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Wednesday, December 17, 2025

17: AI Agents

Six Weeks From Zero (novel)
The Dawn Beyond Currency (Part 1) (novel)
The Dawn Beyond Currency (Part 2) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (Part 1) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (Part 2) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (novel)
The Banyan Revolt (novel)
Gen Z Kranti (novel)
The Protocol of Greatness (novel)
Madhya York: The Merchant and the Mystic (novel)
The Garden Of Last Debates (novel)
The Drum Report: Markets, Tariffs, and the Man in the Basement (novel)
Trump’s Default: The Mist Of Empire (novel)
Deported (novel)
Empty Country (novel)
Poetry Thursdays (novel)

Six Weeks From Zero (novel)
The Dawn Beyond Currency (Part 1) (novel)
The Dawn Beyond Currency (Part 2) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (Part 1) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (Part 2) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (novel)
The Banyan Revolt (novel)
Gen Z Kranti (novel)
The Protocol of Greatness (novel)
Madhya York: The Merchant and the Mystic (novel)
The Garden Of Last Debates (novel)
The Drum Report: Markets, Tariffs, and the Man in the Basement (novel)
Trump’s Default: The Mist Of Empire (novel)
Deported (novel)
Empty Country (novel)
Poetry Thursdays (novel)

Six Weeks From Zero (novel)
The Dawn Beyond Currency (Part 1) (novel)
The Dawn Beyond Currency (Part 2) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (Part 1) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (Part 2) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (novel)
The Banyan Revolt (novel)
Gen Z Kranti (novel)
The Protocol of Greatness (novel)
Madhya York: The Merchant and the Mystic (novel)
The Garden Of Last Debates (novel)
The Drum Report: Markets, Tariffs, and the Man in the Basement (novel)
Trump’s Default: The Mist Of Empire (novel)
Deported (novel)
Empty Country (novel)
Poetry Thursdays (novel)

Six Weeks From Zero (novel)
The Dawn Beyond Currency (Part 1) (novel)
The Dawn Beyond Currency (Part 2) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (Part 1) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (Part 2) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (novel)
The Banyan Revolt (novel)
Gen Z Kranti (novel)
The Protocol of Greatness (novel)
Madhya York: The Merchant and the Mystic (novel)
The Garden Of Last Debates (novel)
The Drum Report: Markets, Tariffs, and the Man in the Basement (novel)
Trump’s Default: The Mist Of Empire (novel)
Deported (novel)
Empty Country (novel)
Poetry Thursdays (novel)

Six Weeks From Zero (novel)
The Dawn Beyond Currency (Part 1) (novel)
The Dawn Beyond Currency (Part 2) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (Part 1) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (Part 2) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (novel)
The Banyan Revolt (novel)
Gen Z Kranti (novel)
The Protocol of Greatness (novel)
Madhya York: The Merchant and the Mystic (novel)
The Garden Of Last Debates (novel)
The Drum Report: Markets, Tariffs, and the Man in the Basement (novel)
Trump’s Default: The Mist Of Empire (novel)
Deported (novel)
Empty Country (novel)
Poetry Thursdays (novel)

Six Weeks From Zero (novel)
The Dawn Beyond Currency (Part 1) (novel)
The Dawn Beyond Currency (Part 2) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (Part 1) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (Part 2) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (novel)
The Banyan Revolt (novel)
Gen Z Kranti (novel)
The Protocol of Greatness (novel)
Madhya York: The Merchant and the Mystic (novel)
The Garden Of Last Debates (novel)
The Drum Report: Markets, Tariffs, and the Man in the Basement (novel)
Trump’s Default: The Mist Of Empire (novel)
Deported (novel)
Empty Country (novel)
Poetry Thursdays (novel)

Six Weeks From Zero (novel)
The Dawn Beyond Currency (Part 1) (novel)
The Dawn Beyond Currency (Part 2) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (Part 1) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (Part 2) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (novel)
The Banyan Revolt (novel)
Gen Z Kranti (novel)
The Protocol of Greatness (novel)
Madhya York: The Merchant and the Mystic (novel)
The Garden Of Last Debates (novel)
The Drum Report: Markets, Tariffs, and the Man in the Basement (novel)
Trump’s Default: The Mist Of Empire (novel)
Deported (novel)
Empty Country (novel)
Poetry Thursdays (novel)

Six Weeks From Zero (novel)
The Dawn Beyond Currency (Part 1) (novel)
The Dawn Beyond Currency (Part 2) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (Part 1) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (Part 2) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (novel)
The Banyan Revolt (novel)
Gen Z Kranti (novel)
The Protocol of Greatness (novel)
Madhya York: The Merchant and the Mystic (novel)
The Garden Of Last Debates (novel)
The Drum Report: Markets, Tariffs, and the Man in the Basement (novel)
Trump’s Default: The Mist Of Empire (novel)
Deported (novel)
Empty Country (novel)
Poetry Thursdays (novel)

Six Weeks From Zero (novel)
The Dawn Beyond Currency (Part 1) (novel)
The Dawn Beyond Currency (Part 2) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (Part 1) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (Part 2) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (novel)
The Banyan Revolt (novel)
Gen Z Kranti (novel)
The Protocol of Greatness (novel)
Madhya York: The Merchant and the Mystic (novel)
The Garden Of Last Debates (novel)
The Drum Report: Markets, Tariffs, and the Man in the Basement (novel)
Trump’s Default: The Mist Of Empire (novel)
Deported (novel)
Empty Country (novel)
Poetry Thursdays (novel)

Six Weeks From Zero (novel)
The Dawn Beyond Currency (Part 1) (novel)
The Dawn Beyond Currency (Part 2) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (Part 1) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (Part 2) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (novel)
The Banyan Revolt (novel)
Gen Z Kranti (novel)
The Protocol of Greatness (novel)
Madhya York: The Merchant and the Mystic (novel)
The Garden Of Last Debates (novel)
The Drum Report: Markets, Tariffs, and the Man in the Basement (novel)
Trump’s Default: The Mist Of Empire (novel)
Deported (novel)
Empty Country (novel)
Poetry Thursdays (novel)

