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Anthropic Gives Away 5% of Its Shares, Clone’s Muscle Robot, ElevenLabs Steals Podcaster's Voice

This Week in Startups

1h 34m
Transcript

Original podcast

Summary

Written by a model from the transcript; not yet reviewed.

This episode covers major tech and media headlines, beginning with a deep dive into Nathan Fielder's documentary about Elizabeth Holmes and Silicon Valley's culture of exaggeration. The discussion then moves to Anthropic placing 5% of its stock into a public benefit fund, alongside Elon Musk's pledge to give SpaceX shares to American children. A special guest from Clone Robotics joins to discuss developing lifelike androids driven by artificial muscle technology instead of traditional motors. Finally, the program analyzes podcaster Chris Williamson accusing ElevenLabs of voice cloning.

  • Startups should evaluate hydraulic artificial muscle technology as a cost-effective alternative to traditional motors for humanoid robotics. 41:30
  • Tech companies can leverage public stock pledges and direct share distributions to shift public perception and foster broader economic participation. 20:10
  • Entrepreneurs and public figures can protect their voice and likeness from unauthorized artificial intelligence cloning by securing formal trademarks. 1:26:07

Chapters

  1. 0:00
    Episode Introduction

    Hosts open the episode, setting the stage for a discussion on scaling media operations.

  2. 4:43
    Nathan Fielder Documentary Overview

    Hosts discuss the upcoming Nathan Fielder film about Elizabeth Holmes, its meta‑documentary style, and why it matters to the startup community.

  3. 9:06
    Venture Capital Roundtable Teaser

    The show previews a Wednesday VC roundtable where guests will discuss the documentary and other startup topics.

  4. 20:10
    Anthropic Public‑Benefit Share Plan

    Hosts explain Anthropic’s pledge to donate 5% of shares to a public‑benefit fund, Elon Musk’s reaction, and the potential scale of the donation.

  5. 27:22
    Vanta Compliance Promotion

    Hosts promote Vanta’s compliance platform, highlighting its benefits for startups needing SOC 2, HIPAA, and ISO 27001 readiness.

  6. 38:51
    Rippling AI Sales Analytics

    A brief segment introduces Rippling AI, showcasing how it aggregates real‑time business data to help founders make sales decisions.

  7. 39:54
    Clone Robotics Introduction

    The episode shifts to a guest interview with Danush Ratakrishnan, co‑founder of Clone Robotics, and sets the stage for the robotics discussion.

  8. 41:04
    Humanoid Robot Technology Stack

    Clone Robotics explains its unique artificial‑muscle technology, contrasting it with Boston Dynamics, Tesla Optimus, and Figure.

  9. 44:35
    Artificial Muscle Mechanics

    The hosts dive into the mechanics of Clone’s hydraulic musculotendon units, detailing how pressurization creates realistic muscle contraction.

  10. 48:14
    Founder's Background and Early Experiments

    The host learns about the founder’s plasma physics roots, early DIY plasma thruster, and exposure to artificial muscles.

  11. 49:01
    Meeting Co‑Founder and Relocating to Poland

    The founder meets a Polish co‑founder online, decides to move to Poland, and starts the company there.

  12. 50:18
    Technical Challenges of Human‑Like Muscles

    Discussion of the difficulties in miniaturizing hydraulic valves, achieving lifelike form factor, and competing with motor‑actuated robots.

Highlights

  • 4:29

    Nathan Fielder's Theranos Documentaryinsight

    The host and a speaker discuss Nathan Fielder's new documentary about Elizabeth Holmes, praising it as a groundbreaking cinematic meta-commentary on Silicon Valley fraud culture.

  • 20:10

    Anthropic Pledges 5% Equitydata

    Anthropic announced it is placing 5% of its stock into a public benefit fund, prompting comparisons to large-scale endowments and Elon Musk's public share proposals.

  • 41:30

    Hydraulic Artificial Musclesstrategy

    Clone Robotics co-founder Danush Ratakrishnan explains how their androids use fluid-pressurized artificial muscles rather than conventional DC motors and pulleys.

  • 55:23

    Enterprise Robot Deployment Timelinedata

    Danush Ratakrishnan states that Clone Robotics plans to deploy their human-level torsos in enterprise applications first, with complete androids arriving in two to three years.

  • 1:23:08

    ElevenLabs Voice Cloning Accusationstory

    Podcaster Chris Williamson accused ElevenLabs of copying his voice for their Archer voice model, leading to the voice being removed from the platform.

