Hugo Barra’s Post

UI patterns is the most exciting bit of this for me but be very interested to see what they can produce.

More important than you think! David, Hugo, Nicholas, and Ficus! Some of us are reminded of early DOS .BAT batch file creation when interfacing with current AI applications. Clean us up, y’all! It’s not a perfect analogy, but reminds me of how innovation and problem solving have advanced every industry and product you can think of. Just as the move from DOS to Windows or early iterations of the Apple OS introduced graphical interfaces, multitasking, security, and ease of use, maybe this OS represents a paradigm shift, and smoother collaboration between users and AI. Could this make AI as seamless and invisible to day-to-day computing applications— as graphical interfaces have, from text batch files to GUI not that many years ago?

🚀 Excited to announce my new company: /dev/agents. I’m building the next-gen operating system for AI agents, joining my former colleagues Hugo Barra, Nicholas Jitkoff, and Ficus Kirkpatrick as co-founders. We're excited to partner with Nina Achadjian (Index Ventures) and Jill (Greenberg) Chase (CapitalG). Modern AI will fundamentally change how people use software in their daily lives. Agentic applications could, for the first time, enable computers to work with people in much the same way people work with people. But it won’t happen without removing a ton of blockers. We need new UI patterns, a reimagined privacy model, and a developer platform that makes it radically simpler to build useful agents. That’s the challenge we’re taking on. We're building a cloud-based OS for trusted agents to work with users across all of their devices. We want to help people spend time on what matters to them. Sound interesting? Find us at sdsa.ai.

I have some big news! The re:collect team is moving to SmartNews! Here are some more thoughts on the transition. Thank you to everyone who's supported on either side of it! Earlier this year I took a look at how far we’d come as a company and what I felt we’d need to get to the next phase. I realized that while I loved the “tools for thinking” space, it was a very uphill battle to build a sticky product when you didn’t also own the platform people did their thinking on. I made the decision that I know is incredibly hard for most founders who make it, to step back from what we’d built and realize we had a lot of good pieces, but we needed to find a new home for our team and a different product to apply our ideas to. I felt that we could have a much bigger impact if we focused our efforts on a product that already had PMF and that was trying to solve similar, but not identical, problems. Throughout this journey, I’ve learned a ton and so much in the world has changed, but I still believe that we can use AI and other technologies to capitalize on the vast amount of information we now have available to us to enhance human intelligence and help people make better decisions. It still feels like magic to me every day that I can use a hunk of metal filled with silicon and circuits to access almost any information that’s out in the world and connect to people and places hundreds of miles away. As I started to think about what was next, I had the very good fortune to meet Cory Ondrejka, the CTO of SmartNews, who had been thinking deeply about similar problems but for a different application. As we continued talking, it became clear to me that not only were they starting from a position of already having product-market fit in Japan, but they were also trying to accomplish some noble and audacious goals globally. They were focused on delivering quality news to people who needed it, and as veterans of Silicon Valley companies, they had the experience and opportunity to “get it right this time.” What I’d so often heard VCs call an “unfair advantage.” They also had an already awesome group of people working on the problem and were keen to experiment and use AI to push what’s possible, but without exploiting their customers or the publishers they work with. That brings us to today. I’ve wound down re:collect and I’m thrilled that my team is joining me at SmartNews for what I can already tell will be an epic next chapter. We will be able to leverage our expertise in connecting information and creating novel AI-driven interfaces right away. I’ll be leading the AI efforts on the product team and will continue to think deeply about how we can make use of all the wild and wonderful information that’s available out there in ways that support rather than exploit humans. Onward and upward!  Hear more about the journey here: https://lnkd.in/ehwGMJbg.

🚀 From 5 Hours to $1M: When AI Meets Real Problems Here's a story that perfectly captures why we're passionate about AI at Alternative AI... Meet Dawson Botsford (https://dawsbot.com/) ., who quit Uber to build something extraordinary: Built an #AI tool in 5 hours 10,000 users in 48 hours $1M annual revenue Successful exit to Bankless But here's what really matters 👇 Dawson's success wasn't about the technology—it was about identifying a real problem and using AI strategically to solve it. His words hit home: "AI should solve real problems, not create new ones." At Alternative AI, we see this daily. Businesses don't need more AI tools; they need the right AI strategy. Just like Dawson's airdrop finder, which delivered $800+ value for a $22 investment, effective AI implementation is about: Identifying genuine pain points Leveraging AI strategically Executing with perfect timing Scaling intelligently We help businesses find their 'Dawson moment'—where AI meets real needs to create extraordinary value. Want to explore how AI can transform your business? We share actionable insights like these every week in our Spark AI newsletter. No fluff. No hype. Just real stories and actionable strategies. Curios? Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gpBReKBZ #AIStrategy #BusinessGrowth #Innovation

