Pangram’s Max Spero on why AI detection is harder than ‘Real or Fake’

The internet has a trust problem, and it’s not just because social media feeds are filling up with AI slop. AI-generated text and images are now making their way into job applications, product reviews, and even insurance claims, leaving platforms and users alike scrambling to figure out what’s real. 

A handful of startups have cropped up in the past couple of years to become the “trust layer” the internet needs — including Pangram. The startup recently snapped up $9 million for its AI detection system and landed a partnership with Substack, which is now using Pangram’s tech to show readers which of their favorite authors use AI to write their newsletters. Pangram also recently dropped a new AI image detection tool. 

Watch as Pangram co-founder and CEO Max Spero joins TechCrunch’s Equity podcast to dig into the promise of AI detection tools and where to draw the line between AI assisted and AI generated.