AI is moving into the physical world. We're excited about a new wave of startups rebuilding the systems that power the real world, from education and healthcare to defense, finance, infrastructure, and work itself. http://ycombinator.com/rfs
Y Combinator requests startups building AI for the aging population
The RFS seeks voice interfaces, robotics, and eldercare monitoring.
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Open Question
Where senior-focused AI still falls short
Current devices like smart speakers often frustrate older users, and the request notes almost no purpose-built technology exists for this group despite millions of unpaid family caregivers already active.
Industry Shift
Scale of the caregiving gap YC wants addressed
By 2030 one in five Americans will be over 65 with millions of unfilled care jobs expected, creating what the RFS describes as one of the largest underserved markets that grows daily; no details on investment size or selection criteria appear in the announcement.
Sentiment
Many users expressed excitement about Y Combinator seeking AI startups for physical world systems due to new building opportunities, while some criticized perceived defense focus and application process hypocrisy.
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The Primer @amiklas The best education has always come from one-on-one tutoring, but that privilege has historically been reserved for very few people. AI could give every child a patient, adaptive tutor that grows with them over the years, beginning with reading, writing, and arithmetic, and eventually helping them learn to think and reason. For the first time, Neal Stephenson’s Primer is starting to feel possible.
AI is moving into the physical world. We're excited about a new wave of startups rebuilding the systems that power the real world, from education and healthcare to defense, finance, infrastructure, and work itself. http://ycombinator.com/rfs
RETWEETS145
AI is moving into the physical world. We're excited about a new wave of startups rebuilding the systems that power the real world, from education and healthcare to defense, finance, infrastructure, and work itself. http://ycombinator.com/rfs
REPLIES13
AI for the Aging Population @maxkolysh By 2030, one in five Americans will be over 65, and there are nowhere near enough caregivers to support them. AI could help older adults live safely and independently through better voice interfaces, monitoring, robotics, and tools for family caregivers. It is one of the world’s largest and most underserved markets, and it is growing every day.
AI-Powered Consumer Products for a Billion People @raphaelschaad Every major platform shift creates new consumer giants. But three years into the AI era, ChatGPT is still the only new icon on most people’s home screens. As intelligence gets better and dramatically cheaper, nearly every consumer category opens up again: education, health, finance, entertainment, transportation, and how we connect with each other. Consumer is going to be so back.
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AI for the Aging Population @maxkolysh By 2030, one in five Americans will be over 65, and there are nowhere near enough caregivers to support them. AI could help older adults live safely and independently through better voice interfaces, monitoring, robotics, and tools for family caregivers. It is one of the world’s largest and most underserved markets, and it is growing every day.
Proving You’re Human @maxkolysh A finance worker recently wired $25 million after joining a video call with his CFO and colleagues. Every other person on the call was a deepfake. As voice and video become easier to fake, the internet needs a new trust layer: a private, reliable way to verify that there is a real human behind a call, message, review, or transaction.
Data for the Real World @sdianahu & @_austintindle AI has become superhuman at code, language, and images because it has enormous amounts of data to learn from. But our understanding of the physical world is still limited by sparse sensors and models built largely on intuition. Cheaper sensors and better foundation models could unlock entirely new datasets for energy, agriculture, logistics, construction, and the climate. Once you can accurately model the physical world, you can begin to control it.
If you’re interested in working on any of these ideas, you should apply to YC. The deadline for applying to the Fall batch is July 27th at 8pm PT: http://ycombinator.com/apply
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Data for the Real World @sdianahu & @_austintindle AI has become superhuman at code, language, and images because it has enormous amounts of data to learn from. But our understanding of the physical world is still limited by sparse sensors and models built largely on intuition. Cheaper sensors and better foundation models could unlock entirely new datasets for energy, agriculture, logistics, construction, and the climate. Once you can accurately model the physical world, you can begin to control it.
The Best Time to Build in Crypto @nemild Crypto is in a bear market, but the underlying technology is becoming more useful than ever. Stablecoins are spreading across financial institutions, tokenized assets are reshaping trading, fintech companies are quietly building on crypto rails, and AI agents may rely on them to transact. The hype may be down, but the opportunity to build is not.
The Future of American Defense @SecArmy Warfare is at an inflection point, and the Army is replacing the old playbook with commercially developed, modular technology that can be deployed and improved quickly. We're looking for founders building low-cost interceptors, next-generation sensors, drones, resilient logistics, advanced manufacturing, and hardware that can survive the world’s harshest environments.
Multiplayer AI @aaron_epstein The best work tools became more powerful when they became multiplayer. But AI is still mostly trapped in private chats, with agents working in sessions that teammates can’t join or influence. The next generation of AI tools will let teams work with agents together in real time: watching, redirecting, and handing off work across engineering, sales, support, legal, finance, and more. AI’s multiplayer moment is coming.
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A Cloud for Small Software @koomen Agents make it easy to build personal tools for yourself or your team. But deploying, securing, and sharing that software is still far more complicated than creating it. A cloud built for small software could remove that complexity and make bespoke tools as easy to share with a colleague as a Google Doc.
@ycombinator @CaseNests This is for you🫣❤️🥳
@ycombinator Secretary of the Army using YC’s RFS list is unprecedented. Defense tech momentum is real
AI-Powered Consumer Products for a Billion People @raphaelschaad Every major platform shift creates new consumer giants. But three years into the AI era, ChatGPT is still the only new icon on most people’s home screens. As intelligence gets better and dramatically cheaper, nearly every consumer category opens up again: education, health, finance, entertainment, transportation, and how we connect with each other. Consumer is going to be so back.
Compute at Sea @FrancoisChauba1 AI is running out of compute, and data centers are running out of electricity and land. One possible solution is to move compute offshore. The ocean offers abundant space, sunlight, and natural cooling, opening the door to fleets of modular data centers operating together as a global cloud.
@ycombinator @raphaelschaad no way you just pitched http://dialnow.app
@ycombinator @maxkolysh @maxkolysh have you seen @heyato_ai? @JuanCereigido founded it because of his grandfather, and also Juan is a “tipazo”.
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AI-Native Compliance Infrastructure @DaivikGoel Financial compliance still runs on spreadsheets, disconnected software, and growing teams of specialists. As companies expand into new markets, the cost and complexity of staying compliant can grow faster than the business itself. AI could monitor regulatory changes, flag anomalies, generate reports, and maintain audit trails in real time. The opportunity is not just to automate compliance work, but to rebuild the entire compliance stack around AI.