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MOUNTAIN VIEW, California (AP) — From underwater drones to electronic warfare, the U.S. is expanding its high-tech military cooperation with Australia and the United Kingdom as part of a broader effort to counter China’s rapidly growing influence in the Indo-Pacific. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with defense chiefs from Australia and the United Kingdom at the U.S. military’s defense technology hub in Silicon Valley on Friday to forge a new agreement to increase technology cooperation and information sharing. The three nations have laid out plans for the so-called AUKUS partnership to help equip Australia with a fleet of eight nuclear-powered submarines. AUKUS is an acronym for Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. He added that as an island nation, Australia has a need for improved maritime drones and precision strike capabilities.

Persons: Lloyd Austin, ” Austin, Richard Marles, Grant Shapps, Austin, Marles, Shapps, we’ve, aren’t, Adam Bry, Alex Horn, Horn Organizations: Pacific . Defense, Australian Defense, Defense Innovation Unit, Britain, U.S, Australian Navy, Solomon Islands, warfighters, Air Force, Morris Air National Guard Base Locations: California, U.S, Australia, United Kingdom, Silicon Valley, United States, Virginia, Adelaide, China, Pacific, South China, Beijing, Solomon, Taiwan, DIU, Arizona

☆ AI is already impacting influencer marketing, according to the CMO of Billion Dollar Boy. Here's how she thinks brands should approach the new tech.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( Marta Biino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Generative AI "has an immediate business implication" for the creator economy, according to Becky Owen, the global chief marketing and innovation officer at influencer-marketing firm Billion Dollar Boy. It has a focus on generative AI, but is also experimenting with virtual and augmented reality, as well as virtual influencers. Owen joined Billion Dollar Boy in early 2023 after almost five years at Meta, where she was most recently head of creator innovations and solutions for Europe. Becky Owen is the global chief marketing and innovation officer at Billion Dollar Boy. Billion Dollar Boy has already tested pilot partnerships with three retail brands, including two luxury fashion brands that have launched their first generative-AI-led creator content on Instagram.

Persons: Becky Owen, Owen, Elmo Mistiaen, Jo Ann, Shanikwa Dvorkin, Anastasia Rogozhina Organizations: Heineken, Pepsi, Business, Billion Dollar, Meta, Brands Locations: Amazon, Europe

☆ Google and the Department of Defense are building an AI-powered microscope to help doctors spot cancer
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Zafar turned to his microscope – a canonically beloved tool in pathology that the doctors rely on to help make their diagnoses. It's an artificial intelligence-powered microscope built by Google and the U.S. Department of Defense. The AI-powered tool is called an Augmented Reality Microscope, or ARM, and Google and the Department of Defense have been quietly working on it for years. When a glass slide is prepared and fixed under the microscope, the AI is able to outline where cancer is located. For many smaller health systems, digitization is not yet worth the hassle.

Persons: Niels Olson, Nadeem Zafar, Zafar, Zafar's, Mitre Ashley Capoot, Mitre, it's, Ashley Capoot, CNBC Patrick Minot, Minot, Olson, It's, Aashima Gupta, Gupta Organizations: Microscope, U.S . Department of Defense, Google, CNBC, ARM, Department of Defense, Mitre, Minot, Defense Innovation Unit, U.S . Navy, Naval, Naval Medical Center Locations: Seattle, Mitre, Washington ,, DIU, Guam, U.S, Micronesia, San Diego, Mountain View , California

☆ Startup investors are fueling a boom in U.S. defense tech as China standoff opens doors at home
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

Louie added that he doesn't "know of a single major fund out there that isn't thinking about disruptive tech investing in the U.S., investing in defense tech, investing in microelectronics and AI in the next generation and next iteration." Stephen McCarthy | Sportsfile | Getty ImagesVC funding in aerospace and defense tech has shot up in recent years, according to data compiled by PitchBook for CNBC. The poster child for U.S.-focused defense tech is Anduril Industries, co-founded in 2017 by Oculus Rift designer Palmer Luckey. They can just look at the untapped potential in defense tech. "The government's becoming a better customer," said Shah, who previously served as managing partner of the Defense Department's Defense Innovation Unit, which seeks to accelerate the use of emerging technologies.

