Together with
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India is giving platforms just two hours to take down deepfakes, while users globally are pushing for faster removal of private and explicit content from search. At the same time, startups are racing to apply AI where trust really matters—from Smart Bricks automating real estate deals to new tech fighting counterfeits in a $210B resale market.
Even OpenAI’s mystery device, delayed and rebranded, is a reminder that ambition is easy; execution, regulation, and trust are the hard parts.
New video out! 👉🏽 The Dumb Energy Problem Killing AI Data Centers
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Seven bullets of updates
🤖 India orders social networks to remove flagged deepfakes in just two hours under tough new rules starting Feb 20.
🛡️ Accel-backed startup lands $120M to reshape enterprise cyber threat detection at a $700M valuation.
👜 $30B in luxury sales lost to fakes—new tech could make verifying high-end goods seamless in the $210B resale market.
🤖 Hungary sees a record €2.7M pre-seed round as angel investors from top AI firms back robotics innovation with global ambitions.
📈 Want a read on 2026? Skip surveys and see what investors, CEOs, and founders predict for the next economic cycle.
🛡️ Users can request faster removal of private info and explicit content from search, with millions already reviewed yearly.
Tomorrow: How to Pitch an AI Company to Investors l Feb 12 l Webinar
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Smart Bricks is teaching AI how to do real estate
Photo by Tierra Mallorca on Unsplash
Proptech Smart Bricks raises $5M pre-seed, with a16z leading the round, to build an AI-native stack for sourcing, underwriting, and executing real estate deals across the U.S., U.K., and UAE; founder Mohamed Mohamed cut his teeth at BlackRock, Goldman, and BCG.
The platform ingests pricing, liquidity, and financing data, runs AVMs, cash-flow forecasts, and downside modeling, and lets AI agents handle a weeks-long workflow from LOI to close—then continues monitoring assets to suggest refinancing opportunities. In other words, it’s trying to turn one of the slowest, most manual deal processes in finance into software.
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The Dumb Energy Problem Killing AI Data Centers
In this episode, we break down the quiet crisis inside America’s power grid: transformer shortages, 7-year interconnection waits, exploding component prices, and a supply chain the country outsourced decades ago. We explain how substations actually work (yes, with a hose), why voltage matters more than current, and how a seemingly boring piece of infrastructure is driving up your electricity bill.
This isn’t just about AI. It’s about how the U.S. treated grid hardware like a commodity instead of a strategic asset — and why that decision could cost the country the AI arms race.
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🧭 Offsites that work: set goals early, skip cringe icebreakers, keep follow-ups—insights from hundreds of retreats.
🤝 Only 35% of solo owners plan a handoff — scalable firms build contingency architecture so ops run without you.
🧩 Success can isolate founders; after 40, integrating identity and leadership beats hustle with five shifts.
Financial Model Template
Use Slidebean's FREE Financial Model Template to estimate your revenue, expenses, and how much money your startup needs to raise. Available to download in Excel and Google Sheets.
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OpenAI’s mystery device: new name, long wait
Photo by Emiliano Vittoriosi on Unsplash
A new court filing sheds a bit more light on OpenAI’s mystery hardware project. The company has quietly dropped the “io” name, and the device itself isn’t expected to ship before 2027. As for that viral Super Bowl ad making the rounds? Wired reports it wasn’t actually theirs.
Read between the lines, and the message is pretty clear: trademark fights are messy and expensive, and it’s often easier to start fresh than spend years battling over a name in court.
The long timeline also says a lot. A 2027 launch suggests serious hardware ambition—possibly custom chips, new ways to interact with devices, or both. That kind of work takes time, complex supply chains, and a lot of cash. It also gives competitors like Apple and Meta plenty of room to move, while AI “agent” features keep getting folded into existing phones.
The lesson here is familiar: lock down your name early, assume hardware timelines will slip, and don’t go big on marketing until you’re sure the brand can survive legal scrutiny.
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Startup Events and Deadlines
TOMORROW! How to Pitch an AI Company to Investors l Feb 12 l Webinar
Crash Course in Financial Modeling l Feb 19 l Webinar
AI Tech & Startup Night — San Francisco l Feb 25 l San Francisco
How to Find your Startup Valuation l Feb 26 l Webinar