Humans& thinks coordination is the next frontier for AI, and they're building a model to prove it | TechCrunch

"AI chatbots are getting better at answering questions, summarizing documents, and solving mathematical equations, but they still largely behave like helpful assistants for one user at a time. They're not designed to manage the messier work of real collaboration: coordinating people with competing priorities, tracking long-running decisions, and keeping teams aligned over time. Humans&, a new startup founded by alumni of Anthropic, Meta, OpenAI, xAI, and Google DeepMind, thinks closing that gap is the next major frontier for foundation models."

"The company this week raised a $480 million seed round to build a "central nervous system" for the human-plus-AI economy. The startup's ' AI for empowering humans' framing has dominated early coverage, but the company's actual ambition is more novel: building a new foundation model architecture designed for social intelligence, not just information retrieval or code generation."

"Humans&'s pitch centers on helping usher people into the new era of AI, moving beyond the narrative that AI will take their jobs. Whether or not that's just marketing speak, the timing is critical: Companies are transitioning from chat to agents. Models are competent, but workflows aren't, and the coordination challenge remains largely unaddressed. And through it all, people feel threatened and overwhelmed by AI."

AI chatbots have improved at answering questions, summarizing documents, and solving mathematical equations, yet they mainly serve single users and struggle with collaborative tasks. Current models are not built to coordinate people, balance competing priorities, track long-running decisions, or maintain team alignment over time. Humans& was founded by alumni of Anthropic, Meta, OpenAI, xAI, and Google DeepMind and raised a $480 million seed round to build a 'central nervous system' for a human-plus-AI economy. The company aims to develop foundation-model architectures focused on social intelligence rather than only information retrieval or code generation. Companies are shifting from chat to agents, exposing workflow and coordination gaps. The startup raised capital largely on founding pedigree and philosophy and does not yet have a product.

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