French startup Mistral AI has closed a funding round worth $415 million, led by Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed Ventures, bringing its total funding to $528 million. Mistral AI focuses on open-source technology for generative AI tools and aims to make its products available to the public in early 2024. The company was founded by former leads at Google's DeepMind and Meta, and it is valued at around $2 billion. Additional investors in the funding round included Salesforce, Bpifrance, and Eric Schmidt.
US lawmakers are calling for export bans on open source technology, such as RISC-V, to be included in the nation's export controls regime, citing concerns that China is using open source semiconductor designs to bypass US intellectual property dominance and undermine export control laws. Meanwhile, South Korea plans to fine Apple and Google for monopolistic practices related to their app stores, Hong Kong experiences a surge in digital fraud attempts, Singapore-based telco Singtel sells its cyber security business Trustwave, and China is suspected of hacking Guyana's government. Additionally, China announces plans to double the size of its space station, Indonesia's GoTo receives a $150 million grant to drive financial inclusion, and various other news items cover topics such as geopolitics, chip industry, and cybersecurity.
Ukrainian company Molfar is using social media and open source technology to locate and target Russian-backed military forces in Ukraine. By analyzing online posts and using satellite imagery, Molfar was able to locate a military base and pass the information to Ukrainian intelligence, resulting in a successful strike. This technique, known as OSINT, has been reverse-engineered to target enemy forces and destroy enemy hardware.
