The Twenty Minute VC (20VC) · Thursday, September 10, 2026
A debate is emerging regarding the ethics and sustainability of AI startups that operate by 'breaking rules,' whether legal or terms of service. While some see this as a necessary path to innovation, others caution against the long-term viability of such models.
“And many, there are many cases of things in AI that are exciting because you break the rules.”
“The truth is, I've learned that there's no one answer here, right? Like the Rezzi example, and just for you listeners, what happened is that the Instinct agent, one of the classic use cases for this is getting reservations at hard to get restaurants. So a whole bunch of people started using it over the weekend and the pounding on the Rezzi reservation API. So things break. And that's the kind of thing that's going to happen.”
“The flip side is, I've talked with multiple public company CEOs who say their their hamstringed, their hands are tied behind their backs. They can't compete with startups. Not because they can't do it, okay? True. But because their legal teams won't let them. Literally.”