Tamay Besiroglu, former Director of AI Strategy at Meta, is back with a new AI startup Mechanize. The company’s goal is to automate all sectors of work, especially white collar jobs. The companies’ lofty project seeks to do much more than replace specific jobs, but reshape the whole economy. Mechanize has already excited early attention and investment from prominent technology leaders.
Mechanize would like to displace human workers at every level—from custodians all the way up to extension agents. In the United States alone, it focuses on a massive total addressable market of more than $18 trillion annually. When we look at the entire globe, this number increases dramatically to well over $60 trillion each year. If we can automate repetitive work, Besiroglu argues, we will increase wages for humans. Instead, workers will transition into more complementary roles that AI is unable to perform.
“We believe that completely automating labor could generate vast abundance, much higher standards of living, and new goods and services that we can’t even imagine today,” stated Besiroglu, emphasizing the potential economic benefits of such advancements.
The incubator is heavily committed to replacing white-collar work, as suggested by Besiroglu’s statement. “Our immediate focus is indeed on white-collar work,” he asserted, highlighting the intention to revolutionize professions that typically require high levels of skill and education.
In a challenging and fast-evolving climate, investors are looking very closely at Mechanize’s novel approach. High-profile investors including Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, Patrick Collison, Dwarkesh Patel, Jeff Dean, Sholto Douglas, and Marcus Abramovitch are already supporting the company. Abramovitch, a managing partner at crypto hedge fund AltX and an advocate for effective altruism, expressed his confidence in the startup’s potential: “The team is exceptional across many dimensions and have thought deeper on AI than anyone I know.”
Even as excitement built around Mechanize, some technologists raised alarms about the societal impacts of this kind of automation. Anthony Aguirre commented on the potential downsides: “Huge respect for the founders’ work at Epoch, but sad to see this. The automation of most human labor is indeed a giant prize for companies, which is why many of the biggest companies on Earth are already pursuing it. I think it will be a huge loss for most humans.”
“Alas, this seems like approximate confirmation that Epoch research was directly feeding into frontier capability work, though I had hope that it wouldn’t literally come from you.”
Mechanize is also hiring new talent, as the young startup looks to grow its business. As a startup working to automate physically demanding work, Besiroglu stressed their understanding and focus on the technical challenges involved in this process. He framed this effort as a proper issue to be fixed.
In addition to his ambitious goals for Mechanize, Besiroglu reassured potential employees and the public by stating, “Even in scenarios where wages might decrease, economic well-being isn’t solely determined by wages. People typically receive income from other sources—such as rents, dividends, and government welfare.”
The new startup’s mission directly addresses this area, focusing on adding wealth in lives which Besiroglu goes on to describe as “explosive economic growth.” Mechanize’s mission is to change the conversation around automation, technology, and the future of work—putting people first. It accomplishes this by streamlining workflows and opening up new slots for economic participation.