The internet has a trust problem, and\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0not just because social media feeds are filling up with AI\u00a0slop. AI-generated text and images are now making their way into job applications, product reviews,\u00a0and even insurance claims, leaving platforms and users alike scrambling to figure out\u00a0what\u2019s\u00a0real.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A handful of startups have cropped up in the past couple of years to become the \u201ctrust layer\u201d the internet needs \u2014 including Pangram. The startup\u00a0recently\u00a0snapped up\u00a0$9 million\u00a0for its AI detection system and\u00a0landed a\u00a0partnership with Substack, which is now using Pangram\u2019s tech to show readers which of their favorite authors use AI to write their newsletters.\u00a0Pangram also recently dropped a new AI image detection tool.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On this episode of TechCrunch\u2019s\u00a0Equity\u00a0podcast,\u00a0Pangram co-founder\u00a0and CEO Max Spero\u00a0joins Rebecca Bellan\u00a0to dig\u00a0into the promise of AI detection tools and where to draw the line between AI\u00a0assisted\u00a0and AI generated.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:\u00a0<\/p>\n
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- Why Spero thinks the internet could be \u201cdangerously close\u201d to the dead internet theory becoming reality within a few years.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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- Why figuring out\u00a0how much\u00a0AI went into something is harder \u2014 and potentially more useful \u2014 than simply labeling it AI or human.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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- The stakes of getting AI detection wrong, especially when false positives involve sensitive images.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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- Why Spero thinks the\u00a0\u201cbottom tier\u201d\u00a0of writing jobs may be gone for good, while genuinely good human writing could become more valuable.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Subscribe to Equity on\u00a0YouTube,\u00a0Apple Podcasts,\u00a0Overcast,\u00a0Spotify\u00a0and all the casts. You\u00a0also can\u00a0follow Equity on\u00a0X\u00a0and\u00a0Threads, at @EquityPod.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Max-Headshot.png?resize=1200,675″] Listen onApple PodcastsListen onSpotify The internet has a trust problem, and\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0not just because social media feeds are filling up with AI\u00a0slop. AI-generated text and images are now making their way into job applications, product reviews,\u00a0and even insurance claims, leaving platforms and users alike scrambling to figure out\u00a0what\u2019s\u00a0real.\u00a0 A handful of startups have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,62],"class_list":["post-2125798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-techcrunch-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2125798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125798\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2125798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2125798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2125798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- Why Spero thinks the\u00a0\u201cbottom tier\u201d\u00a0of writing jobs may be gone for good, while genuinely good human writing could become more valuable.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- The stakes of getting AI detection wrong, especially when false positives involve sensitive images.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Why figuring out\u00a0how much\u00a0AI went into something is harder \u2014 and potentially more useful \u2014 than simply labeling it AI or human.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n