☕️ Figure 03's Grand Reveal, The EU's $1.1B Move & A Microsoft X Harvard Partnership

Following some technical difficulties on our side, AI Tangle returns, as does Figure AI with its third-generation robot. At the same time, the EU proposes a $1.1 billion AI spending plan, and Microsoft signs a licensing deal with Harvard for a better Copilot.

Here are our key takeaways in more detail:

Join us at AI Tangle as we untangle this week's happenings in AI!

On the 27th and 28th October at the UNC Charlotte City Center, join ​the AI//FORWARD premier AI conference​ for senior business executives and enterprise leaders.

Over those two days, you will learn first-hand about strategic frameworks, operational playbooks, and P2P exchange for leaders tasked with building out their AI from pilots to full-scale enterprise productivity, with keynotes and workshops held by AI leaders like The AIE Network's very own John Willis and Mark. R. Hinkle.

However, spots to the event are limited - ​grab your invitation and purchase a ticket now!

💻 ​Gemini in Your Browser​ - Google DeepMind has rolled out a new computer use AI model powered by Gemini 2.5 Pro, available via the Gemini API.

🔧 ​AI in Customer Support​ - A new autonomous support agent from Zendesk claims it can solve roughly 80% of support issues without human intervention.

🌍 ​A Global Expansion​ - OpenAI's affordable ChatGPT Go plan spreads even further throughout Southeast Asia, now available in 16 more countries.

✏️ ​Designing With AI​ - Figma has announced a new partnership with Google, bringing a variety of Gemini models and Imagen 4 to its creative platform.

Figure AI debuts its latest humanoid robot, Figure 03, meant for the home and business

Robotics startup ​Figure AI has released its first third-generation humanoid robot​ for real-world household and business use, dubbed Figure 03. The robot uses ​Figure AI's in-house VLA model, Helix​, and is able to perform household chores such as washing dishes, doing the laundry, and cleaning floors via simple voice commands, ​as shown in a YouTube showcase​. Figure AI says that the robot is designed with mass production in mind, claiming its ​BotQ facility​ is set to produce 12,000 units per year with a four-year target of 100,000 units, though other details, like pricing and release dates, remain unknown.

The European Committee unveils a $1.1 billion AI plan to secure sovereignty amid US and Chinese dominance

The European Commission unveiled ​a new €1 billion ($1.1 billion) "Apply AI Strategy" initiative​ to speed up domestic AI adoption in order to reduce reliance on US and Chinese technologies. The plan is funded through Horizon Europe and Digital Europe and aims to target EU sectors such as healthcare, energy, automotive, and manufacturing. President Ursula von der Leyen said the aim is to make it so that "the future of AI is made in Europe" together with ​its recent landmark EU AI Act​ and other investments.

Microsoft pens a licensing deal with the Harvard Medical School to improve its Copilot AI assistant

Microsoft has recently inked a licensing deal with the Harvard Medical School to grant it access to its consumer health content, from everyday diseases to wellness topics. The paid-for licensing deal, as one might expect, also includes a clause to allow Microsoft to integrate Harvard's vetted medical data into its Copilot AI assistant. The move is one of many of Microsoft's recent attempts to diversify, such as ​its deal to integrate Anthropic's Claude into Microsoft 365 apps last month​.

Reflection AI raises $2 billion in funding at a reported $8 billion valuation

Open-source AI startup Reflection AI has recently secured $2 billion in funding, led by Nvidia, as announced in a blog post. ​Additional details from The New York Times​ reveal that the round was raised on a valuation of $8 billion, with the new funding intended for expanding global infrastructure, investing in its research teams, safety, and scaling up its models. The company was founded in 2024 by ex-Google DeepMind researchers Misha Laskin and Ioannis Antonoglou, with its debut AI coding agent, Asimov, having been released in July of this year.

SoftBank announces a $5.4 billion acquisition of Swiss engineering firm ABB's robotics unit

Earlier this week, ​SoftBank Group announced that it will acquire Swiss engineering firm ABB's robotics division for $5.4 billion​ as it looks to position itself at the center of AI development. The deal, pending regulatory approval, will put an end to ABB's plan to spin off its robotics unit as a separate company and is expected to yield $5.3 billion in cash proceeds. ​In a statement by SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son​, he declared its next frontier to be physical AI, merging advanced robotics with equally advanced AI.

​Krisp​ - Maximize your productivity in meetings with Krisp, the AI meeting assistant that can do it all, combining recording, transcription, and breakthrough voice technology natively on your device.

​Rask​ - Rask brings language localization at scale to your fingertips - engage with new audiences in over 130 languages with live dubbing and translation of audio and video content, from podcasts to online lectures.

​Supernormal​ - Spend less time writing, polishing, and sharing notes and more time on the work that matters with the help of Supernormal's AI-powered meeting transcriptions.

​Scottie​ - Scottie turns plain prompts into working, cloud-run AI agents leveraging top industry models in 5 minutes that can easily integrate into over 200 productivity tools, from Slack to Google Sheets.

Accelerating Clinical Research with AI (​6-min read​)

To help with the study of new treatments and map disease progression, researchers at MIT have developed and written a paper on a new AI-based tool that helps workers rapidly segment new medial imaging datasets.

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🔮 The Artificially Intelligent Enterprise - ​5 Tips to Supercharge Your ChatGPT Results​

💡 AI CIO - ​"Failing AI" Narrative Misses the Mark​

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