Google Launches AI Futures Fund to Back Startups Using DeepMind Tools

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• Google Launches AI Futures Fund to Back Startups Using DeepMind Tools

• Gemma Surges: Google’s Open AI Model Reaches 150M Milestone

• Microsoft Eyes OpenAI Alternatives as Copilot Gets Smarter

• 💬 Let’s Fix This Prompt

• 🧰 Today’s AI Toolbox Pick

Google

Google Launches AI Futures Fund to Back Startups Using DeepMind Tools

🚀 TodayOnAI Insight: Google has launched the AI Futures Fund, a new investment initiative backing startups that leverage DeepMind’s AI models. The fund offers capital, early model access, and technical support—part of Google's growing push to shape the next wave of AI innovation.

🔍 Key Takeaways:

• AI Futures Fund invests in startups from seed to late stage, with flexible check sizes and no fixed deadlines.

• Selected startups gain early access to DeepMind models, technical guidance from Google experts, and Google Cloud credits.

• The fund operates outside a cohort model, evaluating companies on a rolling basis aligned with its AI thesis.

• Early participants include meme-generation app Viggle and webtoon platform Toonsutra.

• This follows broader Google efforts, including a $120M Global AI Opportunity fund and multiple $20M commitments to AI research and nonprofit initiatives.

💡 Why This Stands Out: Google’s AI Futures Fund signals a shift from simply building AI tools to actively curating their real-world applications through targeted investment. It reflects a broader strategy to cement Google’s ecosystem at the center of applied AI development. As startups increasingly define the frontier of innovation, who controls the early infrastructure and funding may shape the trajectory of the field itself.

AI

Gemma Surges: Google’s Open AI Model Reaches 150M Milestone

🚀 TodayOnAI Insight: Apple is launching AI-generated App Store review summaries in iOS 18.4, now in public beta. Powered by Apple Intelligence, the summaries condense user reviews into short, AI-written blurbs, offering a quick overview of app sentiment—starting in the U.S. in English.

🔍 Key Takeaways:

• AI-Powered Review Summaries: Apple Intelligence uses LLMs to generate weekly-updated review summaries for apps with sufficient user feedback.

• U.S.-Only at Launch: The feature debuts in English in the U.S., with global expansion and language support planned later this year.

• Moderation Tools Included: Users can report issues by long-pressing a summary; developers can flag problems via App Store Connect.

• Broader AI Rollout: iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 also bring Apple Intelligence to more users, including in the EU, along with new notification, Siri, and Visual Intelligence features.

💡 Why This Stands Out: This update signals Apple’s deeper integration of generative AI across its ecosystem. Review summaries aim to streamline decision-making for users—but may also amplify the impact of fake or manipulated reviews. As with Amazon and Google, Apple’s move reflects a growing trend: turning raw customer feedback into digestible AI-driven insights.

Microsoft

Microsoft Eyes OpenAI Alternatives as Copilot Gets Smarter

🚀 TodayOnAI Insight: Microsoft’s Build 2024 kicks off May 19, with Copilot and next-gen AI integrations expected to dominate the agenda. As its partnership with OpenAI evolves, Microsoft may unveil new models, expanded agentic features, and custom AI hardware.

🔍 Key Takeaways:

• Microsoft is likely to deepen Copilot’s integration across Windows and Microsoft 365, adding autonomous “agentic” task execution.

• The company is testing alternative AI models from xAI, Meta, Anthropic, and DeepSeek amid reports of tensions with OpenAI.

• A new in-house AI model family, MAI, may debut, possibly offered via API to rival OpenAI’s services.

• Leaks suggest an “Action” button in Copilot for Windows, enabling it to perform common tasks without user prompts.

• Microsoft may reveal Maia 2, the successor to its Azure Maia 100 AI Accelerator, with Marvell reportedly manufacturing the chip.

💡 Why This Stands Out: Build 2024 could mark a turning point in Microsoft’s AI roadmap—broadening its independence from OpenAI and embedding autonomous AI deeper into its ecosystem. If Copilot evolves into a true PC agent and MAI models go public, Microsoft could reshape both enterprise software and edge AI competition. Will this be the year Microsoft shifts from AI integrator to AI innovator?

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🧰 Today’s AI Toolbox Pick

• 🌌Jeda.ai (Whiteboard Tool): The world’s first all-in-one AI visual workspace.🛍SalesBop (Sales Tool): Your virtual sales mentor, providing evidence-based strategies through speech analysis, tone recognition, and objection handling.

• 💻RankU (Content Tool): Empowers YouTube Creators with AI insights and channel or video validation prompts.