Vinod Khosla bets on Wajo for the AI agent market

Poddar, who previously held engineering roles at Meta, Google, and DeepMind, architected Wajo to prioritize user safety from the start. Unlike competitors, Wajo uses a virtual credit card system to shield personal financial data and employs an email-based communication layer to navigate service blocks. The platform can handle tasks ranging from scheduling to complex errands, even offering the option to hire a human assistant when automated processes fall short.

Though the company has not disclosed its total funding, it counts industry veterans like Jeff Dean and Gokul Rajaram among its backers. Wajo reports usage across 107 countries and claims a tenfold increase in growth since its late September launch. As the industry grapples with the ethical implications of AI agents making autonomous calls, Poddar is banking on a 'privacy-by-design' philosophy—specifically focusing on the technical challenge of teaching agents to unlearn data—to differentiate her product from the data-hungry models offered by big tech.