This Week in AI

Jason Calacanis sits down with two founders building at the frontier of AI products and infrastructure: Tanay Kothari (Wispr Flow) and Richard Socher (You.com & AIX Ventures). They dig into the Citrini "doom post" that rattled markets, the real economics of automation waves, and how AI-first teams are being rebuilt from the ground up.
We explore how the agentic shift is reshaping companies, costs, and careers:
The AI Doom Post Debunked: Why the viral Citrini Substack predicting 10% unemployment and an S&P crash is completely wrong.
AI-First Hiring: How Wispr Flow shipped their #1 Android voice app with one engineer running ten Claude agents simultaneously — and stopped hiring junior developers entirely.
Customer Support at Scale: How Wispr went from needing 200 support agents to 4 by automating 15 distinct support loops, from bug tickets to product feedback.
The Cognitive Surplus: Why automation doesn't destroy jobs, it creates the next wave of businesses nobody has predicted yet.
Open Source vs. Closed Models: Why DeepSeek forced every major lab to innovate faster, and how Wispr built its own 90% gross margin voice model by starting on open source.
Taiwan & the Chip Risk: Apple's Mac Mini onshoring, the 2027 CCP military warning, and the five contingency plans the world is quietly building around TSMC.
OpenClaw Mania: Producer Oliver joins the show to talk about how he is using OpenClaw to do his tasks for him.

This Week In Startups is made possible by:
Notion - https://www.notion.com/twist
Quadratic - https://www.Quadratic.ai/twist

Timestamps:
00:01:16 - Welcome & Guest Introductions: Tanay Kothari (Wispr Flow) and Richard Socher (You.com)
00:03:33 - Why Voice Dictation Finally Works: How Wispr turns rambling speech into send-ready messages
00:05:43 - Foot Pedals, Rings & the Future of Voice Input Modalities
00:09:32 - The Citrini "Doom Post": The viral Substack predicting 10% unemployment and an S&P crash
00:11:52 - Quadratic - Bringing the productivity boost of AI into your spreadsheets. Visit https://www.quadratic.ai/twist to sign up and use the code TWIST to get one free month of their pro tier subscription.
00:14:28 - Debunking the Doom: Cognitive Surplus, the Lump of Labor Fallacy & Why People Adapt
00:22:08 Notion ****- Notion brings all your notes, docs, and projects into one connected space that just works with AI built right in. Try Notion, with Notion Agent, at https://www.notion.com/twist
00:26:18 - Open Source vs. Closed Models: How DeepSeek Forced Innovation & Who Wins the Cost Race
00:38:05 - Building AI-First Teams: Certifications, Agent Management & the New Skill Stack
00:43:42 - Customer Support Reinvented: How Wispr Went from 200 Agents to 4
01:16:29 - Breaking News: Apple Onshores Mac Mini to Houston & The Taiwan Chip Risk Explained

Subscribe to This Week in AI on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-startups/id315114957
Subscribe to This Week in AI on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6cPSOft5WRm3zJq7gchacA?si=3b86d10c10434b21

Thanks for watching!

🤖 If you want to stay ahead of the curve on all things AI, make sure to join our community across all platforms:
📩 Get the Weekly Newsletter: https://thisweekinai.ai/
📺 Subscribe on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ThisWeekinAIPodcast
📸 Instagram: www.instagram.com/thisweekinaipodcast
📱 TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinaipodcast✖️X: https://x.com/ThisWeeknAI
Follow Jason:
X: https://twitter.com/Jason
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis
Follow Oliver:
https://x.com/oliverkorzen
Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

