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☆ 'Civil order' is starting to break down in Gaza, warns UN agency, after thousands break into aid centers for food and supplies
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-29 | by ( Polly Thompson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The incidents prompted the UN agency to warn that civil order is starting to break down in Gaza. Flour, hygiene products, and other basic supplies were taken from depots in the middle and southern areas of the Gaza strip, the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said Sunday. "Supplies on the market are running out, while the humanitarian aid coming into the Gaza Strip on trucks from Egypt is insufficient," said White. AdvertisementAdvertisementAround 84 aid trucks carrying food, water, and medicine have entered Gaza since the Rafah crossing was opened on October 21, according to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Before the conflict, about 500 trucks entered the Gaza Strip every day to deliver supplies, per Reuters.

Persons: —, Balah, Thomas White, Mohammed Abed, Antonio Guterres, Col Elad Goren Organizations: UN, Service, United Nations, UN Relief and Works Agency, Associated Press, Reuters, Guardian Locations: Gaza, Israel, Deir al, Rafah, Egypt

As well as the Israeli military's pictures of tanks, some images online appeared to show Israeli soldiers waving an Israeli flag deep inside Gaza. Hamas said it was firing mortars against Israeli forces in north Gaza and had hit Israeli tanks with missiles, belittling reports of deep advances by its enemy. Medical authorities in the Gaza Strip, which has a population of 2.3 million people, said on Sunday 8,005 people - including 3,324 minors - had been killed. They later said their fighters had clashed with Israeli forces northwest of Gaza and had also set fire to two Israeli tanks. Israel has accused Hamas of locating command centres and other military infrastructure in Gaza hospitals, something the group denies.

Persons: Biden, Netanyahu, Shaban Ahmed, Ahmed, Daniel Hagari, Karim Khan, Elad Goren, Cogat, Khan Younis, Mohammed Salem, Israel, Joe Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu, Crescent, Gaza’s Khan Younis, Rami Al, James Mackenzie, Nidal, Dan Williams, Emily Rose, Riham Alkousaa, Omar Abdel, Razek, Ari Rabinovitch, Adam Makary, Ali Swafta, John Davison, Michelle Nichols, Gareth Jones, Andrew Cawthorne, Alison Williams, Susan Fenton, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: Reuters, Israeli Defence Force, Criminal, Israeli Defence Ministry, Hamas, REUTERS, United Nations, UNIFIL, Lebanese, Sunday, United Nations Palestinian, Palestinian, Brigades, Tel, Crescent, Gaza Shifa, Thomson Locations: Israel, Gaza Gaza, JERUSALEM, GAZA, Gaza's, Palestinian, Iranian, Gaza, Gaza City, Israel's, Rafah, Lebanon, Houla, Israeli, Gaza’s, Al, Tel Aviv, Beirut, Dagestan, Russia, al, Quds

☆ Israel to allow more Gaza aid, civilians should move south, official says
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Smoke rises over Gaza, as seen from Israel's border with Gaza, in southern Israel October 28. REUTERS/Amir Cohen Acquire Licensing RightsJERUSALEM, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Israel would allow a dramatic increase in aid to Gaza in the coming days, an official said on Sunday, calling on Palestinian civilians to head to what he described as a "humanitarian" zone in the south of the territory. "In the coming week we were planning to increase dramatically the amount of assistance" headed for Gaza from Egypt, said Colonel Elad Goren of Cogat, the Israeli Defence Ministry agency that coordinates with the Palestinians. "We have marked a humanitarian zone in the southern Gaza Strip in the Khan Younis area ... we still recommend that the civilian population that evacuated will go to this zone," he told media during an online briefing. Goren did not say whether the humanitarian zone was new or an existing area.

