Technology

How Robotics and AI are Revolutionizing Recycling Through Amazon’s Most Recent Climate Pledge Fund Investment

Published

1 year ago

March 7, 2024

Komal

How Robotics and AI are Revolutionizing Recycling Through Amazon's Most Recent Climate Pledge Fund Investment

Glacier is an AI and robotics startup that is assisting the recycling sector in its efforts to create a waste-free society. Glacier was recently invested in by Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund as part of our continuous commitment to promote female-led businesses and entrepreneurs in the climate tech space. Areeb Malik and Rebecca Hu co-founded Glacier, a company that employs AI-powered robots to automate recyclables sorting and gather real-time data on recycling streams for consumer brands and recycling companies. In an effort to close the funding gap for women in climate tech, Amazon’s corporate venture capital fund, The Climate Pledge Fund, first announced its $53 million Female Founder Initiative in 2022. The fund invests in climate tech companies to help accelerate Amazon’s path to meet the commitments of The Climate Pledge. Glacier is the second business to receive funding from The Climate Pledge Fund under the leadership of a female CEO.

Glacier was created by Hu and Malik in an effort to address the climate catastrophe. “After researching a variety of climate solutions, we discovered that applying novel advances in AI and robotic automation to help the recycling industry run more efficiently is a powerful way to reduce waste, which has a direct link to reducing carbon emissions,” said Hu.

Even though recycling has a lot of potential to reduce global warming, only 21% of household recyclables are recycled in the United States today, frequently as a result of inadequate infrastructure for recycling. “In the United States alone, almost 70 million tons of recycling are processed each year. Even though this is already a huge project, Malik stated, “We can recover so much more material if we develop accessible automation processes and then scale them across our nation’s recycling infrastructure.” “Glacier is acting in this manner.” In order to help keep precious commodities like metals and plastics out of landfills and the ocean, Glacier’s robots increase sorting and recycling rates.

Two key technologies are combined in Glacier’s approach to recycling innovation. Glacier’s in-house artificial intelligence model can instantly recognize over thirty different recyclable material types, ranging from as wide as PET plastic to as specific as a toothpaste tube. The AI and Glacier’s unique robotic design work together to provide reliable recyclable sorting power at an affordable deployment cost.

Glacier’s sorting robots are not the only thing that could have an impact on the circular economy. “We’re constantly looking for ways to improve recycling, and developing robots is just the first step,” said Malik. Glacier’s AI is generating a recycling data set to help recycling facilities and brands make better-informed decisions. “Our recycling AI is a powerful tool for everyone in the circular economy, and it couldn’t come at a more important time,” said Hu. “As we see mounting legislative, economic, and social pressure to recycle better, brands are using our data to measure and improve how their packaging is being recycled, while recycling facilities are using our data to improve their operations and rescue more recyclables from landfill. We’re thrilled to be collaborating with a circular economy leader like Amazon so that we can accelerate our mission to end waste.”

The investor in Glacier was led by Phoebe Wang, an investment partner of The Climate Pledge Fund. Luna Yu, the first female CEO to receive funding from the Female Founder Initiative, launched Genecis, a bioplastics company that Wang handled The Climate Pledge Fund’s investment in last year. “We’ve made significant progress, but women still face hidden barriers and an invisible glass ceiling, especially in the startup and venture capital space,” said Wang. “We must invest in women like Rebecca who are pioneering innovative technology to address the climate crisis. Our goal is to promote greater support for these female tech founders and help them succeed.” By funding companies like Glacier and Genecis, Amazon hopes to send a clear signal to the venture industry and encourage broader financial support for more female climate-tech founders.

Related Topics:AI Amazon Fund Investment

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Technology

Microsoft Expands Copilot Voice and Think Deeper

Published

2 months ago

February 25, 2025

Archana Suryawanshi

Microsoft Expands Copilot Voice and Think Deeper

Microsoft is taking a major step forward by offering unlimited access to Copilot Voice and Think Deeper, marking two years since the AI-powered Copilot was first integrated into Bing search. This update comes shortly after the tech giant revamped its Copilot Pro subscription and bundled advanced AI features into Microsoft 365.

What’s Changing?

