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Welcome to The Prompt by Kuro House, your daily AI update. Today, we’ve got five stories packed with fresh developments in AI and tech. From breakthrough startups to heated debates around surveillance and copyright, there’s a lot to cover.

First up, Andreessen Horowitz is hunting for the next big European unicorn. According to TechCrunch, their partner Gabriel Vasquez took nine flights from New York to Stockholm last year, scouting startups like Dentio. Dentio is a Swedish AI startup focused on automating dental office admin tasks using large language models, aiming to free dentists to focus more on clinical care. Despite a modest $2.3 million pre-seed round led by a16z, the company plans to scale across Europe and beyond, banking on shared healthcare system similarities and strict data privacy compliance. Interestingly, a16z is leveraging founder scouts abroad to spot innovation early, signaling a broader trend of global AI investment beyond Silicon Valley.

Next, a startup called Ricursive Intelligence just raised a staggering $335 million in four months. TechCrunch reports that co-founders Anna Goldie and Azalia Mirhoseini, former Google Brain and Anthropic engineers, are building AI tools to design computer chips. Unlike many aiming to compete with Nvidia, Ricursive’s AI designs chips for major manufacturers like Nvidia, AMD, and Intel, accelerating chip layout from a year to mere hours. Their Alpha Chip project uses deep reinforcement learning to optimize chip layouts, promising up to a tenfold improvement in performance per cost. This could speed up AI hardware development dramatically, enabling smarter models to evolve faster and more efficiently.

Now, let’s talk about Ring and its controversial Search Party feature. The Verge dives deep into the backlash following Ring’s Super Bowl ad showcasing AI-powered lost dog searches. Critics worry the same AI that finds dogs could be used for invasive surveillance, especially given Ring’s history of cooperating with law enforcement. Under pressure, Ring canceled its partnership with Flock Safety, a company whose data has been accessed by ICE, though no customer videos were ever shared. Ring’s founder argues AI can help reduce neighborhood crime close to zero by intelligently filtering alerts and enabling community cooperation, but privacy concerns remain intense.

In another legal showdown, ByteDance’s AI video generator Seedance 2.0 is facing fire from Hollywood. Both The Verge and TechCrunch report that major studios like Disney and Paramount have sent cease-and-desist letters accusing ByteDance of copyright infringement. Seedance 2.0 creates hyperrealistic videos featuring likenesses of famous actors and copyrighted characters without authorization, sparking claims of mass intellectual property violation. Hollywood trade groups and SAG-AFTRA are demanding stronger safeguards and responsible AI development, highlighting the ethical and legal challenges of generative AI in entertainment. ByteDance has pledged to improve protections and prevent unauthorized use, but the controversy underscores the complex intersection of AI creativity and copyright law.

Finally, the Seedance 2.0 saga continues with more details emerging about its global rollout and impact. TechCrunch reveals that the model is currently available in China and will soon reach global users via ByteDance’s CapCut app. Users can generate 15-second videos from text prompts, but the lack of guardrails has alarmed creators and studios alike. Despite legal threats, ByteDance maintains the service and faces pressure to balance innovation with respect for creators’ rights. This battle highlights the urgent need for clear policies around AI-generated content and intellectual property worldwide.

That wraps up today’s top AI stories. We’re witnessing rapid innovation, but also growing pains as society grapples with privacy, ethics, and legal boundaries. Stay tuned as we continue to track these unfolding developments in AI and technology.