Persons: Amir Cohen, Elad Goren, Cogat, Younis, Goren, John Davison, Alexander Smith Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Israeli Defence Ministry, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Israel, Egypt

☆ I'm a product manager at HP in Israel and a volunteer for the border police. This has been the most emotional week of my life.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-15 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

He works as a product team manager at HP in Israel and volunteers for the border patrol police. AdvertisementAdvertisementThis is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with Elad Zmora, a 46-year-old product team manager at HP in Israel. After the siren, we started getting news of what happened at the Supernova trance music festival in the Negev desert. Friends and family started calling us and people were sharing news on WhatsApp. We started getting news last Saturday about Hamas penetrating villages of the Kibbutz and slaughtering people in the streets.

Persons: Elad Zmora, —, I've, that's, who's Organizations: HP, Service, Hamas, Reuters, police, Israel Defence Forces, Management Locations: Israel, Reim, Gaza, It's

On Saturday, Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip rampaged through parts of southern Israel, killing hundreds of people in the deadliest Palestinian militant attack in Israel's history. Israel's embassy in Washington said the death toll from the weekend Hamas attacks had surpassed 1,000. U.S. officials say they do not have evidence Iran orchestrated the attacks, but point to Iran's longterm support for Hamas. Biden called the Hamas attacks "an act of sheer evil" and said Washington was rushing additional military assistance to Israel, including ammunition and interceptors to replenish the Iron Dome aerial defense system. Israeli soldiers went from house to house to take away the dead.

Persons: Ronen, Israel, Biden, Joe Biden, Israel's, Yoav Gallant, ", Washington, Antony Blinken, Matthew Miller, Benjamin Netanyahu's, Netanyahu, Benny Gantz, Gaza's Khan Younis, Ala Abu Tair, Abassan Al, Jawad Abu Shammala, Zakaria Abu Maamar, Khan Younis, Abu Shammala, Human Rights Volker Turk, Elad Hakim, Aza, Itai Veruv, Dan Williams, Emily Rose, Henriette Chacar, Ari Rabinovitch, Nidal, Maayan, Steve Holland, Nandita Bose, Rami Ayyub, Daphne Psaledakis, Simon Lewis, Howard Goller Organizations: REUTERS, Rockets, Hamas, U.S, Israel, Israeli, White, United, Department, Defence, The United Nations, Palestinian Foreign Ministry, Human Rights, West Bank, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Israel, Ashkelon, Lebanon, Syria, U.S, JERUSALEM, GAZA, WASHINGTON, Palestinian, Israel's, Washington, United States, Iran, Gaza's, U.N, East Jerusalem, Be'eri, stretchers, Europe, Jerusalem, Kfar Aza

☆ AI models from OpenAI and other tech giants are being bombarded by a new swarm of bots 'extracting intelligence'
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

These bots scrape information from AI models, including OpenAI's GPT-4. "AI models can, in theory, share everything they know. This is often done by infiltrating applications that have official accounts and API connections with the largest and most powerful AI models, Rauch explained. Evading China's AI model blockadeA third reason for this new phenomenon: China blocked access to ChatGPT, GPT-4 and many of the other top generative AI models. So an an app could offer a seat where the user can only query AI models a certain number of times per day.

Persons: Guillermo Rauch, OpenAI's, Elad Gil, Sarah Guo, Rauch, OpenAI Organizations: Service, Google Locations: Wall, Silicon, China, GPT

☆ Exclusive: Deel, a $12 billion HR startup, is contemplating an acquisition of competitor Papaya Global
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In the letter, Bouaziz says Deel "may contemplate an acquisition offer" of Papaya Global. "The Deel leadership team and I have been following Papaya Global for quite some time now with great interest," Bouaziz wrote to Papaya's board of directors. A spokesperson for Papaya Global said in a statement that the company is not for sale. Papaya Global is an Israel-based payments processing startup that last raised at a $3.7 billion valuation in 2021 in a round led by Insight Partners and Tiger Global. He also floated the possibility of an eventual full takeover of Papaya Global, which would require the approval of its board.

