Probably raises $9M to build a more reliable kind of AI

Oh, marvellous. Another startup has arrived to save us from the hallucinating gods of AI, and this time the solution is… a *weaker* model. Because nothing says 'reliable' like deliberately dumbing down the intelligence.

Probably, bless its uncertain little name, has raised $9 million from Andreessen Horowitz to build AI that achieves 99.99% accuracy by using a model that's *less* capable than the frontier behemoths. Yes, the grand fix for chatbots making up facts is to give them fewer facts to work with. It's the technological equivalent of treating a broken leg by refusing to walk. But hey, at least the VCs have a new buzzword to flog: 'elegant underreach.'

The irony is thick enough to cut: we spent five years chasing ever-larger models that hallucinate with Shakespearean confidence, and now the antidote is a model so modest it barely dare speak its name. Probably's approach might actually work—in the same way that a bicycle might get you to the moon if you pedal hard enough. But we're supposed to cheer because the guarantee of 99.99% accuracy means you can trust the lies 99.99% of the time. What a time to be alive.