Wispr, known for its AI dictation tool, has secured $280 million in Series B funding, led by Menlo Ventures, reaching a $2 billion valuation. This funding will support the expansion into new areas, including meetings, with its new note-taker tool. Wispr has also introduced a new model, Canto, to improve speech understanding and reduce error rates. The company is expanding its market presence in regions like India and the UK and collaborating with hardware makers for discreet dictation. AI is reshaping media buying and budget allocation in marketing, enabling real-time adjustments based on performance data. By 2029, AI is expected to account for over half of marketing activities. Marketers are leveraging AI to optimize spending, enhance growth, and improve customer engagement. CMOs are focusing on developing five key skills: data analytics, digital marketing expertise, customer experience management, content creation, and sustainability. These skills are essential for navigating current challenges and anticipating future trends in marketing. A major software supply chain attack involving LiteLLM has exposed sensitive data from over 2,500 organizations. The breach highlights the cybersecurity risks as enterprises increasingly adopt AI gateways and frameworks. Security teams are advised to rotate credentials and investigate systems for signs of misuse. GitHub is experiencing a significant service disruption affecting developers and enterprises globally. The outage has led to degraded performance in core services. GitHub's engineering team is working on mitigations but has not disclosed a root cause. Groq has raised $350 million to support its shift towards "neocloud," integrating AI capabilities directly into cloud infrastructure. This approach aims to enhance performance and scalability for AI-driven applications. Alibaba has launched a new AI model, Qwen3.8-27B, designed for consumer hardware. This positions Alibaba as a leader in open-weight AI, competing with Meta. The model is noted for its capabilities in coding and professional tasks. Singapore has unveiled its first biological data centre prototype, integrating living neurons with silicon chips. This initiative aims to address the demand for computing capacity while minimizing energy and water usage, aligning with Singapore's sustainability goals. YouTube will change how it counts video views, starting from the moment a video plays. This aligns long-form video metrics with those used for YouTube Shorts. The original view count will still be available as "Engaged views" in YouTube Analytics. Stan Berteloot is a French-American journalist, marketing strategist, and AI expert based in Princeton, New Jersey. A University of Maryland journalism graduate, he navigates the intersection of storytelling, technology, and culture. As Chief Innovation Officer at Nytro Marketing, he pioneered AI-driven content creation, launching the AI in Marketing podcast. He also hosts Back in America, a podcast exploring American identity through in-depth conversations on race, misinformation, and AI ethics. His personal site, Altilead, is where his independent writing and projects live. Enjoy the show? Leave AI in Marketing a five-star rating. It takes ten seconds and helps more people find the podcast. Start your VoiceStream free trial today! Stan Berteloot is a French-American journalist, marketing strategist, and AI expert based in Princeton, New Jersey. A University of Maryland journalism graduate, he navigates the intersection of storytelling, technology, and culture. As Chief Innovation Officer at Nytro Marketing, he pioneered AI-driven content creation, launching the AI in Marketing podcast. He also hosts Back in America, a podcast exploring American identity through in-depth conversations on race, misinformation, and AI ethics. His personal site, Altilead, is where his independent writing and projects live. Enjoy the show? Leave AI in Marketing a five-star rating. It takes ten seconds and helps more people find the podcast. Start your VoiceStream free trial today! 📚 Sources: https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/17/wispr-raises-280m-at-2b-valuation-as-it-looks-beyond-dictation/ https://martech.org/the-next-ai-opportunity-is-deciding-where-to-spend https://www.merca20.com/what-are-the-five-marketing-skills-cmos-are-most-looking-to-develop-in-2026 https://www.enterprisesecuritytech.com/post/litellm-supply-chain-attack-exposed-secrets-across-2-500-organizations https://cybersecuritynews.com/github-outage-worldwide/ https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/17/groq-raises-350m-to-fuel-its-pivot-from-ai-chips-to-neocloud/ https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2026/08/17/alibaba-meta-qwen-open-weight-ai-laptop-models.html https://itbrief.asia/story/singapore-unveils-first-biological-data-centre-prototype
