TPG-backed Smith + Howard plans more AI and acquisitions
Accounting firm Smith + Howard, backed by TPG, is planning a new round of acquisitions, including two possible by year-end, and exploring AI for basic work.
Smith + Howard
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Wednesday 14 October 2026
Raimondo warns AI could repeat 'China shock' on jobs
Former US commerce secretary Gina Raimondo said rapid AI development risks disrupting the US economy like the China shock, speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum.
Booking Holdings unveils Seattle AI travel startup Vayo with $100M
Booking Holdings announced Vayo, a new AI travel startup based in Seattle, with a planned $100M investment. Details on product and launch timing were not given.
Booking Holdings
Crossmint argues agent payments need bridge to existing rails
Crossmint argues AI agent payments do not require new payment rails, just a bridge connecting agents to existing card and bank infrastructure.
Crossmint
More: Yahoo Finance
Oracle NetSuite launches AI-first QuickStart
Oracle NetSuite announced AI-first QuickStart, a new offering aimed at speeding AI adoption in NetSuite deployments. The source gives few product details beyond the launch.
Oracle NetSuiteClosed
Nvidia expands buyback, seen as bullish signal
An opinion piece from 24/7 Wall St. argues Nvidia's aggressive share buyback expansion is a flashing green light for investors. No new corporate announcement.
Nvidia
More: Yahoo Finance
OpenAI adds invisible watermark to AI-generated text
OpenAI is adding an invisible watermark to text produced by its AI models, part of provenance and detection efforts for AI-generated content. No rollout details were given.
OpenAIClosed
L-Acoustics software uses AI to isolate live vocals
L-Acoustics released new software that uses AI to isolate a singer's voice so it cuts through concert noise. Céline Dion and Harry Styles reportedly use the technology.
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Parallel Loop raises $6.6M to bring AI into enterprise workflows
Indian startup Parallel Loop raised $6.6 million in seed funding led by 3one4 Capital to integrate AI into enterprise workflows using forward-deployed engineers.
Parallel Loop
OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar discusses AI safety spending, cybersecurity at Dublin summit
At the International AI Summit in Dublin, OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar discussed the company's spending on AI safety and alignment and said cybersecurity could become a major business driver amid rising AI demand.
OpenAIClosed
Confido Health raises $12.5M for medical agentic AI
Confido Health nabs $12.5M to scale agentic AI across PE-backed medical groups, per Fierce Healthcare.
Confido Health
FLock.io unveils Qwen-based edge decision model for privacy
FLock.io released an edge decision model built on Qwen aimed at enhanced data privacy, claiming it outperforms larger LLMs on selected tasks.
FLock.ioOpen
More: Korea IT Times
Timken Precision Drives targets humanoid robot motion systems
Timken combines Cone Drive, SPINEA, CGI Motion, and Timken Encoders to build application-specific motion systems aimed at humanoid robots.
Timken
Anthropic's Princen discusses AI impact on startups at summit
Guillaume Princen, Anthropic's head of international startups, spoke at the International AI Summit in Dublin about AI's impact on businesses, frontier model spending and safety risks.
AnthropicClosed
More: Bloomberg.com
Perfect Corp partners Lierac on AI skin diagnosis
Perfect Corp is partnering with Laboratoires Lierac to bring AI-powered skin diagnosis to consumers in Europe, using the beauty brand's products and Perfect Corp's AI skin analysis technology.
Perfect Corp
DOCOsoft partners with SiriusPoint for AI claims platform
DOCOsoft, an Irish claims technology provider, is partnering with specialty underwriter SiriusPoint to deploy DOCOsoft Vew, an AI-powered cloud-native claims management SaaS, across Europe, North America and Bermuda.
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Uvi raises $7.5M to cut AI agent costs eightfold
Agentic AI startup Uvi raised $7.5 million in seed funding led by CT Innovations to help AI agents learn business context and run at roughly eight times lower cost.
Uvi
More: Dealroom
Evos raises $9M to build AI workers from experts
Evos raised $9M in pre-seed funding led by Uncork Capital and Field Ventures to build autonomous AI workers that learn from companies' most experienced employees, aimed at smaller businesses.
EvosClosed
Forgepoint raises $9.8M to automate manufacturing quotes
Forgepoint raised $9.8 million in seed funding co-led by Primary and a16z speedrun to put AI on the factory quote desk, automating custom price quotes for manufacturing firms.
Forgepoint
OpenAI Foundation grants $494K to disability services group
Community Connections received a $494,000 OpenAI Foundation grant to pioneer AI innovation in disability services.
