AI labs are buying Slack, Jira, and email archives from defunct startups to build 'reinforcement learning gyms' and train AI agents in simulated workplaces (Anna Tong/Forbes)

Anna Tong / Forbes: AI labs are buying Slack, Jira, and email archives from defunct startups to build “reinforcement learning gyms” and train AI agents in simulated workplaces — Defunct startups are being liquidated for their Slack archives, Jira tickets, and email threads—operational exhaust that AI labs now treat as premium training data.

Copenhagen-based Spektr, which develops AI agents for compliance teams in financial services, raised a 20M Series A led by NEA, taking total funding to 26M (Mary Ann Azevedo/Crunchbase News)
Former Mercor staffers describe 'operational mishaps' at the $10B startup, including employee fraud, a security breach, and suspected North Korean infiltration (Rashi Shrivastava/Forbes)
London-based Gizmo, which uses AI to turn young students' notes into gamified study materials, raised a $22M Series A led by Shine Capital and reports 13M users (Natalie Breymeyer/Axios)
For the first time, 50% of employed US adults say they use AI at work a few times per year or more; leaders are more likely to see AI's impact as positive (Andy Kemp/Gallup)

Source: Techmeme | 2026-04-16

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