Also notable in technology: CIA fraud, Tab launch, quantum moves and more

Venture money keeps finding physical-world AI. Robot data startup Mecka AI nabbed $60 million from Sequoia to train robots, and Parallel Systems, a team of SpaceX alumni, raised $100 million in a Series C to rethink shipping with autonomous freight trains.

Fraud of a different kind: a former CIA officer pleaded guilty to creating a fake top-secret government program to steal nearly $200 million, including gold bars, per TechCrunch’s October 7 report. The item is single-sourced to TechCrunch, so treat the figure as reported rather than confirmed.

Two more personal-AI entries in an already crowded week: Tab emerged from stealth at a $300 million valuation, and Bloom raised $3.6 million to become what it calls the “Alibaba” of American manufacturing. Both are single-sourced announcements; “also notable” at most, per the standing rule against inflating small fundings.

Quantum had a busy day. DARPA named four companies, Atom Computing, Diraq, IBM and IonQ, advancing to the final Stage C of its Quantum Benchmarking Initiative; German quantum startup ZuriQ deepened its partnership with Infineon on scalable quantum chips; and Xanadu and GlobalFoundries announced a multi-year partnership to industrialize Xanadu’s photon-detecting SNSPDs and ultra-low-loss silicon nitride photonics on GlobalFoundries’ 300mm line in Malta, New York.

Consumer AI updates: ChatGPT is getting a more visual interface, and Meta’s Muse personal AI assistant launched on iPad a month after its mobile debut. Meta also rolled out AI tools to detect ads that secretly redirect to child sexual abuse material, acting on 33.2 million pieces of child exploitation content in the first half of 2026; while a TechCrunch report on ChatGPT for Teens found it keeps teens talking even during mental-health crises, with OpenAI’s own data saying teens average under 15 minutes a day on the service.

Security: the FBI confirms FortiBleed exploitation is still ongoing, and PoeLLM malware has infected more than 3,000 servers running exposed AI infrastructure, using AI-written poems on GitHub to hide command-and-control addresses.

Capital markets and regulation, briefly: Firmus cut its IPO share price amid weak demand, dropping from a hoped-for AU$11 toward AU$9 and possibly lower, per reports; Endeavor Catalyst raised $320 million for founders outside the usual hubs; Japan’s Rapidus launched the CORE initiative with 17 design partners to support domestic chip design and manufacturing; Singapore’s central bank wants all FinTech AI use cases subject to independent review under guidelines in force from October 7, 2027; Starlink will share orbital ephemeris data to reduce near-miss risk; Openreach tapped Ciena’s 1.6Tbps WaveLogic 6 optics for national 800G services; and Ring’s first smart lock can be hand-cranked when its battery dies.