Here’s your Monday dose of The AI Brief.
Your weekly dose of AI breakthroughs, startup playbooks, tool hacks and strategic nudges—empowering founders to lead in an AI world.
📈 Trending Now
The week’s unmissable AI headlines.
💡 Innovator Spotlight
Meet the change-makers.
🛠️ Tool of the Week
Your speed-boost in a nutshell.
📌 Note to Self
Words above my desk.
📈 Trending Now
⚡️ UK Lawmakers Slam DeepMind for Safety Lapse
→ In an unusually pointed move, a cross‑party group of 60 UK parliamentarians has accused Google DeepMind of breaching its own AI safety pledges by pressing ahead with the March launch of Gemini 2.5 Pro without the accompanying safety documentation. The open letter—penned by leading figures like Baroness Beeban Kidron and former Defence Secretary Des Browne via PauseAI UK—warns this approach "sets a dangerous precedent," undermining voluntary standards meant to foster transparency.
→ Google insists that while initial safety details were delayed, the model later underwent "rigorous checks" by third parties and the UK AI Security Institute—even if that only happened after public release. Critics argue that labelling a publicly accessible model as "experimental" doesn’t excuse sidelining safety disclosure.
→ Founders: If your launch strategy treats safety audits as an afterthought, you risk both reputational damage and regulatory backlash. Safety reporting isn’t just box‑ticking—it’s trust currency.
💷 Healthtech Funding Bounces Back, Fueled by AI
→ According to The Wall Street Journal, AI-powered healthtech is enjoying a resurgence: U.S. and European startups raised US$7.9 billion in H1 2025—on track to be the sector’s strongest year since 2022.
→ Founders: If your AI delivers tangible clinical value—efficiency, better diagnostics—capital will almost inevitably follow.
Read more →
🌱 Vibe‑Coding Evolves—but Risks Remain
→ A thoughtful essay in The Verge likens vibe-coding—AI-assisted development via intuitive prompts—to over‑eager interns: great for prototyping or debugging, but unreliable when building robust systems.
→ Founders: Use vibe-coding for experimentation—but don’t let it replace craftsmanship. Always retain ownership of critical codebases.
Read more →
🚀 Tech Billionaires Forecast AI‑Powered Space Careers
→ Sam Altman, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk suggest AI disruption on Earth could spark a boom in space-based jobs—college grads might find themselves working off-planet sooner than we think.
→ Founders: It may sound far-fetched today, but forward-looking innovation bets often start in the margins—keep an eye on radical new markets.
🔬 AI Drives 50‑Fold Stem‑Cell Leap
→ OpenAI and Retro Biosciences report a staggering breakthrough: an AI-designed variant of stem-cell factors that delivers 50× higher expression of reprogramming markers in lab tests.
→ Founders: Bio-AI is more than buzz—it holds literal regenerative promise. But translating lab success into real-world rigour will demand impeccable validation and transparency.
🌏 South Korea Unveils $71B AI Megafund
→ The South Korean government has unveiled a colossal US$72 billion AI investment plan aimed at future-proofing key industries—from semiconductors to culture and beyond.
→ Founders: This isn’t just money—it’s infrastructure. If you operate regionally or aim to expand there, the doors are wide open—just make sure your tech aligns with national strategy.
⚔️ US Sharpens AI‑Hardware Edge via Intel Deal
→ The U.S. government converted CHIPS Act grants into a near-10 percent stake in Intel, bolstering domestic manufacturing and ensuring AI chip supplies remain under US influence.
→ Founders: Elevated geopolitics now shape supply chains. Hardware sourcing isn’t just transactional—it’s strategic.
💡Innovator Spotlight
💡 Innovator Spotlight
👉 Headline
Malaysia’s Ryt Bank Shatters Banking Norms with All-AI Workforce
👉 Who they are:
– Ryt Bank, a Kuala Lumpur-based fintech taking Asia’s financial sector by storm.
👉 What’s unique:
– In a move no one anticipated, Ryt Bank opened its digital doors staffed entirely by AI agents, eliminating human roles in customer support, risk analysis, and loan approvals. Clients now interact with AI for every touchpoint—from opening accounts to resolving service issues and securing loans—without ever meeting a human banker. This overturns industry conventions about trust, as 80% of new customers now opt for full AI account management, citing speed and unbiased decisions. Ryt’s end-to-end AI system slashes operating costs by 65% and grants instant access to financial services for previously underserved populations, drawing praise from regulators and disruption-weary rivals alike.
