Welcome back to your daily dossier talking AI, robotics, crypto and the future of tech. 👾

In today’s edition we are tackling the following:

🔎 DuckDuckGo enhances its AI search tool while keeping it optional.
🔬 US unveils ‘scientist’ humanoid robot to boost drug discovery experiments.
💰 Bitwise taps Maple Finance as 'battle-tested' DeFi lender.
📖 Notion's lost years, near collapse during COVID, and staying small to move fast.
⚛️ Renaissance Fusion raises €32M to radically simplify complex fusion reactors.

AI

• DuckDuckGo enhances its AI search tool while keeping it optional

  • DuckDuckGo has announced significant enhancements to its search engine by integrating AI-generated answers and an AI chatbot.

  • Initially launched in 2023 as DuckAssist, these features have evolved to source information from across the web, not limited to Wikipedia.

  • Users have control over the frequency of these AI-generated answers and can adjust their visibility or opt out entirely.

• Ataraxis AI raised $20M to personalize cancer treatment

  • Ataraxis AI has secured $20.4 million in Series A funding to advance its AI-driven cancer diagnostics platform.

  • The company's flagship product, Ataraxis Breast, is an AI-native prognostic and predictive platform for breast cancer.

  • The investment will support the U.S. launch of Ataraxis Breast later this year and facilitate the development of additional AI-driven diagnostics.

• Qwen-with-Questions was Alibaba’s answer to OpenAI’s o1

  • Alibaba's QwQ-32B is a 32-billion-parameter reasoning model designed to enhance logical reasoning and problem-solving tasks.

  • It employs reinforcement learning techniques to improve performance in areas such as mathematical reasoning and coding.

  • The model is open-source under the Apache 2.0 license, allowing both commercial and research use.

ROBOTICS

• US unveils ‘scientist’ humanoid robot to boost drug discovery experiments

  • ​Insilico Medicine has introduced the first bipedal humanoid robot into its fully automated, AI-driven drug discovery laboratory.

  • This humanoid, aptly named ‘Supervisor,’ is designed to enhance data acquisition and generation, effectively learning and replicating the tasks.

  • The deployment of ‘Supervisor’ exemplifies the company's commitment to leveraging cutting-edge technology.

• Australian Defence Forces receive backpackable counter-explosive robots

  • The Australian Defence Force has integrated advanced backpackable robots into its operations.

  • These Squad Packable Utility Robots are designed to enhance counter-explosive measures, providing soldiers with safety during missions.

  • Weighing approximately 13 kilograms, these compact robots can be deployed from a backpack in under a minute.

• Huawei shows off world’s first 5G-A powered humanoid robot

  • At MWC25 in Barcelona, Huawei stunned attendees by unveiling the world’s first humanoid robot powered by 5G-Advanced technology.

  • The robot showcased its AI-driven adaptability, interacting seamlessly with users and responding to voice commands in a human-like manner.

  • Unlike conventional robots that rely on pre-programmed actions, this one learned and adjusted in real time.

CRYPTO

• Bitwise taps Maple Finance as 'battle-tested' DeFi lender

  • Bitwise Asset Management has partnered with Maple Finance, a DeFi lending platform, to enhance its crypto investment offerings.

  • Maple Finance, known for its robust risk management and innovative lending solutions, has been recognized as a ‘battle-tested’ DeFi lender.

  • By leveraging Maple Finance's infrastructure, Bitwise seeks to offer diversified investment strategies of decentralized finance.

• RedStone launches RED token, enabling staking and paving

  • RedStone has launched the RED token on Ethereum, with 10% of its total 1 billion supply allocated to the community through claim activities.

  • A claims checker for the first airdrop went live on Wednesday, enabling ‘RedStone Expedition’ participants to check their allocations ahead.

  • The initiative was a community engagement and reward program launched in late 2023, where participants earned ‘RedStone Gems’.

• Deribit launches Block RFQ system to improve liquidity

  • Deribit has launched a Block Request-For-Quote interface, allowing traders to execute large over-the-counter trades.

  • The feature, available to all users but tailored for high-volume traders, enables direct negotiation of block trades.

  • Deribit announced the new system shortly after Sygnum Bank expanded its custody platform to include the derivatives exchange.

CONTENT

• Notion's lost years and staying small to move fast with Ivan Zhao

  • Ivan Zhao emphasizes the importance of hiding a long-term vision behind features that users immediately want, making adoption easier.

  • Notion went through several iterations and full code rewrites before achieving product-market fit, demonstrating resilience and adaptability.

  • Ivan believes in designing products with both functionality and aesthetic sensibility, maintaining a high standard for craft while scaling.

• DeepSeek, reasoning models, and the future of LLMs

  • a16z partners Guido Appenzeller and Marco Mascorro explored the significance of DeepSeek, and the evolution of LLMs.

  • DeepSeek has garnered attention for its advanced capabilities and cost-effective design, positioning it as a notable competitor.

  • This discussion underscores the transformative potential of reasoning models in artificial intelligence.

• Lovable achieves 85% day-30 retention better than ChatGPT

  • Anton Osika, Co-Founder and CEO of Lovable, leads one of Europe's fastest-growing startups, offering AI-powered app creation.

  • In just three months, Lovable has scaled to $17.5M ARR, adding $2M in net new revenue per week.

  • Osika shares insights into the AI-driven startup boom, Lovable’s rapid success, and the challenges of scaling an AI company.

AND MORE…

• Renaissance Fusion raises €32M to simplify complex fusion reactors

  • Renaissance Fusion, a Grenoble-based startup specializing in nuclear fusion technology, has recently secured €15M in a seed funding round.

  • Renaissance Fusion is developing a stellarator reactor, a type of magnetic confinement fusion device.

  • The raised capital will be used to expand the team and acquire equipment necessary for research and development.

• AI-generated review summaries are coming to Apple’s app store

  • Apple is bringing AI-generated review summaries to the app store with iOS 18.4.

  • As spotted by Macworld, the latest developer beta for iOS and iPadOS adds brief summaries of user reviews to some App Store listings.

  • The summaries will initially be available in the US App Store for apps and games published in English.

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• Robinhood draws nearly 400K players in first $1M Bitcoin trivia game

  • Robinhood's inaugural Trivia Live event attracted nearly 400,000 participants, offering a $1 million Bitcoin prize pool.

  • The trivia consisted of 12 multiple-choice questions on finance and cryptocurrencies.

  • Out of approximately 392,600 initial players, only 615 successfully answered all questions to claim a share of the Bitcoin rewards.