Recursive self-improvement is close

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AI will soon build AI: American foundation model lab Anthropic reported that it is inching closer to prompting AI to train new AI models. Many blockers have been cleared, while certain research tasks remain beyond the reach of its Claude line of AI models. Engineering is moving toward an AI-led approach, while humans remain the key source of innovative ideas to push the technology forward. But if the curves Anthropic is sketching continue their current bend, we’re not too far out from self-improving AI. And that’s exciting.
Canada, France make AI progress: Worried that American startups raise by far the majority of the global AI dollars? Other nations are fighting back. France has locked down more than 100 billion euros to expand its domestic AI footprint, while Canada is pledging C$500 million worth of investment in its own AI industry. The northern nation hopes for 3% GDP growth and faster productivity growth to boot. Non-American AI startups, start your engines!
VCs are film studios now: An interesting artifact of rising venture AUM at select firms is a surplus of cash. Those funds can be used to advance policy goals, invest in human talent, or, in the case of Founders Fund, a gameshow. Yes, as Newcomer reports, Founders Fund marketer Mike Solana (Pirate Wires) cooked up the idea, which features “A-list founders and investors playing a fierce game of Mafia.” If that is your jam, hit the link.

TWiST 500

Tired of hearing about OpenAI and Anthropic? Good. Let’s talk about a different company.

Ramp! Yes, everyone’s favorite corporate spend ‘startup’ Ramp is back in the news, this time announcing a $750 million funding round at a $44 billion valuation. Born in the shadow of the now-exited Brex, Ramp has scaled from also-ran to market leader thanks to a relentless focus on technology-forward financial technology, and saving money.

That last bit has come good for Ramp, which has under its belt a goodly number of technology companies. Firms that are currently choking on the scale of their AI bills. Put one and one together, and you get a situation in which Ramp’s original selling position (a corporate spend startup that wants to limit your corporation’s spend) is a perfect fit for what its customers want (to spend less on AI while using lots and lots of AI).

In a post, Ramp CEO Eric Glyman argued that for ages, corporations paid staff and vendors. Now, per Glyman, a third category of spend that is growing quickly, that is difficult to properly track and account for (tokens), is changing the game. Guess which TWIST500 company he thinks is set up to help companies get their AI spending under control?

I won’t even give you a second guess. Regardless, Ramp is building towards an IPO that could value it at $100 billion or more, provided its growth doesn’t slow, and public markets and the company’s private backers can reach some sort of price synthesis that proves winsome for Ramp. No pressure, though, Eric! — Alex

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This Week in Startups

E2296: Want to get to space? Several launch companies can help you. SpaceX, Rocket Lab, the Russians, the list goes on. But what about once you make it upstairs, then what? Impulse Space CEO and CTO Tom Mueller is building the next stage of our orbital economy. Meanwhile, venture capitalists are enamored with the idea of humanoid robots — robots share our shape, our work environment, and even our tools. But startups like Dusty Robotics are taking a different tack; instead of building human-shaped robots, it’s building more specialized ‘bots. Dusty’s CEO, Dr. Tessa Lau, joins Alex to go deep on purpose-built robots in today’s build-crazy market.

E2295: On a two-part TWiST, Alex chats with Cortical Labs founder Dr. Hon Weng Chong about how they’re using human neurons alongside silicon hardware to create “Synthetic Biological Intelligence.” Find out why neurons are more efficient than GPUs at reinforcement learning, and delve into some of the technological and ethical implications of this groundbreaking work. THEN, we welcome Pyka co-founder/CEO Michael Norcia to explore the various uses for his startups’ autonomous aircraft, and why he’s developing the tech all the way down in Brazil.

E2294: It’s an all Ask Jason TWiST special, in which JCal responds to the best user queries submitted in our new X super-fan group chats. (Want to join? Follow us on X and let us know why you belong in there in the DMs.) Discussions include how you should approach your seed round funnel, why investors are more open to hardware concepts than ever before, how to differentiate your startup when you’re competing with frontier labs, and the possibilities for “Founder Community College.” PLUS highlights from Lon’s extended trip to Italy and Greece!

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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.

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