This Week In Startups is made possible by: Vanta - https://Vanta.com/TWIST Sentry - https://Sentry.io/TWIST Deel - https://Deel.com/TWIST Today’s show: AI is the villain of the 2026 commencement cycle, with business luminaries — including Eric Schmidt — booed for discussing or praising the technology. As students graduate into a job market forcibly reshaped by AI, increasingly negative public polling on the potential impacts of artificial intelligence on society is clearly not missing the mark. Jason and Alex then discussed The Information’s reporting that Anthropic and OpenAI earn nearly 90% of all startup AI revenue, a Stanford student’s viral essay regarding their time at the university in a post-ChatGPT world, Flock Safety’s impressive (and worrying) web of cameras, and the upcoming Mark II AI bookmark. The episode closes with questions from our live audience! Story Links: Eric Schmidt booed https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/former-google-ceo-booed-graduation-speech-ai-rcna345585 Gloria Caulfield booed https://www.nbcnews.com/video/multiple-commencement-speakers-booed-for-ai-comments-during-graduation-speeches-263486021518 Theo Baker’s viral essay on Stanford in the AI era https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/17/opinion/chatgpt-ai-college-school-graduation.html The Information's reporting on startup AI revenue https://www.theinformation.com/articles/anthropic-openais-share-ai-startup-revenues-rises-89?rc=g3wfdp University of Utah data center report https://d36oiwf74r1rap.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Data-Center-Growth-FS-Apr2026.pdf Flock Safety CEO tweet https://x.com/glangley/status/2056392087390552139?s=12 Flock Safety website https://www.flocksafety.com/ DeFlock chart of Flock cameras https://deflock.org/ TWIST Links: Bounty website https://www.thisweekinstartups.com/bounty Sidebar bounty challenge https://www.notion.so/launch1/5K-Bounty-Create-Sidebar-App-for-Podcasts-34150ff313d280adbd8ed6204676513c Annotated.com bounty challenge https://annotated.lovable.app/ Timestamps: 0:00 TWiST All-Stars summer lineup announcement 1:57 Plaud: If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls — you need a Plaud NotePin. You can check it out at https://Plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off! 4:22 Eric Schmidt booed at University of Arizona commencement 8:11 Why Gen Z feels "double-crossed" by AI leaders 9:24 Deel - Founders scale faster on Deel. Set up payroll for any country in minutes, hire anyone anywhere, get visas handled fast, and get back to building. Visit https://deel.com/twist to learn more. 14:36 Is this AI's Vietnam moment? The anti-war parallel 17:18 Theo Baker's NYT essay on Stanford's AI cheating culture 18:38 Sentry - New users can get $240 in free credits when they go to https://sentry.io/twist and use the code TWIST 21:44 Why Jason says everyone should start a company 28:13 Anthropic + OpenAI capture 89% of AI startup revenue 29:31 Vanta: Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.com/twist 31:11 Are token sales a duopoly? Negative gross margins debate 34:31 Risk of building app-layer startups on top of foundation models 37:36 Inside Tracker bounty update: AI sidebar + Annotated.com 40:32 Mark II: the $159 AI bookmark Alex wants 48:45 Flock Safety solves Austin shooting via Manor PD 52:53 DeFlock map and the geography of surveillance in Texas 1:02:56 Noti Gang: AI for filing patents 1:04:59 Noti Gang: Running AI models locally on Mac Studios Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp Follow Lon: X: https://x.com/lons Follow Alex: X: https://x.com/alex LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm 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 Check out Jason’s suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis Follow TWiST: Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com