AI Summary
5 min read3 AI Agents That Actually Replaced Human Jobs
The Employment Question
The episode opens with a striking data point from China: workers are now creating AI "skills" that distill their coworkers' jobs, hoping to make them redundant and save themselves. In response, someone invented an anti-distillation tool that went viral on GitHub. This "cheese eater movement" — named after the Chinese slang for rats — captures the anxiety rippling through the white-collar workforce.
Ryan Carson, founder and developer, put it bluntly: his startup just closed its seed round, and he's not hiring anyone. Instead, he deployed an OpenClaw agent as his chief of staff and is about to deploy another as his marketing manager. "Once you've got your claw optimized, then you'll hire a human to run that claw." The old instinct — raise money, hire people — has inverted. Humans are fallible, they have free will, and when you invest in them, they leave. An AI agent, by contrast, improves continuously and never quits.
Alex Finn, founder of Creator Buddy, takes a different angle: "I'm not writing skills to get rid of my coworkers. I'm writing skills to get rid of myself." He's using OpenClaw to build a side business, automating himself out of the corporate world entirely.
The Anthropic Pricing Squeeze
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:00) **Cold Open & Banter** - Jason and Lon discuss the new Star Wars animated series and debate whether "Andor" has become an unfair benchmark for all Star Wars content.
- 2 (01:20) **Sponsor Break & Plaud Note Pin Demo** - Jason pitches Shopify, Vanta, and Gusto, then demonstrates the Plaud Note Pin, a wearable recording device that syncs notes to his assistant.
- 3 (03:57) **The $2 Bill Test & Checklist Manifesto** - Jason recaps the viral $2 bill test from a previous episode and explains why checklists and standard operating procedures (SOPs) are critical for both humans and AI agents.
- 4 (07:20) **Introducing the Panel: Ryan, Alex, and Yazin** - Jason welcomes back three OpenClaw experts: Ryan Carson (Claw Chief), Alex Finn (Creator Buddy), and Yazin Ali Braheems (Sidecast).
- 5 (11:30) **The Chinese "Cheese Eater" Movement & AI Job Displacement** - The panel discusses a trend in China where workers create AI skills to automate their coworkers' jobs, and debates the broader implications for employment.
- 6 (16:15) **Doomer vs. Boomer Debate on AI Employment** - The panel debates whether AI will cause mass job loss (Doomer) or a productivity boom (Boomer), referencing Mark Andreessen's tweet.
- 7 (19:15) **Anthropic Cuts Claude Subscriptions for Third-Party Tools** - The panel discusses Anthropic's decision to stop covering third-party access (like OpenClaw) under standard Claude subscriptions, moving to a pay-as-you-go model.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
Anthropic just pulled the plug on Claude subscriptions for OpenClaw and every third party agentic tool. So Jason and Lon welcome back three of our top TWiST OpenClaw experts to break down what it means, how much it’s going to cost now, and whether this is truly the end of the subsidized AI era.
And they all brought demos! We’re checking out ClawChief from Ryan Carson, Alex Finn’s agent Henry, and Yazin Alirhayim’s Sidecast protocol, inspired by a special request from JCal!
Hosts
Jason Calacanis: http://x.com/jason
Lon Harris: https://x.com/lons
Guests
Ryan Carson: https://x.com/ryancarson
Clawchief: https://github.com/snarktank/clawchief
Alex Finn: https://x.com/AlexFinn
Creator Buddy: https://www.creatorbuddy.io/
Yazin Alirhayim: https://x.com/yazins
OpenOats / Sidecast: https://github.com/yazinsai/OpenOats
Further Reading
The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande: https://www.amazon.com/Checklist-Manifesto-How-Things-Right/dp/0312430000
Marc Andreessen on AI job loss: https://x.com/pmarca/status/2040919227641856307
OpenAI acquires TBPN: https://openai.com/index/openai-acquires-tbpn/
This Week In Startups is made possible by:
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Vanta - https://vanta.com/twist
Shopify - https://shopify.com/twist
Plaud - https://Plaud.ai/twist
Today’s show:
Timestamps:
0:00 Welcome back to TWiST
0:32 Jason's thinks Andor is as good as Empire Strikes Back…
2:30 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!
3:26 Check out the checklist manifesto! https://www.amazon.com/Checklist-Manifesto-How-Things-Right/dp/0312430000
6:36 Our guests Ryan Carson, Alex Finn, and Yazin Alirhayim, and join the show
10:28 Gusto - Check out the online payroll and benefits experts with software built specifically for small businesses and startups. Try Gusto today and get three months FREE at https://Gusto.com/twist.
10:46 People are automating their coworkers and getting them fired…
18:32 Anthropic Bans OpenClaw
20:06 Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.va
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