About this episode

The episode discusses the impact of falling token prices on AI control and features insights from top founders in the industry.

This Week In Startups is made possible by: PAYPAL OPEN Today’s show: The price of tokens keeps tumbling down, and it’s changing who controls AI. Grok 4.5 and GLM-5.2 landed within two weeks of one another, offering powerful alternatives at a fraction of frontier prices. But are SpaceXAI’s latest offering and open weight models truly ready to replace Opus, GPT-5.5, and Fable? Are enterprises finally ready to stop renting and start owning their intelligence? On TWiAI Episode 22, Jason and Lon welcome three top founders — Sara Hooker (Adaption Labs), Manu Sharma (Labelbox), and Spiros Xanthos (Resolve AI) — to break down the global AI price war, and what it means for the frontier labs and customers alike. Plus Denis Hassabis’ call for an AI Standards Body, Uber and Waymo duke it out over DC robotaxis, and is SpaceXAI really going to put data centers in orbit any time soon? Guests: Sara Hooker on X: https://x.com/sarahookr Adaption Labs: https://adaptionlabs.ai/ Manu Sharma on X: https://x.com/manuaero Labelbox: https://labelbox.com/ Spiros Xanthos on X: https://x.com/spirosx Resolve AI: https://resolve.ai/ Relevant Links Introducing Grok 4.5**:** https://x.ai/news/grok-4-5 GLM from…

People in this episode

Host: Jason Calacanis

Guests: Lon, Sara Hooker, Manu Sharma, Spiros Xanthos

Topics covered

• AI price wars
• token prices
• AI models
• enterprise AI
• robotaxis
• AI standards

Keywords

• AI
• token price
• Grok 4.5
• GLM-5.2
• SpaceXAI
• robotaxis
• AI standards
• enterprise
• frontier labs

Sponsors

PAYPAL

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Adaption Labs, Labelbox, Resolve AI, SpaceXAI, Uber, Waymo, Cerebras

Products: Grok 4.5, GLM-5.2, Opus, GPT-5.5, Fable

More episodes of This Week in AI

• What happens if China pulls the plug on open-source AI? | Ep 21 · July 9, 2026 · 1h 21m
• Mythos, Sonnet 5, GLM-5.2 Dominate the News Cycle | Episode 20 · July 2, 2026 · 1h 11m
• Are world models the unlock for Physical AI? | Episode 19 · June 25, 2026 · 1h 13m
• Why AI Models Aren’t the Product Any More | TWiAI Ep 18 · June 18, 2026 · 1h 21m

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