DTN 171: China's 2.8 trillion parameter open source model

“Europe's real weakness is execution. It is not about knowing what to do since we have perfect analysis about the problems holding us back. It is about getting it done, and that is where we can learn the most from the U.S."

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China’s Moonshot AI releases Kimi K3, the largest open-source model ever, rivaling top U.S. systems

“Moonshot AI, the Beijing-based artificial intelligence startup backed by Alibaba, on Thursday released Kimi K3 — a 2.8-trillion-parameter model that the company says is now the largest open-source AI model in the world, and one that benchmarks show performs neck-and-neck with the most powerful proprietary systems from Anthropic and OpenAI.

The release, timed to land just ahead of the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, is a dramatic escalation in the global AI arms race and a watershed moment for the open-source AI movement. It also marks a remarkable comeback for a company whose market position had eroded significantly over the past 18 months following DeepSeek's meteoric rise.” (via VentureBeat)

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• Defense Innovation Unit seeks commercial path to deliver electrical power from orbit
• SpaceX launches 21 satellites for military data network

“Last year, astronauts in orbit took diagnostic x-rays of their own bodies for the very first time—and now, we get to see the results.

On March 31, 2025, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the Fram2 mission, which was the first human spaceflight to enter a polar orbit. The four people on board—cryptocurrency investor Chun Wang, film maker Jannicke Mikkelsen, engineer Rabea Rogge and polar explorer Eric Philips—spent three and a half days orbiting Earth.

During that time, they performed various science experiments, including taking x-rays of themselves. The results were published on Tuesday in Radiology.

For four decades astronauts aboard spacecraft such as the International Space Station have had some seriously stocked medicine kits, including an ultrasound machine. But an x-ray machine was never part of that cache. That was partly because x-ray machines were too bulky to go to space, but new portable technology is making them more accessible.” (via Scientific American)

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• A method to create fault-tolerant analog in-memory computing systems
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• Engineers shrink powerful terahertz systems onto a single semiconductor chip

• Fireworks raises $1.5B Series D for a platform to train and serve custom AI models
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• Neko Health Raises $700M in Series C Funding
• Wonder raises $650M Series D for an integrated food platform with kitchen robotics and delivery
• Chai Discovery raises $400M for AI-driven protein structure and drug discovery
• AdvanCell Closes US $315M in Series D Funding
• Oratomic raises $300M Series A for fault-tolerant quantum computers using optical tweezer atoms
• Walden Robotics raises $300M for general-purpose robots that learn while performing industrial tasks
• LimX Dynamics raises $200M for autonomous humanoid robots with bipedal locomotion control software
• Brinc raises $125M for a connected ecosystem of drones and tools for public safety agencies
• TerraFirma raises $100M Series A for semi-autonomous heavy machinery and robotic earthworks
• Nava Therapeutics raises $89M for lipid nanoparticle drug delivery
• Singularity raises $80M Series A for automotive-scale counter-weapons manufacturing
• SWISSto12 raises $70M Series C for 3D-printed satellite payloads and GEO platforms
• Draig Therapeutics raises $65M Series B for oral small molecules targeting neuropsychiatric disorders
• Senra raises $65M Series B for software-modernized wire harness manufacturing
• Xenter raises $58.25M Series B for a healthcare intelligence platform combining medical devices and clinical AI
• Drug Farm raises $55M Series D for AI-driven novel drug targets for ROSAH, heart, kidney, and liver diseases
• Elorian raises $55M seed for visual AI reasoning and understanding models
• microagi raises $55M seed for hardware-agnostic software platform training factory robots
• Hemispheric raises $52M for an AI platform to decode brain activity via EEG
• Valarian raises $50M Series A for sovereign infrastructure controlling AI systems and critical operations
• RapidPulse raises $48M Series B for cyclic aspiration technology treating acute ischemic stroke
• Quadric extends $46M Series C for fully programmable general-purpose AI inference processor IP
• Starlight Engine raises $37.4M for deuterium–tritium fusion tokamak power generation
• Skapion raises $36M seed for autonomous counter-drone swarm defense architectures
• Monumental raises $32M Series B for autonomous brick-laying robots for construction
• Syntetica raises $30M Series A for recycling mixed nylon textile waste into pellets
• Flexell Space raises $20M Series A for flexible perovskite and CIGS solar cells for spacecraft
• Beyond Reach Labs raises $10M seed for deployable solar arrays for large spacecraft
• Gridcog raises $10M Series A for software modelling energy flexibility and net-zero roadmaps
• Kind Designs raises $10M pre-Series A for 3D-printed living seawalls and coastal flood protection
• Hyperion Robotics Raises $7.4M in Growth Funding
• Aardaia raises €5M seed for non-GMO domestication of wild plants into commercial crops
• Juno Bio raises $3.8M for vaginal microbiome next-generation sequencing and digital diagnostics
• Auxilium Health raises $3.4M seed for bioaerogels that prevent bacterial colonization and guide tissue regeneration

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