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Yahoo is acquiring Instagram co-founders’ AI-powered news startup Artifact, Microsoft is testing a new AI-powered Xbox chatbot

Top News

Yahoo is acquiring Instagram co-founders’ AI-powered news startup Artifact. - Link

Microsoft is testing a new AI-powered Xbox chatbot that can automate support tasks via an “embodied AI character”, as part of larger Xbox AI efforts. - Link

A profile of hiking app AllTrails, which exploded during the pandemic, has raised $225M+, and now focuses on helping users “find your outdoors”, not just trails. - Link

Odd Ball, the ball-shaped music instrument, is adding new gestures so you can become a house DJ. - Link

Sam Altman no longer controls the OpenAI Startup Fund, which has a $325M+ gross asset value; Ian Hathaway, who has helped manage the fund, is in charge. - Link

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Startup Demo of the Day:

Snov.io is a email deliverability booster. Users’ emails will no longer end up in spam or as blocked. - Link

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This Week in Startups

E1923: Dave McClure, Jordan Stein, and Jason Calacanis join David Weisburd to discuss the impact of Y Combinator's (YC) investment strategy on the startup ecosystem, highlighting their demo days, the strategy behind investing in the YC ecosystem, and the role of secondary funds under current macroeconomic conditions. - Watch

E1922: Hume AI's Alan Cowen discusses the significance of AI in understanding human emotions, detailing the company's Empathic Voice Interface (EVI) and Measurement API designed for real-time analysis of emotions and expressions. He also explores the future impact of emotionally intelligent AI on sectors including customer service and security. - Watch

E1921: Jason hosts a live Q&A session, addressing startup strategies such as investment approaches, the importance of founder prioritization, the decision to raise venture capital, and balancing skepticism with enthusiasm in investments. - Watch

E1920: Sunny and Jason discuss the resignation of the CEO of Stability AI, a report from a16z on AI and Enterprises, and Sunny demos three AI tools: Gatekeep AI, Deepgram API Playground, and the Claude model Haiku from Anthropic. - Watch

E1919: David Weisburd, Mamoon Hamid, Thomas Scriven, and Jason discuss the growth of India's startup ecosystem, investment strategies including the role of sovereign wealth funds, and the evolution of the tech industry dynamics. They also touch on future perspectives on mergers, acquisitions, and IPOs within the tech sector. - Watch

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