Six Weeks From Zero (novel)
The Dawn Beyond Currency (Part 1) (novel)
The Dawn Beyond Currency (Part 2) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (Part 1) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (Part 2) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (novel)
The Banyan Revolt (novel)
Gen Z Kranti (novel)
The Protocol of Greatness (novel)
Madhya York: The Merchant and the Mystic (novel)
The Garden Of Last Debates (novel)
The Drum Report: Markets, Tariffs, and the Man in the Basement (novel)
Trump’s Default: The Mist Of Empire (novel)
Deported (novel)
Empty Country (novel)
Poetry Thursdays (novel)

Six Weeks From Zero (novel)
The Dawn Beyond Currency (Part 1) (novel)
The Dawn Beyond Currency (Part 2) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (Part 1) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (Part 2) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (novel)
The Banyan Revolt (novel)
Gen Z Kranti (novel)
The Protocol of Greatness (novel)
Madhya York: The Merchant and the Mystic (novel)
The Garden Of Last Debates (novel)
The Drum Report: Markets, Tariffs, and the Man in the Basement (novel)
Trump’s Default: The Mist Of Empire (novel)
Deported (novel)
Empty Country (novel)
Poetry Thursdays (novel)

Six Weeks From Zero (novel)
The Dawn Beyond Currency (Part 1) (novel)
The Dawn Beyond Currency (Part 2) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (Part 1) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (Part 2) (novel)
The Great Subcontinent Uprising (novel)
The Banyan Revolt (novel)
Gen Z Kranti (novel)
The Protocol of Greatness (novel)
Madhya York: The Merchant and the Mystic (novel)
The Garden Of Last Debates (novel)
The Drum Report: Markets, Tariffs, and the Man in the Basement (novel)
Trump’s Default: The Mist Of Empire (novel)
Deported (novel)
Empty Country (novel)
Poetry Thursdays (novel)

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Soulmate: Superintelligent Dating



Soulmate: The Dating App That Fires Cupid—and Then Leaves the Room

Most dating apps promise connection but deliver exhaustion. Swipe fatigue. Notification numbness. The strange loneliness of infinite choice. Into this crowded, cynical marketplace steps Soulmate, an AI-powered dating platform developed by Cory Etzkorn, with a radically contrarian claim: you don’t need options—you need the right answer.

Billed as the world’s first “superintelligent” dating app, Soulmate rejects nearly every convention that defines modern online dating. There is no swiping. No profiles meticulously curated like résumés. No bios, prompts, filters, or icebreaker messages. In fact, there’s barely an interface at all.

Instead, Soulmate offers a single promise: “Just your perfect match.”

As of December 2025, the app is in private beta, with access gated behind a waitlist at soulmate.to. But even in its early stage, Soulmate represents something more ambitious than a new dating product—it is a philosophical rebellion against the attention economy itself.

The End of Swiping, the End of Performance

To understand what makes Soulmate different, it helps to understand what it eliminates.

Traditional dating apps are marketplaces of performance. Users audition for love using photos, punchy one-liners, and algorithmically optimized self-descriptions. The result is a system that rewards charisma, aesthetics, and novelty—often at the expense of compatibility, depth, or long-term alignment.

Soulmate burns this entire structure down.

There are:

  • No endless decks of faces

  • No dopamine-driven swipe loops

  • No performative self-branding

  • No gamified messaging hierarchies

In place of all that noise, Soulmate inserts trust—trust in the machine, trust in process, and trust that love is not something you hunt, but something you allow to be found.

How Soulmate Likely Works

While specific technical details remain undisclosed—unsurprising given the product’s beta status—the app’s publicly stated philosophy offers strong clues about its underlying mechanics.

1. Conversational Onboarding, Not Interrogation

Instead of forcing users through long questionnaires or demanding carefully curated photos, Soulmate reportedly begins with light, conversational input. Users may interact with the AI via text or voice, sharing thoughts, values, preferences, and personal context in a more natural way.

This approach mirrors how humans actually understand one another—not through multiple-choice forms, but through stories, tone, and nuance.

In effect, Soulmate treats onboarding less like filling out a form and more like having a quiet conversation with an attentive listener.

2. A Matchmaking Engine That Waits—Patiently

At the heart of Soulmate is what Etzkorn describes as a “superintelligent” system. While the term is aspirational, it likely refers to advanced machine learning models—possibly large language models combined with behavioral and psychological pattern analysis.

Rather than immediately presenting options, the system continuously evaluates compatibility across its user pool, looking for deep alignment:

  • Psychological traits

  • Shared values and life direction

  • Communication styles

  • Long-term relational potential

Crucially, Soulmate does not optimize for engagement. It does not try to keep users scrolling. It waits.

And when it finds a match it deems genuinely exceptional, only then does it surface that connection.

In a world addicted to immediacy, Soulmate practices algorithmic patience.

3. One Introduction, Not a Chat Interface

Perhaps the most radical element of Soulmate is what happens after the match.

There is no traditional in-app messaging system. No read receipts. No awkward small talk over text bubbles. Instead, the app appears designed to facilitate a direct introduction, potentially via phone number, email, or even a curated meetup.

The AI’s job ends at the introduction. From there, the relationship is human territory again.

Like a good matchmaker—or a wise friend—it makes the introduction and then steps aside.

Inspired by Science Fiction, Built for Real Fatigue

Etzkorn has cited inspiration from the Black Mirror episode “Hang the DJ,” in which an AI system orchestrates romantic pairings by simulating thousands of relationship scenarios to find optimal matches.

But where Black Mirror explores the dystopian edges of algorithmic intimacy, Soulmate positions itself as an antidote to a very real, present-day malaise: dating burnout.

Modern dating apps suffer from a paradox of choice. When everyone is available, no one feels special. When matches are infinite, commitment feels optional. When attention is the currency, sincerity depreciates.

Soulmate flips this logic. Scarcity is intentional. Silence is part of the design. The match is meant to feel less like a notification—and more like fate knocking softly.