Persons: Philippe Bouaziz, Bouaziz, Deel, Eynat Guez, Dovi Frances, Guez, Francis, onboarding, Andreessen Horowitz, Emerson, Alexis Ohanian, Elad Gil, Y, Goldman Sachs, Adam Schiff, Julie Su Organizations: Insight Partners, Tiger Global, Global, Coatue Management, Nike, Labor Locations: San Francisco, Israel

☆ An American Energy Giant Sees Israel as a Springboard to Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Stanley Reed | More About Stanley Reed | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

There are also signs of unease within Israel over moving from one fossil fuel to another. Environmentalists say that the dominance of gas in powering the Israeli economy and the influence of the petroleum industry mean that insufficient resources are going into developing clean energy. “We are hostages in a way,” said Elad Hochman, executive director of Green Course, an advocacy group. As for Chevron, though it does not disclose financial results from its Israeli operations, its executives say it is a profitable business that can be a springboard for expansion. “It is a very nice, attractive position,” Mr. Neff, the Chevron president, said, adding that the company has the opportunity “to grow our business substantially in the next few years.”Gabby Sobelman contributed reporting.

Persons: ”, Yael Cohen Paran, Elad Hochman, ” Mr, Neff, ” Gabby Sobelman Organizations: Green, Chevron Locations: Israel

Silicon Valley is bracing for what it fears will be an "extinction event" threatening the survival of hundreds of startups. Tom Loverro, a investor at 40-year-old Bay Area venture capital firm IVP, has been loudly warning for months on Twitter and in media interviews about a coming "mass extinction event" for startups. The total volume of venture capital investment into US startups has slumped for six consecutive quarters, according to data firm Pitchbook. Even a last-ditch slashing of the startup's prospective valuation — a "down-round," in Silicon Valley parlance — didn't whet investors' appetites. Over the past year, many startups that rely on Silicon Valley funding have been steeling themselves for the slowdown to avoid similar fates.

Persons: —, they're, Jennifer Neundorfer, That's, Tom Loverro, Loverro, Consuelo Vanderbilt, Vanderbilt, Cameron Lester, I've, Lester, Linda Ahrens, Ahrens, Unown, " Ahrens, Anna Dittrich, Plastiq, Vincent Harrison, Elad Gil, Steve Brotman, Brotman, Will Hawthorne, VC's, Mike Ryan, Pitchbook's Harrison, Sell, Hawthorne Organizations: Ventures, Sequoia Capital, —, Venture, Twitter, United States Federal Reserve, Jefferies, January Ventures, Alpha Partners, Avid Capital, Sugar, Menlo, BulletPoint Network Locations: Silicon, Sequoia, IVP, Valley, Instacart, Navan, Boston, Snowflake, America

☆ Welcome to the final phase of software eating the world. SaaS companies beware, you're on the menu this time.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

This could disrupt the way software is created, distributed, and used, VCs and startup founders say. This outcome would flip the traditional software industry on its head, calling into question the value of SaaS companies in a world where everyday people can build software themselves. "This is the final chapter of software eating the world, where a bunch of people can create enterprise software within the enterprise." A 'healthy pressure' for traditional SaaS providersTo be sure, the death of the traditional software company still seems a long way off. However, even skeptics admit that the threat of generative AI to traditional SaaS will push established software companies to prove their worth.

☆ Insiders say Oracle is crushing morale at $28 billion acquisition Cerner by cutting over 3,000 workers, banning raises, and sidelining its former CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Ashley Stewart | Blake Dodge | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

After the acquisition closed in June, Oracle has laid off more than 3,000 of the 28,000 original Cerner employees, one of the people said. According to his LinkedIn, Feinberg left the CEO role in September before becoming "chairman" of Oracle Health. After Johnson left, Oracle moved data and artificial-intelligence back under its cloud business. Internally, the face of the unit appears to be Oracle Health General Manager Travis Dalton, who has been in charge of all-hands meetings. Oracle Health is in charge of a contract worth several billion dollars to overhaul the US Department of Veterans Affairs' information systems.

☆ Google just showed how Big Tech will win again in AI
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

OpenAI and other AI startups will struggle to match this reach, unless they team up with other tech giants, like Microsoft. After Google I/O this week, it's looking like AI will be another 80/20 situation where a few Big Tech companies benefit the most. Some examples:In Google Docs, ask Google's AI model to help you write a job description. For a Google Slides presentation with photos, you can ask the company's AI model to create speaker notes based on the images. Insider ran into a high-level Google product manager at the conference who'd just watched a developer presentation.

