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Robinhood CEO’s AI Math Wiz Valued at $900M

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Harmonic AI, the artificial intelligence startup co-founded by Robinhood Markets CEO Vlad Tenev, has raised $100 million in a Series B round, bringing its valuation to $875 million, according to Bloomberg. The Palo Alto-based company, founded in 2023 by Tenev and Tudor Achim, aims to develop AI systems capable of solving complex math problems, an area where current large language models often fall short.

The latest funding round was led by Kleiner Perkins, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures, and Paradigm. Harmonic’s focus is on building what it calls “mathematical superintelligence,” with an immediate goal of creating an AI that can outperform humans at math. Its flagship model, Aristotle, is expected to be released to researchers and the public later this year. The company’s approach relies on formal verification, a mathematical method to ensure AI outputs are correct, which Tenev says will help eliminate hallucinations that plague other AI models.

“Harmonic has created a new foundation for verified, scalable reasoning that can be trusted in high-stakes environments. I’m deeply excited about the applications of Aristotle not just for software, but for accelerating progress across science, engineering and general intelligence,” said Ilya Fushman, partner at Kleiner Perkins and a former physicist in a statement released on the Harmonic site. Fushman will join Harmonic’s Board of Directors as an observer.

Tenev serves as executive chairman, while Achim, formerly of Helm.ai, is CEO, according to the Bloomberg report. This funding round follows Harmonic’s previous $75 million raise from Sequoia and Index. Tenev noted that the company intentionally stayed just below the $1 billion “unicorn” threshold, stating, “You never want to take the highest offer. Optimizing for valuation is never the right choice.” The company’s ambitions extend beyond math, with plans to tackle unsolved problems in physics and computer science in the future.

“We can ensure that every piece of output and every step in our model’s reasoning is verifiably correct,” Tenev told Bloomberg. “That is just a very different approach to building AI models that I think is going to be the approach that dominates in the future.”

Recent PYMNTS coverage of Robinhood has focused on the company’s ongoing push into new financial products and its efforts to diversify revenue streams. In June, PYMNTS reported on Robinhood’s expansion of its crypto trading features and the launch of new investment tools aimed at retail investors. The financial platform announced Monday (June 30) that it was launching U.S. stock and exchange-traded fund (ETF) tokens in the European Union, giving eligible customers exposure to U.S. equities with Robinhood stock tokens.



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Artificial Intelligence Is the Future of Wellness

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Would you turn over your wellness to Artificial Intelligence? Before you balk, hear me out. What if your watch could not only detect diseases and health issues before they arise but also communicate directly with our doctors to flag us for treatment? What if it could speak with the rest of your gadgets in real time, and optimize your environment so your bedroom was primed for your most restful sleep, keep your refrigerator full with the food your body actually needs and your home fitness equipment calibrated to give you the most effective workout for your energy level? What if, with the help of AI, your entire living environment could be so streamlined that you were immersed in the exact kind of wellness your body and mind needed at any given moment, without ever lifting a finger?

It sounds like science fiction, but those days may not be that far off. At least, not if Samsung has anything to do with it. Right now, the electronics company is investing heavily in its wearables sector to ensure that Samsung is at the forefront of the intersection of health and technology. And in 2025, that means a hefty dose of AI.

Wearable wellness technology like watches, rings and fitness tracking bands are not new. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t wear some sort of smart tracker today. But the thing that I’ve always found frustrating about wearable trackers is the data. Sure, you can see how many steps you’re taking, how many calories you’re eating, how restful your sleep is and sometimes even more specific metrics like your blood oxygen or glucose levels, but the real question remains: what should you do with all that data once you have it? What happens when you get a low score or a red alert? Without adequate knowledge of what these metrics actually mean and how they are really affecting your body, how can you know how to make a meaningful change that will actually improve your health? At best, they become a window into your body. At worst, they become a portal to anxiety and fixation, which many experts are now warning can lead to orthorexia, an unhealthy obsession with being healthy.

(Image credit: Samsung)

The Samsung Health app, when paired with the brand’s Galaxy watches, rings, and bands, tracks a staggering amount of metrics from your heart rate to biological age. Forthcoming updates will include even more, including the ability to measure carotenoids in your skin as a way to assess your body’s antioxidant content. But Samsung also understands that what you do with the data is just as important as having it, which is why they’ve introduced an innovative AI-supported coaching program.



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Pope Leo XIV says artificial intelligence must have ethical management in message to the “AI for Good Summit 2025”

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A man demonstrates robotic hands picking up a cup as seen in this photo take July 8, 2025, at the AI for Good Summit 2025 in Geneva. The July 8-11 summit, organized by the International Telecommunication Union in partnership with some 40 U.N. agencies and the Swiss government, focused on “identifying innovative AI applications, building skills and standards, and advancing partnerships to solve global challenges,” according to the event’s website. (CNS photo/courtesy ITU/Rowan Farrell)

VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV urged global leaders and experts to establish a network for the governance of AI and to seek ethical clarity regarding its use.

Artificial intelligence “requires proper ethical management and regulatory frameworks centered on the human person, and which goes beyond the mere criteria of utility or efficiency,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, wrote in a message sent on the pope’s behalf.

The message was read aloud by Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, the Vatican representative to U.N. agencies in Geneva, at the AI for Good Summit 2025 being held July 8-11 in Geneva. The Vatican released a copy of the message July 10.

The summit, organized by the International Telecommunication Union in partnership with some 40 U.N. agencies and the Swiss government, focused on “identifying innovative AI applications, building skills and standards, and advancing partnerships to solve global challenges,” according to the event’s website.

“Humanity is at a crossroads, facing the immense potential generated by the digital revolution driven by Artificial Intelligence,” Cardinal Parolin wrote on behalf of the pope.

“Although responsibility for the ethical use of AI systems begins with those who develop, manage and oversee them, those who use them also share in this responsibility,” he wrote.

“On behalf of Pope Leo XIV, I would like to take this opportunity to encourage you to seek ethical clarity and to establish a coordinated local and global governance of AI, based on the shared recognition of the inherent dignity and fundamental freedoms of the human person,” Cardinal Parolin wrote.

A woman in a wheelchair reaches out to Mirokaï, a new generation of robots that employs Artificial Intelligence, as seen in this photo take July 8, 2025, at the AI for Good Summit 2025 in Geneva. The July 8-11 summit, organized by the International Telecommunication Union in partnership with some 40 U.N. agencies and the Swiss government, focused on “identifying innovative AI applications, building skills and standards, and advancing partnerships to solve global challenges,” according to the event’s website. (CNS photo/courtesy ITU/Rowan Farrell)

“This epochal transformation requires responsibility and discernment to ensure that AI is developed and utilized for the common good, building bridges of dialogue and fostering fraternity, and ensuring it serves the interests of humanity as a whole,” he wrote.

When it comes to AI’s increasing capacity to adapt “autonomously,” the message said, “it is crucial to consider the anthropological and ethical implications, the values at stake and the duties and regulatory frameworks required to uphold those values.”

“While AI can simulate aspects of human reasoning and perform specific tasks with incredible speed and efficiency, it cannot replicate moral discernment or the ability to form genuine relationships,” the papal message said. “Therefore, the development of such technological advancements must go hand in hand with respect for human and social values, the capacity to judge with a clear conscience and growth in human responsibility.”

Cardinal Parolin congratulated and thanked the members and staff of the International Telecommunication Union, which was celebrating the 160th anniversary, “for their work and constant efforts to foster global cooperation in order to bring the benefits of communication technologies to the people across the globe.”

“Connecting the human family through telegraph, radio, telephone, digital and space communications presents challenges, particularly in rural and low-income areas, where approximately 2.6 billion persons still lack access to communication technologies,” he wrote.

“We must never lose sight of the common goal” of contributing to what St. Augustine called “the tranquility of order,” and fostering “a more humane order of social relations, and peaceful and just societies in the service of integral human development and the good of the human family,” the cardinal wrote.



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Inside the Ambitious Japanese Video Game That Almost Bankrupted Its Makers

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The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy took more than five years and a lot of borrowed money



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