👉 Pinch‑this lesson:
– Trial a fully autonomous workflow in your highest-cost business area to gain efficiency—and redefine customer trust.
👉 Source: https://www.crescendo.ai/news/latest-ai-news-and-updates
🛠️ Tools of the Week
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1. Ryt Bank AI Assistant
What it does: Handles bill payments, daily savings, and multilingual customer support via fully autonomous AI banking.
Why founders should care: You can deploy a 24/7, human-free bank workflow to cut staff costs and serve new markets.
Quick start tip: Download the Ryt Bank app; test all services in Bahasa Malaysia, English, or Mandarin.
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2. Prezent Astrid
What it does: Instantly turns raw financial data into branded, compliant business presentations using finance-trained AI.
Why founders should care: You’ll reduce manual reporting time and improve internal and investor communications.
Quick start tip: Upload your sheet or deck, prompt Astrid, and export board-ready content in minutes.
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3. Edge Hound#What it does: Tracks market, social, and news sentiment; delivers AI-powered trading signals for retail investors.
Why founders should care: Democratise hedge fund-style intelligence—equip even tiny teams with institutional-grade analysis.
Quick start tip: Connect your news and market feeds, then configure real-time alert rules via the dashboard.
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4. Rogo AI Chatbot
What it does: Automates investment banking research, company profiling, and benchmarking in seconds via secure chatbot.
Why founders should care: You’ll slash analyst hours on reports, comps, and pitch materials for rapid deal flow.
Quick start tip: Feed the bot your target company list, ask for value comps, and iterate pitch decks directly.
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5. Coupa Virtual Card
What it does: Lets you issue instant, tap-to-pay virtual cards for staff and supplier payments within procurement workflows.
Why founders should care: Streamline payments—control spend and enable mobile-first transactions in any currency.
Quick start tip: Activate Coupa Card under payment options and integrate Apple/Google Pay for quick, secure purchases.
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6. NASDAQ Verafin Agentic AI Workforce
What it does: Automates anti-money-laundering compliance checks, decisions, and doc prep with digital workers.
Why founders should care: Reduce human compliance overhead and direct resources to complex investigations.
Quick start tip: Deploy GenAI Entity Research Copilot inside your compliance software; assign routine review tasks to agents.
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7. Arc AI Revenue Platform
What it does: Converts SaaS startup’s future revenue streams into upfront non-dilutive cash via AI-driven underwriting.
Why founders should care: Access working capital without equity dilution, powering faster growth and innovation.
Quick start tip: Sync your Stripe/QuickBooks accounts; use the dashboard for instant funding proposals.
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8. Rain Financial Wellness Suite
What it does: Provides earned wage access, AI-driven spending advice, and financial wellness tools for founder teams.
Why founders should care: Improve retention, support founder and staff finances, and cut payroll cycle stress.
Quick start tip: Invite staff to the Rain portal, enable instant withdrawal, and review analytics on usage/impact.
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9. Omnius Fintech Automation
What it does: Automates onboarding, risk scoring, and lending decisions for startup finance teams using AI.
Why founders should care: You’ll speed approvals and minimise manual risk/error in fast-growing digital banking.
Quick start tip: Hook up Omnius to your customer database; configure lending criteria, then launch automated approvals.
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10. Lendbuzz AI Risk Engine
What it does: Uses AI to assess creditworthiness for underserved or “credit invisible” populations.
Why founders should care: Expand your lending market with minimal manual review and improved inclusion.
Quick start tip: Integrate Lendbuzz to your underwriting flow, then test with diverse user segments.
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All these firms are actively serving customers, and their tools/processes revolve around AI—not just as a marketing term, but throughout their workflows and products.
📌 Note to Self
Thank you for reading. If you liked it, share it with your friends, colleagues and everyone interested in the startup Investor ecosystem.
If you've got suggestions, an article, research, your tech stack, or a job listing you want featured, just let me know! I'm keen to include it in the upcoming edition.
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For the ❤️ of startups
✌🏼 & 💙
Derek