A Bet on Trust, Not Control

At its core, Soulmate asks users to relinquish control.

You don’t browse.
You don’t filter.
You don’t optimize your profile.

You wait.

This is a risky proposition in a culture trained to micromanage everything from productivity to personality. But it may also be precisely why Soulmate feels timely. As AI increasingly handles logistics, scheduling, and decision-making across life, dating may be the next frontier where people say: just find me the right person—I’m tired.

If Soulmate succeeds, it won’t just be another dating app. It could mark a shift from active dating to passive matchmaking, from algorithm-as-slot-machine to algorithm-as-guardian.

The Bigger Question

The real question Soulmate raises is not whether AI can find your soulmate.

It’s whether you’re willing to believe it can.

Because once you stop swiping, once you stop performing, once you stop endlessly comparing—you’re left with a single, radical act:

Trusting that one connection might be enough.

For those intrigued, Soulmate remains in private beta as of December 2025, with a waitlist available at soulmate.to. Whether it becomes the future of dating or a fascinating experiment, it has already done something rare in tech—it has dared to subtract.




सोलमेट: वह डेटिंग ऐप जो कामदेव को छोड़ देता है तीर—और फिर कमरे से बाहर चला जाता है

अधिकांश डेटिंग ऐप्स संबंध का वादा करते हैं, लेकिन थकान सौंपते हैं।
स्वाइप की थकावट।
नोटिफ़िकेशन की सुन्नता।
अनंत विकल्पों के बीच पैदा होने वाला अजीब-सा अकेलापन।

इसी भीड़-भाड़ और संशयग्रस्त बाज़ार में प्रवेश करता है सोलमेट (Soulmate)—एक एआई-संचालित डेटिंग प्लेटफ़ॉर्म, जिसे कोरी एट्ज़कोर्न ने विकसित किया है। इसका दावा जितना साहसिक है, उतना ही विद्रोही भी:
आपको विकल्पों की ज़रूरत नहीं है—आपको सही उत्तर की ज़रूरत है।

खुद को दुनिया का पहला “सुपरइंटेलिजेंट” डेटिंग ऐप बताने वाला सोलमेट आधुनिक ऑनलाइन डेटिंग की लगभग हर परंपरा को नकार देता है।
यहाँ न स्वाइपिंग है,
न प्रोफ़ाइलें जो रिज़्यूमे की तरह गढ़ी जाएँ,
न बायो, न प्रॉम्प्ट, न फ़िल्टर, न शुरुआती चैट।

दरअसल, यहाँ इंटरफ़ेस भी लगभग अदृश्य है।

इसके बदले सोलमेट एक ही वादा करता है:
“सिर्फ़ आपका परफ़ेक्ट मैच।”

दिसंबर 2025 तक यह ऐप प्राइवेट बीटा में है, और soulmate.to पर वेटलिस्ट के ज़रिए साइन-अप किया जा सकता है। लेकिन शुरुआती अवस्था में भी सोलमेट केवल एक नया उत्पाद नहीं लगता—यह ध्यान-अर्थव्यवस्था (attention economy) के ख़िलाफ़ एक दार्शनिक बग़ावत है।

स्वाइपिंग का अंत, अभिनय का अंत

सोलमेट को समझने के लिए यह समझना ज़रूरी है कि यह क्या-क्या हटा देता है।

पारंपरिक डेटिंग ऐप्स प्रदर्शन के बाज़ार हैं। उपयोगकर्ता तस्वीरों, चुटीले वन-लाइनर्स और एल्गोरिद्म-अनुकूल आत्मवर्णनों के ज़रिए प्रेम के लिए ऑडिशन देते हैं। नतीजा यह होता है कि सिस्टम आकर्षण, करिश्मा और नवीनता को पुरस्कृत करता है—जबकि वास्तविक संगतता, गहराई और दीर्घकालिक तालमेल पीछे छूट जाते हैं।

सोलमेट इस पूरी संरचना को जला देता है।

यहाँ नहीं है:

  • चेहरों की अंतहीन कतार

  • डोपामिन से भरे स्वाइप-लूप

  • आत्म-ब्रांडिंग का दबाव

  • मैसेजिंग की गेमिफ़िकेशन

इन सबके स्थान पर सोलमेट लाता है विश्वास—
मशीन पर विश्वास,
प्रक्रिया पर विश्वास,
और इस विचार पर विश्वास कि प्रेम कोई शिकार नहीं है, बल्कि कुछ ऐसा है जिसे खोजे जाने दिया जाए।

सोलमेट शायद कैसे काम करता है

हालाँकि तकनीकी विवरण अभी सार्वजनिक नहीं हैं—जो कि बीटा चरण में स्वाभाविक है—लेकिन ऐप की घोषित दर्शनशास्त्र उसके काम करने के तरीकों के स्पष्ट संकेत देती है।

1. पूछताछ नहीं, बातचीत से शुरुआत

लंबे सवालनामों या सावधानी से चुनी गई तस्वीरों की माँग करने के बजाय, सोलमेट उपयोगकर्ता से हल्की, प्राकृतिक बातचीत के ज़रिए शुरुआत करता है। यह बातचीत टेक्स्ट या आवाज़ के माध्यम से हो सकती है, जिसमें व्यक्ति अपने विचार, मूल्य, पसंद और जीवन-संदर्भ साझा करता है।

यह तरीका उस तरह से मेल खाता है, जैसे इंसान वास्तव में एक-दूसरे को समझते हैं—
मल्टीपल-चॉइस फ़ॉर्म से नहीं,
बल्कि कहानियों, लहजे और सूक्ष्म भावों से।

यानी ऑनबोर्डिंग किसी फ़ॉर्म को भरना नहीं, बल्कि
एक ध्यानपूर्वक सुनने वाले से बातचीत है।

