Welcome to this week’s AI round-up! In this edition, we examine Hugging Face Daily Papers to pinpoint the main drivers of open-source AI research and present an in-depth overview of the US AI landscape. We also analyse the latest shifts in investment and highlight startups pioneering AI applications in areas such as molecular chemistry, biological systems and energy infrastructure.
This week at a glance:
Who powers open-source AI research? Our analysis of Hugging Face Daily Papers reveals the growing global diversity of the open-source community and identifies the key institutions driving frontier research.
Mapping the US AI ecosystem (2023 - 2025): a longitudinal review of the US AI landscape tracking the evolution of research output and capital allocation over the past two years.
Weekly funding: Cybersecurity emerged as the leader of the week, with companies securing more than $5.7 billion overall.
Research papers: A selection of five notable publications to keep an eye on this week
Startup spotlights: three companies applying AI to biological material analysis, the simulation of complex biological systems, and the structural requirements of the global energy transition.
Academic AI research is increasingly built on open-source, and Hugging Face Daily Papers provide insight into the organisations shaping this ecosystem.
Our analysis of 6,524 papers published in 2025 reveals that researchers cited over 9,000 models and 3,200 datasets, with no single organisation dominating.
Notably, Big Tech is not at the centre: Microsoft is absent, while Google only ranks 20th. Impact is instead fragmented across a broad mix of international nonprofits, companies, academic labs, and individual contributors.
It is interesting to note that models are cited far more often than datasets (around four times as often); yet, evaluation frameworks like MTEB dominate dataset usage, accounting for 35.9% of all dataset references, highlighting how shared benchmarks shape research practices.
Overall, the picture that emerges is of a resilient, decentralised research ecosystem where leadership is distributed globally and driven by non-profits, academia and large technology companies in equal measure.
→ Explore the interactive chart for a detailed view
Between 2023 and 2025, deep technical breakthroughs shaped the US AI landscape, attracting major investment. The East Coast led the way in terms of research output, with Boston and Washington, D.C. ranking among the top five cities in this respect in 2025.
Although research activity was spread across Atlantic and Pacific hubs, investment patterns were far more concentrated. In 2025, the West Coast remained the dominant funding centre, reflecting a clear preference for regions where research can be rapidly translated into market-ready products.
While other regions struggle to bridge the gap between research outputs and funding, the defining challenge for the US ecosystem is the outsized influence of the West Coast, which is increasingly setting the direction for AI development nationwide.
→ Read the full analysis on aiworld.eu
Last week, AI companies raised over $5.7 billion globally, signalling ongoing investment in a variety of AI applications.
Leading global funding rounds included 🇺🇸 Skild AI $1.4 billion, 🇩🇪 Parloa $350 million, 🇸🇬 Atome $345 million, 🇦🇺 Omniscient Neurotechnology (o8t) $13.37 million, 🇳🇬 Terra Industries $11.75 million among others.
Most active sectors in AI investment this week:
Cybersecurity: Playlist (US), Armadin Security (US), Terra Industries (NG), CloudSEK (SG), Fencer (US), Valent Projects (GB), Phinge (US)
Data & Cloud: Etched.ai (US), ClickHouse (US), GovDash (US), Seasats (US), Fractile (GB), Klearly (US), Elyos AI (GB), SkyFi® (US), FinOpsly (US), Coxwave (KR), AlphaBitCore (US), Greenphard Energy (JP), EggNest.ai (US), Cumulus Labs (US), Gravity GTM (US), StrateSea Technology (US)
Industry & Mobility: Skild AI (US), Harmattan AI (FR), X Square (CN), Mytra (US), osapiens (DE), Higgsfield (US), Hydrosat (US), WitnessAI (US), Manifold AI (CN), Hexalog (IN), RARA Factory (IT), AVES Reality (DE), Cimba.ai (US), Luna Systems (IE), Wanyigui Technology (CN), Spot Ship (GB), Meet Caria (US), Overwatch Imaging (US), CleanHaus (US), OrbiSharp Robotics (US)
→ Explore the interactive chart for a detailed view of these trends
This week’s research highlights the systemic impacts of automation on labor, the security of information integrity, vulnerabilities in agent evaluation, and the longitudinal analysis of global climate discourse.
Curious for more? Explore this week’s 5 most notable AI research papers to stay up to date on the latest insights and developments in the field.
This week’s startup selection showcases the application of AI to critical infrastructure challenges in renewable energy financing, non-invasive biological imaging and generative drug discovery.
🇩🇪 Cloover: provides a unified AI-driven operating system that integrates workflow management and financing for the distributed energy economy, thus facilitating inclusive financing for green technology adoption. The company recently secured $22 million in Series A equity funding to accelerate its platform’s deployment.
🇺🇸🇮🇱 Converge Bio: develops an LLM stack of biological foundation models fine-tuned to understand molecular and multi-omics data. The platform can design novel antibodies, predict developability issues, and simulate patient-level responses. The startup recently secured a $25 million Series A round to enhance its model suite.
🇩🇪 Orbem: combines accelerated MRI hardware with deep neural networks to examine biological materials at production-line speeds without invasive probing. Its Genus platform enables real-time fertility detection in poultry and is also developing applications for non-invasive human healthcare diagnostics. The company recently raised €55.5 million in a Series B funding round to fuel its global expansion and R&D.
For more updates, research, and insights across the AI ecosystem, visit aiworld.eu. Subscribe to receive next week’s roundup directly in your inbox and stay ahead of key developments.
Have a great week ahead!
Gaia Cavaglioni
On behalf of the AI World Team
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