Top News | OpenAI launches ChatGPT Work: As part of its ongoing effort to keep pace with Anthropic’s Claude, OpenAI has reconfigured coding agent Codex and its signature chatbot — ChatGPT — into a new agentic tool called ChatGPT Work. As with Claude Cowork, ChatGPT Work is designed to plan and execute multi-step tasks autonomously, with an eye toward serving both engineers and also everyday non-technical folks, particularly if they work for big enterprises. (Of course, the release coincides with the company’s latest and greatest suite of AI models, GPT-5.6, which debuted on Thursday.) The internet’s response has been a bit muted so far, and downright negative in some corners. In a blog post, journalist and investor M.G. Siegler concludes that ChatGPT is “a mess” that “super sucks” and makes “strange UI decisions.” Friend of the Pod Ryan Carson suggests that OpenAI has “destroy[ed] the massive amount of trust and goodwill that they built up with devs” by swapping out the popular Codex app with Work. Tencent may take big stake in Manus: Now that the Chinese government has struck down the planned acquisition of native AI company Manus with Meta, the Financial Times reports that Tencent Holdings is in early talks to become the AI firm’s largest shareholder. The new deal unwinds Meta’s $2 billion attempted acquisition of Manus, while keeping the valuation intact. China’s initial decree blocking the deal was met with widespread skepticism (“can they even do that?” and so forth), but it now seems like they have ultimately prevailed in squashing the deal. Meta has completed its “operational split” from Manus, and no more data is being shared between the two companies. Phia accused of faking affiliate sales: The “personal shopping assistant” app comes from co-founder Phoebe Gates — daughter of Bill — and features a cap table that could double as an Oscar Party VIP list. (Yes, Kim Kardashian and Sydney Sweeney are both investors.) Among the app’s features is a tool that helps users find discounts for products, which earns a commission from participating retailers using affiliate codes. But an independent researcher named Ben Edelman charges that the app uses sneaky tricks to claim credit for nonexistent sales, or purchases that were actually recommended by other apps or websites. Phia confirmed Edelman’s reporting to Bloomberg, but suggests that the “misattributions” were an unintentional error. The news org confirms that Phia has ceased playing fast and loose with affiliate codes.
| TWiST 500 | At last year’s All In Summit, special guest Elon Musk spent much of his keynote session discussing the surprising complexity of human hands, and how difficult it is to design robot hands that function nearly as well as the organic variety. But that hasn’t stopped T500 robotics company 1X from trying. | This week, the company gave their humanoid domestic helper-bot NEO some impressive new hands, capable of delicate and precise motion we’ve rarely seen from mechanized appendages until now. (Watch them pick grapes and even hold a wine glass!) Their motion is orchestrated by a “tendon” system that’s inspired by the anatomy of real hands. Rather than the powered joints that most automatons use for gripping and carrying, NEO has motors in its forearm that “pull” on tendons through the wrist, giving them 25 degrees of freedom in movement. (Basically, far more options in how to approach picking something up, lifting it, or moving it around.) | The new hands also have “backdriveable” joints that automatically detect the pressure being applied to them, giving the robot a chance to “feel” in a sense, and gauge its approach more carefully. The hands also have tactile “skin” on the fingertips that allows NEO to measure pressure, contact locations, and sideways force. This makes it easier for the robot to “react” in real time if something is about to slip or fall from its grasp. | According to Elon, hands are arguably the most difficult overall challenge when designing a humanoid automaton. It’s easy to understand how important this kind of motion and spatial awareness will be for NEO, and any other robot designed to function around lots of humans, in a safety-first space like the home. Your butler-bot can’t be dropping plates or misgauging its own grip strength, after all. – Lon | A message from DigitalOcean | Want to see what building on a true AI-native platform looks like? Head to do.co/twist to start building on DigitalOcean's AI-Native Cloud today — and cut your AI workload costs by up to 50%. | This Week in Startups | 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. | E2307: Forget the triple-triple-double-double-double; the new bar for startups hoping to raise venture capital has reached the stratosphere, though our venture panel is worried that startups are focusing too much on today’s problems that may not become companies tomorrow. During a lively VC roundtable, Cowboy’s Aileen Lee, Floodgate’s Mike Maples, and Lerer Hippeau’s Ben Lerer joined Alex to dig into exiting pre-AI startups, rising valuations, token spend, why they are keeping their funds small, and whether the government just tripped OpenAI and Anthropic! | TWiST Partner Offers | 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 https://netsuite.ai/twist. Built for every industry. Ready for every boardroom. Squarespace: Turn your idea into a beautiful website! Go to http://www.squarespace.com/twist for a free trial. When you’re ready to launch, use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. YSecurity: The on-demand security team for startups. Need enterprise-grade security without hiring a $400k seeso? YSecurity gives you 40+ expert engineers, matched to exactly what you need, by the hour, with your first six hours completely free. Go to YSecurity.io/TWIST.
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