Episode Details

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Grasshopper Bank https://grasshopper.bank/twist

Vanta https://www.vanta.com/twist

Render https://render.com/twist

Plaud https://Plaud.ai/twist

Today's show:

Anthropic wrote a blog post calling for a global AI slowdown. Meanwhile, Sen. Bernie Sanders wants the government to seize 50% of every major AI company's stock. Find out why JCal is reconsidering universal basic (or even high!) income policies, and why he thinks the 2028 presidential election will likely come down to AI policies.

PLUS a live ComfyUI demo from founder Yoland Yan. Find out why the free-to-use open-source node-based platform has become a crucial part of millions of designers' and VFX experts' workflows, and how their tool has been used to create everything from "The Wizard of Oz" at the Vegas Sphere to those viral Coca-Cola holiday ads.

Guest

Yoland Yan: http://x.com/yoland_yan

ComfyUI: https://comfy.org/

AI Models and Tools

Ideogram 4.0: https://ideogram.ai/models/4.0/

Stable Diffusion: https://stability.ai/

LTX Video: https://github.com/Lightricks/LTX-Video

LoRa: https://huggingface.co/docs/diffusers/training/lora

Google Veo: https://deepmind.google/models/veo/

Relevant Links:

Anthropic: "When AI Builds Itself": https://www.anthropic.com/institute/recursive-self-improvement

Bernie Sanders: "The Public Should Own Half of the Big AI Companies": https://www.sanders.senate.gov/op-eds/the-public-should-own-half-of-the-big-a-i-companies/

Bloomberg: "Sam Altman-Backed Group Completes Largest US Study on Basic Income": https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-22/ubi-study-backed-by-openai-s-sam-altman-bolsters-support-for-basic-income

Timestamps:

0:00 Guest 1: Yoland Yan, ComfyUI — live demo intro

2:06 Plaud: If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls — you need a Plaud NotePin. You can check it out at https://Plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off!

4:34 Guest 1: Yoland Yan, ComfyUI — live demo intro

9:47 Grasshopper Bank - Time is money. Don't waste either. Go to https://grasshopper.bank/twist and get an exclusive $500 cash bonus just for opening an account.

20:05 Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.com/twist

22:24 What is Outpainting?

30:01 Render - Find out why 5 million developers are already using the all-in-one cloud platform, Render. Go to https://render.com/twist and apply for the Render Startup Program to get $500-$100,000 in free credits, depending on your stage and backers.

32:13 Jason's insider sales team advice

38:42 LA mayoral race: Bass vs. Pratt

42:25 Anthropic wants AI to slow down?

48:45 Will Sen. Sanders' argument resonate with the public?

59:39 Why 2028 will be the AI jobs election

1:05:32 Brian Chesky's new AI lab

1:15:21 Jason's "Mandalorian and Grogu" review

1:18:53 YouTubers take over the box offic