised over $70M to date from investors including Khosla Ventures and former Neuralink president Max Hodak.
BLOOMBERG 
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Olive, a healthcare automation company, says it will cut 450 jobs due to difficult economic conditions and "missteps" in its strategy after a rapid expansion. The startup's machine learning software, described as an AI-powered digital employee, can help automate repetitive back-office tasks at hospitals. More: - The Columbus, Ohio-based company is making "difficult but necessary organizational shifts" as a result of strategic changes, a spokesperson said.
- CEO Sean Lane acknowledged that the startup's fast-paced growth and lack of focus placed a strain on its engineering and product resources, which prevented it from executing key initiatives quickly enough.
- Prior to the layoffs, Olive employed ~1,300 workers. The startup is offering severance of two weeks for every year of service and benefits for 60 days.
- A year ago, Olive said it was valued at $4B following a $400M round led by Vista Equity Partners of Austin and Base10 Partners. The company planned to use the capital to hire more workers, scale product development, and further expand its AI capabilities.
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
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DataRobot's chief AI strategist, Ben Taylor, has stepped down. In his resignation letter, Taylor cited low employee morale, layoffs, and last year's executive stock sales among the reasons. Background: - The privately-held AI software startup sells an automated platform that helps companies build and maintain predictive models without writing code.
- Taylor was co-founder and chief AI officer of unstructured data firm Zeff.ai, which was acquired by DataRobot in 2020. Since then, he has served as DataRobot's chief AI evangelist and, more recently, chief AI strategist.
- In the resignation letter, Taylor drew attention to the fact that several top executives, including CEO Dan Wright, collectively sold $32M in personal stakes last year.
- None of the executives were founders, and all had worked at DataRobot for less than two years. Most employees were not allowed to sell their stock.
- Taylor wrote: "The amount of stock they sold implies that they knew the company wasn't growing, and yet, they were running it."
More: - The stock sales occurred just after the company closed a $300M funding round last summer at a $6.3B post-money valuation. Despite the new capital, DataRobot laid off nearly 7% of its workforce, or about 70 employees, in May.
- In response, DataRobot cited a 38% YoY revenue growth as evidence of its precipitous growth. The company said it has "a sizable cash runway" to fund operations for several years.
- DataRobot has raised $1.05B in venture funding to date.
TECHTARGET
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Austin-based HiddenLayer has exited stealth mode with $6M in funding for its platform that it says protects AI models from cyberattacks. Leading the round was cybersecurity-focused VC firm Ten Eleven Ventures, which invested $4.75M. More: - The startup says its flagship product is designed specifically to defend against emerging adversarial attacks targeting already-deployed ML systems.
- The technology can do so without accessing or having prior knowledge of training data or algorithms. Rather, it analyzes a model's interactions to find patterns indicating malicious activity, according to TechCrunch.
- The patterns the system identifies are in ML model traffic through "contextless vectorized data points."
- The startup is pre-revenue and doesn't have customers yet. The new capital will allow HiddenLayer to accelerate growth and expand operations, it said.
TECHCRUNCH
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 A message from BOXABL Imagine if houses were built like cars, with one home coming off the assembly line every 60 seconds...wouldn’t that change the world? Cutting-edge housing manufacturer Boxabl plans to do just that, by setting up the world's largest and most advanced housing factory. Why Boxabl? - Setting up a 170,000 sq ft manufacturing facility in less than one year
- Raising over $100M from over 15,000 investors
- Elon Musk shouted out the Las Vegas-based company calling Boxabl a “cool product.”
- Achieving LEED certification and hurricane wind ratings on all houses
- Strategic partnership and investment from the largest home builder in the USA, D.R. Horton Inc.
- Over 50 patent filings due to considerable innovations in building technology
- Factory 2 is now under construction
- Customer waitlist of over 100,000 pre-orders, indicating potential demand worth billions of dollars
- Guided by Volkswagen Group's Porsche Consulting Inc. for the design and implementation of Boxabl’s new factory
- Shipping houses every day
Invest Today
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Google says new machine-learning models will make it easier to search for and find specific emails in Gmail. The algorithms will improve search accuracy and deliver more contextual suggestions with "intent matching," according to Google. More: - The company announced the filtering update in its Google Workspace Updates blog.
- According to the post, the algorithms can better identify a user's intent when they search for an email.
- They'll also deliver more personalized suggestions based on a user's previous searches.
- Previously, Gmail search formats relied primarily on chips, filters, and operators to find specific emails.
- A full update is due out in the "coming weeks." While announced for Workspace customers, the launch is expected for everyone who uses Gmail's web and mobile apps.
TECHRADAR
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- U.K. publisher Reach introduced a commercial content recommendation tool that uses machine learning and first-party cookies to serve targeted reading suggestions.
- California-based Apertu Capital, a VC fund focused on AI, cloud, food tech, and developer tech, closed on its first early-stage fund of an undisclosed amount.
- Cornerstone AI, a startup working to improve how healthcare data is managed, raised $5M in seed funding led by Healthy Ventures, with participation from Initiate Ventures.
- How’s your current digital marketing strategy? Make it even stronger with our new interactive worksheet.*
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 |  | Beth is a writer and analyst at Inside.com covering artificial intelligence and daily tech news. Since starting work at Inside, she has covered various topics including virtual reality, drones, and e-commerce. Prior to that she was a public policy and investigative reporter for The Arizona Republic, where she won a Pulitzer Prize nomination and First Amendment Award for reporting on the rising costs of pensions. Reach her at Beth.Duckett@inside.com. |   | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
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