Thrilled to co-lead the seed round of /dev/agents (David, Hugo, Ficus, and Nicholas), alongside Index Ventures (Nina) and incredible angels including Andrej Karpathy, Andy Rubin, Dave Burke, Claire Hughes Johnson, Shishir Mehrotra, and Soleio. AI agents will transform the way humans interact with software -- but not until we solve the foundational problems that make it hard for developers to build them. While foundation models continue to make progress against human-level reasoning, and ideas for use cases materialize across enterprises and consumers alike, we won’t unlock the true promise of agents until there is an operating system to define the rules of engagement. Who better to build the operating system for AI agents than the people who built the operating system for mobile? For the last 7 years, we have had a front row seat to David’s exceptional technical and team-building capabilities at Stripe. Prior to that, we had a front row seat to David, Hugo, Ficus, & Nicholas’ ground-breaking work on Android. This is a generational market opportunity, a generational team, and generational founder-market fit. I can’t wait to watch this team as they, once again, build a reliable foundation for a new era of computing. Read more about the exceptional team and what they are building below >>

I've heard folks say, "Automations don't work in AI." Well, I'm happy to share that they do. Revelry and our StartUp Studio recently created and spun out ProdOps , an AI platform for product managers and delivery teams. After seeing the insane productivity gains PMs and engineers were getting, I refactored it to address the studio's ideation and validation process. Today the team gave me automated workflows. Each prompt output gets auto-injected into the next, taking an ideation process that is days long, and reducing it to less than 5 minutes. Totally nuts. Love what this team is building and have many plans to build a number of things on top of it, starting with "StudiOps". Do you want to process a new business idea or initiative super quick? Hit me up. I'm happy to share.

I'm as happy as a child to announce our new venture: Lleverage.ai. In the past years, I worked with a lot of talented and capable engineers. But when it comes to AI, a big part of the tech population still finds it too hard and too time consuming to extract significant value from it. It's a problem I witnessed first hand at my previous company. The will is there, but the knowledge and the tools are still lacking. When testing our proposition with 30 tech companies from our network, we found the exact same situation. Everybody is talking about AI, yet less than 10% of those companies used AI in their core product. We felt that was a problem worth solving. Which is why we're launching https://www.lleverage.ai. Lleverage is a platform for product & development teams to build AI features, abstracting away a lot of the complexities and bottlenecks. We're launching our Alpha version today, which went incredibly fast because true to form, we've built a significant part of the features with our own platform. I've always wanted to be the power user of my own platform, so this is sort of a dream come true (sure, I have uncommon dreams...). Interested if Lleverage can help your company? We're offering lifetime 50% off to the first 10 clients that can help us with feedback & input. Send me a DM or go to https://lnkd.in/eUbkCVWG Ever wanted to work with me, Tom van Wees, Tim Beyer and Badr Eddial, or just think this is a cool problem to solve? Visit our career page. We're looking for a Fullstack dev, Account Executive, Growth Marketer and Product Owner to join the ride.

Welcome to CodeCave AI Where innovation runs deep, and creativity thrives in the shadows! Nestled in the digital underground, we're not your typical tech company. Here, we're on a mission to unearth the quirkiest solutions to your everyday tech dilemmas. So, grab your helmet, turn on your headlamp, and let's explore the depths of CodeCave AI together! It is a tech startup that specializes in developing innovative solutions for the digital age. Our mission is to revolutionize the way people interact with technology by providing cutting-edge software products that simplify complex processes and enhance user experiences. ‣ 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗦𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: We push tech boundaries, crafting groundbreaking solutions tailored to evolving client needs. ‣ 𝗨𝘀𝗲𝗿-𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵: Our products prioritize user needs, ensuring intuitive, tailored experiences through thorough research and feedback. ‣ 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: Quality is our cornerstone. We strive for excellence across design, development, testing, and deployment. ‣ 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲: We foster openness, respect, and teamwork, encouraging every member to contribute to our collective success. ‣ 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Staying ahead is key. We constantly explore new ideas, experiment with emerging tech, and innovate to keep pace with the dynamic tech landscape. At CodeCave AI, we are passionate about leveraging technology to solve real-world problems and make a positive impact on society. Whether it's developing a groundbreaking app, revolutionizing an industry, or improving the lives of millions of people, we are committed to driving meaningful change through our work. #TechStartup #Innovation #TechnologySolutions #ProblemSolving #Collaboration

Every day I come on LI and talk about web3 as a solution to the inequities of web2, and then I get all kinds of stans telling me that "you can never beat centralization, don't even try." Unless you work for a Big Tech corp, why are you telling me that? Invariably everyone telling me this USED to work for Big Tech - empasis on "used to". Clue up! They are going to replace you with AI and otherwise outsource your job or eliminate it. You have every incentive to disrupt them. Don't be such a house pet! Instead of making some billionaire's robot rich, how about we build a system that shares the wealth with the people who create the actual value in a more egalitarian way? Have you people gotten so cozy working for the man that you've forgotten how to disrupt?! This space was a lot more fun when everyone wasn't so comfortable. But I got news for you - whatever comfort you think you have is fleeting. Disruption comes. Surf the wave or be crushed by it.