☆ Autonomous agents are Silicon Valley's latest AI obsession. Here's why pizza-ordering bots may be coming to a computer near you soon.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

"Autonomous AI agents" are AI bots that can plan and prioritize to achieve user-provided goals. However, the rise of AI agents has sparked concerns around safety and the potential for AGI. From assistants to digital friendsHowever, AI doomsdayers don't have to be too worried yet — the performance of these AI agents have often been less than stellar. Without the proper guardrails, AI agents with unrestricted access to the Internet may similarly take unanticipated steps to complete its goals, like transferring money from a bank account. And sometimes, the misuse of AI agents is intentional, rather than accidental.

☆ 7. Anduril Industries
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Cnbc.Com Staff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Anduril Industries operates in an increasingly complex security environment, where science and technology innovation are needed for the U.S. military to keep an edge. Throughout 2022, defense technology specialist Anduril Industries supplied drones, artificial intelligence software and training to help the Ukrainian Armed Forces conduct surveillance and reconnaissance missions. With a recent round of venture financing directed toward cutting-edge autonomous militaristic products, Anduril Industries stands to help fill this gap and scale it up. Building on that acquisition, last year Anduril Industries partnered with the U.S. Special Operations Command on a 10-year, $967 million contract to provide systems for shooting down drones. Anduril also bought startup Dive Technologies, a maker of underwater vehicles, to expand its suite of autonomous vehicles.

May 4 (Reuters) - Two prominent former Google (GOOGL.O) researchers who authored the groundbreaking paper that paved the way for the generative AI boom, have raised $8 million for their new startup Essential AI, four sources told Reuters. Thrive Capital had led the round in Essential AI, founded by Ashish Vaswani and Niki Parmar. Thrive Capital, founded by Joshua Kushner, is also an investor in Microsoft-backed OpenAI. Essential AI aims to build software for enterprises to use large language models, the core software of a new artificial intelligence system that has powered generative AI applications such as ChatGPT, sources said. The raise came after Vaswani and Parmar left Adept AI, a company they also co-founded in 2021 with former Google director David Luan.

April 26 (Reuters) - With more and more lawyers at major law firms using fast-advancing generative artificial intelligence tools, legal AI startup Harvey said Wednesday that it raised $21 million in fresh investor cash. Sequoia Capital, which is leading the Series A fundraising round, said more than 15,000 law firms are on a waiting list to start using Harvey. The company says it builds custom large language models for law firms. Technology companies and investors have rushed to embrace large language model-based generative AI since Microsoft-backed OpenAI's ChatGPT debuted in November. Casetext in March released its AI legal assistant product, CoCounsel, which uses GPT-4 to speed up tasks like legal research, contract analysis and document review.

☆ VCs are scrambling to invest in AI startups in Y Combinator's latest class: 'There's hysteria for a reason'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

VCs are scrambling to back the AI startups in Y Combinator's latest batch. Several generative AI startups have already secured funding from top firms, sources say. And while valuations are down across the board, YC AI startups are still hot. Startups focused on AI, and generative AI specifically, which saw a substantial jump in the latest batch, were some of the most highly sought after by investors. An AI feeding frenzyVC buzz was common across generative AI startups both in the application and infrastructure layers.

☆ Developer tool startups in Y Combinator's latest class are grabbing the attention of investors like Elad Gil and Google's Gradient Ventures. Here are 4 that have already landed funding.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Developer tool startups that were part of Y Combinator's latest class are drawing strong interest from several high-profile venture capitalists. Sequoia partner Lauren Reeder personally participated in the code review startup's recent funding round, according to a Sequoia spokesperson. That fundraising was at a $30 million post-money valuation, one person familiar with the deal said. Developer tool startups accounted for 26% of the companies in YC's winter 2023 batch, up from 16% of the summer 2022 class, according to the accelerator's startup directory. Have a tip on a startup funding round?

