OpenAI Launches ChatGPT Search, Inbrain Raises $50 Million, Spot AI Spots $31 Million

It’s earnings week and we’ve heard from Google, Microsoft, Meta and that sales are up. Everyone is making money. They are also spending it very, very quickly. As a result, the entire market made a frowny face today. The tech heavy NASDQ is down 512 points. Meta lost $4.4 Billion on Reality Labs, too, but all is forgiven when you make $40 billion a quarter. Carrying an entire industry on your back is very expensive. Apple and Amazon report Thursday night.

OpenAI has introduced ChatGPT Search, enabling the AI to access the Internet in real time. This feature allows ChatGPT to provide up-to-date responses with direct links to relevant sources. Initially available to ChatGPT Plus and Team subscribers, OpenAI plans to extend this capability to all users in the coming months. The integration positions ChatGPT as a direct competitor to established search engines like Google and emerging AI-driven platforms such as Perplexity.

Inbrain Neuroelectronics Raises $50 million to advance neural interfaces. These interfaces treat neurological disorders by enabling precise brain stimulation and recording. Asabys Partners led the funding round, with participation from Alta Life Sciences, V Squared Ventures, and TruVenturo. Inbrain plans to use the investment to accelerate clinical trials and expand its product portfolio, focusing on conditions like epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease.

Spot AI raised $31 million in Series B funding led by Qualcomm Ventures The SF-based company turns standard black and white surveillance cameras into AI-driven video assistants. Spot AI’s solution enables cameras to analyze and respond in real-time, enhancing safety and operational efficiency. Spot says it has over 10,000 customers.

Afference raised $3.5 million to develop the Afference Ring, a haptic device that will debut at CES 2025 in January. Seed round investors include Hannah Grey VC, Konvoy, and Samsung Next.

Metaverse Game Co Super League Snags $1 M Investment from Infinite Reality. Infinite Reality announced plans to acquire a majority stake in Super League Enterprise, Inc. (Nasdaq: SLE) via stock exchange in October, 2023. At that time, iR said it planned to spend upwards of $20 million further developing Super League.

The Best and Worst of Apple’s new AI. A suite of AI-powered features for iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models went live this week with os 18.1. Key additions include Writing Tools for text editing, an enhanced Siri with improved contextual understanding, and a Clean Up feature in Photos to remove unwanted elements. The Mail app benefits from AI-driven email prioritization, while Summaries offer concise overviews of content. Recording and transcription capabilities are now available in the Phone and Notes apps as well.

Hollywood’s 7th Annual Infinity Festival is November 6 – 9th. The gathering is focused on the accelerating merger of film, special effects, games, and immersie media through new technologies. The festival will features panels, keynotes, and demos exploring the challenges and opportunities this convergence brings to entertainment. Sessions are led by studio executives, tech innovators, and content creators, the event offers insights into the future trajectory of Hollywood’s digital evolution.

Culver Cup Winners Create Movie Magic With AI. MetaPuppet’s Mnemonade, depicting a woman with dementia, claimed the Culver Cup during LA Tech Week. In this original, emotional and very personal film she unlocks fragments of her lost memories, triggered by each dish, which is served by a mysterious waiter.

Reza Sixo Safai, an AI filmmaker with early access to OpenAI’s Sora, sent us this Halloween treat. Safai is one of the co-founder of The Massive a creative shop with deep expertise in generative AI.

Rave Reviews for the new Batman: Arkham Shadow game for Quest. “The XR Game we have been waiting for,” writes the Verge. Techradar says it is “an almost flawless VR experience.”

This column, formerly called “This Week in XR,” is also a podcast hosted by the author of this column, Charlie Fink, Ted Schilowitz, former studio executive and co-founder of Red Camera, and Rony Abovitz, founder of Mako Robotics, Magic Leap, and Synthbee. This week our guest is Shara Senderoff, CEO of Futureverse. We can be found on Spotify, iTunes, and YouTube.

What We’re Reading

Palmer Lucky on the Pentagon’s future of mixed reality (MIT Technology Review)

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney’s path to the open metaverse is via enlightened self-interest (Dean Takahasi/VentureBeat)