Weekly Recap Oct 10-16: AI edge cases, SEC investigates Yuga Labs, VC ghostwriters, Liquid Death CEO

Hi everyone,

This week, a couple of our guests dived deep into AI edge cases:

• Acquired Co-Host Ben Gilbert filled in for Molly on?E1582?to discuss various topics with Jason, including AI impersonating notable people.
• Later in the week, on?E1585, Vinny Lingham and Sunny Madra talked to our hosts about?podcast.ai's episode with AI-generated Steve Jobs and Joe Rogan!

Are you interested in AI imitating celebrities?

If so, check out?E1248, where Jason covered Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, a documentary that used AI to re-create Bourdain's voice reading emails aloud.

Producer's pick:

On?E1586, J+M discussed the?Business Insider?piece covering an anonymous ghostwriter that made $200K by Tweeting for VCs five hours per week.

For reference, the anon said, "the average founder of a Series C company makes something like $120K a year".

So… yeah. That's a lot of cash for only a few hours of their time!

Here are some key details from the article:

• The writer is a founder who raised "tens of millions of dollars" but can't cash out their equity
• Prices range from $100 for single tweets to $100K for threads
• Account followers range from 2K-200K
• Single Tweets could get as many as 4M impressions
• They juggle 25-50 clients at a time
• 60% of the Tweets written are for "s***posting"

Some people were saying the article was fake.

Some were inquiring about hiring.

Others were wondering what accounts were using ghostwriters.

Tommy Clark, Head of Social at Triple Whale, had an amazing breakdown?of the situation!

Here is a snippet:

Do you think the article was embellished, or is it for realsies?

Let us know @twistartups!

Episode and interview recaps:

The Wing shuts down, avoiding pitfalls of success + Tesseract Energy's Alan Chang | E1587

First up, J+M discuss The Wing shutting down, where it went wrong, and avoiding ego-based pitfalls. (1:35) Then, Alan Chang joins Molly to break down his idea behind Tesseract Energy! (22:37)

VCs hiring Twitter ghostwriters, Meta's XR plan, Netflix's ad tier & more | E1586

J+M cover a wide range of topics, including VC ghostwriters (12:45), firms investing in public tech companies (22:29), and news lightning round! (34:51) Then, Producer Rachel is back with another edition of OK Boomer. (53:30)

SEC investigates Bored Apes, AI-generated Steve Jobs/Joe Rogan interview & more | E1585

Vinny Lingham and Sunny Madra are back for another crypto roundtable! The show starts with a discussion on Nvidia's new high-powered graphics cards (2:35) and an AI-generated podcast interview. (15:21) Then, the group breaks down the SEC investigating Yuga Labs over whether or not Bored Apes are NFTs! (27:07)

TikTok planning to build US fulfillment centers + Liquid Death CEO Mike Cessario | E1584

First up, J+M discuss TikTok's apparent plan to build an e-commerce business via US fulfillment centers! (8:57) Then, Liquid Death CEO Mike Cessario joins Molly to discuss the genesis of a great brand and more. (17:26)

New worker classification test proposal, Getir in talks to acquire Gorillas & more | E1583

J+M break down the US Labor Dept proposing new rules for worker classification (16:23). Then, they discuss self-driving food-running robots (49:11), before covering possible consolidation in the instant-delivery space! (58:39)

Amazon's transformation, Peloton's mistakes, VC market downturn & more with Ben Gilbert | E1582

Acquired's Ben Gilbert fills in for Molly Wood and joins Jason to discuss Amazon's transformation (3:57), AI edge cases (22:02), Peloton's mistakes (32:05), used car prices (59:59), and the current VC market downturn. (1:09:18)

Have a great one,

Producer Rachel