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Minh Pham and JJ Ford have a knack for riding the waves of new tech. The duo joined Uber in its early days, helping to spearhead mobile development. When CEO Travis Kalanick was ousted in 2017, Pham and Ford followed him out. Kalanick soon founded CloudKitchensand Ford was his first call. Fords first call? Pham. After five years at CloudKitchens, they were ready for the next frontier. Over the years, theyd built a battle-tested engineering team that successfully tackled both the mobile surge at Uber and the infrastructure demands at CloudKitchens. They also had a hunch: While many startups were focused on building single-use AI agents, Pham and Ford saw the future in orchestrating many agents to work together. In 2023, they founded the California-based company Invisible. How do you build a system that allows one person to manage thousands of agents? Ford asks, noting that he and Pham used their enterprise experience to develop a solution thats different from any theyve seen in the market previously. Inside Invisible Most AI agents today handle single tasksordering food, booking travelwithout human input. Pham compares them to task assistants. But Invisibles product stacks these agents, enabling them to tackle multiple tasks in parallel. We want to turn AI agents into an elastic, reliable, and scalable workforce for a company, Pham says. Most companies think of using a single agent from Anthropic or OpenAI. We think of it as an orchestration platform for multiple agents, acting like how you have a team of humans doing work. From left: Justin Takamine (CTO), Minh Pham (CEO), Hanna Dang (COO), and JJ Ford (CSO). [Photo: Invisible] Invisibles system is hierarchical. A top-level agent breaks down a task, delegates subtasks to lower-level agents, and coordinates the process. What we found is, when you have a hierarchy of agents like that, the sum is much larger than what a single agent could do, Pham says. Three months ago, Invisible launched A3, short for Action Agent API. While they declined to share revenue, Pham and Ford confirmed a $7 million fundraising round last year. Their customers, Pham says, include large-scale companies like mortgage brokers and solar providers. “Were already running pilots and engaging in active discussions with dozens of Fortune-scale enterprises eager to deploy A3 and streamline their most critical workflows,” Minh says. Stacking a workforce A3 operates on a companys existing standard operating procedures. Uber, for instance, has hundreds of thousands of playbooks. Once A3 is trained on these, a company can scale its agent workforce up or down as needed. Pham cites the example of Know Your Customer checksan expensive compliance requirement in fintech. The work involves compiling detailed reports to verify legitimacy and creditworthiness, often through manual research. We were able to go in and completely automate this process within days of working with the company, Pham says. Invisible is priced like a workforce, too. Unlike competitors that use a subscription model, Invisible charges 10 cents per action. According to Pham, that usually adds up to about $12 per hourroughly the cost of a human workerand could decrease as AI costs drop. We want to think of it as a workforce, and we have to come up with a whole new pricing model to match that, Pham says. Ford adds that per-action pricing makes it easy for companies to easily come online, stand up a workforce, make it elastic, and then pull it down. The implications of an AI agent workforce are far-reachingand potentially disruptive. Still, the founders emphasize the upside. A3, Ford says, allows employees to climb the value chain of what theyre delivering to the company. For better or worse, the agents are coming. And Invisible is betting theyll be most powerful when stacked.
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Sketched out on an airplane vomit sack, it became fashion’s must-have accessory.The original Birkin bag, named after the actor, singer and fashion icon that Herms created it forthe late Jane Birkinis up for auction in Paris on Thursday.The so-called Original Birkin is expected to fetch hundreds of thousands of euros (dollars) at the sale by auction house Sotheby’s.Created for the London-born star by the Paris fashion house in 1984, the commercialized version of Birkin’s bag went on to become one of the world’s most exclusive luxury items, with its extravagant price tag and years-long waiting list.The fashion accessory was born of a fortuitous encounter on a London-bound flight in the 1980s with the then head of Herms, Jean-Louis Dumas. Birkin recounted in subsequent interviews that the pair got talking after she spilled some of her things on the cabin floor.Birkin asked Dumas why Herms didn’t make a bigger handbag and sketched out on an airplane vomit sack the sort of bag that she would like. He then had an example made for her and, flattered, she agreed when Herms asked whether it could commercialize the bag in her name.The bag became so famous that Birkin once mused before her death in 2023 at age 76 that obituaries for her would likely “say, ‘Like the bag’ or something,'” adding: “Well, it could be worse.”Sotheby’s said that the all-black leather prototype was handcrafted for Birkin. It described it as a “legendary handbag” and “one of the most iconic fashion items ever created.”The bag has seven unique design elements that set it apart from every Birkin that followed, the auction house said.“More than just a bag, the Birkin has evolved from a practical accessory to become a timeless cultural icon. Its presence spans the worlds of music, film, television and the arts; it is a red-carpet staple, a fashion magazine mainstay, and a coveted piece in the wardrobes of celebrities, artists and stylists,” it said. Associated Press
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E-Commerce
The internets latest obsession: training and cheering on anthropomorphized anime horses as they race around a track. First released in 2021 as a mobile game for iOS and Android, Umamusume: Pretty Derby is both a racing simulator and a gacha game. In the game world, iconic racehorses of the past are reborn as horse girls (umamusume)anime humanoids with horse ears and tails. The characters get the chance to race again for prizes and glory. Players dont directly control their horse girls; instead, they train them and cheer them on. The game was already a hit in Japan following its early 2021 release, even inspiring a multi-season anime adaptation. But it remained largely under the radar for U.S. audiencesuntil this summer. On June 18, the English version of Umamusume: Pretty Derby launched. The game quickly went viral, picked up by popular streamers like Ludwig and Northernlion. On July 9, it hit its all-time peak with 50,725 concurrent players on Steam. As more and more fans discover the game, theyve started sharing clips and posting TikTok edits of their favorite horse girls. @jpartnmaaa Playing Umamusume and becoming the greatest trainer in the world Catch Me LIVE THURSDAY #umamusumeprettyderby #tokaiteio #funny #viral #gaming original sound – JPartNMA What makes the game even more compelling is that each horse girl has a real-life racehorse counterpart. TikTok creators are diving deep into their backstories, and searches for the original racehorses have spiked more than 800% since the games release. @gameyokai Haru urara is a symbol of never giving up! Her real life horse inspires you to always try your best! #umamusume #umamusumeprettyderby #anime #horse #greenscreen 60sec.Ver – (CV. ) & (CV. ) & (CV. ) Haru Urara is a fan favorite. As one X user wrote: even though shes just a bunch of pixels on my screen i need haru urara to know that i would do literally anything in the world for her. even though shes just a bunch of pixels on my screen i need haru urara to know that i would do literally anything in the world for her pic.twitter.com/wpUJYfHWug— Mug (@Mug4Times) June 30, 2025 The real-life racehorse behind the character became a cultural icon in Japan in the early 2000s. Despite ending her five-year career with 0 wins in 113 races, Haru Uraras unwavering spirit made her a national symbol of resilience. Now the farm where Haru Urara is living out her retirement has responded to the wave of new fans. I dont know if this will reach the overseas bros and sisters, but Haru Urara is doing super well, and honestly, shes probably healthier and more energetic than I am! reads an X post. 1400 pic.twitter.com/E9MKbUaPRj— (@animal_love_kaz) July 3, 2025 Whatever you do, dont look up the backstory of the racehorse Rice Shower.
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