Top News | Does AI need a governing body: DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis wrote a lengthy and widely-shared X article (which I’m happy to summarize for you here!) laying out the case for an AI Standards Body. He compares this to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a public-private partnership between government and industry that oversees brokerage firms and exchange markets. (Jason also compared the concept to the Motion Picture Association, or MPA.) Hassabis argues that AGI is “probably only a few short years away,” and he wants to ensure that frontier models get evaluated for national security dangers. As well, he suggests that the labs producing these models agree to some basic safety standards. The guidelines themselves seem largely reasonable, but many responders point out that, even if the US adopts such a standard, there’s no guarantee that the rest of the world (particularly China) would play along. New York enacts statewide data center moratorium: Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul signed the nation’s first statewide ban on the controversial projects, putting a “one-year pause” on construction or permit approvals for any data center exceeding 50 megawatts of operational power. New York State will use the time off to develop a regulatory framework for approving new data centers, while also studying their environmental impact. The state legislature has also passed a second bill, banning data center projects requiring just 20 megawatts of power; Gov. Hochul has not yet suggested whether or not she’ll sign this one. Anthropic gives teachers Claude for free: The company announced a new campaign called “Claude for Teachers,” which includes both a new suite of education-focused pre-made skills, and a giveaway for educators nationwide. That’s right, verified K-12 teachers get access to “Claude for Teachers” at no charge. The skills were developed in collaboration with Learning Commons, an organization focused on designing AI tools for educators, and real classroom vets from various schools — including Prospect Schools in Brooklyn — gave the lab their expert feedback. Claude for Teachers is designed specifically with individual teachers in mind, but the company is reportedly also planning a product for schools and school districts.
| TWiST 500 | Chai Discovery trains their own AI models — what else is new — but for a very specialized task. These models design molecules from scratch to potentially serve as live-saving antibodies. As CEO Joshua Meier — an OpenAI vet — has explained, these are models that think in terms of DNA and protein, rather than text like a conventional LLM. | The goal is to essentially combine microbiology and engineering, an AI-powered platform that doesn’t arrive at molecule designs by trial and error, but with explicit purpose, aimed at particular antigens. (The more precisely an antibody can grab the specific protein that’s driving a disease, the fewer side effects the eventual therapy will trigger.) The company’s Chai-2 generative design model builds full-length monoclonal antibodies, nanobodies, and mini-proteins from scratch, inventing brand-new novel antibodies designed to attach to the specific protein that’s causing an illness, rather than building on pre-existing libraries. | While conventional methods of designing new antibodies perform with a hit rate of less than 0.1%, Chai reports that its models are demonstrating double-digit hit rates, as high as 20%. There’s even a fresh model on the way, Chai 3, which executives claim is even more effective at originating new potential therapies for known antigens. | Now you get why they’re in the TWiST 500! And why this week they’ve announced a new $400 million raise this week, at a $3.8 billion valuation. – Lon | A message from Quo | Quo (formerly OpenPhone) gives you a clean, modern way to handle every customer call, text, and thread all in one place. Try it free and get 20% off your first 6 months at quo.com/TWiST. | This Week in Startups | E2310: Reservoir seeks out AgTech startups that want to revolutionize farming, and invites them to test out their new products on a working farm in Salinas, CA. On TWiST, founder Danny Bernstein tells Jason and Lon about how robots can automate the most difficult jobs (like picking stone fruit in the summer heat), while other innovations can cut down on the use of harmful pesticides or eliminate the need for chemical weed killers entirely. Then, Jason responds to designer Gal Shir’s viral tweet about quitting the industry in the age of AI, and reveals why he bought $100K worth of Figma stock. | E2309: How many startups matter in tech? Fewer than you think. That’s why venture capitalists are tripping over themselves to get onto their cap tables, no matter the cost. Why? Footwork’s Nikhil Basu Trivedi argues that the Valley has never been more “power-law-pilled” than it is today. Basu Trivedi joined Cendana Capital’s Michael Kim and TWiST’s Alex Wilhelm to go deep on secondary markets, the state of startup M&A, why the SaaSpocalypse may be temporary, and what could trigger a retrenchment of the AI trade. It’s Wednesday, so it’s time for our venture capital roundtable to go deep on how VCs are investing today, and where on the horizon they have their eyes fixed! | E2308: First up, Alex chats with Hanover Park CEO and co-founder Chris Hladczuk about what $100 trillion+ in global assets are being overseen by what he calls “human duct tape.” That is, teams of accountants working in back offices, patching together important data and results from a variety of legacy applications (like QuickBooks and Bill.com) that are essentially holding them hostage. His startup suggests that AI is the answer. PLUS Alex and Lon look back on a classic TWiST chat from March 2020 between Jason and Figma CEO Dylan Field. | TWiST Partner Offers | Northwest Registered Agent: Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist. Paypal: Built for payments, growth, and agentic. Paypal Open, built for all businesses. Visit Paypalopen.com to get started. NetSuite: For the first time ever, you can try NetSuite Next for free. If your revenues are at least in the seven figures, go to netsuite.ai/twist. Built for every industry. Ready for every boardroom. netsuite.ai/twist.
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