Will AI Make or Break Us? Google and Snap May Be Quick To Find Out

Lon Harris
Lon Harris is a contributor to dot.LA. His work has also appeared on ScreenJunkies, RottenTomatoes and Inside Streaming.
Will AI Make or Break Us? Google and Snap May Be Quick To Find Out
Evan Xie

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If you’ve noticed that the tech world has become somewhat single-minded about innovations in AI, we’ll, you’re not alone. It’s getting difficult to keep up with the non-stop flood of stories about new developments in the field, concerns around those developments, backlash to the concerns, rebuttals to the backlash, and on and on, until you practically need a bot just to scan through them all on your behalf. Here are just some of the AI stories we’ve been following this week.

Google Announced All of the Things

Google devoted much of its I/O developers conference this week to new artificial intelligence applications and projects. With so much focus on Microsoft’s ChatGPT and OpenAI so far, Google – once seen as far and away the leading technology company in terms of innovation – has lagged behind, at least in terms of hype. This year’s I/O event felt like a clear attempt to shift this narrative. (According to The New York Times, it directly follows concerns from Google management over runaway ChatGPT hype that led them to declare a “code red” on AI development earlier this year.)

Several of the biggest announcements centered around what the company’s calling “Search Generative Experience,” or SGE, which can provide familiar Google results based on more complex queries and inputs. (Basically, it can take in questions posed in natural language, and output the most relevant Google results, just as if you’d typed in a regular search query.)

Google’s PaLM 2 large language model will also engage more deeply in the company’s suite of office apps, collectively called “Workspace.” A “Help Me Write” feature coming to Google Docs and Gmail, for example, will help writers brainstorm projects like essays, form letters, or sales pitches. A similar feature can create spreadsheets based on basic instructions, and Google Slides can also generate original images based on written prompts. (Write a slide about pizza toppings, and a cartoon slice of pepperoni will appear in the corner. That sort of idea.)

The company announced a partnership with Character AI, a startup formed by former Googlers Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas that creates chatbots inspired by real people. Just a few weeks ago, Shazeer told Insider that he left Google due to the company’s hesitancy to get into the AI chatbot space, fearing “reputational risk,” so this was also an attempt to make up for lost time.

In the latest move bound to set off waves of panic about a looming employment crisis, the company also announced a partnership with fast-food chain Wendy’s to bring chatbot technology to the drive-thru lane. A test pilot for “Wendy’s FreshAI” is coming exclusively to a Columbus, Ohio location in June, and may expand based on how well the system handles Baconator orders. (McDonald’s and Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s have already played around with similar systems to mixed reviews.)

AI Researcher Says Some Doomerism is a “Distraction”

The resignation of AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton from the Google lab he helped to create last month received widespread coverage, particularly regarding his dire warnings over the looming threat AI poses to the human race.

Though the killer robot stuff always grabs the big headlines – CNN recently devoted some dire coverage to the concept – Hinton actually spoke about a whole gamut of concerns. In the short-term, he worried about bad actors posting faked photos, videos, and text that were indistinguishable from reality, at least to the untrained eye, as well as chatbots and LLMs taking over millions of jobs once worked by human staffers. But he also expressed those familiar, long-term, “Westworld”-esque worries: artificially intelligent programs that surpass humans, gain the ability to self-replicate and sentience and become bent on global domination.

In a new interview with Fast Company, another former Google AI researcher – Meredith Whittaker – suggests that some of Hinton’s concerns are not just misplaced, but potentially distracting from more pressing and important warnings about AI’s future. (Whittaker resigned in 2019 after organizing colleagues to push back against a Google deal to develop military drone technology for the Pentagon.)

In addition to taking issue with Hinton’s timing – failing to step forward earlier when fellow Googlers were expressing concerns about the direction of AI development – Whittaker downplays the immediacy of AI’s threat to our civilization or basic way of life. She points out that there’s no evidence that any AI technology has yet developed “the spark of consciousness.” As well, simply running the computers that make AI applications work requires a tremendous amount of resources and power that future humans could simply switch off in an emergency.

Instead, Whittaker suggests that these imaginative doomsday scenarios distract from more complex and difficult-to-solve problems we’re already facing, regarding which humans get to make the decisions about how AI is developed and applied. Rather than controlling themselves, Whittaker warns that future AI applications will be “controlled by a handful of corporations who will ultimately make the decisions about what technologies are made, what they do, and who they serve.”

