AI vibe examine: Trying to find human alerts at a San Francisco tech convention
Mark Wahlberg speaks at Disrupt 2026.
Slava Blazer for TechCrunch
It’s all cringe, proper? Properly, right here’s some excellent news: There have been significant variations between the vibe emissions of the leaders above and the vibe emissions of the startup founders I met as I walked the Disrupt ground.
Broadly talking, the founders I spoke with 1-to-1 aren’t remotely answerable for the massive AI fashions and brokers which can be inflicting many of the public nervousness. They’re not members of the AI tech elite. (But?) As a substitute, I’d put them within the “artisan and craftspeople” class. They use uncooked sources of the land (i.e., foundational fashions) to create what they hope will probably be cool new merchandise for the folks.
I met founders who traveled to San Francisco from all throughout the nation, and, certain, whereas I sometimes heard some eye-roll-worthy advertising and marketing communicate, I used to be additionally impressed by a stunning diploma of earnestness, an emphasis on security, and a want to ship outcomes for folks versus extra dystopian discussions of brokers, brokers all over the place.
None of them would have AI billboards in downtown San Francisco as a result of their goal clients aren’t the type who work in downtown San Francisco.
And right here’s one other stunning takeaway (effectively, for me no less than): Nearly all of the founders I met had been girls. You’ve met them on this article, and a few who aren’t included right here could seem in future protection. To be clear, I solely stopped by kiosks for merchandise that me, so perhaps feminine builders over-index within the matters that pique my curiosities. Or perhaps girls are merely on the vanguard of no matter AI is about to change into.
She’s not a founder, however video creator Angel Wen captured the AI vibes of Disrupt 2026 fairly effectively: younger, earnest, formidable, and saturated in AI improvement instruments. We had a random encounter at a sales space for high-tech workplace chairs, and she or he shared her Instagram, which is filled with device demos, suggestions and an eye-popping mission about getting forward within the San Francisco AI scene.
Wen didn’t appear conscious of the bigger public dialog round a possible AI bubble burst, so I pointed her to some podcasts by Chris Hayes, Ezra Klein and Kara Swisher. Nor did the startup founders I interviewed ever check with any single outrage swatch on my AI Temper Board. After Disrupt ended, I adopted up for reactions to rising public opinion about AI—considerations about datacenters, Hugging Face, and the AI doomsday menace.
Their solutions? They pressured product security, however the replies had been notably anodyne. Nobody acknowledged the depth of public concern, and their solutions circled again to messaging befitting a founder seeking to construct a enterprise.
I feel my most reassuring AI vibes got here from Sit Sense founder Justin Scott. His firm makes an “automated medical recliner” that helps reposition sufferers within the chair to keep away from stress accidents and promote blood circulate.
I requested Scott to explain his AI angle. “We truly don’t have an AI angle proper now,” he stated. “We’ve an answer and don’t must the overcomplicate the answer by including AI.”
