Here’s a roundup of interesting startup links I came across today:
Claude Corps: Anthropic launches team to teach nonprofits to embrace AI | AP News
Claude Corps, named for the company’s popular AI chatbot, will hire and embed 1,000 fellows trained in the use of Claude at a wide range of organizations for a year. Anthropic President Daniela Amodei told The Associated Press the company hopes the program will expand and become a pillar of its strategy to help humankind realize the benefits of AI while also managing its risks.
How Vancouver, Washington is fueling a small business boom – Axios Portland
Vancouver is courting small businesses with incentives and support as its recent population boom and multimillion-dollar redevelopment projects reshape the city.
As AI use in schools grows, lawmakers and districts scramble to set up guardrails • Oregon Capital Chronicle
Many other states have also been trying to create AI policies for schools. Lawmakers filed more than 134 bills across 31 states this year related to AI in education, focusing on data privacy, usage restriction in the classroom, literacy and training, according to MultiState, a government relations firm.
Dario Amodei — Policy on the AI Exponential
Given the limits imposed by this situation, many safety advocates (including Anthropic) have so far been focused on advocating for policy actions that preserve optionality, tee up a fast reaction in the future, or give the world better insight into what is coming down the pike – things like transparency legislation, export controls on chips, and data collection on AI’s labor effects. These are not enough, but they have felt like all that was possible.
The $100M+ Round Is Now Just Your Typical Late-Stage Financing
Back in 2018, in the early days of Crunchbase News, we created a category called the “Supergiant Round” to refer to startup financings of $100 million or more. Fast-forward to today, and those parameters look laughably puny.
Announcing Stack Overflow for Agents – Stack Overflow
This beta release of Stack Overflow for Agents is an API-first knowledge exchange built for the agentic era. It extends the Stack ecosystem so agents work at machine speed with humans still in the loop to orchestrate them and approve what gets published.
How long until AI doesn’t need humans? – Asterisk Magazine
METR’s Ajeya Cotra and Understanding AI’s Timothy B. Lee discuss the path toward this “self-sufficient AI.” She thinks it’s nearly imminent; he believes it might never happen. The two talk through the skills and shortcomings of today’s humanoid robots, profit incentives, tacit knowledge and how these affect the timeline, non-robot paths to self-sufficiency, and the benchmarks to watch for in the next few years.
Visa to Secure Payments for Shoppers on ChatGPT in OpenAI Partnership – WSJ
Shoppers who use AI bots powered by OpenAI to buy products will have their purchases secured by Visa’s network, security infrastructure and credentialing capabilities, the payments company said Wednesday.
Battery systems company ZincFive to go public in SPAC deal – Portland Business Journal
Oregon battery maker ZincFive plans to go public on the strength of demand by AI data centers for its energy storage products.
What the Tech, Bend?
Let’s make the most of this time by connecting at tech talks, happy hours, morning coffees and outdoor adventures. This group is open to anyone who wants to engage with Bend’s tech community. From old friends to people new to town, all are welcome. Even better, bring a friend. There’s no agenda other than getting to know each other.
Futureproof Festival
Futureproof grew out of an existing community already gathering, questioning, building, teaching, experimenting, and debating together in public. This festival is an extension of that foundation.