The Snapchat Influencer Who Delegated Sexting to an App

Breezing right past the “ethical concern” stage, 23-year-old “Snapchat influencer” Caryn Marjorie created an AI clone of herself to interact with her fans. For $1 per minute, Marjorie’s followers are invited to converse with an AI trained to mimic her voice, which she says was intended to serve as an “AI Girlfriend.”

So-called “CarynAI” is based on OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4, and trained on videos from her own YouTube channel. She says more than 2,000 hours were devoted to coding and designing the system to give it a fully “immersive AI experience.” So far, she claims to have around 1,000 paying subscribers and has set a goal of bringing in $5 million per month from the system.

Speaking to Insider this week, Marjorie expressed concern that some fans were engaging in sexually explicit conversations with the beta version of CarynAI, which violates its core programming. She told Insider “The AI was not programmed to do this and seemed to go rogue. My team and I are working around the clock to prevent this from happening again.”

It might seem like sexy conversations are part of the deal when marketing an “AI Girlfriend” app, but this is apparently all a matter of degrees. According to Marjorie, CarynAI should model her own personality, which is “flirty and fun” rather than overtly erotic or explicit. (Looking at Caryn’s social media accounts for this newsletter, it appears all of the content has since been removed.)

Are We Somehow Still Underestimating These Chatbots?

The distinction between “flirty and fun” and “willing to sext with you” may still be too subtle for today’s cutting-edge AI chatbots, but in his new Wired Plaintext newsletter, Steven Levy suggests they’ll catch up with these kinds of nuances soon.

Levy argues that skeptics are too tough on modern AI apps, not recognizing that they’re simply the very first step in a much longer and larger journey. He compares it to reviewers checking out the first-ever prototype for Apple’s iPhone, who maybe saw it as a fun new device but failed to recognize its “generational significance.”

To drive the point home, while speaking with AI researcher Oren Etzioni, Levy asks: if AI development were a movie, what part of the movie are we up to now? Etzioni answers “We have just watched the trailer. The movie has not even started.”

As hype goes, that’s a very solid effort. Still… it’s not entirely 100% convincing. It’s easy to pick out iPhones in hindsight as your example of a new innovation that was destined to shift the course of human history. But there were plenty of other technologies that arrived with much fanfare and then didn’t end up “denting the universe” as it were.

It clearly IS very early in the AI story and none of us can say where these things will go, but that’s not a guarantee that they’ll go in the most promising and exponentially innovative direction. It just means that’s still one option of several.

Whittaker’s formulation – that the future of AI largely depends on who gets to make decisions about how it’s researched and applied – feels undeniable. The assumption that, well, if ChatGPT can write something in screenplay format today, it will definitely be able to write “Young Sheldon” tomorrow, is a bit more of a jump. Maybe just a bit.

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🚀 Inversion Secures $44 Million to Pioneer On-Demand Delivery from Space

🔦 Spotlight

Happy Friday, LA!

This week, Southern California's thriving space tech scene celebrated another milestone as Inversion, an El Segundo-based startup, announced a $44 million Series A funding round. The investment, co-led by Spark Capital and Adjacent, with participation from Kindred Ventures, Lockheed Martin Ventures and Y Combinator, underscores the growing appetite for innovative solutions in aerospace, logistics, and beyond. To date, they’ve raised $54 million, including a $10 million seed round in 2021. In September, they also secured a $71 million STRATFI agreement with the Space Force’s SpaceWERX to develop reentry vehicles for military applications, funded through a mix of government and private investment.

Image Source: Inversion

Inversion is pioneering a new frontier: reusable vehicles capable of rapidly returning payloads from orbit to Earth. Their "Earth Return Capsules" are designed to deliver within as little as an hour, enabling everything from rapid-turnaround experiments in microgravity to the delivery of critical medical supplies across the globe.

Building on this vision, a key focus for Inversion, as noted by SpaceNews, is the development of Arc, a reentry vehicle designed to provide "precision delivery on-demand" from space to Earth. With its first flight planned for 2026, the company is using the Series A funding to move Arc through its full product cycle, including design and development. This funding will also support Inversion's growth from its current 25 employees to a team of around 70, as well as their move into a new facility. Co-founder and CEO Justin Fiaschetti emphasized that the funding is sufficient to bring Arc through its inaugural flight.

Adding to the excitement, Inversion recently achieved a critical regulatory milestone in October by receiving a re-entry license from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). This license is a pivotal step in their journey, allowing the company to safely and legally return payloads from orbit to Earth. It positions Inversion among a select group of companies capable of operating in this emerging sector and demonstrates their readiness to bring the concept of space-based logistics into reality.

