This Sequoia-backed lab thinks the brain is 'the floor, not the ceiling' for AI

AI lab Flapping Airplanes (techcrunch.com/2026/01/29/flapping-airplanes-a…) just landed $180 million in seed funding from the likes of Google Ventures, Sequoia, and Index to do something most labs have quietly given up on: making models learn like humans instead of vacuuming up the internet. The founding team, made up of brothers Ben and Asher Spector and co-founder Aidan Smith, is betting that radically more data-efficient training could open the door to entirely new AI capabilities.

Today on Equity (techcrunch.com/podcasts/equity), TechCrunch AI editor Russell Brandon sits down with all three founders to discuss why investors wrote such a large check for a lab with no product, what becomes possible with more efficient AI, and why they're prioritizing creativity over credentials.

Listen to the full episode to hear about:

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Why the Flapping Airplanes team is focused on research first, commercialization later

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What the "neolabs" generation means for AI development

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How they plan to make AI models 1,000x more data efficient. A hint? The team thinks the brain is "the floor, not the ceiling" for AI capabilities

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