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AI is upgrading everything this week: from music studios and running shoes to TikTok feeds and enterprise dashboards.
But the bigger shift is quieter: software moving deeper into government infrastructure. One startup is modernizing Pentagon workflows; another story shows facial recognition embedding further into U.S. intelligence systems.
When tech becomes infrastructure, it stops being optional.
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Six bullets of updates
🎵 London’s Mozart AI landed $6M to help creators build original music with AI-powered tools; seed round was oversubscribed.
🏃♂️ Motorized leg shells help runners move 13% faster and go farther in new "e-bike for feet" prototype.
📍 TikTok’s new feed surfaces hyperlocal dining, events, and news using precise location data in select U.S. cities.
🤖 European AI leaders rally as €1.2B is pledged for a Swedish data centre to accelerate homegrown innovation.
📊 Reflow raised $15M+ to help enterprises gain real-time operational visibility and streamline performance.
🤖 Belgian AI startup Runeasi secures €1M to fuel global scale-up ambitions in sports performance analytics.
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Defense, Rewritten
Photo by Moritz Mentges on Unsplash
Defense program management startup Integrate has raised a $17M round led by Wesley Chan (FPV), aiming to replace the Pentagon’s endless PDF tennis matches with secure, multi-entity workflows built for how defense actually runs.
It already landed early validation: a $25M, five-year Space Force contract. Built from day one for government requirements, the platform is designed to handle F-35 and JWST-level coordination without exposing sensitive, need-to-know details.
Why it matters: defense SaaS has real tailwinds , post-Ukraine urgency, China tensions, and modernization budgets; while legacy incumbents struggle to retrofit government-grade controls. If Integrate becomes the cleared system of record, primes reduce schedule risk and smaller contractors move faster. The real watchpoints: ATO timelines, procurement whiplash, and the ever-present three-letter politics as it scales across DoD.
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Why Everyone is Stuck with AI Surveillance (Except Chicago)
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US Government Agencies Expand Use of AI-Powered Facial Recognition
CBP has signed a $225K, one-year deal extending face-search access to Border Patrol intelligence units, powered by a database built from billions of scraped images. The internet never forgets; now it recognizes you.
Framed as “tactical targeting” through HQ INTEL and the National Targeting Center, the system reportedly draws from 60+ billion images, raising familiar questions about uploads, citizen queries, retention policies, and who exactly gets searched.
What it signals: government appetite for OSINT and biometrics isn’t cooling, even under legislative scrutiny and despite NIST-flagged error rates in real-world conditions. Procurement will likely lean toward tighter integration with existing targeting systems, audit trails by default, documented provenance, formal human-in-the-loop review, and explicit liability language around misidentification.
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