Vinod Khosla Bets on Wajo, Citing Trust as Key to Agent Market

Khosla told TechCrunch that trust is the most important factor for an agent that acts on a user’s behalf. He said Wajo is more trustworthy than Muse or Instinct because it is architected to focus on trust and safety first, while some rivals are not. He also said he would not want to give his data to Meta because the company is in the advertising business, making users the product. “So trust is important, and most people don’t trust a large company like Facebook,” he said.

Wajo’s Fo agent operates in much the same way as Muse or Instinct, according to TechCrunch. It can work across iMessage and WhatsApp and has a web interface with cards of potential tasks. Errands are organized into categories such as scheduling, gifting and life admin. The agent can call businesses or other people on a user’s behalf to book or cancel services. In early tests by TechCrunch, Fo successfully called an airline to check for upgrades, but a call to the reporter’s partner to remind her to feed the cats did not go smoothly, and disclosures were less clear. As rivals like Instinct and Muse also roll out calling ability slowly, the question of how an AI agent should disclose itself when calling on someone’s behalf may draw more discussion. One unique feature of Wajo is that it can hire a human to complete a task when needed.

Fo can also create a virtual credit card and pay on a user’s behalf without disclosing personal details. The agent has its own email address and can converse with people and businesses. When websites or services block AI agents, Fo can inform the user to take action or create a group with the user and the business for verification.

Wajo has secured backing from Jeff Dean and Gokul Rajaram, but the startup did not specify the amount raised. Wajo also did not provide user numbers, saying its agent is used in 107 countries and has grown 10 times since its late-September launch.

Poddar previously worked in engineering roles at Meta, Google and DeepMind, where she was involved in building the first Facebook assistant. She told TechCrunch she wanted to build products that were useful to people. “The whole journey of bringing Gemini to the world and building safety for it made me realize the technological depth that you need to do this,” she said. “Google is so good in technology that sometimes it can be left behind in product. I thought I needed to do something that is both technology and product at the same time.”

The former Google engineering lead echoed Khosla’s focus on trust, saying it is one of Wajo’s core principles. “Trust is something you have to build from the get-go because one of the technological things that has not been solved yet is teaching agents to unlearn,” she said. “If they get access to your personal data on day zero, they will always have it for the future. I think trust needs to be built from day zero, not only in your architecture, but in product choices.”

Wajo is working on trust and safety in several areas. It has applied for a patent for its virtual card system, which hides users’ information from sites. For calls, the company said it will include a “trusted contact” list for users whose agents can call them. When someone receives a call, they can tell the agent not to call again, and Wajo records that preference.

The startup’s challenge is to avoid the privacy concerns raised by other agents, particularly as it markets safety as a core value. Wajo also claims that even though tools like Muse have been blocked by Amazon, its architecture follows the e-commerce service’s terms of service. Wajo said that in the coming months it will explore how its Fo agent works in social settings across multiple users, with the core idea of keeping privacy intact.

Editor's Summary

Wajo, a personal-agent startup founded by former Google and DeepMind engineer Shivani Poddar, has drawn backing from Vinod Khosla, Jeff Dean and Gokul Rajaram. Khosla argues that Wajo’s trust-first architecture will set it apart from Meta’s Muse, OpenAI’s Dot and Instinct. Wajo says its Fo agent is used in 107 countries and has grown 10 times since late September, but it must show that its privacy and safety claims hold as rivals expand calling and task features.