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Why AI has no taste and how to fix it (w/ Thais Castello Branco) | E2319
Description
This Week In Startups is made possible by:
YSecurity https://YSecurity.io/TWIST
MongoDB https://MongoDB.com/ai
Today's show:
AI models can solve PhD-level math equations and code an app in minutes… So why does everything they design look like identical slop? Thais Castello Branco, founder of Taste Labs, raised $18.5M in seed funding to teach frontier models about aesthetics and outputting quality content. She talks to Jason and Lon about why even frontier models regress to the mean on subjective tasks, how paid "TasteMakers" can improve output quality, and whether AI accelerates or destroys the half-life of "what's cool."
PLUS Leopold Aschenbrenner's AI hedge fund liquidated its public stock portfolio, but it may be too soon to count this 25-year-old completely out. Google Earth adds AI generation and turns into a misinformation factory. LinkedIn and Substack join the AI slop crackdown. And why does every venture capitalist seem to have an opinion about the Ceuta border crisis?
Guest
Thais Castello Branco on X: https://x.com/thaiscbranco_
Taste Labs: https://tastelabs.com/
Amplify Partners: "Kill the Slop": https://www.amplifypartners.com/blog-posts/kill-the-slop-announcing-our-investment-in-taste
Relevant Links
Leopold Aschenbrenner's essay "Situational Awareness": https://situational-awareness.ai/
CNBC on SA fund collapse: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/31/leopold-aschenbrenner-situational-awareness-fund-fire-sale.html
Henk van Ess thread on Google Earth + Nano Banana: https://x.com/henkvaness/status/2082912544394498228
Substack CEO Chris Best: "Against Claudefishing": https://post.substack.com/p/against-claudefishing
NPR on the Ceuta crisis: https://www.npr.org/2026/07/31/g-s1-136507/morocco-spain-migration
Ethan Goodhart's self-driving golf cart post: https://x.com/EthanGoodhart/status/2082136189998682598?s=20
"Wind" app on TestFlight: https://testflight.apple.com/join/zZqmhhwf
TechCrunch: "Gritt exits stealth": https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/21/gritt-exits-stealth-with-34-million-for-robots-to-build-solar-plants-then-everything-else/
CA Gov: Project Nexus solar-covered canal announcement: https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/04/29/governor-newsom-announces-the-completion-of-first-of-its-kind-solar-covered-canal-in-the-central-valley-piloting-a-new-way-to-save-water-and-reduce-costs/
Molly Wood's "Everybody in the Pool" podcast: https://www.everybodyi