This Week in Startups
This Week in Startups

Elon's New Hyperloop, Trump's AI Rename, and a Model That Won't Talk | E2340

September 21, 2026 · 1 h 10 min

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Today’s show:

Elon revives the Hyperloop, promising a 30-minute commute between Austin and San Antonio. It's the kind of project that could reshape how Texans think about getting between two major cities entirely. Then, Jason and Lon explain why this pitch is different from the other Boring Company tunnels.

Learn why President Trump wants to rename artificial intelligence itself and launch an "AI Force." It's a move that could reshape how the government talks about AI policy going forward. PLUS, a new startup's model refuses to write a single word of text, and it is 5 to 18 times faster with better accuracy. It's a completely different approach to how AI agents make decisions, and it might be a preview of where the industry heads next.

Relevant Links:

"Elon Musk's latest Boring Company pitch involves a Hyperloop between Austin and San Antonio" → https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/20/elon-musks-latest-boring-company-pitch-involves-a-hyperloop-between-austin-and-san-antonio/

The Boring Company → https://www.boringcompany.com/

Elon Musk's original 2013 Hyperloop white paper → https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/blog_images/hyperloop-alpha.pdf

Trump's Truth Social post proposing "Superior/Extreme/Supreme Intelligence" and announcing an AI Force and AI czar → https://www.unite.ai/trump-proposes-renaming-artificial-intelligence-announces-ai-force/

TechCrunch: "Trump says it's time to rebrand AI with a new name — and he's also creating an AI Force" → https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/19/trump-suggests-rebranding-ai-with-a-new-name-says-hes-also-creating-an-ai-force/

Vercel AI Open vs Closed Source Volume Chart → https://vercel.com/ai-gateway/leaderboards/models

TypeSafe AI — makers of Jev, the "System One Model" → https://typesafe.ai/

TypeSafe AI blog: "Introducing System One Models & Jev" → https://typesafe.ai/blog/introducing-system-one-models-and-jev

GeekWire: "Amazon blocks Meta's Muse AI assistant in new standoff over agentic shopping" → https://www.geekwire.com/2026/amazon-blocks-metas-muse-ai-assistant-in-new-standoff-over-agentic-shopping/

Meta's Muse — the AI agent Amazon blocked from shopping on its site → https://www.meta.ai/

"Meta's Dina Powell McCormick: The Case for Data Centers, Backlash, AI Job Boom & Meta's Future" (All-In Podcast, YouTube) — the clip discussed on the show → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp2IbgJ5Z-8

Robocurve's RoboHarm report — the robot-safety benchmark discussed on air →

All episodes of This Week in Startups →