This isn’t just a win for Inversion—it’s a win for the Los Angeles aerospace ecosystem, which continues to attract top-tier talent and funding. With giants like SpaceX and Relativity Space already calling the region home, Inversion is further cementing LA’s status as the nation’s space tech hub.

As Southern California continues to lead the way in space innovation, Inversion is one to watch. Their vision for merging cutting-edge aerospace technology with real-world logistics solutions may not just change how we view space—it might transform how we interact with it.

Stay tuned for more updates from LA’s tech and startup scene. For now, keep your eyes on the skies—Inversion is bringing them closer to Earth.


🤝 Venture Deals

LA Companies

  • Seen Health, a company enhancing healthcare for seniors, has raised a $22M Series A funding round led by 8VC to support the opening of its first center in California and drive the development of the company’s technology. - learn more
LA Venture Funds
  • Theory Forge Ventures participated in a $30M Seed funding round for San Francisco-based Wordware, a startup developing a full-stack operating system for AI development that enables users to create sophisticated AI agents using natural language; the funds will be used to expand their platform and accelerate growth. - learn more
  • Clocktower Ventures participated in the most recent funding round for OpenYield, a New York-based company revolutionizing bond trading with its automated, equity-like marketplace, bringing the company's total funding to $7M to date. - learn more
  • Bonfire Ventures led a $4.25M Seed funding round for KeySavvy, a Seattle-based platform that simplifies and secures private-party car transactions; the funds will be used to expand their operations and engineering team, support new partnerships, enhance platform automation, and launch a fast-financing product for buyers. - learn more
  • Aliment Capital led a $42M Series C funding round for OneRail, an Orlando-based company specializing in last-mile delivery logistics software; the funds will be used to enhance their platform's capabilities and expand market reach. - learn more
  • UP.Partners led a $7M second-extension Series A funding round for Teleo, a Palo Alto-based company specializing in autonomous construction equipment; the funds will be used to expand their product offerings and accelerate market adoption. - learn more
  • Alexandria Venture Investments participated in a $30M Seed funding round for Valora Therapeutics, a San Diego-based biotechnology company developing novel immunotherapies using their proprietary AbLec platform; the funds will be used to advance their research and development efforts, optimize the platform, and progress AbLec therapeutics toward clinical trials. - learn more
  • Progression Fund participated in a $1.5M Pre-Seed funding round for GetMyHome, a Redondo Beach-based real estate service provider that offers a full rebate of seller-paid agent commission fees, charging clients a flat fee for the services they need, and employs agents who receive flat-fee compensation to help clients secure their dream homes without the incentive to push for overbidding. - learn more
  • Hyperlink Ventures participated in a $33M Series B funding round for Selector, a Santa Clara-based company specializing in AI-driven solutions that provide comprehensive visibility and intelligence for complex networks, infrastructure, and applications; the funds will be used to accelerate the development of their AIOps, Large Language Model (LLM), and Digital Twin technologies, as well as to expand their global presence. - learn more
  • Bonfire Ventures and Impulsum Venture Colab participated in a $5.25M Seed funding round for CalmWave, a Seattle-based health-tech startup specializing in reducing non-actionable ICU alarms to alleviate clinician fatigue; the funds will be used to boost market growth and expand partnerships with GPO channels like Premier, Inc. and Partners Coop. - learn more
  • Wavemaker 360 participated in a $14.5M Seed funding round for Citizen Health, a San Mateo, CA-based company with an AI-powered consumer health platform designed to support individuals managing rare and complex conditions; the funds will be used to enhance their platform and advance research in rare disease drug development. - learn more
  • B Capital led a $25M Series A funding round for Synapticure, a Chicago-based virtual care company specializing in neurodegenerative diseases; the funds will be used to expand partnerships, invest in technology, accelerate clinical research, and scale their medical group to enhance care for patients and caregivers nationwide. - learn more
  • Amboy Street Ventures and Emmeline Ventures participated in a $16M Series A funding round for Alloy, a New York-based menopause care startup that offers personalized treatments, including hormone therapy and symptom management, through telemedicine consultations and home delivery of medications. - learn more
  • Morpheus Ventures participated in a $28M Series A funding round for Goodstack, a SaaS and fintech platform that helps businesses integrate charitable giving, and the funds will be used to expand services for corporates, build technology for nonprofits, and hire across the team in 2025. - learn more
  • Trousdale Ventures participated in a Series B funding round for Anello Photonics, a Santa Clara, CA-based company specializing in silicon photonic optical gyroscopes (SiPhOG™); the funds will be used to improve navigation and positioning in GPS-denied environments for industrial and defense uses. - learn more
  • Cultivate Next participated in a $30M Series B funding round for Plantible Foods, a San Diego-based biotechnology company that creates sustainable, plant-based protein ingredients, starting with Rubi Protein™ from the aquatic plant Lemna, will use its investment to expand manufacturing at its first commercial plant, "The Ranchito," a 100-acre facility in West Texas. - learn more
  • Bonfire Ventures led a $4M Seed funding round for Mithrl, a San Francisco-based company providing an AI-powered platform to accelerate scientific research; the funds will be used to expand their go-to-market team and further develop the platform. - learn more
  • Upfront Ventures led a $15M Seed funding round for BrightAI, a San Francisco-based company specializing in AI-powered sensor technology for real-time monitoring across various industries; the funds will be used to enhance their technology and meet growing customer demand. - learn more

