The tech industry’s push for more autonomous AI

Hey team,

Welcome back to another edition of Tech Creator!

tl;dr…

• The tech industry’s push for more autonomous AI: OpenAI and Salesforce are giving AI more autonomy, with new tools for decision-making. Experts warn of risks in rushing this progress.

• GoDaddy's big moment—but will it last? GoDaddy’s stock is up thanks to software tools, but growth lags behind competitors and customer complaints are rising.

• Why Y Combinator startups are flocking to HR and banking startup Every: HR startup Every is gaining traction with Y Combinator companies by offering free incorporation and banking services.

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The tech industry’s push for more autonomous AI

The tech world is racing to give AI more decision-making power, with big announcements from OpenAI and Salesforce on Thursday signaling a move toward greater AI autonomy. While this promises improved efficiency, it also raises concerns about risks and potential downsides.

What's new:

• OpenAI unveiled its new model, o1 (formerly Strawberry), which takes time to assess different responses before answering, making it better at complex queries, particularly in math, science, and coding.

• Salesforce introduced Agentforce, a system that moves beyond AI as a productivity tool and empowers it to take autonomous actions, though with strict safety guardrails.

Real-world impact:

• Thomson Reuters' CoCounsel saw o1 excel at detailed and complex tasks that other models couldn't handle. Although responses took longer, accuracy and thoroughness were prioritized.

• Wiley, using an early version of Agentforce, saw a 40% boost in case resolution without human involvement.

The safety concern:

Leaders like Salesforce’s Paula Goldman stress the need for limits, arguing that giving AI unlimited decision-making power is risky. Instead, AI should be tested within a set of predefined rules and only gradually allowed more autonomy.

Miriam Vogel, CEO of EqualAI, adds that while AI can handle low-stakes tasks, moving too quickly into high-impact areas like healthcare or safety is dangerous.

The bigger picture: While AI agents hold promise, experts like Phil Libin (former CEO of Evernote) warn that giving AI too much control could lead to costly "arms races" between autonomous bots, with little benefit to users.

The bottom line: Before granting AI more autonomy, the industry must first address persistent issues like AI bias and the tendency for these systems to generate false information.

Latest ☕️…

• OpenAI COO says ChatGPT passed 11 million paying subscribers (The Information)

• SpaceX crew conducts first commercial spacewalk (Axios)

• The gender wage gap just widened for the first time in 20 years (Axios)

• GitHub has started testing OpenAI’s o1-preview in GitHub Copilot (GitHub)

• OpenAI fundraising set to vault startup’s valuation to $150 billion (Bloomberg)

• Real-time payments startup Push Cash raises $4 million (Axios)

GoDaddy's big moment—but will it last?

GoDaddy, the web hosting giant known for its flashy Super Bowl ads, is in the spotlight again. After five years of stagnant growth, GoDaddy's stock doubled between late 2023 and mid-2024, driven by its shift from domain sales to offering more profitable software tools like email management and payment processing.

The shift and its challenges: GoDaddy is banking on selling software to its existing domain customers, but it's not all smooth sailing. While the company's new focus has boosted profit margins, its growth has lagged behind rivals like Wix and Squarespace, both of which started out selling software and are growing much faster.

Additionally, GoDaddy faces an antitrust lawsuit from Entri, a startup that claims GoDaddy blocked competitors' software and charged users for its own tools.

Customer frustrations: GoDaddy's shift to higher prices and aggressive tactics, like automatically enrolling customers in services, has led to backlash on platforms like Reddit. The company’s once rock-solid reputation as a low-cost domain provider is starting to crack, which could give its faster-growing competitors an edge.

The bottom line: GoDaddy’s current success might be fleeting. With slower growth, a lawsuit looming, and unhappy customers, it remains to be seen whether this comeback can truly last.

Why Y Combinator startups are flocking to HR and banking startup Every

Rajeev Behera’s new HR startup, Every, is making waves by offering early-stage startups a unique deal: free incorporation, plus an all-in-one suite for banking, payroll, and HR services. It’s a crowded market, competing with companies like Gusto, Rippling, and Deel, but Behera has a strategy.

Every focuses on early-stage tech startups and hooks them by handling incorporation for free, then setting up their business bank accounts. From there, customers can add other services, like payroll or accounting, and Every makes money through monthly fees and interchange fees.

Behera’s connections to Y Combinator—half of Every's customers come from YC—are key. Behera, who co-founded Reflektive, sold it in 2021 and is now leveraging his YC network to grow Every, with 150 customers and counting.

Investors are taking notice. Every just raised $22.5 million in Series A led by Redpoint Ventures, with others piling in after hearing about the startup from their portfolio companies already using the service.

Behera’s bold strategy? Build everything in-house, no partnerships with other fintechs, and target early-stage companies while accepting that bigger clients might "graduate" to other providers as they grow. Despite the challenges, Every is gaining traction quickly in a competitive market.