Top Stories
Google launched Gemini 3.8 Live and Extended Thinking, voice models that keep conversations moving while processing visuals and handling tools or multistep tasks in the background. — Google
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg rejected calls to pause AI capability gains, arguing that liability and competition will reward safer models. This aligns Zuck with Nvidia’s Jensen Huang over Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and OpenAI’s Sam Altman on the need for strict AI regulations. — CNBC
The Senate blocked the Clarity Act 50-49, short of the 60 votes needed, likely postponing a comprehensive US crypto rulebook until next year. — CNBC
SpaceX will attempt Starship’s first orbital flight on September 22 while deploying 26 operational Starlink satellites, a pivotal test of the reusable rocket’s readiness to eventually replace Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy. — TechCrunch
Meta reportedly plans to launch camera-free smart glasses as privacy concerns intensify, suggesting it sees a broader market for wearable AI that does not double as an always-ready recording device. — The Information
Top Funding Announcements
OpenAI — The ChatGPT maker is weighing a pre-IPO financing at a $1.5T valuation to fund growth around Codex and its latest AI models, though no round size or lead investor is set. — The New York Times
Factory — The autonomous software engineering platform raised $200M at a $5B valuation from Blackstone, Khosla Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and others. — Factory
Thatch — The employee health-plan marketplace raised $108M from existing investors, including The General Partnership, Index Ventures, General Catalyst, and Andreessen Horowitz, to expand its lower-cost benefits platform, reaching a $1B valuation. — TechCrunch
May Mobility — The autonomous-driving startup is going public through an Atlas Credit Partners-backed SPAC, targeting up to $337M at a $1.4B valuation to cut hardware costs, advance R&D, and expand globally. — Yahoo Finance
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Top Tweets
This Week in Startups
Timestamps:
0:00 (Question) Jim, from the midterm Republican convention floor: is AI really going to kill us all — and is local AI the mitigation?
5:31 Where Terminator 2's logic breaks down
9:42 The threat Jason is actually scared of: slaughter drones and murder bots
9:54 Quo (formerly OpenPhone) - Quo gives you a clean, modern way to handle every customer call, text, and thread all in one place. Try it free at https://quo.com/TWiST
10:05 (Question) Michael Lee, who's responsible when one AI prompts another into launching a meme coin?
17:32 (Question) Lyda, calling from Greece: can an independent AI ecosystem still exist
19:03 The Conservation Fund - Find out more about how The Conservation Fund is protecting land, wildlife, and our shared access to the great outdoors while also providing economic opportunities. Visit https://conservationfund.org
21:08 (Question) John Wright: do you have to carve out more time now just to keep up with the tools?
25:42 Claude's caution vs. Grok's "hold my beer"
26:33 (Question) John Wright, part two: do you expect founders to get more done now
26:55 The three buckets: 10x, 5x, and the 20% crowd
29:22 CLA - Get started with CLA's CPAs, consultants, and wealth advisors now at https://claconnect.com/tech at https://www.claconnect.com/withyou
30:01 (Question) Ray, Vortex Console: can human-in-the-loop actually work at enterprise scale?
33:25 (Question) Kristen Dahl: how do you explain AI risk to your 76-year-old mom?
35:13 Why the chaos only happens at OpenAI and Anthropic
43:36 (Question) David Rosenberg, NYU physics: what's behind the academic backlash to AI solving Navier-Stokes?
53:35 Advice for a 20-year-old: find two smart people, build weird things
54:29 (Question) David's follow-up: any chance of an All-In Summit scholarship
56:21 (Question) Mo: can a cannabis cultivation facility be converted into a data center
1:02:30 (Question) Mo's follow-up: Mark Cuban's pickleball courts and the efficiency curve
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Today’s Fascinating Fact from Harmonic
Factory develops AI-powered “droids,” autonomous agents that handle tasks across the entire software development process. Rather than offering inline code suggestions, as a Copilot-style tool might, droids take on full engineering workflows, like code review, testing, debugging or documentation. The company frames its mission as bringing “autonomy to software engineering,” not replacing developers but offloading their routine work so they can focus on higher-level design and architecture challenges.
Try it yourself at harmonic.ai
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