TechCrunch AI
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1 day ago
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Apple sued OpenAI for allegedly recruiting Apple employees to steal trade secrets related to hardware development, with OpenAI planning to launch a mobile smart speaker. The lawsuit names OpenAI's chief hardware officer Tang Tan and alleges over 400 Apple employees now work at OpenAI. The legal action could delay OpenAI's hardware plans and complicate its confidential IPO filing expected as early as late 2024 or early 2025.
Sakana AI
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Sakana AI launched its Applied Team in 2025 to deploy cutting-edge generative AI and AI Agent technology into real-world applications, particularly in finance and defense sectors. The team currently has approximately 35 members combining AI engineers, domain experts, and business professionals who work in rapid development cycles, with engineers and business staff collaborating closely to translate research into deployed solutions. This integrated structure of researchers, engineers, and industry specialists working together enables faster iteration and allows AI applications to move from automating existing workflows to supporting higher-level strategic decision-making.
Sakana AI
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Sakana AI held its first Applied Engineer Open House on August 7, 2025, with approximately 70 attendees in-person and over 200 online, showcasing the company's work on AI implementation in finance and defense sectors. The company focuses strategically on financial and defense domains as core business areas, leveraging its world-class research team to solve Japan's critical challenges through applied AI engineering. Sakana AI seeks to expand beyond research publications by building practical AI applications that deeply integrate with customer operations, maintaining close collaboration between its R&D and business teams through informal knowledge-sharing mechanisms.
Sakana AI
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Sakana AI and Daiwa Securities Group have formed a long-term partnership to jointly develop an AI-powered wealth management consulting platform. The platform will use Sakana AI's proprietary AI models to provide personalized financial services across customer segments, with development and implementation proceeding in phases through an established working group. This marks Sakana AI's first partnership with a securities firm and represents Daiwa Securities' execution of its digital innovation strategy to address changing market conditions and customer needs.
Sakana AI
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Sakana AI and Daiwa Securities Group announced a partnership to develop a Total Asset Consulting Platform powered by Sakana AI's models for personalized financial services. The companies will establish a working group to develop and implement the system in stages, with the platform designed to serve clients ranging from new investors to high-net-worth individuals. The collaboration combines Daiwa's financial expertise with Sakana AI's AI agent technology to create new digital financial services offerings.
Sakana AI
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Sakana AI launched its Applied Team in early 2025 to commercialize AI technology developed by its research division, focusing initially on finance and defense sectors in Japan. The team has already begun partnerships with major domestic and international clients and is expanding rapidly with professionals from leading tech companies and industry-specific experts. The Applied Team works closely with the 30+ research staff through informal collaboration mechanisms, with both teams maintaining distinct missions while sharing knowledge and insights.
Sakana AI
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Sakana AI launched a Business Development Division to deploy AI technology for Japanese companies and government agencies addressing business and social challenges. The company is introducing team members from its Applied Team who work on developing AI agents, software engineering, project management, and product delivery, with specific focus on defense applications and long-horizon business tasks. Team members are applying research outcomes to build scalable products that solve real-world problems while developing specialized AI models for environments without cloud connectivity.
TechCrunch AI
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1 day ago
Current AI, a nonprofit founded in February 2025 with $400 million in committed funding from governments and foundations, is building open-source AI infrastructure to serve underrepresented languages and communities excluded from major commercial AI systems. The organization deployed $3.2 million in grants last month across four organizations in Kenya, Lebanon, and Brazil, and launched an open-source chatbot in Geneva this month. By keeping data and models local and giving communities control over their information, Current AI aims to create a publicly available alternative to proprietary AI systems, similar to how the World Wide Web operates.