OpenAI Foundation
Marklo raises $5M for agentic marketing platform
Marklo raised $5M to launch an agentic marketing platform aimed at modern commerce, using AI agents to run marketing workflows.
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Amp uses OpenAI GPT-6 Astra and GPT-Live-1 for non-code agents
OpenAI details how Amp builds AI agents that work beyond coding, using GPT-6 Astra, Ultrafast, GPT-Live-1 and Sign in with ChatGPT.
OpenAIClosedOfficial
OpenAI Daybreak lets SentinelOne cut malware analysis to hours
SentinelOne says OpenAI Daybreak reduces malware analysis from weeks to hours, freeing capacity to investigate more threats.
OpenAIOfficial
More: Blockchain News
Purdue builds wearable AI device to improve epinephrine injections
Purdue researchers created a wearable AI device designed to improve how epinephrine injections are administered to treat anaphylaxis.
Purdue University
More: Adafruit
Report: Nothing to launch two pairs of smart glasses
Leaks say Nothing is preparing two smart glasses models: one without a camera, and another that may add ChatGPT. Both are unconfirmed reports, with no pricing or release date given.
Nothing
More: 9to5Google
DeepL CEO discusses voice translation demand and competition
DeepL CEO Jarek Kutylowski discussed surging demand for voice-to-voice translation, competition with OpenAI and Anthropic, AWS strategy, European data sovereignty, workforce cuts and staying private.
DeepLClosed
Pi 1.0 coding agent released open-source with 40% token cut
Pi 1.0 is an open-source coding agent that its developers say cuts token use by 40% versus comparable agents.
PiOpenCodeFree
S&P downgrade raises questions on Oracle-OpenAI financing
An S&P downgrade spotlights the risk that Oracle is financing OpenAI's bet years before it pays off, raising concerns about the scale of AI infrastructure commitments.
Oracle
Ukraine accuses SpaceX of limiting Starlink for military drones
Ukraine accused SpaceX of crippling drone missions after the company limited Starlink service for Ukraine's high-speed military drones without prior warning, amid worsening US-Ukraine ties.
SpaceX
More: Tom's Hardware
Researchers build $250K Chrome exploit in six days with OpenAI model
Security researchers used a public OpenAI model to build a full-chain Chrome exploit worth $250,000 in six days, targeting a browser with roughly 1 billion users, The Hacker News and The Register report.
OpenAI
More: The Register
Vast Data pitches unified pipelines for sovereign AI data
Vast Data argues stitched-together AI pipelines struggle to keep sensitive embeddings, permissions and source data in sync, positioning unified architecture for sovereign AI inference.
Vast Data
ScaleFlux bets smarter SSD controllers ease AI memory bottleneck
ScaleFlux argues smarter SSD controllers can address the AI memory bottleneck as GPUs sit idle waiting for data and NAND flash takes on more processing work.
ScaleFlux
Apple researchers build Minions system for idle Mac GPU cloud
Apple researchers describe Minions, an internal system that runs AI inference jobs on idle Apple Silicon Macs when GPUs are scarce.
Apple
SemiAnalysis: AMD challenges Nvidia in AI inference
Analysis outlets examine whether AMD is a real threat to Nvidia or just a pricing lever, after SemiAnalysis found AMD challenging Nvidia in AI inference workloads.
AMD
More: Yahoo Finance, Benzinga
OpenAI strips UTM parameters from ChatGPT results
OpenAI removed UTM tracking parameters from links surfaced in ChatGPT results, a change affecting how publishers and marketers see referral traffic from the chatbot.
OpenAIClosed
Nscale and Figure sign partnership for physical AI
Nscale and humanoid robotics startup Figure announced a strategic partnership to power next-generation physical AI; reports say Nvidia may invest $1 billion in Figure AI.
Figure AI
More: Konsulteer
CX Today examines shift in AI agent observability
CX Today looks at recent changes in AI agent observability and what comes next for enterprises monitoring autonomous agents.
Semi-humanoid robot completes commercial laundry shift
A semi-humanoid robot can complete a full commercial laundry shift, per American Laundry News, pointing to automation in laundry operations.
Tech giants race to ship AI gadgets for holidays
CNBC reports tech companies are racing to get AI gadgets onto shelves for the holiday shopping season, betting this is the year they make shopping lists.
Wired reviews second-generation Friend AI necklace
Wired reviews the second iteration of the viral Friend AI necklace, finding it louder and less interesting than the original pendant.
FriendClosed