{
  "id": 7303437,
  "title": "3 ex-Apple researchers want to make AI less awkward. Lightspeed, Accel, and Nvidia are giving them $50 million to do it.",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/14/3-ex-apple-researchers-want-to-make-ai-less-awkward-lightspeed-accel",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-14T11:00:01.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Business Insider",
    "slug": "business-insider",
    "url": "https://www.businessinsider.com/former-apple-researchers-raise-50-million-to-build-foundational-model-2026-9"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Three former Apple researchers have launched a startup called Nuance with the goal of creating more human-like AI chatbots. The company, backed by Lightspeed, Accel, Nvidia Ventures, and South Park Commons, has secured $50 million in funding. Nuance aims to build AI models that can have real-time, face-to-face conversations without the latency and awkwardness that often plagues existing chatbots. The founders, all former Apple researchers, have decided to build a single model that handles audio and video input and output simultaneously. They emphasize the importance of using in-house or partner-provided data, stating that scraped internet data is not suitable. The startup plans to offer its technology to businesses for use cases like interview practice, presentations, and language learning. Nuance is currently in a pre-product stage and aims to offer a research preview of its model to the public later this year.",
  "summary": "A startup bringing emotional intelligence and conversation to AI models has just raised $50 million.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}