
TechCrunch: Scimplify raises $25M to challenge China’s grip on critical materials with AI
Scimplify's annualized revenue run rate has tripled to $200 million as it eyes U.S. expansion.
An Indian startup has raised $25 million to use AI for producing specialty chemicals and critical materials, aiming to reduce manufacturers' dependence on Chinese suppliers. The company operates an AI platform that coordinates chemical research and manufacturing across a network of facilities, reducing typical development timelines from 12 to 18 months down to as little as two months. The startup serves semiconductors, defense, and energy sectors, and is expanding from India into the U.S. and Japan to meet growing demand for alternative sources of materials like tungsten derivatives and rare earth elements that are heavily concentrated in China's supply chains.
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With GPT-6 Astra and GPT-6.1 Sol, Codex, and Daybreak for cybersecurity, this AI lab builds agents that focus for days and improve with use.
Observability and information technology management software company SolarWinds Worldwide LLC today unveiled Avior, a standalone agentic artificial intelligence system built to take on first-line operations work for enterprise IT teams. The launch goes after the reliability problem that comes with letting AI agents act on production systems. SolarWinds argues that an agent producing different outcomes […] The post SolarWinds’ Avior pairs AI agents with deterministic execution for ent
Learn how Google DeepMind and GovTech Singapore uses lightweight on-device Gemma models to intercept conversational scams in private chats with zero cloud data egress.

Epic Games is shifting to an "AI first" development strategy for its collaboration with the Walt Disney Company, letting AI models write all the code and guide all the artwork for an upcoming shooter. That's according to a Bloomberg report, which cites unnamed people familiar with the project who commented on the significant pivot in internal development at the Unreal Engine maker. Human developers will be tasked with managing and guiding code and art assets generated by models such as Anthropic
Also reported by The Verge

University of Michigan spinout Laplace Intelligence uses AI agents and interactive simulation to stress-test robots and self-driving vehicles before deployment. The profitable startup is competing at TechCrunch Disrupt's Startup Battlefield.

The problem with giving everyone in a company access to AI tools is that people will use them in unexpected ways. And that fact is steadily seeding fears that companies now have new, gaping security holes in their systems or, at least, will soon.