December 17, 2025

In this episode of AI Brief, we cover major funding rounds, product launches, and enterprise AI adoption across the industry. Topics include Databricks’ $4 billion Series L raise, OpenAI’s investment talks with Amazon and new image generation release, large-scale automation investments at UPS, retail AI partnerships in Europe, fintech funding for SMEs, government-focused AI initiatives, and Google’s latest Gemini-powered productivity experiment.

In this episode:

1. Databricks raises over $4 billion in a Series L funding round at a $134 billion valuation, reporting a revenue run-rate above $4.8 billion, with more than $1 billion coming from AI products.
2. https://dailyaibrief.com/news/databricks-raises-4b-series-l-valuation-134b-jkCjmOxF
3. OpenAI enters preliminary talks to raise $10 billion from Amazon, potentially adopting Amazon’s Trainium AI chips, valuing the company at over $500 billion.
4. https://dailyaibrief.com/news/openai-amazon-10-billion-investment-chip-talks-VBZ5GH0z
5. UPS invests $120 million in truck-unloading robots from Pickle Robot Co. as part of a broader $9 billion automation strategy.
6. https://www.tradingview.com/news/gurufocus:23c458a37094b:0-ups-bets-120-million-on-robot-army-to-slash-costs-and-crush-delivery-bottlenecks/
7. OpenAI releases GPT Image 1.5, offering faster image generation, improved instruction-following, and more precise visual edits.
8. https://dailyaibrief.com/news/openai-releases-gpt-image-1-5-YyST1tzq
9. Tesco signs a three-year partnership with Mistral AI to co-develop generative AI solutions for retail, including a joint AI lab.
10. https://dailyaibrief.com/news/tesco-mistral-ai-three-year-generative-ai-agreement-XnjjXoov
11. GoDutch raises €3.6 million in seed funding to build an AI-powered finance operating system for European SMEs.
12. https://techfundingnews.com/godutch-3-6m-seed-sme-finance-os-europe/
13. OpenAI appoints former UK Chancellor George Osborne to lead its “OpenAI for Countries” initiative focused on government AI capacity.
14. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd6xz1jv4ezo
15. Google Labs launches CC, an experimental email-based productivity assistant powered by Gemini.
16. https://blog.google/technology/google-labs/cc-ai-agent/

Host: Rene van Pelt

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rene-van-pelt/

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