AI agent

Winsage
June 27, 2025
Microsoft has introduced an AI assistant named Mu for Windows 11’s Settings, allowing users to ask questions in natural language through the search bar. Users can issue commands like “turn on dark mode” or “disable notifications for Teams,” and Mu will either navigate to the settings or execute the changes. Mu has 330 million parameters and is trained on 3.6 million examples, processing requests in under 500 milliseconds. It operates on a device’s Neural Processing Unit (NPU), requiring a Copilot+ PC for full functionality, and handles data locally, enhancing privacy and security.
Tech Optimizer
June 24, 2025
Snowflake plans to acquire Crunchy Data, a company specializing in enterprise-grade support and cloud-native solutions for PostgreSQL, with an estimated investment of around [openai_gpt model="gpt-4o-mini" prompt="Summarize the content and extract only the fact described in the text bellow. The summary shall NOT include a title, introduction and conclusion. Text: Acquisitions have become a hallmark of the competitive landscape among the Cloud Wars Top 10, with Snowflake now making headlines for its latest move. The company has announced plans to acquire Crunchy Data, a firm specializing in enterprise-grade support and cloud-native solutions for PostgreSQL. This strategic acquisition promises to enhance Snowflake’s already formidable technology stack. The Terms While the exact financial details remain undisclosed, reports indicate that Snowflake is poised to invest around 0 million in Crunchy Data. Established in 2012 and based in Charleston, South Carolina, Crunchy Data employs approximately 100 professionals. The company’s offerings include: Enterprise support tailored for mission-critical PostgreSQL deployments. Cloud-native software and tools designed for modern applications. Advanced security and compliance features, including support for FedRAMP and HIPAA regulations. Integrated replication, backup, and various data protection and recovery tools. With this acquisition, Snowflake plans to incorporate Crunchy Data’s PostgreSQL database into its AI Data Cloud. This integration is expected to streamline data transfer processes, thereby facilitating advanced AI development on the PostgreSQL platform. Vivek Raghunathan, SVP of Engineering at Snowflake, expressed the company’s vision: “Our goal is to provide the world’s most trusted and comprehensive data and AI platform to our customers. The proposed acquisition of Crunchy Data underscores our commitment to being the ultimate destination for enterprise data and AI solutions.” He further noted, “We’re addressing a substantial 0 billion market opportunity and fulfilling a critical need for our customers to integrate Postgres into the Snowflake AI Data Cloud.” AI Agent & Copilot Summit is an AI-first event to define opportunities, impact, and outcomes with Microsoft Copilot and agents. Building on its 2025 success, the 2026 event takes place March 17-19 in San Diego. Get more details. The Deal in Context The acquisition of Crunchy Data follows closely on the heels of Databricks’ recent purchase of Neon, a company focused on developer-first serverless PostgreSQL solutions. This trend highlights a growing emphasis on harnessing PostgreSQL’s capabilities to foster the development of agentic AI. But what drives this concentrated interest in PostgreSQL? PostgreSQL is an open-source object-relational database system celebrated for its reliability, robustness, and performance. The system supports both SQL (relational) and JSON (non-relational) querying, offering versatility in data handling. For two consecutive years, PostgreSQL has been recognized as the most popular database, currently utilized by 49% of developers. Its ability to manage both structured and semi-structured data makes PostgreSQL an ideal candidate for agentic AI, enabling robust querying and efficient handling of multiple agents simultaneously. As the Cloud Wars Top 10 continues to evolve, each company is carving out its own path toward achieving AI supremacy. Some are forming strategic partnerships to innovate, as seen in ServiceNow’s collaboration with Juniper Networks. Others, like Google Cloud, are focusing on leveraging their core strengths, such as developing a universal super assistant. In Snowflake’s case, the acquisition of Crunchy Data signifies a robust enhancement of its capabilities within the agentic AI landscape, further solidifying its pioneering role in the data domain—particularly through its AI Data Cloud. Ask Cloud Wars AI Agent about this analysis" max_tokens="3500" temperature="0.3" top_p="1.0" best_of="1" presence_penalty="0.1" frequency_penalty="frequency_penalty"] million. Crunchy Data, established in 2012 and based in Charleston, South Carolina, employs approximately 100 professionals and offers enterprise support for PostgreSQL deployments, cloud-native software, advanced security features, and data protection tools. The acquisition aims to integrate Crunchy Data’s PostgreSQL database into Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud to enhance data transfer processes and support advanced AI development. PostgreSQL is recognized for its reliability and versatility, being the most popular database used by 49% of developers.
