Top News | Tech leaders unite at White House: Many of the biggest names in tech — from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to Bill Gates to Google CEO Sundar Pichai and beyond — gathered with President Trump in the White House Rose Garden for a formal dinner following an AI event this week. Most of the attendees had glowing remarks for the President, including Sam Altman, who thanked him for his “pro-business, pro-innovation” agenda, and Sergey Brin, who thanked him for putting aggressive pressure on Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro. In a widely-shared exchange, Trump asked Zuckerberg how much he’s planning to spend over the next few years, and the Facebook creator responded “at least $600 billion through [2028], in the US.” But later, when Zuckerberg didn’t realize he was audible, a hot mic caught him confessing to the President that he “wasn’t ready” for the question, adding “I wasn’t sure what number you wanted to go with.” Isotopes puts you data to work: The startup, which emerged from stealth this week, has developed an AI agent that not only communicates with vast libraries of complex data — regardless of where it’s stored — but can independently use them to draft planning documents, tackle research projects and reports, and more tasks. It’s the brainchild of former Scale AI Chief Technology Officer Arun Murthy along with two other co-founders, and certainly sounds promising, though their solution will of course face tons of competition from other entrants in the increasingly-crowded “use AI to make sense of all your data” landscape. Raising your robot arms: Scientists from University College London, Intrinsic, and Google’s DeepMind released a new algorithm this week called RoboBallet, designed to help teams of robotic arms work together, in harmony, in obstacle filled spaces. (Like, you know, a factory floor). Currently, these kinds of complex training procedures tend to require painstaking, custom solutions for each new kind of task, and if you don’t get it right, your robot arms slam into one another. RoboBallet could one day use a neural network trained with reinforcement learning to simplify and standardize this process.
| TWiST500 | While it was a big week for AI companies in terms of getting invited to fancy dinners, they did not fare quite as well in the nation’s courtrooms. | For one, Claude makers Anthropic settled a copyright lawsuit with a diverse array of authors, after having downloaded millions of illegally pirated books and used the data to train its various AI models. The company will pay $1.5 billion to resolve the claims, ranking this among the first, and certainly the largest, settlements in history regarding artificial intelligence and intellectual property. | The authors had also maintained that Anthropic violated their copyright purely by using their work to train an AI model, regardless of how the books were obtained. A federal judge found this argument less than compelling, ruling that training an AI model on a previously published work amounts to “fair use,” so long as the AI model’s output is distinct from the original work and does not impact its sale value. | Elsewhere, two state attorneys general — Rob Bonta of California and Kathleen Jennings of Delaware — sent a formal letter to OpenAI, accusing the GPT-5 maker of failing to protect the mental health and wellbeing of their users. The letter refers to the “recent deaths” that have been blamed in whole or in part on interactions with ChatGPT. These include Adam Raine, a 16-year-old who died by suicide, and whose parents later found a long string of conversations with the chatbot, and 56-year-old Erik Stein Soelberg, who murdered his mother before taking his own life, after discussions with the chatbot convinced him that she was plotting against him. | The letter has no direct legal ramifications, but could impact OpenAI’s attempts to transition formally to a for-profit entity by the close of 2025. | Still, it’s not ALL negative news on the AI front. TWiST 500 faves Synthesia got a big effusive write-up in the MIT Technology Review, promising a wave of even more natural, human-live AI avatars are coming right around the corner. So hey, see… silver linings. – Lon | A message from Vanta | Compliance and security shouldn't be a deal-breaker for startups to win new business. Vanta makes it easy for companies to get a SOC 2 report fast. Get $1,000 off for a limited time at http://www.vanta.com/twist. | This Week in Startups | E2174: It’s a special pre-recorded Friday TWiST. Jason, Alex, AND Lon open the show by following up the “KPop Demon Hunters” debacle. Sony Pictures’ CEO says the movie wouldn’t have been a theatrical hit and Netflix was the best home for it… But Jason isn’t buying it. PLUS Jason’s response to Lina Khan on The Bulwark podcast, his “two stock markets” theory, why Atlassian wanted to buy a browser company, Google’s anti-trust remedies, and MUCH MORE. | E2173: It’s a 70 minute plus autonomous driving deep dive on a brand new TWiST as Jason and Alex welcome Nuro co-founder and president Dave Ferguson. Together they unpack Nuro’s new mega-deal with Lucid and Uber, and look ahead to the arrival of fully driverless SUVs to Uber by next year. PLUS they’re evaluating claims that autonomous rides could one day be cheaper than driving a car, and look at ways to keep costs down, via high-tech chips, off-the-shelf sensors, and other hacks. | E2172: Jason and Alex are back with a packed new TWiST. First up, as humanoid robots become increasingly visible on our streets, and in our lives, is human vs. clanker violence INEVITABLE? Plus…. Apple’s open-source AI models have started to impress, triggering a rethink of the hardware giant’s position in the ongoing race. PLUS another hit model from Grok, Jason’s thoughts on the importance of curiosity, AND a chat with Runbin Dong of Scale Social about knowing your worth as a founder. | TWiST Partner Offers | Sentry: Your team should be focused on shipping features — not chasing down bugs. - New users get 3 months free of the Business plan which covers 150k errors. Go to sentry.io/twist and use the code TWIST CLA: Innovation takes balance. Our CPAs, consultants, and wealth advisors can help you get from startup to where you want to end up. Get started now at CLAconnect.com/tech. Public: You take investing seriously. Public does too. Build a multi-asset portfolio and earn an industry-leading 4.1% APY on your cash with no fees or minimums. Learn more at public.com/twist.
| Angel University is Back! | Jason and Mike Savino are hosting our next virtual Angel University workshop on Tuesday, October 7. Jason will share proven strategies he’s used to invest $200M+ in over 500 startups. Whether you’re new to angel investing or looking to sharpen your skills, this is your chance to learn directly from one of the most active angel investors in the world. Register now at angel.university! | Founder U is Coming to the MENA Region! | Our 12-week pre-accelerator—designed to help early-stage founders build and grow—kicks off this fall in Saudi Arabia. The first cohort launches in Riyadh on November 3rd, followed by in-person and virtual sessions throughout the program. Founders in MENA: this is your chance to turn your idea into a business and get world-class insights on building a successful startup. Apply today: https://mena.founder.university/ | SF Live-Work Space Now Available | Need a flexible living and working environment in San Francisco? This thoughtfully designed loft-style residence at 787 Bryant St., the heart of the vibrant SOMA district and the city’s creative hub, is now available for rent or purchase. Check the listing for more details. | The TWiST500 newsletter is the new, updated, and improved TWiST Ticker. |
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