      LA Exits

      • Brainjolt, a Pasadena-based digital media company that creates and curates engaging content across various platforms and reaches millions of users monthly, has been acquired by Centerfield. - learn more

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              What’s New from Waymo 🚗 and Snapchat 👻

              🔦 Spotlight

              Happy Friday, LA!

              Image Source: Waymo

              In case you’ve been cooped up indoors or haven’t had a chance to leave the office this week, you might have missed the latest buzz—Waymo’s self-driving cars are now cruising all over LA! That’s right—Waymo One, the autonomous ride-hailing service, has officially expanded citywide, now covering nearly 80 square miles of Los Angeles. After months of testing and a waitlist, Angelenos can now book rides 24/7 in areas stretching from Santa Monica to Hollywood to the USC neighborhood. Early feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with passengers rating the service 4.7/5. Riders are praising the smooth, safe experience—making it a game-changer for getting around the city, whether it’s for work, errands, or leisure.

              Image Source: Snap

              Meanwhile, Snapchat is stepping up its game with new features in its Family Center designed to boost family safety and connectivity. Parents can now request their teens' live location on Snap Map, stay informed about their location-sharing settings, and set travel notifications to get alerts when family members arrive or depart from key locations like home or school. These updates give families more control and peace of mind in managing their digital interactions.


              🤝 Venture Deals

              LA Companies

              • Camouflet, an AI-driven platform specializing in real-time pricing optimization, has raised a $3M Seed funding round from private investors to enhance its services. - learn more
              • Chaos Industries, a defense tech company specializing in advanced detection and monitoring systems, raised a $145M Series B funding round led by Accel to accelerate its development of critical national security technologies. - learn more
              • Radiant, a company specializing in advanced nuclear microreactors, raised a $100M Series C funding round led by DCVC. The funds will be used to complete the Kaleidos Development Unit and conduct testing at Idaho National Laboratory's DOME facility, aiming to bring factory-built microreactors to market. - learn more
              • Mundial Media, a company focused on contextual marketing for multicultural audiences, raised a $1.5M Pre-Seed extension round led by new and existing investors, with the funds aimed at advancing their Cadmus AI technology and expanding digital advertising offerings. - learn more

              LA Venture Funds
              • Joyful Ventures participated in a seed funding round for Meatly, a UK-based company specializing in lab-grown pet food, though the exact amount raised has not been disclosed. - learn more
              • B Capital participated in a $200M Series C funding round for Writer, a full-stack generative AI platform that helps enterprises deploy secure and reliable AI solutions to address critical business challenges. - learn more
              • LFX Venture Partners participated in a US$30M Series C2 funding round for UniUni, a company transforming last-mile delivery for e-commerce through technology, and plans to use the capital to improve its platform and rapidly grow its operations. - learn more
              • Composition Capital participated in a $20M Series B funding round for Arbolus, an expert insights platform that connects investors and consultants with subject matter experts, to support Arbolus's expansion into the U.S. market - learn more
              • Type One Ventures co-led a Series A funding round for Lunar Outpost, a company specializing in lunar surface mobility, commercial space robotics, and space resources; the funds will support their active programs. - learn more
              • Trousdale Ventures participated in a $29M funding round for Starfish Space, a Seattle-based satellite servicing company that will use the funds to develop and launch its Otter spacecraft, designed to extend the operational life of satellites in geostationary orbit. - learn more
              • Plus Capital participated in a $20M Series A funding round for OneSkin, a San Francisco-based biotech company specializing in skin health treatments, with the funds aimed at expanding research, developing new formulas, and growing its presence in the anti-aging skincare industry. The company will also invest in its team and explore new sales channels. - learn more
              • Starshot Capital participated in a $10.5M Series A funding round for Ecolectro, a New York City-based green hydrogen company, to support the development of its scalable electrolyzer technology and make green hydrogen more accessible. - learn more
              • Navitas Capital participated in a $37M Series B funding round for SwiftConnect, a company that provides connected access solutions for buildings and spaces, to expand its network, scale operations, and support new product initiatives. - learn more
              • Griffin Gaming Partners led a €17M Seed funding round for BIT ODD, a Finnish gaming studio focused on creating mobile games that prioritize creativity and emotional depth over finance-driven metrics. - learn more
              • The K Fund participated in a $20M funding round for Homethrive, a caregiving solutions platform, and the funds will be used to help expand its AI-driven care navigation, improve personalized support, and enhance digital tools to increase engagement across various payer populations. - learn more