This Week In Startups is made possible by:Gusto - Try Gusto today and get 3 months free at [Uber.com/twist](http://uber.com/ai-solutions)Crusoe Cloud - Reserve your capacity for the latest GPU’s at [Uber.com/twist](http://uber.com/ai-solutions)Uber AI Solutions - Book a demo today at [Uber.com/twist](http://uber.com/ai-solutions)*Today’s show: It’s a packed show! We’ve got YouTuber and Openclaw enthusiast Matthew Berman, Ryan Yaneli, founder of Nextvisit, and Jason Grad, founder of Massive! We’re all in on Openclaw, but we have no doubts there’s still room in the market for a GIANT Openclaw consumer app to shift the paradigm. What will that look like? Will it be an app? Will it be baked into the iPhone? Let’s explore!**Timestamps:* 00:00 Intro02:04 Why Matthew thinks Openclaw is not ready yet to be brought to the consumer04:45 Jason doesn’t want hundreds of different apps, and thousands of tabs05:45 Why Ryan sees open claw giving consumers access to opportunities they couldn’t have gotten to otherwise.07:02 Only 10% of people are technical enough to install openclaw08:16 Would Openclaw be better off as an app?08:27 *Gusto*. Check out the online payroll and benefits experts with software built specifically for small business and startups. Try Gusto today and get three months FREE at [Uber.com/twist](http://uber.com/ai-solutions)00:10:52 The killer use case that could bring Openclaw to the consumer00:12:13 Why Meta acquired Manus.00:15:13 How Ryan uses Openclaw in his personal life00:18:44 *Crusoe Cloud*: Crusoe is the AI factory company. Reliable infrastructure and expert support. Visit [crusoe.ai/savings](https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqa1E3eXB2eW9RS1gwd2RNM1EtU3E5ZERteFA1QXxBQ3Jtc0tsZS1VX0NCcXh6UW4tSi10TU1DbDhkMFIwQUhXLWktNC00cFFrdVhocGdMeldhSDJiU0tPQ0dyVDZjLU9zMnNIdWprRHFhVDZ0M1JnRWRrTktVLVpDRU9IMG5mMXBucDRlWGtVeWx1UHpzSzlsT1dSOA&q=https%3A%2F%2Fcrusoe.ai%2Fbuild&v=TItdrQuJdsw) to reserve your capacity for the latest GPUs today.00:23:24 What Jason’s “Clawpod” does00:24:38 Jason demos his Openclaw workflow00:28:23 *Uber AI Solutions -* Your trusted partner to get AI to work in the real world. Book a demo with them TODAY at [Uber.com/twist](http://uber.com/ai-solutions)00:30:04 How Matt used Openclaw to figure out he’s been having stomach issues00:32:27 What will be the ultimate UX for AI?00:38:53 Anthropic has patched the ability to use Openclaw through its pro plan!00:42:20 Matt and Jason hope for a multi-model future — but we haven’t made progress!00:52:21 Jason has skepticisms about the Openclaw foundation00:52:59 Ryan predicts a new Openclaw fork coming from the shadows!00:54:21 Peter Steinberger is going to OpenAI, NOT to work with Openclaw… Will he “orphan” openclaw?00:58:19 does raspberry AI stand a chance against Apple?*Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: [https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com](https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com/)Check out the TWIST500: [https://www.twist500.com](https://twist500.com)Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp*Follow Lon:X: https://x.com/lons*Follow Alex:X: https://x.com/alexLinkedIn: [⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm/)*Follow Jason:X: https://twitter.com/JasonLinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis/)Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/*Check out Jason’s suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis*Follow TWiST:Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartupsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekinInstagram: [https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups](https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups/)TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartupsSubstack: [https://twistartups.substack.com](https://twistartups.substack.com/)

