Finally, a place for chatbot chatter

Top News

• The OpenAI Network: According to multiple reports based on unnamed sources within the company, OpenAI is planning to launch its own social network centered around ChatGPT and its viral image-generating features. So far, it’s not entirely clear whether this is envisioned as a standalone product or a new ChatGPT feature. (The chatbot was already the most downloaded app in the world last month, after all.) But at least we can all agree that a million Studio Ghibli AI memes isn’t cool. You know what is? A billion memes.

• Down goes 4Chan: The controversial 4Chan forum — the birthplace of Gamergate, QAnon, and many other infamous internet memes, movements, and subcultures — has been down since Monday evening, and hacker(s) are reportedly to blame. Screenshots seemingly leaked by the party or parties responsible have been posted online, revealing the identities of the site’s moderation team and many registered users, along with 4Chan’s source code and the security flaws that made the hack possible. What this means for the future of the site itself remains unclear.

• Temu shuts down Google Shopping: Chinese shopping giant Temu turned off all of its Google Shopping ads on April 9, in response to the Trump administration’s new tariff policies. But what’s MOST intriguing is what happened next. In just a few days, Temu plummeted down the iPhone App Store rankings from around the #3 or #4 position — where it typically resided — all the way down to #58. As Search Engine Land points out, the company’s business model is hugely reliant on advertising and paid customer acquisition as opposed to any kind of brand loyalty.

TWiST500

We had to squeeze that OpenAI news up top because today, the TWiST 500 section is focused on one of their key rivals… Anthropic. The company’s AI chatbot Claude has now been integrated with Google’s Workspace, and can formally link up with your Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, and even Google Drive.

Anthropic suggests that this brings Claude ever closer to becoming a true virtual assistant, as it can simultaneously interact with your schedule, emails, documents, and more to accomplish a wider and more diverse range of tasks. (One of their examples: Claude can help you prepare for meetings it already knows you have from your calendar, by scanning through email threads and reviewing notes from past meetings, cluing you in early as to what might be discussed.)

As well, giving Claude the keys to your office makes it significantly smarter about whatever project it is that you’re working on. As Anthropic puts it, Claude leafs through your files and “leverages a specialized index of your organization’s documents to find the information you need — even when it’s buried in lengthy documents or scattered across multiple files.”

Notably, Google has already integrated its own AI model — Gemini — into apps like Gmail, Docs, and Drive. But Alphabet also owns around 14% of Anthropic, and has dumped more than $3 billion into the company so far, so clearly these are being approached as complimentary tools, as opposed to the hated opposition.

And that’s not even all the Anthropic news! Like so many TWiST 500 mainstays, these guys are ON FIRE. The company is also readying the launch of a new Claude-powered voice assistant product as early as this month, which they’re calling “voice mode.” Claude will get three different vocal options, nicknamed Airy, Mellow, and Buttery. (That last one has a British accent.)

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This Week in Startups

E2111: On Monday’s TWiST, Jason, Lon, and Alex chat about Blue Origin’s all female space crew, including pop star Katy Perry, plus Hugging Face’s push into the robot market and Jack Dorsey’s divisive “delete IP law” tweet. Then they break down the controversy over Figure AI’s valuation, and check out some social media insights from Basecamp’s own David Heinemeier Hansson and Amazon’s Jeffrey Bezos.

E2110: On a big Friday show, Jason, Alex and Lon talk about Palantir’s bold new fellowship program for ambitious high schoolers who don’t mind skipping college, and DoorDash’s new Coco burrito-delivery bots. Plus on the debut of our new “Tips from the Trenches” segment, the gang surveys various suggestions for landing your startup’s very first customer. All that AND Office Hours with the CEOs of AI agent maker BRX and calendar-based marketers InviteJet.

E2109: On a new TWiST, Jason, Alex and Lon run down a bunch of stories impacting the world of startups. Delivery drone-maker Zipline wants to get you your burrito in under 5 minutes. Meanwhile, Trump’s tariff announcements have led to chaos in the global markets that’s having a trickle down impact on startups and founders. PLUS we’re chatting with Orchestra CEO Sergie Poe AND announcing the Founder Friday tournament’s Elite Eight companies.

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