The people deciding that AI can replace your job are also the ones least likely to understand what your job truly involves, according to Box founder Aaron Levie, who pointed to this as an example of “AI psychosis.” Indeed, ClickUp recently cut 22% of its workforcefor AI agents, tech layoffs in 2026 are already nearly matching all of 2025, and DuckDuckGo installs are climbing from users who want Google to stop forcing AI into search and just give them links.

On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O’Kane dig into what happens when the AI-pilled and the AI-skeptical are both right at the same time, plus three deals worth knowing about and Waymo’s new robotaxi hitting the road.

Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

01:18 Waymo’s new Ojai robotaxi

06:41 Stord raises $250M to take on Amazon fulfillment

12:46 Snowflake signs $6B deal with AWS

15:39 OpenRouter raises $113M Series B

20:07 The AI divide & anti-AI backlash

27:31 AI psychosis & how AI is reshaping headcount and hiring

37:04 Outro

Runway began within art school, with a sparse network and little investor insight into AI video. HolyWater Tech started in Kyiv with no venture capital, and a mandate to be profitable from day one.

Seven years later, both have succeeded in disrupting, and putting some level of fear in, creative industries worldwide. At this StrictlyVC Athens 2026 discussion, host and TechCrunch Editor-in-Chief Connie Loizos brought both on stage to get the inside story of how these two breakout companies actually broke out.

Featuring:

Anastasis Germanidis: Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Runway
Anatolii Kasianov: Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Holy Water Tech

Recorded live at StrictlyVC Athens 2026, presented in partnership with Endeavor Greece.

Before you build, how do you know anyone actually wants what you’re making? Journalist Ilyana Magra leads an honest conversation at StrictlyVC Athens 2026 with two founders about the messy path from idea to product to real adoption. Each explore the ideas they abandoned, the features they had to walk back, and the frameworks that actually helped lead to success.

Featuring…

Victoria Toli: Co-Founder and President, Finney
Johannes Galatsanos: Co-Founder and CEO, Diffraqtion

Recorded live at StrictlyVC Athens 2026, presented in partnership with Endeavor Greece.