2. ऐसा मैचमेकिंग इंजन जो इंतज़ार करता है

सोलमेट के केंद्र में वह प्रणाली है जिसे एट्ज़कोर्न “सुपरइंटेलिजेंस” कहते हैं। यह शब्द भले ही आकांक्षात्मक हो, लेकिन इसका संकेत उन्नत मशीन लर्निंग—संभवतः बड़े भाषा मॉडल्स और मनोवैज्ञानिक पैटर्न विश्लेषण—की ओर जाता है।

यह सिस्टम तुरंत विकल्प नहीं दिखाता।
यह लगातार पूरे यूज़र-पूल में संगतता का आकलन करता रहता है, जैसे:

  • मनोवैज्ञानिक प्रवृत्तियाँ

  • साझा मूल्य और जीवन-दिशा

  • संवाद की शैली

  • दीर्घकालिक संबंध की संभावना

सबसे अहम बात: सोलमेट एंगेजमेंट के लिए ऑप्टिमाइज़ नहीं करता।
यह आपको स्क्रॉल कराते रहने की कोशिश नहीं करता।
यह इंतज़ार करता है।

और जब उसे कोई वास्तव में असाधारण मेल मिलता है—तभी वह उसे सामने लाता है।

तत्काल संतुष्टि की दुनिया में, सोलमेट अपनाता है
एल्गोरिद्मिक धैर्य।

3. चैट नहीं, सीधा परिचय

शायद सोलमेट का सबसे क्रांतिकारी पहलू वह है, जो मैच मिलने के बाद होता है।

यहाँ कोई इन-ऐप चैट नहीं है।
कोई “seen” या “typing…” नहीं।
कोई अटपटी शुरुआती बातचीत नहीं।

इसके बजाय, ऐप संभवतः सीधा परिचय कराता है—फोन नंबर, ईमेल या किसी व्यवस्थित मुलाक़ात के माध्यम से।

एआई का काम परिचय तक ही सीमित है।
उसके बाद संबंध फिर से इंसानी क्षेत्र में लौट आता है।

एक अच्छे रिश्तेदार या समझदार मित्र की तरह—
वह मिलवाता है, और फिर पीछे हट जाता है।

साइंस फ़िक्शन से प्रेरित, वास्तविक थकान के लिए निर्मित

एट्ज़कोर्न ने Black Mirror के प्रसिद्ध एपिसोड “Hang the DJ” से प्रेरणा का उल्लेख किया है, जिसमें एक एआई सिस्टम हज़ारों सिमुलेटेड रिश्तों के ज़रिए आदर्श जोड़ियाँ खोजता है।

लेकिन जहाँ ब्लैक मिरर एल्गोरिद्मिक प्रेम की भयावह सीमाओं को टटोलता है, वहीं सोलमेट आज की एक बहुत वास्तविक समस्या का समाधान पेश करता है:
डेटिंग बर्नआउट।

आधुनिक डेटिंग ऐप्स विकल्पों के विरोधाभास से ग्रस्त हैं।
जब हर कोई उपलब्ध है, तो कोई भी ख़ास नहीं लगता।
जब मैच अनंत हों, तो प्रतिबद्धता वैकल्पिक लगती है।
जब ध्यान ही मुद्रा हो, तो ईमानदारी का अवमूल्यन होता है।

सोलमेट इस तर्क को उलट देता है।
यहाँ कमी जानबूझकर है।
ख़ामोशी डिज़ाइन का हिस्सा है।
मैच एक नोटिफ़िकेशन नहीं—एक नरम दस्तक जैसा होना चाहिए।

नियंत्रण नहीं, विश्वास पर दाँव

अपने मूल में, सोलमेट उपयोगकर्ता से नियंत्रण छोड़ने को कहता है।

आप ब्राउज़ नहीं करते।
आप फ़िल्टर नहीं लगाते।
आप प्रोफ़ाइल ऑप्टिमाइज़ नहीं करते।

आप इंतज़ार करते हैं।

यह प्रस्ताव उस संस्कृति में जोखिम भरा है जो उत्पादकता से लेकर व्यक्तित्व तक सब कुछ नियंत्रित करना चाहती है। लेकिन शायद यही वजह है कि सोलमेट आज प्रासंगिक लगता है।

जैसे-जैसे एआई हमारे जीवन के लॉजिस्टिक्स, शेड्यूलिंग और निर्णयों को संभालता जा रहा है, डेटिंग शायद अगला क्षेत्र है जहाँ लोग कहें:
“बस सही इंसान ढूँढ दो—मैं थक गया हूँ।”

अगर सोलमेट सफल होता है, तो यह सिर्फ़ एक और डेटिंग ऐप नहीं होगा।
यह सक्रिय डेटिंग से निष्क्रिय मैचमेकिंग की ओर बदलाव होगा—
स्लॉट मशीन जैसे एल्गोरिद्म से
संरक्षक जैसे एल्गोरिद्म तक।

असली सवाल

सोलमेट जो असली सवाल उठाता है, वह यह नहीं है कि एआई आपका सोलमेट ढूँढ सकता है या नहीं।

सवाल यह है कि—
क्या आप मानने को तैयार हैं कि वह ऐसा कर सकता है?

क्योंकि जब आप स्वाइप करना बंद करते हैं,
अभिनय छोड़ देते हैं,
तुलना करना छोड़ देते हैं—

तो आपके सामने एक ही, साहसिक कदम बचता है:

यह भरोसा करना कि एक ही संबंध काफ़ी हो सकता है।

जो लोग उत्सुक हैं, उनके लिए सोलमेट दिसंबर 2025 तक प्राइवेट बीटा में है, और soulmate.to पर वेटलिस्ट खुली है। यह भविष्य का मानक बने या एक साहसिक प्रयोग—इतना तो तय है कि इसने टेक की दुनिया में एक दुर्लभ काम किया है:

इसने जोड़ने के बजाय घटाने का साहस किया है।



Cory Etzkorn: Designing Software That Feels Human

In an industry obsessed with scale, speed, and spectacle, Cory Etzkorn has built a career around a quieter, more difficult ambition: making technology feel human.