[1/2] U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler testifies before a House Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee hearing on President Biden's budget request for the Securities and Exchange Commission, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 29, 2023. Many in the industry have said existing securities regulations are inappropriate and the sector needs fresh rules. Some DeFi platforms may fall under the proposed definition, but others may already be considered exchanges by the existing one, SEC officials said this week. "Make no mistake: many crypto trading platforms already come under the current definition of an exchange," SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in prepared remarks published on Friday. Most crypto trading platforms meet that definition, regardless of whether they call themselves decentralized, Gensler said.

☆ Y Combinator's latest class is a feeding frenzy for VCs looking to back AI startups: 'There's hysteria for a reason'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

☆ Exclusive: Buzzy legal generative AI startup Harvey taps Sequoia to lead funding round at a $150 million valuation
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Legal generative AI startup Harvey has raised a funding round from Sequoia, Insider has learned. This funding round landed the startup a $150 million post-money valuation. Industry-specific generative AI startups have emerged in nearly every industry, from healthcare to gaming, to offer specialized services beyond the capabilities of general models like OpenAI's GPT-4. Legal generative AI startup Harvey has raised a Series A round of funding at a $150 million post-money valuation from Sequoia Capital, according to three people with knowledge of the financing who were not authorized to speak publicly. The relatively few customers makes Harvey's valuation seem rich in comparison, the source said, pointing to a broader trend of elevated valuations and round sizes in the hyped-up generative AI space.

☆ Former Greylock VC Sarah Guo is betting her career on the AI boom with new fund Conviction. Here's why.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Ex-Greylock GP Sarah Guo surprised the tech world when she launched her AI fund Conviction last year. In addition to her fund, Guo has gained prominence in SF's AI scene through her podcast and events. Kovalsky knew of only one person who could be behind this — Sarah Guo, then a general partner at VC firm Greylock. Within the tech community, Guo has differentiated herself from other VCs through her honesty, business savvy, and grit, they added. Although Guo launched Conviction, a $100 million fund investing up to Series A, in late 2022, her interest in artificial intelligence has been long in the making.

☆ Ex-Google employees' A.I. chatbot startup valued at $1 billion after Andreessen Horowitz funding
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Jennifer Elias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Character.AI, an artificial intelligence start-up founded by two former Google employees, is capitalizing on venture capitalists' unquenchable thirst for deals in technology's hottest space. The two-year-old company said on Thursday that it raised $150 million at a $1 billion valuation in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz. Andreessen Horowitz has been a significant player in driving up prices in both markets. The firm announced a $4.5 billion crypto fund in mid-2022 as the digital currency market was in freefall. A year earlier, it added to its investment in audio app Clubhouse, valuing the early-stage startup at $4 billion.

☆ Two Israels face off as justice overhaul deepens the divide
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Maayan Lubell | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

For them, weakening the Supreme Court would undermine the bedrock of Israel's democracy and could set the country on the path to becoming a corrupt and religiously coercive state. In 2020, the Supreme Court struck down a law that had retroactively legalised homes built by settlers on land owned by Palestinians, like Amona. Settlers driven by ideology see themselves as pioneers redeeming land that was promised by God and many feel betrayed by Supreme Court rulings against settlements. The Supreme Court did not respond to a request for comment. "The Supreme Court has challenged parliament time and again, playing politics, not nicely."

☆ Exclusive: Buzzy generative AI-powered search engine Perplexity AI taps NEA to lead funding round at a $150 million valuation
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

AI search engine startup Perplexity AI is raising a funding round led by NEA, Insider has learned. The deal aims to raise between $20 and $25 million at a $150 million post-money valuation, according to sources. The fundraise continues the trend of large rounds and valuations in the buzzy generative AI space. AI search engine startup Perplexity AI is in talks to raise a funding round led by NEA, according to three people with knowledge of the financing who were not authorized to speak publicly. Perplexity AI cofounder and CEO Aravind Srinivas declined to comment.

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