AI models are getting smarter. But to evolve from generalists to true specialists, they need human expertise. And that’s what we have. newcomer.co/i/165659191/ca…

Excited to announce Handshake AI, and what a day to do it. Every model needs to be trained by true experts, and Handshake's network of 500k PhDs, 3m advance-degree holders and 18m college students and grads fit the bill. youtube.com/watch?v=OS0iVK…

Incredible execution by Garrett Lord and team, building up the most comprehensive + attested expert network in the world. One of the fastest growing businesses in AI data today! 💪

The magic is in that last 20%. Pain is the filter, few pass it.

Mark Cuban That’s the idea - train the humans before the robots do.

Last year, Handshake, a 10-year-old professional networking startup backed by Kleiner Perkins, noticed that companies like Scale AI which offered human-curated data for AI training were aggressively using their recruiting platform, seeking PhDs who could help tune foundation

Going to be a late night

🤔 stratechery.com/2025/meta-scal…

HandshakeAI

I just joined Handshake AI. Here’s why: joinhandshake.com/blog/our-team/…

The human data industry's core insight: experts are the asset. Yet companies consistently undervalue the human element. No company in this industry has fully internalized how critical experts are—until Handshake.

Peers spend heavily on acquisition costs and fraud detection—yet still can't match the verified, granular information Handshake has natively on their network.

Handshake AI's business was already growing, and with the recent demand it’s become explosive.

The long-term opportunity isn't actually the human data business—it's building the world's best and most prominent talent marketplace. This has been Handshake's core goal since inception. The AI business will rapidly accelerate and reinforce that vision.

"Our demand has tripled overnight after the news," said Garrett Lord, CEO at Handshake

“The labs don't want the other labs to figure out what data they're using to make their models better,” says Garrett Lord, the CEO of Handshake, a Scale competitor, who says that demand for his company’s services “tripled overnight” in the wake of the Meta deal. Handshake

Larry Ellison and Rafael Nadal on winning (and fighting)

.Handshake seeing "insane AI demand now" for access to its university expert network much more on 20VC this week with Harry Stebbings Rory O'Driscoll + Garrett Lord + me

👀👀👀 Alex Atallah OpenRouter