AI Antibiotic breakthrough

PLUS: Tech Unicorn files for bankruptcy

Welcome, Tech enthusiasts.

A new class of antibiotics discovered with the help of artificial intelligence can kill drug-resistant bacteria.

This could save more than 10 million lives by 2050. Let’s dive in…

In today’s tech rundown:

  • AI combats drug-resistant bacteria

  • Scooter unicorn Bird files for bankruptcy

  • 8 new products

  • Branson-backed Hyperloop One is shutting down

  • X experiences major global outages

  • Worldcoin shuts down ID verification in Brazil, France, India

Read time: 3 minutes

TODAY’S HEADLINES

MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS

The Rundown: A groundbreaking AI application has led to the discovery of a new class of antibiotics, offering hope in the fight against drug-resistant bacteria, a major health threat globally.

The details:

  • The AI system was instrumental in screening millions of chemical compounds, successfully identifying those capable of killing drug-resistant strains like MRSA and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus.

  • This discovery is particularly significant given the rising death toll from antibiotic resistance, which claimed over 1.2 million lives in 2019 alone.

  • The new antibiotics have shown promising results in mouse models, effectively treating infections from these hard-to-combat bacteria.

Our thoughts: This advancement marks a significant leap in both AI applications and antibiotic development. By harnessing AI for drug discovery, researchers are opening new frontiers in the battle against some of the most challenging medical threats of our time.

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BIRD

Image source: Bloomberg

The Rundown: Electric scooter startup Bird (once valued as high as $2.5B) — just plunged into bankruptcy, putting a cap on a monumental downfall for the company amid inflated growth claims and financial instability.

The details:

  • Demand for Bird’s rentable electric scooters surged in 2019, with the startup reaching unicorn status and seemingly unlocking a new sector of micro-mobility.

  • The pandemic and regulatory pushback stalled progress, but the company still went public with an IPO in 2021 — quickly losing 90% of its value just six months later.

  • The company also encountered safety issues amid cost-cutting efforts, and admitted inflated financial reporting.

  • Bird will reportedly continue to operate as normal during the bankruptcy proceedings.

The relevance: Despite being one of the fastest startups to Unicorn status and pioneering a new sector of rentable city transportation, Bird’s rise and fall from a VC darling to bankruptcy is a cautionary tale of how quickly startups can implode.

NEW PRODUCTS

🎄 AI Christmas Portrait Generator- Create festive portraits with AI (link)

🤖 Opencord AI- Craft AI-generated social media content effortlessly (link)

🧬 Helix- Custom-build AI using open-source software and personal datasets (link)

🍔 Rex Nutribot- AI-powered tracking for calories, workouts, and meals via WhatsApp (link)

🎨 Drawww- iPad-optimized real-time AI drawing tool (link)

 Magic Studio- Create amazing product photos in minutes (link)

🧠 Taskade- Five AI-powered tools in one to supercharge your team productivity (link)

 Timetics AI- Smart scheduling solution for meetings and businesses (link)

Browse the most popular tools ever featured with our tool database.

SNIPPETS

Beeper is giving up on bringing iMessage to Android after Apple repeatedly thwarted its workarounds, concluding it can't win a "cat-and-mouse game" against the tech giant.

Hyperloop One, the Richard Branson-backed futuristic transportation startup, is reportedly shutting down at the end of 2023 after over $300 million in funding and nearly a decade in operation.

X experienced a major global outage on Wednesday, preventing access and causing errors with loading feeds.

Microsoft is discontinuing its Windows Mixed Reality platform as part of a removal of deprecated Windows features after over 5 years.

Worldcoin is no longer offering its Orb eye-scanning biometric ID verification device in India, Brazil and France, shutting down just months after expanding to those markets.

Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S24 lineup specs have reportedly leaked, featuring new colors and iterative hardware like Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chips.

The UK Supreme Court ruled that AI systems cannot be inventors eligible for patents, rejecting Stephen Thaler's bid to have his AI system named an inventor of container and light inventions.

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THAT’S A WRAP

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