Kevin BeaumontMay 20
Another one bites the dust https://www.ft.com/content/9fdb4e2b-93ea-436d-92e5-fa76ee786caa
Microsoft-backed UK tech unicorn Builder.ai collapses into insolvency

Once high-flying group founded by Sachin Dev Duggal says its was unable to recover from ‘past decisions’

Financial Times
Show threadKevin BeaumontMay 20

The builder.ai story is wild. Microsoft put almost half a billion dollars into them (and lost it all). Everything crumbled when the Financial Times did a tiny amount of research on them, and realised their accounts were signed off a friend of the CEO. As soon as they hired a real auditor, they collapsed.

https://sifted.eu/articles/builder-ai-auditor-founder-news

mschommMay 24
Show threadKevin Beaumont
After hiring a real auditor, the auditor found builder.ai faked three quarters of its sales. https://www.ft.com/content/926f4969-fda7-4e78-b106-4888c8704bda
Microsoft-backed Builder.ai collapsed after finding potentially bogus sales

Failed UK start-up revised down revenues to just a quarter of prior estimates

Financial Times
May 24 at 5:04amWeb
Show threadKevin BeaumontMay 24

A journalist investigating this told me they’re looking at various other AI companies off the back of this - and all share similar close links to their auditors so far.

So strap in, and prepare to be shocked dot GIF.

Show threadAI6YR BenMay 24
@GossiTheDog LOL bonus points if they used AI to fudge the books?
Show threadOlivier MehaniMay 24
@ai6yr @GossiTheDog Oooooh AI accountants. It's not fudging if you are hallucinating the books.
Show threadCatSalad🐈🥗 (D.Burch) May 24
@GossiTheDog Vibe accounting
Show threadmonotonehell 🏳️‍🌈🇦🇺 (Andrew)May 24
@catsalad @jpm @GossiTheDog that's just regular corporate financial accounting.
Show threadLegit_SpaghettiMay 24
@GossiTheDog
Show threadDave RahardjaMay 24
@GossiTheDog Looking forward to it.
Show threadSteveMay 24
@GossiTheDog I can’t decide whether a sarcastic shocked pikachu or a Futurama fry shocked shocked, well not really is the better reaction here 😂
Show threadIgnazio PalmisanoMay 24
@lilstevie @GossiTheDog Bender with cigar
Show threadDianeMay 24

@GossiTheDog

Massive bankruptcies triggering a new AI winter cannot come soon enough.

Show threadPJMay 24
Show threadAutMay 24
@GossiTheDog So the techbros that grifted all the crypto stuff then went on to do even more techbro grifting??? What a surprise!
Show threadHugo MillsMay 24

@GossiTheDog Captain Renaud shutting down Rick's casino levels of shocked.

Now, where are my winnings?

Show threadEric LiknessMay 24
@GossiTheDog Yup!
Show threadEm May 25
@GossiTheDog 👀👀👀
Show threadCraig DuncanMay 25

@GossiTheDog

The dot con club.

Show threaddevopscatsMay 24
@GossiTheDog reminds me a little of Intel's purchase of Saffron where banks invested millions, and then they found it was basically built on a house of cards and wouldn't scale and silently closed it all down without any real notifications and spent the next couple of years avoiding those customers
Show threadROTOPE~1 May 24

@GossiTheDog old news: What if the whole AI industry was one big intellectual fraud; the credulous being taken in by a smooth-talking-engine?

New hotness: what if AI was just regular fraud?

Show threadThomas SturmMay 24
@GossiTheDog Free summary here: https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/21/builderai_insolvency/
Builder.ai coded itself into a corner – now it's bankrupt

Comment: When 'AI-powered' means 'mostly humans and bad decisions'

The Register
Show threadThomas SturmMay 24
@GossiTheDog It's incredible how many completely fucking clueless people are dumping billions into companies like builder.ai just because they bought a $100 .ai domain.
Show threadjoy larkin 🌺✨May 24

@GossiTheDog

So I work on the sales/marketing side of tech, and usually how it goes is that companies are doing things like 1)getting customers on short-term PoCs but booking the potential full contract value as revenue, or 2)annualizing monthly contracts, or even dumber 3)counting sales pipeline as signed. In addition, you could do 4)funny business with contract cancellations or even worse, 5)deals with subsidiaries or such.

Show threadHein RagasMay 24
@joy @GossiTheDog Every single one of those are old tricks that SOX prevents you from doing, but of course that only applies if you are listed on a stock exchange
Show threadjoy larkin 🌺✨May 24

@heinragas @GossiTheDog

For a private, venture-backed startup, a knowledgeable, attentive board is supposed to review metrics, ask questions, etc.

But you know, egos and big numbers rule, etc, etc.

Show threadExpertenkommision CyberunfallMay 24

@GossiTheDog

Auditor.ai, when?

Show threadwasabi brainMay 24
@GossiTheDog I joined a hyperscaler backed AI company that said they had dozens of customers and were tripling sales every year. Once inside found out they only had two paying customers, neither of which was in prod. They just sorta counted any company they talked to as a customer. Tech was good but was so far from being able to help actual clients in their environment…it was basically a proof of concept that had to be bespoke rebuild from ground up to possibly one day work
Show threadRealGene ☣️May 25
@GossiTheDog
The accountant: