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Welcome to this edition of Loop!

To kick off your week, I’ve rounded-up the most important technology and AI updates that you should know about.

‏‏‎ ‎ HIGHLIGHTS ‏‏‎ ‎

Let's jump in!

1. Harvard dropouts launch AI smart glasses that can secretly record you

We start this week with two Harvard dropouts, who are betting that people want AI glasses that never stop listening. Yes, seriously.

If this sounds familiar to you, these are the same researchers that modified Meta’s smart glasses and used it to identify people in real-time.

In several examples, ordinary people will walk past and are unwittingly “scanned” by the glasses. The Meta glasses then used facial recognition to identify the person’s name, address, phone number, and job role.

Over $1m was raised to develop these custom-built smart glasses, called the Halo X, which can continuously record and transcribe conversations. A display is then used to present this back to the user.

Essentially, they’re trying to bring ChatGPT into your day-to-day life and answer questions as you look around.

But the privacy concerns are profound. Unlike Meta's Ray-Bans, which flashes a light when recording, Halo X doesn’t alert other people that it is actively recording.

That’s worrying for everyone, given their previous project showed that smart glasses can easily identify people and where they live.

2. Pentagon funds project that will air-drop supplies from space

Blue Origin and Anduril have secured the defence contracts and will study how military cargo could be sent from space.

The US military's vision here is rather ambitious. They want to create an on-demand delivery service, which can reach anywhere on Earth and re-supply their troops within an hour.

Blue Origin has been selected for its expertise with rockets and transporting materials into orbit, while Anduril specialises in autonomous weapons and the software that controls them.

Both companies have been tasked with creating a re-entry container, which can hold 5-10 tonnes of military supplies and survive the return to earth.

Although, they’re not the only companies working in this area. Inversion Space are a startup that has secured a $71 million contract from the US Space Force and are developing their own re-entry vehicle.

They won that contract last September, which I wrote about here. The Pentagon has clearly been impressed by that work, as it is now expanding the research and wants to accelerate the technology’s deployment.

3. Google announces an AI-powered fitness coach

The company has unveiled its most ambitious Fitbit feature yet: an AI health coach that promises to be your fitness trainer, sleep guru, and wellness advisor - all rolled into one.

According to Google, it will be able to access your real-time health data and can learn your preferences over time.

This could be particularly useful for people with diabetes, as it can access your glucose monitor and use that data to answer your questions.

Obviously, that’s a high-risk use case and it’s well known that LLMs can make mistakes, so I expect that Google has plenty of safeguards in place.

What I found particularly interesting is how it can generate workout plans and organise these around your day. For example, if you only have 30 mins to exercise before work, it will change your workout plan to accommodate this.

It seems like a very interesting feature and worth a further look. I’ve added a link to Google’s announcement below.

4. Nuro raises $203 million to develop autonomous vehicles

Nuro's pivot from hardware to software appears to be paying off, with the autonomous driving startup closing a $203 million Series E round and has brought Nvidia in as an investor.

The company has secured an additional $97 million, building on the $106 million that it raised in April. While this sounds impressive on the surface, Nuro has seen its valuation fall in recent years as investors become more reluctant to fund autonomous vehicles.

Its post-money valuation now sits at $6 billion, which is down 30% from the 2021 peak of $8.6 billion. This is due to a wider shift in the autonomous vehicle sector, as players like Cruise and Ghost Autonomy struggled to contain losses and were shut down.

Nuro was forced to abandon its original plan and no longer operates a fleet of delivery robots. Instead, it licences its self-driving software to established players as a more sustainable business model.

5. Group14 secures $463 million to make advanced EV batteries

The US startup specialises in silicon anodes, which allow electric vehicle batteries to have 50% better energy density and can be fully charged in under 10-minutes.

This new funding round is a strong vote of confidence in Group14’s technology. Microsoft, Porsche, and South Korea’s battery giant SK, have all invested in the company.

Silicon anodes have been the holy grail of battery tech for years, capable of holding ten times more electrons than traditional graphite.

But pure silicon can crumble over time, as it expands and contracts during charging cycles. Instead, Group14 has been able to create microscopic scaffolds that give the silicon room to breathe and maintain its structure.

As car manufacturers and the wider public push for cheaper EVs, the timing couldn’t be better.

US government buys 10% stake in Intel

Intel has agreed to sell the US government a 10% stake worth $8.9 billion. It’s highly unusual, as the federal government hasn’t taken this type of action since the 2008 auto industry bailout.

The deal emerged following negotiations with Intel’s CEO, who had been under pressure from President Trump and told to resign over his Chinese business ties.

The US administration has confirmed that it won't take a seat on the board, or have any other governance rights.

For Intel, the deal provides some much-needed investment as it struggles to catch-up with rivals. The company completely missed both the smartphone and AI revolutions, with the executives instead prioritising huge stock buybacks and compensation packages.

From 1990-2024, Intel spent a whopping $152 billion to buyback shares in the company. As a result, they invested less in R&D and quickly lost market share to rivals - such as Nvidia - and saw their chips fall behind in performance.

For reference, Nvidia is now worth over $4.3 trillion and its technology is being used to train new AI models.

As you’d expect, Intel shares jumped over 6% on the news, but they’ll need a lot more than government investment if they want to get the company back on track.

💧 Google says an AI text prompt only uses 5 drops of water, but experts say it's misleading

🤔 OpenAI questions if Meta was involved in Elon Musk's $97 billion takeover bid

📊 Excel now includes Copilot to help you fill in spreadsheets

😴 Eight Sleep raises $100 million for AI-powered sleep tech

🖼️ Meta partners with Midjourney on AI image and video models

📱 Notion now works without an internet connection

⚛️ Aalo Atomics raises $100 million to build a microreactor and data centre together

🛑 Meta pauses AI hiring, following its poaching spree

💰 SoftBank makes a $2 billion investment in Intel

🔓 Workday says that hackers stole personal data in a recent security breach

🖥️ Nvidia reportedly halts production on its H20 AI chips

🚕 Waymo approved to start autonomous vehicle testing in New York City

FieldAI has quietly amassed $405 million in funding to tackle one of robotics' thorniest challenges: creating an AI system that actually understands the physical world.

The startup, which has kept its fundraising under wraps until last week, secured $314 million in its latest round alone.

Rather than building AI models for specific robots, FieldAI is developing what it calls "Field Foundation Models". These are universal models that can control different types of robots, from warehouse humanoids to delivery robots.

Unlike other vision or language models, the team has trained the new models with a “physics-first” approach - allowing the robot to handle uncertainty as it navigates new environments and makes it safer for humans nearby.

Ultimately, they hope that this will make their robots more reliable and easier for companies to deploy.

Since launching in 2023, FieldAI has already secured contracts in construction, energy, and delivery - although it hasn’t disclosed those client names yet.

With this latest round of funding, the startup plans to use the money on R&D work and to scale production further. If you want to learn more about the company, I’ve included a link below.

This Week’s Art

We’ve covered quite a bit this week, including:

If you found something interesting in this week’s edition, please feel free to share this newsletter with your colleagues.

Or if you’re interested in chatting with me about the above, simply reply to this email and I’ll get back to you.

Have a good week!

Liam

Share with Others

If you found something interesting in this week’s edition, feel free to share this newsletter with your colleagues.

Liam McCormick is a Senior AI Engineer and works within Kainos' Innovation team. He identifies business value in emerging technologies, implements them, and then shares these insights with others.