Scale AI alum raises $9M for AI serving critical industries in MENA

✨TodayOnAI’s Daily Drop

• Scale AI alum raises $9M for AI serving critical industries in MENA

• Silicon Valley spooks the AI safety advocates

• Meta's AI Now Suggests Edits to Your Unshared Photos

• 💬 Let’s Fix This Prompt

• 🧰 Today’s AI Toolbox Pick

Scale AI

Scale AI alum raises $9M for AI serving critical industries in MENA

🚀 TodayOnAI Insight: 1001 AI, a startup led by former Scale AI director Bilal Abu-Ghazaleh, has raised a $9M seed round to build AI-native infrastructure for physical industries across the Middle East and North Africa. With early traction in sectors like aviation and construction, the company aims to automate operational complexity in some of the Gulf’s most inefficient, high-value industries.

🔍 Key Takeaways:

• AI for the physical world: 1001 AI is developing an operating system that automates real-time decisions in sectors like airports, ports, and oil and gas.

• Backed by top-tier investors: The $9M seed round was led by CIV, General Catalyst, and Lux Capital, with participation from notable angels including Chris Ré and Amjad Masad.

• Data-driven orchestration: The system integrates with clients’ existing software to model workflows and issue automated directives—replacing manual interventions with real-time AI decisions.

• Client-embedded model: The team runs co-development sprints on-site to tailor the platform to each industry’s operational realities.

• First deployment by year-end: 1001 AI is targeting its initial product launch in construction, with plans to expand across the Gulf before going global.

💡 Why This Stands Out: As AI saturates digital workflows, 1001 AI is turning its focus to where inefficiencies still reign: physical operations. The Gulf’s infrastructure-heavy economies, with billions in government-backed mega-projects, offer a high-stakes testbed. In a region eager to leapfrog with AI, 1001’s ambition to become the orchestration layer for mission-critical industries could shape how operational AI scales globally.

AI

Silicon Valley spooks the AI safety advocates

🚀 TodayOnAI Insight: Silicon Valley power players, including David Sacks and OpenAI’s Jason Kwon, ignited backlash this week by accusing AI safety advocates of pursuing hidden agendas. The dispute reveals intensifying friction between industry influence and the growing AI safety movement.

🔍 Key Takeaways:

• David Sacks accused Anthropic of “regulatory capture,” claiming it fearmongers to pass laws like California’s SB 53, which mandates safety disclosures from large AI firms.

• OpenAI subpoenaed seven nonprofits, including Encode, seeking communications tied to Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg after several groups criticized OpenAI’s restructuring.

• OpenAI’s chief of mission alignment publicly criticized the subpoenas, calling the tactic questionable.

• AI safety leaders say the pressure campaign reflects attempts to silence critics and deter regulatory advocacy.

• Pew data shows the public’s top AI concerns include job loss and deepfakes — diverging from the existential risks often spotlighted by safety groups.

💡 Why This Stands Out: As calls for AI accountability grow louder, the industry’s most powerful players are pushing back — sometimes with legal threats. The clash highlights a deeper divide: should AI be governed by public safeguards or by the companies racing to deploy it? As scrutiny intensifies, so too does the resistance — a sign the safety movement is hitting a nerve.

Meta AI

Meta's AI Now Suggests Edits to Your Unshared Photos

🚀 TodayOnAI Insight: Meta is expanding a Facebook feature that uses AI to suggest photo edits from your camera roll—even before you’ve shared them. Now available in the U.S. and Canada, the tool offers AI-generated collages, themes, and recaps, nudging users to post directly to Facebook.

🔍 Key Takeaways:

• Meta AI can now access and suggest edits to unshared photos on your phone’s camera roll.

• The feature requires opt-in for "cloud processing," enabling AI to create content like birthday themes, recaps, and stylized edits.

• Uploaded photos aren’t used for ad targeting or AI training—unless you share or edit them using Meta's tools.

• Users grant Meta permission to analyze images and facial features, even if the photos remain unpublished.

• Settings are accessible in Facebook’s Preferences under “Camera roll sharing suggestions,” with toggles for suggestions and cloud processing.

💡 Why This Stands Out: This move deepens Meta’s integration of personal data into its AI ecosystem while walking a fine line on privacy. By tapping into users’ private photo libraries, Meta gains behavioral signals that could power future AI features—without needing public posts. How much control are users really handing over in exchange for a few creative suggestions?

✨ See how a simple prompt upgrade can unlock better AI output.

🔹 The Original Prompt

At first glance, this prompt might seem okay. But it's too broad — and that limits the quality of AI-generated results. Let’s improve it using prompt engineering best practices.

✅ The Improved Prompt

💡 Why It's Better

• Specific audience: Targets decision-makers in mid-sized companies.

• Contextual focus: Emphasizes emerging tech and practical solutions.

• Actionable output: Requests summaries and titles to spark execution.

• Tone and style: Guides the type of content (insightful, engaging, relevant).

🛠️ Learn how to adapt this prompt for SaaS, AI tools, dev teams & more →
Read the full PromptPilot breakdown

💡 Bonus Tool: Want to generate and master prompts instantly?
👉 Try PromptPilot by TodayOnAI (Free to use)

📰 More from the AI World

• Meta previews new parental controls for its AI experiences

• Reddit expands its AI-powered search to 5 new languages

• OpenAI pauses Sora video generations of Martin Luther King Jr.

• Kayak launches an ‘AI Mode’ for travel questions, search, and bookings

🧰 Today’s AI Toolbox Pick

• ⏳TableFlow (Marketing Tool): An open-source CSV importer to onboard customer data faster.

• 🏀HoopsAI (Finance Tool): Provides instant, real-time-generated trading ideas tailored to fit you perfectly.

• 🛒Penny (Shopping Tool): A personal shopping assistant that helps you shop smarter and save more easily.