Winsage
June 24, 2025
Microsoft has introduced a small language model named Mu, designed to perform complex language tasks directly on devices like Copilot+ PCs, operating on a device's Neural Processing Unit. This model improves response times and reduces power and memory consumption compared to larger cloud-based AI models. Mu is developed using insights from Microsoft's Phi models and high-quality educational data, employing techniques such as distillation and low-rank adaptation for fine-tuning. Mu features an encoder–decoder architecture that separates input and output processes, enhancing speed and minimizing latency. It incorporates innovations like rotary positional embeddings, grouped-query attention, and dual LayerNorm. Microsoft also utilized quantization to reduce memory usage and improve speed without sacrificing accuracy, making Mu ideal for on-device applications. To enhance the AI agent in Windows Settings, Mu was fine-tuned with over 3.6 million examples, improving its ability to understand and manage system settings. The model addresses ambiguous commands and provides rapid assistance with precise multi-word commands, while maintaining a compact size that is one-tenth that of similar AI tools. Analysts on Wall Street have a positive outlook on MSFT stock, giving it a Strong Buy consensus rating based on 30 Buys and five Holds, with an average price target of 6.14 per share, indicating a potential upside of 6%.
Winsage
June 24, 2025
Microsoft has released a new preview build of Windows 11, featuring an updated version of the Windows Recall app. The app now includes a redesigned home page that showcases recent snapshots and highlights snapshots from the user's three most frequently used apps and websites, based on the past 24 hours. The new interface aims to enhance user experience by making it easier to navigate previous tasks. Currently, the app is being tested among Insiders in the Windows 11 Beta and Dev Channels, with a wider rollout expected soon. Additionally, Microsoft is introducing features for Copilot+ PCs that require a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) of 40+ tops, including an AI model named Mu, which will allow users to search for or describe settings using natural language.
Winsage
June 16, 2025
Microsoft has introduced an AI tool integrated into the latest Windows 11 Insider Preview Build, designed to enhance user experience in the Settings app. This AI agent is currently available only on devices powered by the Snapdragon X processor, with plans for support on compatible AMD and Intel processors in the future. Additionally, users of this Insider build may hear nostalgic start-up music reminiscent of Windows Vista.
Winsage
June 16, 2025
Microsoft has introduced an AI agent to assist users in navigating Windows PCs, allowing requests for guidance and task execution. This feature is currently available only to Windows 11 Insiders using Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs with English as the primary display language. Support for compatible AMD and Intel PCs will be available soon. The AI agent is part of the latest Insider build, which also includes enhancements to the Recall feature, allowing users to reset collected data and automatically expiring snapshots after 90 days. Additional features in the update include Click to Do support for email addresses and improved sharing options for OneDrive files, along with bug fixes.
Winsage
June 13, 2025
Microsoft has integrated its AI agent into the Windows 11 Settings app, allowing users to express their needs conversationally. The AI can suggest solutions and implement fixes with user permission, aiming to enhance the user experience by making troubleshooting more intuitive and accessible.
Tech Optimizer
June 9, 2025
Snowflake has acquired Crunchy Data for [openai_gpt model="gpt-4o-mini" prompt="Summarize the content and extract only the fact described in the text bellow. The summary shall NOT include a title, introduction and conclusion. Text: The rivalry between Snowflake and Databricks has taken an intriguing turn, extending its reach into the burgeoning realm of PostgreSQL. This shift signifies a strategic pivot as both companies seek to capitalize on the growing demand for robust database solutions tailored for AI applications. In a bold move, Snowflake has recently acquired Crunchy Data for 0 million, while Databricks has made headlines by purchasing Neon for a staggering billion. These acquisitions are not merely about expanding their portfolios; they represent a calculated effort to harness the capabilities of PostgreSQL in the context of AI-driven data management. Snowflake's acquisition announcement, detailed in a blog post, highlights PostgreSQL as a favored choice among developers, owing to its flexibility, cost efficiency, and inherent AI features, such as vector support (pg vector). The open-source nature of PostgreSQL, coupled with its vibrant ecosystem, further enhances its appeal. “We’re tackling a massive 0 billion market opportunity and a real need for our customers to bring Postgres to the Snowflake AI Data Cloud,” stated Vivek Raghunathan, Snowflake’s SVP of engineering. Why are the Giants Betting on PostgreSQL? “PostgreSQL’s ecosystem and extensions are growing fast. More people now know this database better than any other. pgvector gave it a big push,” remarked Arpit Bhayani, creator of DiceDB, when asked about PostgreSQL's rise as the preferred database for AI-native applications. Snowflake Postgres builds upon the company's earlier foray into transactional data with Unistore, which integrates transactional and analytical workloads within a single system. By enhancing native PostgreSQL support, Snowflake