Last month, Phia, the shopping browser extension cocreated by Phoebe Gates, made software fundraising look sexy by releasing a festival-style announcement of its $35.5 million Series A. Khloé Kardashian and Jessica Alba scored top billing, while the Chainsmokers and Rachel Zoe nabbed smaller spots at the bottom.
But alas, maybe nothing truly cool in tech can last. A Bloomberg investigation found last week that Phia was stealing commission fees from sales it didn’t drive. When the reporters bought something online, Phia allegedly opened a background browser to insert its code and claim the affiliate money—even if Phia hadn’t helped them find the product. The start-up told the publication it was a bug that had since been fixed.
I’m particularly intrigued by the scandal because Phia positioned itself as the future of AI shopping, promising personalized outfit ideas and predictions about what clothing users are most likely to sell. But right now the core business appears to be plain old affiliate marketing. As companies promise to transform the future with AI, it’s a reminder that they won’t get far unless they get the fundamentals right.
Which raises a question that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately: Who amongst us is actually using AI in transformative ways?
I’m Margaux MacColl, filling in for Julia Black. Read on for my column about one founder who has let his AI agent take over his life.
Mentioned in this issue: OpenClaw, Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Alexandr Wang, Pangram, the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, Neal Mohan, Bob Iger, Josh D’Amaro, Ted Sarandos, Jeff Bezos, Apple, OpenAI, Martin Scorsese, Michael Ovitz, Vinod Khosla, the Seattle Seahawks, and more…