Jason Calacanis sits down with three CEOs building at the bleeding edge of the agentic revolution: Mitesh Agrawal (Positron AI), Alex Elias (Qloo), and Kash Ali (TaxGPT). They discuss the rapid rise of Open Claw, an open-source platform that is fundamentally changing work by allowing users to create autonomous agents. "Saving 30 minutes a day... that’s like getting three more weeks a year back." "I don't need a technical recruiter today." We explore how autonomous agents are moving beyond "Copilots" to become independent teammates:
The AI Executive Assistant: How Mitesh Agrawal uses agents to automate inbox filtering and Slack drafts, recapturing 6% of his year.
The Hiring Hiatus: Kash Ali screened 1,000 job applications in two hours with "flawless" accuracy, replacing 40+ hours of manual labor.
The $1M One-Person Firm: How AI is solving the shortage of 340,000 accountants by allowing a single person to command an "army of agents".
Democratizing Luxury: Scaling the "chauffeur and concierge" experience to everyone through taste-based AI and structured inference.
Autonomous Media: A demo of an agent that transcribes, clips, and captions viral content in five minutes, a process that previously took an hour.The agent era is here. Are you building your replicant, or are you being left behind by a 10x more efficient workforceThis Week In Startups is made possible by:Notion - https://www.notion.com/twistQuadratic - https://www.Quadratic.ai/twistTimestamps: 00:00 Welcome to This Week in AI!03:17 How are CEO’s using OpenClaw?09:25 Notion - Notion brings all your notes, docs, and projects into one connected space that just works with AI built right in. Try Notion, with Notion Agent, at notion.com/twist00:19:09 — Automating the "Great Hiring Hiatus”00:19:20 Quadratic - Bringing the productivity boost of AI into your spreadsheets. Visit [quadratic.ai/twist](https://www.quadratic.ai/twist) to sign up and use the code TWIST to get one free month of their pro tier subscription.00:27:11 — Saving Independent Film with AI Extras00:33:04 — Solving the Global Accounting Crisis00:36:36 — The $1 Million One-Person Tax Advisory00:43:05 — Demo: The Autonomous Content Clipper0:00 Making Clips with OpenClaw01:07:39 — Micro-Agents vs. "Ultron”01:10:23 — The Developer, the CEO, and the AI Joke (Outro)Subscribe to This Week in AI on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...Thanks for watching!🤖 If you want to stay ahead of the curve on all things AI, make sure to join our community across all platforms:📩 Get the Weekly Newsletter: https://thisweekinai.ai/📺 Subscribe on YouTube: [   / @thisweekinaipodcast  ](   / @thisweekinaipodcast  )📸 Instagram: [www.instagram.com/thisweekinaipodcast](  / thisweekinaipodcast  )📱 TikTok: [www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinaipodcast](  / thisweekinaipodcast  )✖️X:https://x.com/ThisWeeknAIFollow Jason:X:   / jason  LinkedIn: [  / jasoncalacanis  ](  / jasoncalacanis  )*Thank you to our partners:09:25 Notion - Notion brings all your notes, docs, and projects into one connected space that just works with AI built right in. Try Notion, with Notion Agent, at notion.com/twist00:19:20 Quadratic - Bringing the productivity boost of AI into your spreadsheets. Visit [quadratic.ai/twist](https://www.quadratic.ai/twist) to sign up and use the code TWIST to get one free month of their pro tier subscription.Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Welcome to the very first episode of This Week in AI! Host Oliver Korzen kicks things off with an exclusive interview featuring Aaron Walls (CEO) and Andrius Useckas (CTO), the founders of ZioSec. Together, they dive deep into the world of OpenClaw security—exposing the vulnerabilities they've discovered in the wild, breaking down real attack vectors, and revealing the essential steps you need to take to protect your agent from exploitation.🔒 Key Takeaways:1. Why Mac Mini might be your safest local setup2. The "Lethal Trifecta" that makes AI agents vulnerable3. How indirect prompt injections hijack your agent through email & documents4. Why 26% of OpenClaw skills contain vulnerabilities5. Input sanitation & judge models as defensive layersZioSec: AI agent assisting in penetration testing | https://ziosec.comTimestamps:00:00 - Why Mac Mini isn't the right setup for everyone12:30 - The right way to host OpenClaw (hint: not AWS)16:11 - Understanding your attack surface27:33 - Why third-party skills are a security risk36:30 - Start with sandboxes & read-only permissions40:03 - Career advice for college students

Google released Gemini 3.0 this week, and I’ve been hands-on with it every day since launch. After diving into all the new capabilities, performance upgrades, and quality-of-life improvements, I’ve distilled the most important updates you should know. In this breakdown, I walk through the biggest feature changes, what they mean in real-world use, and how Gemini 3.0 stacks up against the other frontier models.