Microsoft remains committed to its $20 per month Copilot Pro plan, ensuring that subscribers continue to enjoy premium benefits. According to the company, Copilot Pro users will receive:

Preferred access to the latest AI models during peak hours.
Early access to experimental AI features, with more updates expected soon.
Extended use of Copilot within popular Microsoft 365 apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

The Impact on Users

This move signals Microsoft’s dedication to enhancing AI-driven productivity tools. By expanding access to Copilot’s powerful features, users can expect improved efficiency, smarter assistance, and seamless integration across Microsoft’s ecosystem.

As AI technology continues to evolve, Microsoft is positioning itself at the forefront of innovation, ensuring both casual users and professionals can leverage the best AI tools available.

Stay tuned for further updates as Microsoft rolls out more enhancements to its AI offerings.

Technology

Google Launches Free AI Coding Tool for Individual Developers

Published

2 months ago

February 25, 2025

Archana Suryawanshi

Google Launches Free AI Coding Tool for Individual Developers

Google has introduced a free version of Gemini Code Assistant, its AI-powered coding assistant, for solo developers worldwide. The tool, previously available only to enterprise users, is now in public preview, making advanced AI-assisted coding accessible to students, freelancers, hobbyists, and startups.

More Features, Fewer Limits

Unlike competing tools such as GitHub Copilot, which limits free users to 2,000 code completions per month, Google is offering up to 180,000 code completions—a significantly higher cap designed to accommodate even the most active developers.

“Now anyone can easily learn, generate code snippets, debug, and modify applications without switching between multiple windows,” said Ryan J. Salva, Google’s senior director of product management.

AI-Powered Coding Assistance

Gemini Code Assist for individuals is powered by Google’s Gemini 2.0 AI model and offers:
Auto-completion of code while typing
Generation of entire code blocks based on prompts
Debugging assistance via an interactive chatbot

The tool integrates with popular developer environments like Visual Studio Code, GitHub, and JetBrains, supporting a wide range of programming languages. Developers can use natural language prompts, such as:
“Create an HTML form with fields for name, email, and message, plus a submit button.”

With support for 38 programming languages and a 128,000-token memory for processing complex prompts, Gemini Code Assist provides a robust AI-driven coding experience.

Enterprise Features Still Require a Subscription

While the free tier is generous, advanced features like productivity analytics, Google Cloud integrations, and custom AI tuning remain exclusive to paid Standard and Enterprise plans.

With this move, Google aims to compete more aggressively in the AI coding assistant market, offering developers a powerful and unrestricted alternative to existing tools.

Technology

Elon Musk Unveils Grok-3: A Game-Changing AI Chatbot to Rival ChatGPT

Published

2 months ago

February 19, 2025

Archana Suryawanshi

Elon Musk Unveils Grok-3: A Game-Changing AI Chatbot to Rival ChatGPT

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI has unveiled its latest chatbot, Grok-3, which aims to compete with leading AI models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and China’s DeepSeek. Grok-3 is now available to Premium+ subscribers on Musk’s social media platform x (formerly Twitter) and is also available through xAI’s mobile app and the new SuperGrok subscription tier on Grok.com.

Advanced capabilities and performance

Grok-3 has ten times the computing power of its predecessor, Grok-2. Initial tests show that Grok-3 outperforms models from OpenAI, Google, and DeepSeek, particularly in areas such as math, science, and coding. The chatbot features advanced reasoning features capable of decomposing complex questions into manageable tasks. Users can interact with Grok-3 in two different ways: “Think,” which performs step-by-step reasoning, and “Big Brain,” which is designed for more difficult tasks.

Strategic Investments and Infrastructure

To support the development of Grok-3, xAI has made major investments in its supercomputer cluster, Colossus, which is currently the largest globally. This infrastructure underscores the company’s commitment to advancing AI technology and maintaining a competitive edge in the industry.

New Offerings and Future Plans

Along with Grok-3, xAI has also introduced a logic-based chatbot called DeepSearch, designed to enhance research, brainstorming, and data analysis tasks. This tool aims to provide users with more insightful and relevant information. Looking to the future, xAI plans to release Grok-2 as an open-source model, encouraging community participation and further development. Additionally, upcoming improvements for Grok-3 include a synthesized voice feature, which aims to improve user interaction and accessibility.

Market position and competition

The launch of Grok-3 positions xAI as a major competitor in the AI chatbot market, directly challenging established models from OpenAI and emerging competitors such as DeepSeek. While Grok-3’s performance claims are yet to be independently verified, early indications suggest it could have a significant impact on the AI landscape. xAI is actively seeking $10 billion in investment from major companies, demonstrating its strong belief in their technological advancements and market potential.