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Founders from the Department of Government Efficiency built SpecialOS, an AI-driven platform that automates tasks in Main Street service industries. Their first target is eldercare via Figure Health, where they’ve acquired a Texas provider, plan to open-source billing claims, and use efficiencies to boost nurse pay.
- Ex-DOGE founders launched SpecialOS to acquire and run Main Street service businesses with AI automation rather than just sell software to them
- First acquisition is Figure Health, a Texas home-health provider with 1,400 patients, where AI-driven billing/scheduling savings will fund higher nurse pay
- Figure Health will open-source its Medicare/Medicaid billing claims for public transparency
- Backed by a16z and a roster including Brian Armstrong (Coinbase), Shyam Sankar (Palantir), and several former DOGE officials, with plans to expand into other regulated, labor-intensive industries and eventually go public
+ specialos
+ figure health
+ vertical integration
+ eldercare
+ automation
+ healthcare
labor economics
The article uses the film Alien to illustrate how a dominant employer can trap and underpay workers, calling it a monopsony. It highlights economist Arindrajit Dube’s argument that monopsony power is widespread in modern labor markets and links its rise to declining unions, lower minimum wages, and lax antitrust enforcement. Dube suggests stronger regulations, unions, and wage standards could restore bargaining power and reduce inequality.
- Dube argues monopsony power is now widespread even in urban labor markets, not just isolated company towns, due to factors like limited wage transparency and noncompete clauses
- He links the rise in inequality since the 1980s to weakened counterweights: falling union membership, stagnant minimum wages, and weak antitrust enforcement
- Dube points to recent minimum-wage increases, antitrust scrutiny, and worker organizing as signs that worker bargaining power could be rebuilt
The author argues that Mythos, though not trained for cybersecurity, outperforms experts by chaining vulnerabilities and excels across all knowledge work tasks. Companies will soon replace human workers with cheaper, more productive AI, forcing a major shift in how we work and demanding a rethink of our future roles.
- Mythos can chain low/medium vulnerabilities into critical exploits, a feat fewer than 1% of human pentesters achieve, despite not being purpose-built for cybersecurity.
- Its general knowledge-work abilities (emails, analysis, reports) suggest cybersecurity skill is just a side effect of broader competence.
- Open-source models nearing Mythos's capability at under $1,000 will make AI vastly cheaper than a $84,000/year employee while producing 10-1000x more output.
- This cost gap will trigger widespread white-collar job displacement, demanding urgent retraining, policy, and safety-net planning even as it opens space for more meaningful, non-corporate work.