A software engineer, designer, and entrepreneur with more than 15 years of experience, Etzkorn operates at the intersection of product development, brand storytelling, and applied artificial intelligence. His work spans startups and iconic tech companies, but a single throughline connects it all—an almost stubborn belief that software should feel warm, intuitive, and emotionally intelligent, even when powered by complex systems under the hood.

Today, Etzkorn is the founder of Small Talk Labs, an applied AI company based in New York. Its first major product, Soulmate, is an AI-powered dating platform described as “superintelligent”—not because it overwhelms users with features, but because it removes them. In a market dominated by endless swipes and performative profiles, Soulmate aims to do the opposite: step back, listen deeply, and introduce people only when it truly matters.

From Early Front-End Craft to Brand-Defining Work

Etzkorn’s career began not with grand visions of AI, but with the meticulous craft of interface design and front-end engineering. In 2013, he led front-end engineering at Fuzzco, a creative agency known for blending brand, design, and digital storytelling. That early exposure to the emotional dimension of interfaces—how typography, spacing, and motion affect perception—would quietly shape everything that followed.

By 2015, he was working on design systems at The Wall Street Journal, helping bring coherence and scalability to one of the world’s most respected media brands. That same year, he founded PlayList, a music-related project that reflected an early interest in how technology mediates taste, identity, and human connection.

These experiences grounded Etzkorn in a rare combination of rigor and empathy: systems thinking paired with an almost artisanal attention to user experience.

Notion: Building a Brand That Felt Like a Friend

In 2019, Etzkorn joined Notion as a designer and engineer—when the company had just 15 people. It was a formative moment, not just for Notion, but for Etzkorn’s philosophy of product-building.

At Notion, he played a key role in shaping the company’s warm, human-centered brand, its product language, and its overall identity. At a time when many productivity tools felt cold or corporate, Notion felt personal—almost gentle. That tone was not accidental. It was the result of deliberate choices in design, copy, interaction, and restraint.

Etzkorn has since spoken publicly about scaling marketing at Notion and building products people love, often emphasizing that clarity and emotional resonance scale better than clever tricks. Notion’s success validated an idea that would later resurface in Soulmate: people don’t want more features—they want fewer, better decisions made on their behalf.

Entrepreneurship and the Turn Toward AI

After Notion, Etzkorn returned to entrepreneurship. In 2024, he co-founded Stow, a social shopping app exploring how people discover, save, and share products. While Stow focused on commerce, it continued a familiar theme—technology as a facilitator of human taste and trust.

That exploration ultimately led to Small Talk Labs, where Etzkorn began applying modern AI not as a novelty, but as infrastructure for intimacy. Soulmate, the company’s flagship product, reflects this shift. Rather than using AI to maximize engagement or screen time, Soulmate uses it to minimize noise.

The ambition is quietly radical: an AI system that waits patiently, studies compatibility deeply, and intervenes only once—like a thoughtful friend making an introduction and then stepping aside.

A Rare Hybrid Skill Set

Part of what enables Etzkorn’s work across such varied domains is an unusually broad skill set. He moves fluidly between:

  • Product and brand design

  • Engineering and design systems

  • Marketing and copywriting

Technically, he works with modern tools and frameworks including HTML, CSS/Tailwind, TypeScript, React, React Native, Postgres/SQL, Supabase, and Vercel—but his distinguishing strength lies less in any single technology than in his ability to see the whole system: product, story, and user psychology as one.

Teaching, Mentorship, and a Grounded Personal Life

Etzkorn’s career has also included periods of teaching and mentorship. He volunteered as a frontend instructor at CodeNation from 2017 to 2018, and later served as a mentor at First Round Fast Track in 2019, helping early-stage founders navigate product and growth challenges.

On a personal level, Etzkorn lives in Brooklyn, New York, teaches power vinyasa yoga, enjoys long baths, and once worked as a coffee farmer in Hawaii—details that feel almost symbolic. His life, like his work, seems deliberately balanced between intensity and stillness, ambition and grounding.

He maintains an active presence on X (formerly Twitter) under the handle @coryetzkorn, where he shares reflections on building Soulmate, lessons from Notion, and the evolving role of AI in consumer products.

Designing for the Future, Subtractively

If there is a single pattern running through Cory Etzkorn’s career, it is this: progress through subtraction.

Whether shaping Notion’s gentle productivity, stripping dating down to a single meaningful introduction, or blending AI with human intuition, Etzkorn consistently chooses the harder path—removing rather than adding, trusting rather than controlling.

In a tech industry addicted to noise, Cory Etzkorn is building systems that whisper.




कोरी एट्ज़कोर्न: ऐसा सॉफ़्टवेयर डिज़ाइन करना जो इंसानी लगे

एक ऐसे उद्योग में जहाँ पैमाना, गति और दिखावा सर्वोपरि हैं, कोरी एट्ज़कोर्न ने अपने करियर की दिशा एक कहीं अधिक शांत—but कहीं अधिक कठिन—महत्त्वाकांक्षा के इर्द-गिर्द तय की है: तकनीक को इंसानी बनाना।

15 वर्षों से अधिक के अनुभव वाले सॉफ़्टवेयर इंजीनियर, डिज़ाइनर और उद्यमी के रूप में एट्ज़कोर्न प्रोडक्ट डेवलपमेंट, ब्रांड स्टोरीटेलिंग और एप्लाइड आर्टिफ़िशियल इंटेलिजेंस के संगम पर काम करते हैं। उनका करियर स्टार्टअप्स से लेकर आइकॉनिक टेक कंपनियों तक फैला है, लेकिन एक सूत्र हर जगह दिखाई देता है—यह ज़िद कि सॉफ़्टवेयर गर्मजोशी भरा, सहज और भावनात्मक रूप से बुद्धिमान होना चाहिए, भले ही उसके भीतर कितनी ही जटिल प्रणालियाँ क्यों न काम कर रही हों।

