Vinod Khosla Backs Wajo’s Fo Agent to Win on AI Trust
Vinod Khosla backs Wajo’s Fo agent on trust as the AI assistant reaches 107 countries, handles calls and payments, and can hire humans for complex tasks.
Summary
On October 6, 2026, Vinod Khosla endorsed Wajo’s Fo over Meta’s Muse, OpenAI’s Dot and Instinct, arguing that personal agents require trust and that Meta’s advertising model makes users the product. Founder Shivani Poddar, a former Meta, Google and DeepMind engineer who worked on the first Facebook assistant and Gemini safety, says Wajo was designed around safety from day zero because agents cannot yet unlearn personal data. Jeff Dean and Gokul Rajaram also back Wajo, although its funding and user totals remain undisclosed. Wajo says Fo operates in 107 countries and has grown 10x since launching in late September.
Fo works across iMessage, WhatsApp and a web interface, organizing scheduling, gifting and life administration. It can call people or businesses, book or cancel services, use its own email, create virtual credit cards that conceal user details, make payments and hire humans when automation fails. An early airline upgrade call succeeded, but a reminder call to feed cats went poorly and provided unclear disclosure, highlighting unresolved standards for agent initiated calls.
Wajo has applied to patent its virtual card system and plans trusted contact lists plus recorded do not call preferences. When services block agents, Fo requests user action or creates a group with the user and business for verification. Wajo claims Fo complies with Amazon’s terms despite Amazon blocking Muse. Its next test is extending Fo into social settings involving multiple users while preserving privacy.
Positives
- Wajo says Fo operates in 107 countries and has grown 10x since its late September launch.
- Fo successfully called an airline to check upgrade availability during an early test.
- Fo can conceal payment details through virtual credit cards, use its own email and hire humans when automation is insufficient.
- Trusted contact lists and recorded do not call preferences are planned to give call recipients greater control.
- Jeff Dean and Gokul Rajaram have joined Vinod Khosla in backing Wajo’s trust focused approach.
Risks & concerns
- A test call reminding the recipient to feed cats went poorly and provided unclear disclosure about the agent’s identity.
- Wajo disclosed neither its funding total nor its number of users, limiting assessment of its scale.
- Poddar says agents cannot yet unlearn personal data, making early access decisions potentially permanent.
- Websites and services can block Fo, forcing users to intervene or complete additional verification.
- Wajo must preserve privacy in planned multiuser social settings while proving its safety claims under broader use.