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Electric Sheep raises $21.5M to make off-the-shelf lawnmowers autonomous

TechCrunch

Along with general availability, the company is also announcing a sizable Series A to the tune of $21.5 After making some tough internal decisions to delay launch back in 2020, the robot mower is still MIA. Electric Sheep Robotics’s (yeah, yeah, Philip K. Dick, et al.) Image Credits: Electric Sheep Robotics. has some form of lawn. $20

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Drone data scanning company Skycatch announces a $25M raise

TechCrunch

Founded in 2013, the Bay Area-based company provides centimeter-accurate 3D scanning services, primarily for construction sites and mining operations. In particular, the company is seeking to work with sites where connectivity is limited. That is typically mining companies, operating in all of these remote regions.”.

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How AI orchestration has become more important than the models themselves

CIO

As many companies that have already adopted off-the-shelf GenAI models have found, getting these generic LLMs to work for highly specialized workflows requires a great deal of customization and integration of company-specific data. In 2023 alone, Gartner found companies that deployed AI spent between $300,000 and $2.9

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Banks bet on AI to deliver digital efficiencies

CIO

Even beyond customer contact, bankers see generative AI as a key transformative technology for their company. In the face of shrinking budgets and rising customer expectations, banks are increasingly relying on AI, according to a recent study by consulting firm Publicis Sapiens.

Banking 212
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CIOs’ lack of success metrics dooms many AI projects

CIO

Many organizations have launched dozens of AI proof-of-concept projects only to see a huge percentage fail, in part because CIOs don’t know whether the POCs are meeting key metrics, according to research firm IDC. The potential cost can be huge, with some POCs costing millions of dollars, Saroff says.

Metrics 187
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AI as a service to solve your business problems? Guess again

TechCrunch

SaaS, PaaS – and now AIaaS: Entrepreneurial, forward-thinking companies will attempt to provide customers of all types with artificial intelligence-powered plug-and-play solutions for myriad business problems. Industries of all types are embracing off-the-shelf AI solutions.

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5 Things To Look For When Evaluating AI Startups

Crunchbase News

First, LLM technology is readily accessible via APIs from large AI research companies such as OpenAI. LLM customization Is the startup using a mostly off-the-shelf LLM — e.g., OpenAI ’s ChatGPT — or a meaningfully customized LLM? By Bob Ma According to a report by McKinsey , generative AI could have an economic impact of $2.6