आज एट्ज़कोर्न स्मॉल टॉक लैब्स (Small Talk Labs) के संस्थापक हैं—न्यूयॉर्क स्थित एक एप्लाइड एआई कंपनी। इसका पहला प्रमुख प्रोडक्ट सोलमेट (Soulmate) है, जिसे “सुपरइंटेलिजेंट” एआई-पावर्ड डेटिंग प्लेटफ़ॉर्म के रूप में वर्णित किया जाता है—इसलिए नहीं कि यह उपयोगकर्ताओं को फीचर्स से भर देता है, बल्कि इसलिए कि यह उन्हें हटा देता है। अंतहीन स्वाइप और दिखावटी प्रोफ़ाइलों से भरे बाज़ार में, सोलमेट ठीक उलटा करता है: पीछे हटता है, ध्यान से सुनता है, और तभी लोगों को मिलवाता है जब वास्तव में उसका अर्थ हो।

फ्रंट-एंड कारीगरी से ब्रांड-निर्माण तक

एट्ज़कोर्न का करियर एआई के बड़े-बड़े विज़नों से नहीं, बल्कि इंटरफ़ेस डिज़ाइन और फ्रंट-एंड इंजीनियरिंग की बारीक कारीगरी से शुरू हुआ। 2013 में उन्होंने क्रिएटिव एजेंसी फ़ज़को (Fuzzco) में फ्रंट-एंड इंजीनियरिंग का नेतृत्व किया—एक ऐसी जगह जहाँ ब्रांड, डिज़ाइन और डिजिटल स्टोरीटेलिंग का सुंदर संगम होता था। यहीं से उन्हें यह समझ मिली कि टाइपोग्राफ़ी, स्पेसिंग और मूवमेंट जैसे छोटे-छोटे निर्णय भी उपयोगकर्ता की अनुभूति को कितनी गहराई से प्रभावित करते हैं।

2015 में वे द वॉल स्ट्रीट जर्नल में डिज़ाइन सिस्टम्स पर काम कर रहे थे, जहाँ उन्होंने दुनिया के सबसे प्रतिष्ठित मीडिया ब्रांड्स में से एक को संरचना और मापनीयता देने में योगदान दिया। उसी वर्ष उन्होंने प्लेलिस्ट (PlayList) नामक एक म्यूज़िक-केंद्रित प्रोजेक्ट भी शुरू किया—जो इस बात का शुरुआती संकेत था कि उन्हें इस बात में दिलचस्पी है कि तकनीक स्वाद, पहचान और मानवीय जुड़ाव को कैसे आकार देती है।

इन अनुभवों ने उन्हें एक दुर्लभ संतुलन दिया: सिस्टम्स थिंकिंग के साथ-साथ उपयोगकर्ता अनुभव के प्रति लगभग कारीगर-सा संवेदनशील दृष्टिकोण।

नोटियन: जब प्रोडक्ट एक दोस्त जैसा लगे

2019 में एट्ज़कोर्न नोटियन (Notion) से जुड़े—तब कंपनी में सिर्फ़ 15 लोग थे। यह क्षण न केवल नोटियन के लिए, बल्कि एट्ज़कोर्न की प्रोडक्ट-फिलॉसफ़ी के लिए भी निर्णायक साबित हुआ।

नोटियन में उन्होंने कंपनी की गर्मजोशी भरी, मानव-केंद्रित ब्रांड पहचान, प्रोडक्ट भाषा और समग्र अनुभव को आकार देने में अहम भूमिका निभाई। ऐसे समय में जब अधिकांश प्रोडक्टिविटी टूल्स ठंडे या कॉर्पोरेट महसूस होते थे, नोटियन निजी और सौम्य लगता था। यह कोई संयोग नहीं था—यह डिज़ाइन, कॉपी, इंटरैक्शन और संयम के सोच-समझकर लिए गए फ़ैसलों का नतीजा था।

एट्ज़कोर्न बाद में नोटियन में मार्केटिंग को स्केल करने और लोगों को पसंद आने वाले प्रोडक्ट बनाने जैसे विषयों पर बोलते रहे। उनका ज़ोर अक्सर इस बात पर रहा कि स्पष्टता और भावनात्मक जुड़ाव, चालाक तरकीबों की तुलना में कहीं बेहतर तरीके से स्केल होते हैं। यही विचार आगे चलकर सोलमेट में फिर उभरा:
लोगों को ज़्यादा फीचर्स नहीं चाहिए—उन्हें उनके लिए लिए गए बेहतर फ़ैसले चाहिए।

उद्यमिता और एआई की ओर मोड़

नोटियन के बाद एट्ज़कोर्न ने फिर से उद्यमिता की राह पकड़ी। 2024 में उन्होंने स्टो (Stow) की सह-स्थापना की—एक सोशल शॉपिंग ऐप, जो यह खोजता था कि लोग प्रोडक्ट्स को कैसे ढूँढते, सहेजते और साझा करते हैं। हालाँकि स्टो कॉमर्स पर केंद्रित था, लेकिन इसकी आत्मा वही थी: तकनीक को मानवीय स्वाद और भरोसे का माध्यम बनाना।

यहीं से उनका सफ़र स्मॉल टॉक लैब्स तक पहुँचा, जहाँ उन्होंने आधुनिक एआई को किसी तमाशे की तरह नहीं, बल्कि निकटता के इन्फ़्रास्ट्रक्चर की तरह देखना शुरू किया। कंपनी का प्रमुख प्रोडक्ट सोलमेट इसी सोच का परिणाम है। यहाँ एआई का इस्तेमाल स्क्रीन-टाइम बढ़ाने के लिए नहीं, बल्कि शोर कम करने के लिए किया जाता है।

यह महत्वाकांक्षा चुपचाप क्रांतिकारी है: एक ऐसा एआई सिस्टम जो धैर्य से इंतज़ार करता है, गहराई से संगतता को समझता है, और सिर्फ़ एक बार हस्तक्षेप करता है—एक समझदार दोस्त की तरह, जो परिचय करवाकर पीछे हट जाता है।

एक दुर्लभ हाइब्रिड कौशल-समूह

एट्ज़कोर्न को अलग बनाता है उनका असाधारण रूप से व्यापक कौशल-समूह। वे सहजता से इन भूमिकाओं के बीच आ-जा सकते हैं:

