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Helical raises $10 million seed to scale AI platform for pharma research

Helical raises $10 million seed to scale AI platform for pharma research

London-based AI startup Helical announced a $10 million seed round led by redalpine, with participation from Gradient, BoxGroup and Frst. Angel investors include Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez and HuggingFace CEO Clément Delangue. The funding will fuel expansion of Helical’s Virtual Lab and Model Factory tools, which aim to bridge the gap between large biological foundation models and day‑to‑day drug‑discovery workflows. Helical already counts several top‑20 pharmaceutical companies among its customers, including a public collaboration with Pfizer.

Claude’s Vercel plugin triggers unsolicited telemetry consent, logs shell commands

Claude’s Vercel plugin triggers unsolicited telemetry consent, logs shell commands

A developer using Claude Code noticed a consent prompt for telemetry even in projects that lack any Vercel configuration. Investigation revealed that the Vercel plugin injects system‑level instructions, captures full Bash command strings, device identifiers, OS details and other usage data, and transmits them without an explicit opt‑in. Disabling the data collection requires manual changes to environment variables or configuration files, steps that are not presented during installation. Vercel has not responded to requests for comment.

Google Gemini adds interactive visualizations to chat, rolling out to Pro users

Google Gemini adds interactive visualizations to chat, rolling out to Pro users

Google has expanded its Gemini AI chat tool with a new feature that creates interactive visualizations instead of static images. Users can ask Gemini to "show me" or "help me visualize" a topic, then click a button to launch a dynamic simulation with sliders and adjustable views. The capability, demonstrated with a moon‑orbit model and a car‑engine animation, is now available worldwide for Pro‑model users, though it remains excluded from Education and Workspace accounts. Anthropic recently introduced a similar function for Claude, but Gemini currently lacks a save option for the visuals.

Anthropic Launches Claude Add‑In for Microsoft Word, Offering Free Beta to Enterprise Users

Anthropic Launches Claude Add‑In for Microsoft Word, Offering Free Beta to Enterprise Users

Anthropic announced that its AI assistant Claude is now available as a Microsoft Word add‑in. The beta‑tested feature is free for customers on the company’s Team or Enterprise plans and lets users generate and edit documents, respond to comments, and even negotiate contract language. Claude joins a growing list of workplace integrations that includes Google Workspace, Slack and the Claude Cowork desktop app, positioning the tool as a direct competitor to Microsoft’s own Copilot.

OpenAI Acquires AI‑Powered Finance Startup Hiro

OpenAI Acquires AI‑Powered Finance Startup Hiro

OpenAI announced Monday that it has bought Hiro Finance, an AI‑driven personal finance startup founded by serial entrepreneur Ethan Bloch. The deal, confirmed by both parties, will see Hiro shut down its consumer app and transfer its roughly ten‑person team to OpenAI. Backed by Ribbit Capital, General Catalyst and Restive, Hiro offered users scenario‑based budgeting powered by a model trained for financial math. While terms remain undisclosed, the acquisition signals OpenAI’s push to deepen its foothold in the fintech space and expand talent ahead of its next growth phase.

AI‑Powered Agents Simulate Real‑World Social Matches in New Pixel Societies Platform

AI‑Powered Agents Simulate Real‑World Social Matches in New Pixel Societies Platform

Developers from London have unveiled Pixel Societies, a proof‑of‑concept platform that uses customized large‑language‑model agents to mimic a person’s speech, interests and mannerisms in virtual interactions. The system, built during a University College London hackathon, lets users create digital twins that converse with other agents to surface potential colleagues, friends or romantic partners. While still experimental, the team hopes the technology could streamline the early stages of relationship building by running countless high‑fidelity simulations in minutes.

Ex‑programmer’s viral speech challenges Ohio AI data‑center plan

Ex‑programmer’s viral speech challenges Ohio AI data‑center plan

A former programmer’s impassioned address to the Ravenna, Ohio, city council has gone viral after he warned that a proposed AI data center would drain local water supplies, surge power demand and deliver few jobs despite generous tax breaks. The clip, which has amassed tens of thousands of likes on Reddit, spotlights growing community resistance to AI infrastructure and forces officials to weigh environmental costs against promised economic benefits.

Anthropic launches Claude for Microsoft Word, targeting legal and finance professionals

Anthropic launches Claude for Microsoft Word, targeting legal and finance professionals

Anthropic has added its Claude AI assistant to Microsoft Word, rolling it out in beta for Teams and Enterprise customers. The integration promises document‑level assistance such as instant citations, formatting‑preserving edits, and a tracked‑changes mode that fits naturally into review workflows. Claude can also pull data from open Excel files and respond to comment threads, aiming to streamline work for lawyers, finance teams and other document‑heavy users. The move follows Anthropic's recent expansions into Excel and PowerPoint, signaling a broader push to embed its AI across the Microsoft Office suite.

Educators confront AI‑enabled cheating as online assessments crumble

Educators confront AI‑enabled cheating as online assessments crumble

College instructors are scrambling to protect coursework from large‑language‑model tools that can complete quizzes and essays with a single prompt. While oral exams and supervised handwritten work remain largely immune, they are impractical for asynchronous online classes that serve students with disabilities, rural learners, and working adults. The dilemma pits academic integrity against the need for flexible, accessible education, forcing schools to rethink assessment design or risk abandoning the very formats that broaden access.

Meta creates AI version of Mark Zuckerberg for internal employee interactions

Meta creates AI version of Mark Zuckerberg for internal employee interactions

Meta is testing an artificial‑intelligence replica of CEO Mark Zuckerberg to communicate with staff, part of a broader push to embed AI characters across the company. The digital twin, built from the executive’s images and voice, will appear in internal tools that let employees experiment with AI‑driven workflow assistants. The effort follows Meta’s earlier rollout of celebrity‑styled chatbots and a new AI Studio that lets creators build their own virtual personas. While the project aims to boost productivity, it also raises questions about privacy and the future of work at the social‑media giant.

Microsoft Tests OpenClaw‑Style AI Agents for Always‑On Copilot

Microsoft Tests OpenClaw‑Style AI Agents for Always‑On Copilot

Microsoft is piloting OpenClaw‑inspired AI agents inside its Copilot suite, aiming to give the productivity assistant an always‑on, autonomous mode. Corporate vice president Omar Shahine confirmed the company is exploring the technology for enterprise use, with prototypes that could monitor Outlook, suggest daily tasks and operate within role‑specific limits. The trial is slated to be demonstrated at the Build conference starting June 2, after a report by The Information on April 13. Microsoft says the approach could address security concerns while recapturing customers lost to rival AI services.