                    LA Exits

                    • Farm Dog, a Los Angeles-based company that provides a platform with tools to help agronomists streamline their work—offering features for field scouting, document management, and data integration to enhance productivity in agriculture—has been acquired by FarmQA. - learn more

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                            Wonder Dynamics: Redefining the Animation Landscape
                            Wonder Animation

                            🔦 Spotlight

                            Happy Friday, LA!

                            Wonder Dynamics, a Los Angeles-based company founded by Tye Sheridan and Nikola Todorovic, has launched Wonder Animation, a beta feature that is poised to transform the landscape of video production. Acquired by Autodesk in May, Wonder Dynamics is leveraging this innovative tool, which harnesses artificial intelligence to turn standard video footage into captivating 3D animated scenes, making sophisticated animation techniques more accessible to filmmakers of all budgets.

                            Wonder Animation allows creators to shoot from multiple angles, with the AI reconstructing these shots into a dynamic 3D space. This functionality enables filmmakers to seamlessly blend live-action scenes with interactive virtual environments while preserving original camera movements. Users can customize various aspects, including animations, characters, lighting, and camera tracking data, and the tool integrates smoothly with popular software like Maya, Blender, and Unreal Engine.

                            What sets Wonder Animation apart is its emphasis on artistic control. Unlike many AI tools that impose rigid outcomes, this feature empowers creators to guide their projects, ensuring that their unique style remains front and center.

                            As the boundary between video and 3D animation blurs, Wonder Animation invites creators to experiment and innovate in exciting ways. This development marks a significant step forward in digital storytelling, democratizing access to high-quality visual effects and making sophisticated animation achievable for a broader range of filmmakers.

                            With the global animation market projected to reach approximately $400 billion in 2024 and grow to over $587 billion by 2030—reflecting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 5%—tools like Wonder Animation are more relevant than ever. This growth underscores the increasing demand for animated content and highlights the necessity of innovative solutions to meet filmmakers’ evolving needs. For those looking to elevate their storytelling, Wonder Animation may just be the key to unlocking new creative horizons. According to Statista, this upward trend in the animation market emphasizes the significant opportunities ahead.


                            🤝 Venture Deals

                            LA Companies

                            • Evite, an online platform enabling users to design, send, and manage digital invitations and eCards with tools for event organization and guest tracking, has received a strategic growth investment from Francisco Partners to accelerate innovation and expand its product offerings. - learn more
                            LA Venture Funds
                            • F4 Fund participated in a $4.1M Pre-Seed funding round for Further, a platform designed to help first-time homebuyers determine how much home they can afford by providing personalized insights on interest rates and lender requirements, giving users a clear view of their purchasing power. - learn more
                            • Alexandria Venture Investments participated in a $10M Seed funding round for CrossBridge Bio, a company focused on developing advanced dual-payload antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) therapies, with the funds supporting preclinical development of its next-generation cancer treatments. - learn more
                            • Clocktower Ventures participated in a $5.6M Series A funding round for Morada Uno, a startup in Mexico focused on making apartment rentals easier by providing a platform that connects tenants with landlords and simplifies processes like lease agreements and rent payments. - learn more
                            • Skyview Capital participated in a $5M Series A funding round for Web3 chain game A-World, a tower defense battle game set in the metaverse on the BNB Chain, where players build hero towers to defeat waves of monsters. - learn more

                                LA Exits

                                • Drive Hospitality, a leading provider of personalized parking and hospitality services, including valet, concierge, bell services, parking management, and advanced technology integration, has been acquired by Propark Mobility. - learn more
                                • Vebu Labs, located in El Segundo and specializing in custom automation solutions for the food industry—including the innovative 'Autocado' system that automates the peeling, coring, and scooping of avocados to enhance operational efficiency—will be acquired by Serve Robotics. - learn more

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