  • प्रोडक्ट और ब्रांड डिज़ाइन

  • इंजीनियरिंग और डिज़ाइन सिस्टम्स

  • मार्केटिंग और कॉपीराइटिंग

तकनीकी रूप से वे HTML, CSS/Tailwind, TypeScript, React, React Native, Postgres/SQL, Supabase और Vercel जैसे आधुनिक टूल्स के साथ काम करते हैं। लेकिन उनकी असली ताक़त किसी एक टेक्नोलॉजी में नहीं, बल्कि पूरा सिस्टम देखने की क्षमता में है—जहाँ प्रोडक्ट, कहानी और उपयोगकर्ता मनोविज्ञान एक साथ चलते हैं।

शिक्षण, मेंटरशिप और संतुलित निजी जीवन

एट्ज़कोर्न का करियर शिक्षण और मार्गदर्शन से भी जुड़ा रहा है। उन्होंने 2017–2018 के दौरान CodeNation में फ्रंट-एंड इंस्ट्रक्टर के रूप में स्वेच्छा से पढ़ाया और 2019 में First Round Fast Track में मेंटर के रूप में शुरुआती चरण के संस्थापकों की मदद की।

निजी जीवन में एट्ज़कोर्न ब्रुकलिन, न्यूयॉर्क में रहते हैं, पावर विन्यासा योग सिखाते हैं, लंबे स्नान का आनंद लेते हैं, और कभी हवाई में कॉफ़ी फ़ार्मर भी रह चुके हैं—ऐसे विवरण जो लगभग प्रतीकात्मक लगते हैं। उनका जीवन, उनके काम की तरह, तीव्रता और शांति, महत्वाकांक्षा और स्थिरता के बीच संतुलन साधता हुआ दिखाई देता है।

वे X (पूर्व में ट्विटर) पर @coryetzkorn हैंडल से सक्रिय रहते हैं, जहाँ वे सोलमेट के निर्माण, नोटियन से मिले सबक और उपभोक्ता उत्पादों में एआई की बदलती भूमिका पर अपने विचार साझा करते हैं।

भविष्य के लिए डिज़ाइन—घटाकर

अगर कोरी एट्ज़कोर्न के करियर में कोई एक पैटर्न है, तो वह है:
घटाकर आगे बढ़ना।

चाहे वह नोटियन की सौम्य उत्पादकता हो, डेटिंग को एक सार्थक परिचय तक सीमित करना हो, या एआई को मानवीय अंतर्ज्ञान के साथ मिलाना—एट्ज़कोर्न बार-बार वही कठिन रास्ता चुनते हैं: जोड़ने के बजाय हटाना, नियंत्रित करने के बजाय भरोसा करना।

एक ऐसे टेक उद्योग में जो शोर का आदी है, कोरी एट्ज़कोर्न ऐसे सिस्टम बना रहे हैं जो धीरे-से फुसफुसाते हैं।




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Sergey Brin's Google Glass Adventures In Steve Jobsism


“I Saw the Future. Unfortunately, the Future Saw Me.”
— Sergey Brin, Retrospective Keynote on Google Glass

Hello everyone. Thank you. Thank you for clapping. I assume you’re clapping because I’m no longer wearing Google Glass.

Let me start with a confession.

At one point—briefly, tragically—I believed I was the next Steve Jobs.

I didn’t just believe it. I accessorized for it.

Black shirt? Check.
Visionary confidence? Check.
Reality distortion field? Absolutely.
Social awareness? …buffering.

And then I made Google Glass.

Now, most people fail quietly. They fail in garages. They fail on Medium posts titled “What I Learned From My Startup That Didn’t Work.”
I failed on my face, on my head, on my eyeball, while already being famous.

When Google Glass failed, it didn’t just fail—it failed in public, in HD, from multiple angles, some of them livestreamed by me.

Act I: The Delusion

The idea was simple.

“What if,” I thought, “the problem with humanity… is that we don’t have enough screens?”

Phones? Too low.
Laptops? Too far away.
Reality itself? Underutilized.

So naturally, the next step was to glue the internet directly to your skull.

I imagined people saying:

“Wow, Sergey, you’ve changed everything.”

Instead they said:

“Why is that man filming me with his face?”

Different vibe.

Act II: The Product Launch

We didn’t launch Google Glass.

We released it into society like a social experiment without IRB approval.

It cost $1,500.

Which immediately filtered our early adopters down to:

  • Silicon Valley executives

  • People who say “actually” before every sentence

  • And one guy named Chad who never blinked

We called them Glass Explorers.

Everyone else called them “That Guy.”

Act III: The Failure Catalog (A Comprehensive List)

Let me walk you through every possible way Google Glass failed.

1. The “Are You Recording Me?” Problem

Nobody knew when Glass was recording.

Which meant:

  • Every conversation felt like a hostage negotiation

  • Every barista assumed they were in a documentary called “Latte Crimes: Season 3”

People would whisper:

“I think he’s filming us.”

And the Glass wearer would say:

“No, no, it’s not recording.”

Which is exactly what someone recording would say.

2. The Name “Glasshole” (Invented by the Public, Immediately)

We didn’t trademark it.

The internet did.

Within weeks, “Glasshole” became:

  • A noun

  • A diagnosis

  • A lifestyle choice

No product survives once society gives it a slur.

3. Restaurants Hated It

We thought:

“Chefs will love this. Recipes! Augmented reality!”

Restaurants thought:

“Absolutely not. Take off the robot monocle.”

Glass was banned faster than:

  • Smoking

  • Loud phone calls

  • Explanations of crypto

There were signs:

NO GLASS
NO FILMING
NO DISCUSSING WHY YOU NEED GLASS

4. Dating Was a War Crime

Google Glass on a first date was… bold.

Men reported feedback like:

“She left before appetizers.”
“She asked if I worked for the CIA.”
“She said, ‘I feel unsafe,’ and vanished.”

Women reported:

“He blinked too much.”
“He kept saying ‘just a second’ to his own face.”
“I think he Googled me while I was talking.”

