This Week in Startups

Neurosymbolic AI outperforms chatbots and product search | E2327

This Week in Startups

Show Notes

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Today's show:

Frontier AI models can ace PhD-level exams, but it's still bad at tracking down the product you want in the style that suits you. Onton's Zach Hudson tell us that the problem is that models are a black box.

His solution? A neurosymbolic model, Ontology 1, that learns about your taste and preferred aesthetic over time, then produces product searches tailored specifically to you, rather than just using keywords and relevant tags. How do neurosymbolic models work, and how does Onton understand your prompts and favorite design trends? And why aren't the frontier labs working on neurosymbolic models of their own? Zach joins Jason and Lon to discuss.

PLUS, following a record-smashing SpaceX IPO, Ashi Dissanayake of Spacium makes the case that the real bottleneck in space isn't launching rockets off the ground any more. It's refueling in orbit.

Guests

Zach Hudson on X: ****https://x.com/nosduhz

Onton: https://onton.com/

Spacium: https://spaceium.com/

Spacium on X: https://x.com/SpaceiumInc

Relevant Links

Poolside's journey to AGI: https://poolside.ai/vision/purpose

Startup Archive: Sam Altman on the Paul Graham advice that saved OpenAI: https://www.startuparchive.org/p/sam-altman-on-the-paul-graham-advice-that-saved-open-ai-always-make-an-api

Kelly Wearstler: https://www.kellywearstler.com/

Ennis House: https://franklloydwright.org/site/ennis-house/

Los Feliz Living: Ennis House profile: https://www.losfelizliving.com/los-feliz-historic-homes/ennis-house-los-feliz-hcm-149

Indiewire: Ennis-inspired "The Studio" offices: https://www.indiewire.com/features/craft/the-studio-production-design-interview-seth-rogen-1235114365/

Monocle Magazine: https://monocle.com/

Spaceium on Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/spaceium-inc

Orbit Fab's RAFTI: https://www.orbitfab.com/rafti/

James Webb Space Telescope: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/webb/

Houzz: https://www.houzz.com/

Timestamps: 0:00 Zach Hudson joins: What is "neurosymbolic search"

4:03 Ontology 1 isn't a black box

6:31 Who is using Onton?

9:36 Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.com/twist

11:35 Could neurosymbolic models reach AGI?

13:19 Jason loves Wright's Ennis House

17:03 The shape of AI companies is changing

19:28 Agree.com - Stop chasing invoices and automate your entire contract-to-cash stack. Go to https://agree.com and tell them Jason sent you to get 50% off for life!

22:32 UGC as a data moat

26:03 The Dead Internet Theory

28:13 Ashi Dissanayake of Spacium joins

29:52 YSecurity - The on-demand security team for startups. Need enterprise-grade security without hiring a $400k CISO? YSecurity gives you 40+ expert engineers, matched to exactly what you need, by the hour, with your first six hours completely free. Go to https://YSecurity.io/TWIST

31:50 Storables vs. cryogenics: the zero-boil-off breakthrough

34:11 All kinds of propulsion requires refueling

36:09 Getting more value from LEO to GEO

38:28 Moving at rocket speed

44:54 Why demand is so acute

49:37 The investing climate for space, post-SpaceX

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