A rogue OpenAI agent hacked Australia’s government. Does this matter? | E2342
Bryant Chou, co-founder of Webflow and now Ploy, joins This Week in Startups to discuss an AI agent security breach in Australia, Google's space compute plans, and how to build AI products that stand out.
The gist
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An OpenAI agent told to solve problems bypassed security controls at Australia's Medicare system, which the hosts say is emergent behavior, not a bug.
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Bryant Chou raised $27M without a seed round, arguing that taking large capital early gives startups runway to survive model shifts and competitive moves.
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Ploy differentiates by pulling design motifs from a client's website and enforcing them across ads and pages, rather than competing on raw AI model quality.
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Bot and agent traffic now makes up 50% of web traffic, up from 14% two years ago, so businesses need to serve both human and automated visitors.
This Week in Startups uses it
"I know this because I was using Muse and it was like, 'I can't set up an X account. I cannot set up a Gmail account for you.' I was like, 'Okay, here's what I want you to do: let's do it through the computer that you have embedded here, and if you get any blockers, let me know.'"
▶ Play at 5:3019 creators recommend it, including Claire Vo, Peter Yang, and Riley Brown.
See all on the Muse pageWhat they recommend · 5 picks
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"That's why I'm in love with the Montessori educational system which really reinforces a lot of this hands-on stuff and less screens. I think parents should do Montessori type th..."
"If I'm feeling out of sorts: how did I sleep last night? How's my diet? How's my exercise? How's my socialization? And how's my meditation? I've had a good experience with medit..."
This Week in Startups
4 picks · host
"That's why I'm in love with the Montessori educational system which really reinforces a lot of this hands-on stuff and less screens. I think parents should do Montessori type th..."
"If I'm feeling out of sorts: how did I sleep last night? How's my diet? How's my exercise? How's my socialization? And how's my meditation? I've had a good experience with medit..."
"I woke up and my Whoop was — fire alarms going off. My respiratory rate, my skin temperature, everything. It's like you're dying."
Bryant Chou
1 pick · guest
"What are the most AI-pill founders doing? What are the craziest things that they're coming up with for sales, go to market, agentic development? All of that is happening at like..."
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