Betaworks just graduated its latest cohort of 10 startups from its prestigious Camp program, each focused on reimagining how we interact with AI. The 13-week accelerator, which previously launched success stories like Hugging Face, centered this batch around "Interfaces" - companies designing the next generation of AI user experiences that go far beyond traditional apps and screens.
Betaworks has been quietly incubating the future of human-AI interaction, and the results just went public. The New York-based venture fund's latest Camp cohort showcases 10 startups that are completely rethinking how we'll interact with artificial intelligence - and some of their approaches are genuinely wild.
The theme "Interfaces" might sound mundane, but the companies emerging from this 13-week program are anything but ordinary. We're talking about startups working on brain-computer interfaces, scent-generating AI, and even computers that function entirely without traditional apps. It's a far cry from the typical AI chatbot or productivity tool flooding the market.
Nubrain, founded by Priyanka Jain and Ingo Marquardt, is perhaps the most ambitious of the bunch. They're developing EEG technology to translate human thoughts directly into speech, text, and images. While brain-computer interfaces have been around for years in research labs, Nubrain is betting they can make the technology commercially viable for everyday use.
Then there's Telepath, which is building what they call "a computer built with AI and no apps." Founded by Stephen Hood, Josh Whiting, and Rupert Manfredi, the concept challenges our fundamental assumptions about how computers should work. Instead of downloading apps and managing files, users interact with an AI that handles everything in the background.
Patina takes things in an entirely different sensory direction. Sean Raspet and Laura Sisson are combining protein folding, scent receptors, and graph neural networks to create what they call "scent photographs." The technology could revolutionize everything from perfume creation to memory enhancement.
The cohort also includes more immediately practical solutions. Primitive, founded by Kasey Klines, lets users voice-dump ideas that automatically transform into organized task lists and integrate with tools like Notion. Feather by ShaoBo Zhang and Marco Yu creates automated workflows for tedious tasks like apartment hunting.
Several startups are tackling focus and productivity through novel interfaces. , founded by Conor Sanchez-O'Shea and Gabriel Duemichen, helps people concentrate by intelligently removing distractions from their desktop environment while tracking attention patterns.
