Tue 18 March, 2025 - Robots in patagonia sweaters

Plus, five AI tools you may have missed

WELCOME

Happy Tuesday, legends. Welcome back to another edition of The Frontier — our weekly newsletter covering the best new AI launches on Product Hunt. This week, we’ve got a robot investor, a handy notes tool, and a breakdown of all the Manus hype

TOP LAUNCHES

Your VC is a robot

TOP LAUNCHES

No Cap – An AI-powered angel investor that automates early-stage funding decisions for startups. It aims to streamline and democratize the investment process by leveraging machine learning to identify promising ventures.

Twos PALs – A personal AI assistant designed to organize tasks, notes, and ideas into structured lists. It helps users stay on top of their to-dos with minimal effort, making productivity feel more natural.

Mistral Small 3.1 – A lightweight yet powerful AI model optimized for high-speed inference and efficiency. It balances compact size with strong performance, making it suitable for latency-sensitive applications.

Cuckoo – A real-time AI translator built for seamless multilingual communication. It enables global teams to work together without language barriers, ensuring smoother collaboration.

Wispr Flow for Windows – An AI-driven dictation tool that enables users to write three times faster by speaking naturally, with real-time formatting and error correction across all applications.

SPONSORED BY

New Relic

The future of Intelligent Observability just dropped, and if you missed it live, don’t worry—we’ve got you covered.

Watch on-demand sessions featuring top industry experts as they break down AI-powered monitoring, system performance boosts, and all the major releases announced. Prefer a hands-on approach? Explore interactive workshops that walk you through New Relic’s latest innovations in real-world scenarios.

THE BIG IDEA

Is China winning the AI race?

Manus AI is China’s latest entry into the race for autonomous AI agents, and it’s got people talking. Unlike typical AI assistants that need constant prompting, Manus runs in the background, handling complex tasks—like analyzing stock trends or ranking job candidates—without waiting for instructions. It’s built on a multi-agent system that breaks down big problems into smaller tasks, then executes them asynchronously in the cloud. In theory, it’s a step toward AI that works like an actual assistant rather than a glorified autocomplete.

But does it live up to the hype? Early tests show promise, but Manus has already stumbled—fabricating data in financial reports and lifting text directly from existing websites. That raises big questions about trust and oversight, especially as China pushes to make Manus a major player in its AI ecosystem.

If it works as intended, it could be a glimpse into the future of fully autonomous AI agents. If not, well… at least it’ll make for some interesting case studies on what happens when AI gets too independent.

TRENDING DISCUSSIONS

Are software builders going extinct?

AI and no-code tools mean anyone can build something in minutes, so Alex, founder of Questflow, kicked off a debate: Does software still hold value, or is the real challenge everything that comes after?

Some takes from the discussion:

💬 Nika: If an app takes ten minutes to build instead of months, of course, it’s worth less. But now the real cost is in marketing, customer support, and actually getting people to use it.

💬 Alan Rivera: No-code tools are great, but they’re not free. You’re swapping dev costs for a bunch of SaaS subscriptions that add up fast. Cheap at first, but not as cheap as it looks.

💬 Hussein: “SaaS tools feel like magic at first, then you check your billing statement and realize you’re basically funding their Series A.”

So, is software turning into a commodity, or is building just the easy part now?

Reply

or to participate.