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"Why does Y Combinator seem to be consistently funding AI slop?" Because everyone is funding AI slop. The example you gave is more about AI workflow management vs actual slop. It's a slop enabler.
Probably the same reasons it funded JustinTV when the idea was live streaming Justin Kan’s life. YC bets on founders not ideas because that’s how they get Twitch paydays. Remember that the “Air” in AirBnB came from the idea of renting air mattresses. Smart motivated people can have dumb ideas. Iterating from a dumb idea is how good ideas are made.
Of course those big successes outweigh the failures measured by profit to YC.
The other side is they like to fund in area's that have a strong why now. One great answer to that is "Because it wasnt possible to build this X years ago" in other words they like to fund companies that are taking advantage of a new technical property, regulatory change, or cultural change.
AI hits 2/3 of those.
Now you can say "AI slop all you want" just like you can say "Crypto is a scam" but its a statement that ignores there has been profitable and viable new ventures built on top of these new compute properties.
TLDR: technological change is the basis of how VC's make money.
I'm not making a statement about the quality of businesses funded, but rather the fact there is a lot of opportunity.
"Why does Y Combinator seem to be consistently funding AI slop?" Because everyone is funding AI slop. The example you gave is more about AI workflow management vs actual slop. It's a slop enabler.
I think part of the reason everyone is funding AI slop is because companies like YC, 500 Startups, a16z do it.
I am going to play devil's advocate here and say that so many processes that can be automated with AI are still untouched. I'm not making a statement about the quality of businesses funded, but rather the fact there is a lot of opportunity.
Most of these startups that have any technical people at most have a couple.
1. FAANG or Ivy/Stanford/Harvard pedigree
2. Ex-founder with a good exit
3. Physically attractive/charismatic, a good salesman
4. Extremely high intelligence, ability, track record of aptitude
These qualities are more important than the idea of the company, which they expect to pivot or evolve over time. What doesn't change over time is the founders' relative advantage over their peers in these aspects, so it makes sense to prioritize them in selection