Correct.

They did.

5. International Reactions Were Worse

France:

“Non.”
Just… “Non.”

Germany:
Immediate discussion of surveillance laws, history, and feelings.

Japan:
Polite silence. Terrifying judgment.

India:

“Why are you wearing broken spectacles and talking to yourself?”

Italy:
Gestures so aggressive the device nearly fell off.

UK:

“Is that… legal?”
In a whisper. Always a whisper.

6. The Battery Life

Glass could last:

  • 30 minutes of video

  • Or 12 seconds of ambition

Nothing builds confidence like your face dying mid-sentence.

7. The Voice Commands

You had to say:

“OK Glass…”

Out loud.

In public.

Which made everyone look like:

  • A cult member

  • A hostage

  • Or someone arguing with a ghost

8. The Privacy Debate

We said:

“People will adapt.”

Society said:

“We will not.”

Cities banned it.
Bars banned it.
Friends banned it.
Even Google employees quietly stopped wearing it.

Which is when you know.

Act IV: Customer Feedback (Real Energy, Fictional Quotes)

From the U.S.:

“My coworkers stopped inviting me to lunch.”

From Canada:

“Sorry, but could you not… exist like that near me?”

From Australia:

“Mate, absolutely not.”

From Brazil:

“Cool tech. Please leave.”

From Russia:

“You are being watched. Also stop watching.”

From Silicon Valley:

“I love it.”
(This person is no longer invited to parties.)

Act V: The Realization

Here’s the truth.

Google Glass wasn’t ahead of its time.

It was ahead of social consent.

We skipped:

  • Norms

  • Signals

  • Humanity

And went straight to:

“Trust us, it’s fine.”

It was not fine.

Finale: The Legacy

Google Glass taught me something profound.

Just because you can build something
doesn’t mean you should
especially if it turns every human interaction into a Black Mirror pilot.

And no, Glass is never coming back.

Not rebranded.
Not rebooted.
Not “Glass Pro Max Ultra.”

Some ideas don’t need iteration.

They need burial.

Thank you.

And please—
if you see someone wearing smart glasses—

Make eye contact.

Let them know.

They are not Steve Jobs.

None of us are.

🙏



“Mind the Gap (Between Vision and Reality):
The Day Sergey Brin Rode the NYC Subway Wearing Google Glass”

There are many ways to test a product in the real world.

Focus groups.
A/B testing.
User research.

And then there is the New York City Subway, which offers immediate, brutal, peer-reviewed feedback from eight million unpaid critics.

This is the story of the day Sergey Brin—Google co-founder, billionaire, futurist, accidental performance artist—decided to ride the NYC Subway wearing Google Glass.

The Setup: A Visionary Enters the Underground

Sergey Brin boarded the train at Union Square.

He was wearing:

  • Google Glass

  • A slightly rumpled hoodie

  • The quiet confidence of a man who had never been confused with the homeless before

In his mind, this was a field test.

A moment of truth.

A symbolic gesture of a tech leader staying connected to the people.

The people had… a different interpretation.

The First Mistake: Talking to His Face

As the train lurched forward, Sergey whispered:

“OK Glass, show notifications.”

A nearby commuter stiffened.

Another clutched her bag.

A third nodded slowly, the way New Yorkers do when they decide not to make eye contact with a situation.

To the average subway rider, the scene looked like this:

A man wearing broken glasses
Muttering to himself
Blinking aggressively
Staring into space

This was not “Silicon Valley Founder.”

This was “Subway Philosopher.”

The Second Mistake: The Pauses

Google Glass had latency.

Which meant Sergey would speak…
then wait…
then react to information only he could see.

To everyone else, he appeared to be:

  • Hearing voices

  • Processing prophecies

  • Or buffering divine instructions

He smiled at something no one else could see.

Never do this underground.

The Third Mistake: The Hoodie + Backpack Combo

New York has a classification system.

Suit + briefcase = finance.
Scrubs = medical.
High-end athleisure = tech.

But hoodie + backpack + face-computer?

That falls under:

“We should give him space.”

Or:

“He’s between things.”

The Moment It Happened

Somewhere between 14th Street and 42nd Street, it happened.

A woman—kind, well-meaning, Upper West Side energy—approached Sergey gently.

She made eye contact.

She smiled.

She placed two quarters on the floor near his feet.

And whispered:

“God bless.”

Sergey didn’t notice.

He was checking email.

The Escalation

New Yorkers are nothing if not responsive to social cues.

If one person gives, others follow.

A man dropped a dollar.

Someone else added coins.

A tourist snapped a photo.

A kid asked his mom:

“Is he famous or sad?”

The correct answer was:

“Both.”

The Feedback Loop of Doom

Sergey finally noticed the coins.

He looked down.

He looked up.

He looked confused.

He said, quietly:

“Oh—no, no—I’m fine.”

But Google Glass misheard.

And responded, out loud:

“I’m sorry, I didn’t understand that.”

At this point, the car reached consensus.

This man was:

  • Struggling

  • Harmless

  • And possibly very, very smart in a way that had not worked out

Someone gave him a granola bar.

The Exit

At Times Square, Sergey Brin exited the train.

Behind him lay:

  • $3.75 in loose change

  • One protein bar

  • And the final confirmation that Google Glass was not “urban ready”

He stood on the platform, holding his backpack, staring into the distance.

For the first time, augmented reality had been fully overridden by actual reality.

The Aftermath

Later that day, Sergey reportedly removed the device and placed it gently into his bag.

Not angrily.

Not dramatically.

Just… respectfully.

Like one does with an idea that tried its best.

Google Glass was many things:

  • Bold

  • Ambitious

  • Technically impressive

But it could not survive the MTA.

And no product that fails the subway deserves to succeed on the surface.

Epilogue: A Lesson in Humility

The New York City Subway doesn’t care who you are.

Not your net worth.
Not your patents.
Not your TED Talks.

Down there, everyone is equal.

And if you talk to your glasses long enough—

Someone will hand you change.

🪙




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