Startups Build Second-Wave AI Consumer Products

In January, former DeepMind product manager Kylan Gibbs launched a Silicon Valley accelerator to back up to 30 "Second Wave" AI startups, with participation from Khosla Ventures, Lightspeed, and leaders from OpenAI, Google, and Stripe. Founders argue this next phase focuses on new paid consumer products—examples include Particle's Podcast Clips and Luvu's AI fitness app with about 250,000 users—requiring low-latency, scalable AI stacks. Investors hope consumer-scale experiences will create new revenue rather than only cut costs.