Microsoft's $400M AI investment

👋 Good morning/evening (wherever you are). It’s Monday.

Microsoft is investing $400 million to expand AI and cloud infrastructure across Switzerland, deepening a 36-year partnership with the country.

The initiative supports startups, skilling programs, and public sector innovation—reaching every region to help shape Switzerland’s digital and AI future.

Switching gears:

Google Veo 3 changed the game. Now we’re entering the era of recognizable AI personas. This is important. I discuss more in my latest post on LinkedIn.

OK let’s keep going ↓

Here’s what you should know:

• FDA launches agency-wide AI tool

  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today launched Elsa, a generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool designed to help employees—from scientific reviewers to investigators—work more efficiently.

• Thomson Reuters launches an AI platform, Agentic Intelligence

  Thomson Reuters has launched agentic AI systems, starting with CoCounsel for tax, audit, and accounting, which go beyond simple prompts to plan, reason, and act within real workflows.

• IBM acquires Seek AI and unveils watsonx AI Labs

  IBM is expanding its AI footprint with the launch of watsonx AI Labs at One Madison in Manhattan. The new space brings researchers together to advance agentic AI solutions. IBM is also acquiring tech and expertise from NYC-based startup Seek AI to boost enterprise data capabilities.

• Viz.ai partners with Novartis to develop AI-powered workflows for cancer

  This strategic alliance will focus on improving the identification and stratification of patients diagnosed with prostate and breast cancers based on key risk factors, accelerating access to guideline-based precision treatments.

• Salesforce acquires Moonhub

  The team behind the world’s first AI Recruiter is joining Salesforce to accelerate its AI strategy with a focus on Agentforce, advancing a shared mission to unlock global opportunity through AI agents.

• Samsung eyes Perplexity to replace Google on Galaxy phones

  Samsung is close to a deal to integrate Perplexity AI’s search tech into its flagship smartphones. The move could replace Google’s Gemini as the default assistant on the Galaxy S26, launching next year.

• Canva accelerates growth with Snowflake AI Data Cloud

  By harnessing the power of Snowflake's platform, Canva is accelerating the delivery of new features, optimizing its marketing and sales operations, and personalizing the design journey as it continues to scale globally, reaching new audiences and entering new markets.

• Character.AI unveils video generation, social feeds

  They’re expanding into a multi-modal world and unlocking even more ways for Creators to build immersive narratives and craft richer, more dynamic experiences.

• OpenAI Sora is available through Bing Video Creator

  Bing Video Creator is free and is rolling out starting today on the Bing Mobile App and coming soon to desktop and within Copilot Search. To get started, download the Bing Mobile app.

The numbers:

• Perplexity is in talks to secure strategic investment from Samsung, potentially expanding its reach in AI-powered search.

• Snowflake is acquiring Crunchy Data for $250M to launch Snowflake Postgres and strengthen its AI infrastructure for enterprise-grade applications.

• xAI is raising $5B in debt and $300M in shares at a $113B valuation to scale its AI efforts and deepen integration with X.

Thought starters:

• This Year’s Hot New Tool for Chefs? ChatGPT.

• Wall St. Is All In on A.I. Data Centers. But Are They the Next Bubble?

• Cogniti – an 'AI stunt double' for teachers – wins major award

• Why AI is Unpredictable

Meme of the day:

Thanks for reading,

Eddie

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