Ivy: Forty. Billion. Dollars. For a company that just raised money a few months ago.
Marcus: I'm Marcus.
Ivy: And I'm Ivy.
Marcus: And this is AI Now, for Wednesday, August 12th.
Ivy: We've got three very different stories for you today.
Marcus: We start with that forty-billion-dollar number, and the AI coding startup Cognition that's looking for another massive investment.
Ivy: Then, three AI legends take the stage with a surprisingly unified message on safety and keeping the technology open.
Marcus: And finally, a personal AI for managing your relationships just hit Android. Is it the social life-saver we've been waiting for?
Marcus: Alright, let's get into it. TechCrunch is reporting that Cognition, the company behind the AI software engineer Devin, is already looking to raise again.
Ivy: 'Looking to raise' is an understatement. They just pulled in a billion dollars at a twenty-six billion dollar valuation a few months ago.
Marcus: And now, the new target is reportedly forty. Billion. Dollars.
Ivy: Yes, a fourteen-billion-dollar jump in a few months, for a product that still feels more like a tech demo than a real tool.
Marcus: Hey, this is venture capital! It's all about the trajectory. They're betting on a future where every company has AI engineers on staff.
Ivy: They're betting, alright. But where are the results? We've seen slick videos of Devin finishing tasks, but how much production code has it actually shipped? This is pure hype.
Marcus: That's not the metric right now! The metric is progress. And a potential forty-billion-dollar valuation means the people with the deepest pockets are seeing it.
Ivy: The people with the deepest pockets also have the most FOMO. This just feels like a frenzy.
Marcus: So if you're a developer, you need to pay very close attention. This is either the tool that will 10x your productivity or… the tool that makes your job obsolete.
Ivy: And if you're an investor, you have to wonder if you're buying at the absolute peak of the hype. Let's see if Devin can write fourteen billion dollars' worth of code before the next round.
Ivy: Next, we're zooming out from one startup to the entire field. At the Ai4 conference, three of the world's most respected AI experts took the stage together.
Marcus: And not just any experts. We're talking Geoffrey Hinton, Fei-Fei Li, and Andrew Ng. It's the Mount Rushmore of modern AI, all in one room.
Ivy: With all the panic about AI safety, you’d expect a huge fight. But TechCrunch reports they were surprisingly on the same page about one thing: the need to keep AI open.
Marcus: Wait—all of them? Even Hinton? The guy who famously left Google to warn everyone about the dangers of AI?
Ivy: Even Hinton. His point, which the others backed, is that open source lets more people inspect models for flaws and biases. It's safety in numbers.
Marcus: I love that. Andrew Ng called it a check on the power of Big Tech, and Fei-Fei Li warned against a 'scientific oligarchy' where only a few companies control the best AI.
Ivy: There's a geopolitical angle, too. The argument is that to stay competitive with China, the US needs a vibrant, open ecosystem, not a few walled-off corporate labs.
Marcus: So for anyone building with AI, this is huge. It means the pioneers of the field are on your side, fighting for your right to access this technology.
Ivy: For everyone else, it proves this debate is far from over. Do you trust a handful of corporations to keep AI safe, or an open community of thousands? There's still no easy answer.
Marcus: And for our last story today, something a little more hands-on. Automattic, the company behind WordPress, just brought its AI-powered contacts app, Mesh, to Android.
Ivy: They're calling it a 'CRM for everyone.' The idea isn't for managing sales leads, but your actual personal and professional network.
Marcus: I need this so badly. My contacts list is a complete mess. The promise is that AI will sort it all out—flagging people you're losing touch with and reminding you to follow up.
Ivy: To do that, it needs a lot of access. The app pulls from your contacts, your calendar, and even reads your email to figure all this out.
Marcus: But that's the point! It sees you have a meeting with me, knows the last time we emailed, and nudges you to send a follow-up. It’s an assistant for your relationships.
Ivy: It's also a massive privacy trade-off. Automattic has a decent reputation, but you're handing over the keys to your entire social graph. For what? So you remember your cousin's birthday?
Marcus: Think about freelancers, or anyone who just moved to a new city—this could be a game-changer. And bringing it to Android finally opens it up to a huge audience.
Ivy: So it boils down to that classic AI dilemma: incredible convenience, in exchange for your personal data. We'll see how many people make that trade.
Marcus: Alright, let's do a quick recap.
Ivy: AI coding startup Cognition is reportedly aiming for a wild $40 billion valuation.
Marcus: Three AI pioneers—Hinton, Li, and Ng—made a powerful, united case for keeping AI development open.
Ivy: And Automattic’s personal CRM, Mesh, has finally landed on Android.
Marcus: Before we go, Ivy, I saw a patent for an AI-powered toaster.
Ivy: Let me guess. It analyzes my morning emails to determine the optimal browning level based on my stress index?
Marcus: No, it just... uses a camera to not burn the toast. That's it. It's a toaster with a camera.
Ivy: Solving the world's biggest problems, one slice at a time.
Marcus: And that's our show! We'll be back tomorrow with more AI news.
Ivy: Until then, I'm Ivy. Keep your data safe.
Marcus: And I'm Marcus. We'll talk to you tomorrow.
This show is made with AI: the hosts’ voices are synthetic and the scripts are AI-assisted. Every story links to its original source.