Akamai acquires Israeli cybersecurity startup LayerX Security, which develops a browser-based platform to secure employee use of AI tools, for ~$205M in cash (Meir Orbach/CTech)
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/byinuqxkme
Sources: a Snap-Perplexity AI search deal calling for Perplexity to pay Snap $400M has fallen apart; Snap is set to announce significant layoffs on Wednesday (Alex Heath/Sources)
https://sources.news/p/snap-crucible-moment
Standard Kernel, which is making AI-powered GPU optimization software, raised a $20M seed led by Jump Capital, with General Catalyst and others participating (Clinton Nwachukwu/Ventureburn)
https://ventureburn.com/standard-kernel-raises-20m/
The NIST narrows its National Vulnerability Database priorities to CVEs in CISA's known exploited catalog, to deal with a backlog after its 2024 funding lapse (Matt Kapko/CyberScoop)
https://cyberscoop.com/nist-narrows-cve-analysis-nvd/
Google DeepMind introduces Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 robotic reasoning model, says it shows significant spatial and physical reasoning improvements over ER 1.5 (Google DeepMind)
https://deepmind.google/blog/gemini-robotics-er-1-6/
ByteDance says it "respects IP rights and we have heard the concerns regarding Seedance" and it plans to "strengthen" safeguards, after Disney's legal threats (Osmond Chia/BBC)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93wq6xqgy1o
Apple acquires MotionVFX, a Polish company that develops plugins, visual effects, and motion graphics tools for Final Cut Pro (Hartley Charlton/MacRumors)
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/03/16/apple-acquires-motionvfx/
In a policy paper, Anthropic urges the US and allies to enforce export controls, curb distillation attacks, and export US AI to hold the lead over China by 2028 (Anthropic)
https://www.anthropic.com/research/2028-ai-leadership