Quotes

  • “We used to have to pay somebody to do three hours of writing show notes.”
    Unnamed speaker · 1:25
  • “At a $2 trillion valuation, that first 5% that they're pledging alone is worth around $100 billion.”
    Unnamed speaker · 20:28
  • “The best founders know you can't close a big deal without establishing trust.”
    Unnamed speaker · 27:07
  • “I mean, I have a background from, from plasma physics. I've been building things since I was a kid.”
    Unnamed speaker · 48:14
  • “I built a one megawatt plasma thruster, designed and built it on my own.”
    Unnamed speaker · 48:18
  • “I don't think so. I mean, I mean, like it, like I'm, they're all, people are always going to have ethical dilemmas over like all this stuff.”
    Unnamed speaker · 1:02:16
  • “We are moving toward, um, you know, a true clones, which, which what I call the, the clones will make, you know, down the road that are truly indistinguishable from humans.”
    Unnamed speaker · 52:33
  • “If we hired an illustrator, if we had a full-time illustrator, they wouldn't be able to keep up with this.”
    Unnamed speaker · 1:32:39
  • “No, you'd need five, because a person would need 48 hours to do this, really, with the back and forth.”
    Unnamed speaker · 1:32:54
  • Plod 1:35–2:38
  • Northwest Registered Agent 14:40–15:21
  • Vanta 27:22–28:12
  • Rippling 39:00–39:47

About this episode

This Week In Startups is made possible by: Plaud: https://plaud.ai/twist Northwest Registered Agent: https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twistdomain Vanta: https://www.vanta.com/twist Rippling: https://rippling.ai/twist Today’s show: Jason can’t stop praising Nathan Fielder’s new A24 hybrid documentary about Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos, “You Can See Everything,” and he’s insisting that Lon check it out before the next podcast. Hear his spoiler-free review, how the film upended his expectations based on Fielder’s previous work, and why Lon also recommends Lance Oppenheim’s HBO Max series “Ren Faire.” Plus, we’re talking to Clone Robotics co-founder and CEO Dhanush Radhakrishnan about why he thinks robots should not just be humanoid but should look and move precisely like humans. We’re digging deep into how his hydraulic myofiber artificial muscle technology alters and even improves on the pulley-based systems being deployed by competitors, why he thinks the models that power domestic helper-bots will be commoditized, and how quickly he thinks he can put a robo-butler in every American home. Plus we’re comparing the potential impact of Anthropic’s new Public Benefit Fund vs. Elon Musk’s plan to give every baby a share of SpaceX, and re-considering simulation theory after Odyssey dropped an artificial fruit fly brain into an artificial landscape. Guest Dhanush Radhakrishnan on X: https://x.com/dhanushisrad Clone Robotics: https://clonerobotics.com/ Related Links “You Can See Everything” trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvW_N5p1q44 “You Can See Everything” on Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/you_can_see_everything John Carreyrou’s Theranos investigation (Wall Street Journal): https://www.wsj.com/articles/theranos-has-struggled-with-blood-tests-1444881901 “Ren Faire” HBO Max trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHZUVTrrexE “Nathan for You”: Smokers Allowed clip (Comedy Central): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HttB2fYAm-8 Anthropic: Investing in the Public Benefit: https://www.anthropic.com/news/public-benefit-fund Elon Musk SpaceX pledge: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2112089556615123114 Dell’s $6.25B Invest America commitment: https://www.onedell.com/investamerica/ Odyssey Fly Simulation X post: https://x.com/odysseyml/status/2111589148146749616 Chris Williamson: “The ElevenLabs Situation is Crazy”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxDNHLgWInU ElevenLabs’ Legendary Voices marketplace: https://elevenlabs.io/iconic-marketplace TWiST newsletter on Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com/ LAUNCH Careers page: https://careers.launch.co/ Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 00:10 Plaud - If your work depends on conversations - interviews, meetings, calls - you need a Plaud NotePin S. You can check it out at https://plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off! 03:18 Jason's "You Can See Everything" reaction 14:37 Northwest Registered Agent - Got a new business idea? Northwest Registered Agent helps you bring it to life. Get a free domain, email, phone number, and more - with no purchase required! Learn more at https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twistdomain 15:27 What films max out RT's critic and audience scores 20:08 Anthropic commits 5% equity to Public Benefit Fund 24:28 Would equity change how Americans feel about AI? 27:08 Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.com/twist 38:38 Rippling - Thanks to our partners at Rippling! Head to https://rippling.ai/twist and get the only AI built to give you full visibility across your startup and take complex actions across your entire business. 39:48 Dhanush from Clone Robotics joins the show 42:43 How hydraulic muscle technology actually works 54:55 When can we have our robot butlers please? 56:55 Where will Clone get its robot brains? 1:12:17 Odyssey trapped a fake fly brain in a simulated environment 1:23:09 Did ElevenLabs steal a podcaster's voice? 1:30:13 Check us out on Substack! Subscribe to our newsletters on Substack: TWiST: https://twistartups.substack.com/ TWiAI: https://www.thisweekinai.ai/ TWiVC: https://thisweekinvc.substack.com/ Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp Follow Lon: X: https://x.com/lons Follow Jason: X: https://twitter.com/Jason LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/ Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland Follow TWiST: Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekinstartups Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com

Transcript

0:00
1:34:19

18,351 words · 4 speakers

Topics

  • Michael Caine voice license deal
  • Anthropic
  • Figure
  • Eleven Labs
  • Clone Robotics
  • Tesla
  • Rotten Tomatoes
  • SpaceX
  • Boston Dynamics
  • Nvidia

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