Persons: Hadrian, Chris Power Hadrian, Joe Biden, Gilman Louie, Alsop, Louie Partners, He's, Louie, Biden, Lindsay Gorman, she's, Gorman, Chris Power, Power, Hadrian's, Peter Thiel's, Palmer Luckey, Stephen McCarthy, Sportsfile, Anduril, Richard Jenkins, Bilal Zuberi, Lux, Zuberi, Jenkins, Saildrone didn't, Paul Kwan, Catalyst, What's, Kwan, Kyle Harrison, Saul Loeb, Raj Shah, Josh Wolfe, There's, Shah, Wolfe Organizations: Chris Power Hadrian Automation, America's Frontier, U.S, Marshall Fund's Alliance, Securing Democracy, Lux Capital, Fund, Andutil Industries, Enercare Center, Getty, PitchBook, CNBC, Industries, Oculus, Blue Force Technologies, Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration, Navy, Coast Guard, Google, Intel, AFP, Shield, Lux, Defense Department's Defense Innovation Unit, Power, YouTube, China Locations: China, U.S, America, Torrance , California, Los Angeles, Toronto, Canada, Ukraine, New Albany , Ohio, Silicon

☆ Ukraine showed off experimental new land drones, including one mounted with a turret
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Thibault Spirlet | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Ukraine shared images of experimental land drones it has been testing. The photos showed one mounted with a camera and what might be a turret and a feed for ammunition:Experimental drones being tested by Ukrainian forces, seen in a photo shared on August 28, 2023 by state-affiliated media. Facebook/@Михайло ФедоровIn a post, Fedorov said that 25 drones had been tested, and shared images of four different types. Most visible have been the aerial drones which both Ukraine and Russia uses for reconnaissance, targeting, to drop bombs, and also exploding drones which detonate on impact. Ukraine has made great strides in the drone market in recent months, with companies expanding their operations to land robots, the platform added.

Persons: Mykhailo Fedorov, Fedorov, Brave1, United24, Михайло Федоров Organizations: Service, Russia, Ukrainian, Facebook, Pentagon's, Innovation Unit Locations: Ukraine, Wall, Silicon, Ukrainian, Russia, Crimea

☆ EU looks to 100 unicorns to boost green, digital goals
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRUSSELS, June 1 (Reuters) - The European Commission kicked off an initiative on Thursday to help 100 unicorns scale up to become Europe's deep tech champions and help drive the bloc's green and digital objectives. Unicorns are startups valued at $1 billion or more while deep tech startups focus on significant scientific or engineering developments. The EIC Scale Up 100 initiative will identify and support the growth of 100 promising European deep tech companies with the potential to become unicorns, the EU executive said in a statement. Startups will be picked in areas that contribute to Europe's green and digital transition such as sustainability (climate and energy), digital and health. The selected startups will also get a helping hand from a group called the EIC Scaling Club which includes 100 investors including venture capital, growth and government funds, 100 companies with innovation units and 100 independent mentors.

Persons: Foo Yun, Frances Kerry Organizations: European Commission, Unicorns, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS

☆ Start-Ups Bring Silicon Valley Ethos to a Lumbering Military-Industrial Complex
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Eric Lipton | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

While waiting for a decision by the Pentagon, the company recently moved to lay off some employees. Mr. Roper, the former Air Force procurement boss, said another problem is the Defense Department’s historical insistence on creating its own solutions to problems instead of buying new technologies from commercial firms. He noted that artificial intelligence, for example, still has not been integrated into Air Force flight operations beyond some basic experiments. Mr. Austin, the defense secretary, recently announced that the Defense Innovation Unit will report directly to him, supervised by a new recruit from Apple. But for each success, there are many other tech start-ups struggling to pay bills as they wait for the Pentagon to make a purchase decision.

☆ Self-driving truck startup Kodiak Robotics wins $50 million deal to help develop driverless Army vehicles
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( John Rosevear | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Self-driving truck startup Kodiak Robotics said Tuesday that it won a two-year, $49.9 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense to help develop automated combat vehicles for the U.S. Army. The company said the vehicles will be tailored for reconnaissance, surveillance and other missions that would present a high risk to a human driver. The contract was awarded by the DoD's Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and is part of the Army's ongoing Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV) program. DIU said it received 33 responses to its initial solicitation in October, and selected Kodiak and another vendor, development software provider Applied Intuition, after an extensive review process. The award marks the latest development in the DoD's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Grand Challenge self-driving competitions, which began in 2004.

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