Postgres aims to provide enterprises with a production-ready solution for transactional applications that require compatibility with PostgreSQL. The open-source relational database PostgreSQL has seen a surge in popularity, surpassing MySQL as the most favored database among developers, according to Stack Overflow’s 2023 and 2024 Developer Surveys. Its capabilities in handling geospatial data (via PostGIS), time series data (via TimescaleDB), JSON, and vector embeddings (via pgvector) position it as an ideal choice for AI applications. In a recent LinkedIn post, senior data engineer Avinash S emphasized that these acquisitions signify more than just the addition of another database. He views them as a strategic bet on PostgreSQL as the backbone of the AI-native era, particularly in its serverless and cloud-native forms. “Imagine AI agents spinning up databases for every real-time task or experiment, then discarding them. Traditional databases can’t handle this ‘disposable’ scale. Serverless Postgres delivers the rapid provisioning, elasticity, and cost-efficiency that AI agents desperately need to work autonomously and at speed,” he elaborated. “It’s not just agentic. Because many people are talking about it and using it, it has become the de facto standard,” Bhayani noted, although he cautioned that the assumption of AI agents creating databases may be overly optimistic. Factorial Advisors echoed this sentiment in a blog post, asserting that Databricks’ acquisition of Neon aligns with its broader ambition to construct a unified data intelligence platform. “With over billion in financing and a recent billion valuation, Databricks has the financial muscle to keep acquiring,” they wrote, highlighting previous acquisitions like Tabular ( billion) and MosaicML (.3 billion). Neon addresses the increasing demand for databases that operate at ‘agentic speed’ while maintaining cost-effectiveness through pay-as-you-go models. These strategic moves position both Snowflake and Databricks to challenge hyperscalers like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, which offer managed PostgreSQL services seamlessly integrated with their AI stacks. Neon vs Crunchy Data Established in 2012, Crunchy Data specializes in providing a comprehensive, production-ready PostgreSQL solution that encompasses backups, high availability, disaster recovery, connection scaling, and monitoring. This service supports mission-critical deployments across cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments. Snowflake has asserted that its new offering, Snowflake Postgres, will facilitate the integration of transactional Postgres data into its platform, thereby accelerating innovation and granting developers enhanced agility, visibility, and control to construct reliable AI agents and applications more swiftly. Crunchy’s expertise ensures that Postgres-powered applications can operate natively on Snowflake without necessitating code rewrites. Developers stand to gain from built-in connection pooling, performance metrics, and logging, simplifying the process of building and managing scalable applications. Conversely, Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi emphasized that frontier LLMs have been trained on extensive datasets from the Postgres open-source ecosystem, rendering AI agents inherently adept at utilizing Neon, which is built on PostgreSQL. He highlighted that Databricks and Neon share a foundational technical infrastructure and a commitment to open source, noting that Databricks originated the Apache Spark project at UC Berkeley, the same institution where PostgreSQL was developed. Ghodsi pointed out that OLTP databases, a 0 billion market, remain largely dominated by legacy products. With Neon, Databricks aims to disrupt this landscape by crafting the most developer- and AI agent-friendly database platform available. Since Neon became generally available last year, the proportion of databases created by AI agents has surged from around 30% to over 80%, indicating a significant shift towards AI-driven database creation. The rush towards PostgreSQL is palpable, with Snowflake and Databricks actively acquiring niche providers to enhance their offerings. This trend transcends mere database proliferation; it signifies a readiness for AI, real-time data processing, and the evolving demands of large-scale enterprises. These acquisitions also reflect a broader consolidation trend within the data and AI infrastructure market. Recent transactions, such as Salesforce’s billion acquisition of Informatica, ServiceNow’s purchase of Data.World, and Alation’s acquisition of Numbers Station, illustrate how companies are racing to establish comprehensive AI-ready platforms. According to Bhayani, much of this activity is driven by the imperative to acquire customers and specialized expertise." max_tokens="3500" temperature="0.3" top_p="1.0" best_of="1" presence_penalty="0.1" frequency_penalty="frequency_penalty"] million, while Databricks has purchased Neon for billion. Both companies are focusing on PostgreSQL to enhance their database solutions for AI applications. PostgreSQL has gained popularity among developers, surpassing MySQL as the most favored database, due to its flexibility and features like vector support. Snowflake aims to integrate PostgreSQL data into its platform with Snowflake Postgres, while Databricks seeks to leverage Neon to create a developer-friendly database platform. The trend towards PostgreSQL is part of a broader consolidation in the data and AI infrastructure market, with companies acquiring specialized expertise to build comprehensive AI-ready platforms.
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