AI Daily: Shield AI buys Aechelon, Apple to open Siri to third party AI

Catch up on the top artificial intelligence news and commentary by Wall Street analysts on publicly traded companies in the space with this daily recap compiled by The Fly.

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AECHELON ACQUISITION: Shield AI announced it is raising $1.5B in Series G funding at a $12.7B post-money valuation and $500M in fixed return preferred equity financing. A portion of the proceeds will help fund the company’s planned acquisition of Aechelon Technology, a Sagewind Capital portfolio company. Aechelon is a defense software company known for its high-fidelity simulation, physics-based sensors, and synthetic reality applications. Aechelon’s technology is used by the U.S. military and allies to train pilots and test advanced aircraft and autonomous systems before live flight, and supports a range of critical national security platforms, including the Pentagon’s Joint Simulation Environment.

FUNDING ROUND: Nvidia (NVDA) backed startup Reflection is in discussions to raise $2.5B at a valuation of $25B, Berber Jin and Kate Clark of The Wall Street Journal report, citing people familiar with the matter. The company is looking to build a network of “open source” AI models, which can be used and repurposed by businesses, labs, and universities as needed. JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is in talks to participate in the round, the sources added.

TECH PANEL: President Trump has named Meta (META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Oracle (ORCL) Executive Chairman Larry Ellison, Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang, and others to the Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, co-chaired by David Sacks, The Wall Street Journal’s Annie Linksey and Alex Leary report. The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology will advise on AI policy and emerging tech issues. “The United States has the opportunity to lead the world in AI,” said Zuckerberg in a statement to The Wall Street Journal. “I’m honored to join the President’s council and work with other industry leaders to help make this happen.”

SEARCH LIVE: Google (GOOGL) announced that it is expanding Search Live globally to all languages and locations where AI Mode is available. “Now, people in more than 200 countries and territories can have interactive conversations with Search in AI Mode, using both voice and camera,” the company said in a blog post.

OUTSIDE AI ASSISTANTS: Apple (AAPL) intends to open Siri to outside AI assistants, preparing to make the change as part of a larger Siri overhaul in its upcoming iOS 27 update, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports, citing people with knowledge of the matter. The assistant can also tap into Microsoft-backed (MSFT) OpenAI’s ChatGPT, but the iPhone maker will now allow competing services to do the same, the author notes.

BLOCKCHAIN TICKETING PAYMENTS: Nextech3D.ai (NEXCF) announced the expansion of supported payment gateways for its blockchain-based ticketing platform, adding Apple Pay (AAPL) and Google Pay (GOOGL) further strengthens the platform’s payment ecosystem, building on Nextech3D.ai’s recently announced BitPay integration. The expanded payment infrastructure is part of Nextech3D.ai’s final platform preparations as it advances toward broader commercial deployment of its blockchain ticketing solution across enterprise, association, and public-sector events.

GEMINI MODEL: As part of its Google (GOOGL) deal, Apple (AAPL) has full access to the Gemini model in its own data centers and can use distillation to produce smaller models, The Information’s Jessica E. Lessin, Amir Efrati, and Erin Woo report.

FAUNA ROBOTICS DEAL: Amazon.com (AMZN) has acquired startup Fauna Robotics, which is developing a human-like robot with arms and legs that can interact with people, walk, grip items and dance, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. The e-commerce giant closed the deal for Fauna last week, according to the sources. An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the acquisition, saying the company is “excited about Fauna’s vision to build capable, safe and fun robots for everyone.” “Together with Amazon’s robotics expertise and decades of experience earning customer trust in the home through our retail and devices businesses, we’re looking forward to inventing new ways to make our customers’ lives better and easier,” the spokesperson is quoted as having added.

SMART GLASSES: The release of Meta’s (META) new Ray-Ban smart glasses in the European Union has been hampered by battery and AI regulations as well as supply constraints, Gian Volpicelli, Mark Gurman, and Daniele Lepido of Bloomberg report. Meta wants to launch the product in the EU with EssilorLuxottica (ESLOY), but has been unable to secure enough supply, a person with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg. Additionally, local regulations on AI features and batteries have further delayed the EU launch, the source added.