Weekly roundup: The top AI stories you might have missed this week: - The Pentagon appointed Craig Martell, Lyft's former head of machine learning, as its new chief digital and artificial intelligence officer.
- AI-assisted patient monitoring startup Biofourmis said it has raised a $300M funding round that values the company at nearly $1.3B.
- Amazon-backed Agility Robotics announced a $150M funding round that will enable it to scale production of its working bipedal robots.
- A group of Democratic Senators asked Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to consider creating a regulatory framework to support autonomous vehicles in the U.S.
- AI-assisted defense tech startup Anduril Industries is planning to raise at least $500M in funding round at a pre-investment valuation of more than $7B.
- Meta AI, Facebook's parent company, said it's pursuing a long-term research project that will explore how the human brain processes text and speech to develop better AI language models.
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AI safety company Anthropic said it has raised $580M from the likes of FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and Skype founding engineer Jaan Tallinn. Founded by two former OpenAI researchers, the SF-based startup is focused on the research and development of reliable, large-scale AI systems. More: - Other participants in the Series B round included Caroline Ellison, Jim McClave, Nishad Singh, and the Center for Emerging Risk Research.
- Dario Amodei, OpenAI's former VP of research, founded Athropic with his sister Daniela Amodei, formerly OpenAI's VP of safety and policy. Both worked on the research lab's GPT-3 language model.
- Anthropic’s team is focused on AI safety and building better neural networks that are robust and explainable.
- This includes improved large-scale AI models with self-checking safeguards. It's also focused on the societal impacts of advancing AI.
- The company has a team of 40 based in San Francisco and is planning to grow its headcount and expand this year.
- It last raised $124M in a Series A round in 2021.
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An algorithm used in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, to flag families for further investigation by child protective services is facing pushback for potential racism, an AP investigation has found. Over five years, the algorithm has disproportionately flagged more Black children compared to white children for mandatory neglect investigations, according to Carnegie Mellon University research obtained by AP. More: - The researchers also found that social workers in the county disagreed with the algorithm's risk scores approximately a third of the time.
- The workers are allowed to override the tool, which the AP found was powered by data largely gathered about underprivileged people.
- Another study done by an auditor of the algorithm found that the tool, if allowed to act on its own, would have recommended investigations for two-thirds of all Black children compared to about half of all children.
- Critics worry such AI systems could fuel racial disparities that already exist in the child welfare system.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Intrinsic, Alphabet's subsidiary focused on robotics software, has acquired AI and robotics intelligence firm Vicarious for an undisclosed amount. Vicarious bills itself as "a turnkey robotics solutions integrator" that uses AI to automate tasks considered too complex for basic automation. More: - Founded in 2010, Vicarious has raised $250M over the years from big-name investors including Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Samsung.
- Under the deal, Vicarious CTO Dileep George and a smaller team will join Alphabet's AI research lab DeepMind.
- CEO Scott Phoenix will join as CCO at Intrinsic, along with a team of Vicarious engineers, roboticists, and business professionals.
- Intrinsic was spun out of Alphabet's X “moonshots” division last year to become an independent company. It is focused on software for automation robots, which can help make them more practical for smaller businesses.
- Other firms that have spun out of Alphabet's X R&D lab include Waymo for self-driving cars, Wing for delivery drones, and Verily for life sciences.
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 Industrial robot maker VisionNav Robotics has nabbed 500 million yuan ($76M) in a Series C extension round led by Chinese delivery giant Meituan and VC firm 5Y Capital. The Shenzhen-based company specializes in automated guided vehicles, including autonomous forklifts and indoor and outdoor tractors. More: - The round also saw participation from existing investors IDG, ByteDance, and Xiaomi founder Lei Jun’s Shunwei Capital.
- The fresh funding will go toward R&D, product performance and standardization, and large-scale implementation and located delivery.
- It's also expanding into other use cases, such as stacking and loading, which will require new training and updates to its software algorithms.
- VisionNav said it's now valued at $500M+, up from $393M in September when it raised $50M in a Series C funding round.
- The company says it has now delivered 1,500+ autonomous forklifts and tractors for 350+ projects. It also offers a smart AGV system.
- VisionNav's sales grew 10x from 2019 to 2021, and it forecasts a 300% sales growth in 2022 as the Chinese robotics industry continues its expansion.
THE ROBOT REPORT
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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has established its first council focused on AI innovation, ethics, and governance. The Artificial Intelligence Advancement Council will define the DOE's AI priorities and recommend strategies and implementation plans, according to a news release. More: - The council will also coordinate funding and hold agencies accountable for how their department use and deploy AI technologies.
- Its members will establish task forces and organizational changes for the AI & Technology Office (AITO), DOE Executive Secretariat, and AI Program Committee.
- It is co-chaired by the undersecretary for science and innovation and the undersecretary for nuclear security and administrator of security administration.
- Its remaining three members are AITO Director Pamela Isom, general counsel from the General Counsel's Office, and the director of the Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence.
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- General Motors and Untether AI will collaborate to develop artificial intelligence perception systems for autonomous vehicles.
- Nearly 80% of U.S. investors surveyed said they trust algorithmic-based stock trading more so than human traders, according to a poll commissioned by Kaiju Capital Management.
- An AI-powered autonomous "Mayflower" ship has departed from England to re-attempt the 3,000-nautical-mile transatlantic journey to the U.S. using only its AI systems to navigate.
- Jack in the Box will pilot Miso Robotics' AI-powered frying and drink-prepping robots at a San Diego restaurant.
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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. | |
Controlling Complexity: a video featuring Simone Biles. Presented by Axonius. Watch now. | |
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