Uber and Waymo team up for driverless Uber Eats

Drone-delivered Amazon packages are still a thing of the future, but as of last week, residents of Phoenix can get restaurant meals delivered by a driverless car. This development comes thanks to a joint project between Uber’s popular Uber Eats meal delivery service, and Waymo’s autonomous vehicle technology. Waymo has pioneered driverless taxi services in multiple US cities, and the collaboration with Uber Eats is a creative but logical extension of the system.

Uber and Waymo team up for driverless Uber Eats

Apple reportedly developing robots for the home

Apple recently scrapped its trouble-plagued driverless car project, and is now turning its attention to, among other things, household robots. Rumors are many, confirmed details are few (and may be still in flux), but Apple’s proven expertise in product design and user-friendly interfaces could make household devices a profitable niche for them.

Apple reportedly developing AI robots for the home

Saudi Arabia uses money to muscle into AI

The Saudis are sitting on a dwindling (though still massive) supply of oil, and an ever-growing pile of cash. Since AI is, apparently, the new oil, their newest ploy to extend the vast fortunes of the Kingdom is to use billions of dollars in their sovereign wealth investment fund to snap up stakes in promising AI companies. The sheer size of the investments the Saudis could make in this sector could alter the trajectory of the entire industry.

Saudi Arabia uses money to muscle into AI

Best Buy, Google Cloud, and Accenture partner on AI customer service

Big box electronic store Best Buy has teamed up on an ambitious AI project with Google’s cloud service and with Accenture (formerly known as Andersen Consulting until that unfortunate multi-billion fraud with Enron tanked the parent company). The three giants will collaborate on a multi-pronged initiative, which includes developing an AI-powered virtual assistant for customer self-service, due later this summer, plus AI assistants for employees of the company to help them handle customer requests, stocking, and logistics. The vision is to infuse all parts of the company’s operations with AI, for greater efficiency.

Best Buy, Google Cloud, and Accenture partner on AI customer service

EBay launches “Shop the Celebrity Look” with AI

EBay users can shop for clothing from a celebrity photo, finding either the exact article of apparel that the celebrity is wearing, or budget-friendly look-alikes from the EBay site. AI is used in the system to find matches in the same style as the original.

EBay launches “Shop the Celebrity Look” with AI

Google Gemini 1.5 Pro chatbot available in 180+ countries

There are 3 leading AI chatbots - OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and Google’s Gemini. All are similarly capable. ChatGPT gets by far the most use. Claude is considered by many as the best of the three, by a tiny margin. Yet it is Google’s recently released Gemini model that comes in number 2 in usage, probably because people are so used to using Google for search. Google’s most powerful free version, Gemini 1.5 Pro, is now available nearly worldwide. The user interface is a bit spartan, but the functionality is competitive with both of its major rivals.

Google Gemini 1.5 Pro chatbot available in 180+ countries

Try Google’s free version of Gemini

California community to use AI + drones against active shooters

Rocklin, California has contracted with an outside security firm to deploy a system that uses AI and drones to detect and deter active shooters in schools. How turning schools into high-tech warzones is a sensible policy for keeping our children safe is not explained in the article.

California community to use AI and drones against active shooters

LM Studio lets you run AI on your own laptop

Large AI models like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini are powerful, but sometimes a girl just wants to geek out with an AI of her own. Unfortunately, open-source models require lots of tweaking to work on your own hardware, tweaking that is often beyond the skills of the non-programmer. Solutions to this dilemma are popping up, and one of them is LM Studio. LM Studio is a downloadable user interface front end that works for a variety of open source models, and you can then use LM Studio to download and configure an AI model on your own computer. Then geek out to your heart’s content.

LM Studio lets you run AI on your own laptop

Microbots being developed to target cancers

Researchers at the Technical University of Munich are developing laser-guided microbots to attack cancer cells, or to stimulate wound healing.

Microbots being developed to target cancers

Research article in Advanced Healthcare Materials

FDA clears first AI stethoscope to detect CHF in the PCP’s office

Sophisticated diagnostic tools are being reimagined as AI-powered frontline devices for the primary care office. Last week the FDA cleared Eko Systems low ejection fraction detection system, embodied in an AI stethoscope.

FDA clears first AI stethoscope to detect CHF in the PCP’s office

Kaiser uses AI to clear 32% of patient messages from physician inboxes

Kaiser used some old-school Natural Language Processing tech plus a soupcon of AI to route patient messages for doctors to MAs and other support staff for resolution. An analysis of some 4.5 million messages showed that 32% of the messages were deflected from the physicians’ inboxes, easing administrative burden on clinicians.

Kaiser uses AI to clear 32% of patient messages from physician inboxes

JAMA Network Research Letter on the project

CB Insights top 100 AI startups includes 7 in healthcare

Market Intelligence firm CB Insights publishes an annual list of the top 100 AI startups. This year’s list includes 7 in healthcare:

OpenEvidence - An AI-powered UpToDate competitor

Bioptimus - wants to build the first AI foundation model for biology

Gesund.ai - tools to make AI adhere to privacy and compliance mandates

Isomorphic Labs - AI drug discovery

Iambic Therapeutics - also AI drug discovery

CHARM Therapeutics - yet another AI drug discovery platform

Genesis Therapeutics - still more AI drug discovery

This list can be argued with (a lot), but it does have some credence in the VC and funding worlds, so getting on the list can make fundraising a bit easier, which in itself can help lead to success.

CB Insights list of top 100 AI startups includes 7 in healthcare