Work In Progress (WIP) - is an audacious newsletter brought to you by Conscious Talent that helps you keep a pulse on the intersection of inner work, consciousness, and new frontiers in how we work.

Every 2-3 weeks, we’ll highlight new job opportunities, funding announcements, breakthroughs in technology + research, and awesome people in our network we think you should know about.

It feels like the big hub-bub in the world of consciousness tech is centered on what the role of AI will be moving forward.

This topic has got even hotter since Slingshot, an AI therapy company started by the previous co-founder of Casper, raised $93m.

The proponents of AI therapy point to how it can support accessibility and scale. Right now there are far less therapists than there are people with mental health challenges…and only a portion of these people can actually afford to get care.

The critics point to how AI might dis-intermediate real-world connection, becoming a digital pacifier instead of source of true healing. There’s also safety and ethical concerns in using AI for therapy with vulnerable groups like teens, especially when they lack the cognitive maturity to filter harmful advice. This concern is understandable as it seems like we’re starting to see full grown adults spiral AI into hypnosis.

There’s also the whole question on embodiment.

If attuning to another person’s nervous system primes us for a state of healing, where does AI fit in? 

Most people I’m talking to, recognize that AI therapy will likely be a tool rather than a replacement for now. Where and how it best fits in is still unclear.

🔥 Featured Job Opportunities

Founding AI Engineer @ Manifest, a Gen Z–focused mental health company that gamifies emotional wellness through daily challenges designed to make self-care feel fun, rewarding, and habit-forming.

Data and Analytics Lead @ Mindbloom, the world’s leading mental health platform making psychedelic therapy more accessible through guided, at-home ketamine treatments that help people overcome anxiety, depression, and emotional blocks with clinical support and science-backed protocols.

Head of Global Communications @ Insight Timer, the world’s largest free meditation app and mindfulness platform, offering guided meditations, music, and courses from thousands of teachers to support mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being for millions around the globe.

Lead Product Manager @ Calm, a leading mental health and wellness platform helping millions improve sleep, reduce stress, and build mindfulness through immersive content and intuitive digital experiences.

🧬 Innovation In “The Field”

Wisdom Ventures has successfully secured $16M for the initial phase of its second fund, which focuses on startups that incorporate emotional intelligence and human resilience into their fundamental technologies.

Neuralink raised  $650M. This capital will accelerate global clinical trials of its brain‑computer interface. Neuralink is currently testing the implant in paralyzed patients enabling them to control devices using only their thoughts.

Ash is a bold new AI therapy app from Slingshot AI which just announced $93M in funding. The app blends emotional intelligence with cutting-edge tech to reimagine how we care for the mind.

🔦 Community Spotlight

Kwiri Yang is the founder of Second Time Founders and the Quantum AI Ecosystem, a global infrastructure platform supporting AI founders through capital-aligned growth, strategic community, and conscious leadership. An 8x founder, angel investor, and executive coach, she bridges entrepreneurial rigor with emotional intelligence to help leaders build ventures that are structurally sound, spiritually awake, and globally impactful.

Favorite transformational resources:

The Hoffman Process, Enneagram, Kolbe, and Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy are my foundational modalities  and I use them all together. Hoffman gave me the blueprint for healing inherited patterns, IFS grounds me in wholeness as I navigate the emotional edges of leadership and intimacy, and the Enneagram shows me how to move through male-dominated tech spaces with divine feminine strength, nurturing, clear, and unapologetically whole.

Words of wisdom to herself 10 years ago:

1. Your company will only scale to the level your nervous system can hold: tend to it like your most valuable asset.

2. True power comes from alignment, not achievement: build from wholeness, not from the wound.

3. You don’t have to earn a living: You are the room. Mead from that deeper knowing and trust that you already belong by you and mother earth.

🌀 Cool Things On The Internet

• Podcast - Romeo Stevens on Reducing Neuroticism, Metalearning, and Core Transformation (The Metagame)

• Article - From NBA All-Star to Shaolin monk: Victor Wembanyama goes on a deep meditation retreat

• Paper - Toward Responsible Development and Evaluation of LLMs in Psychotherapy

• Book - Modern Wisdom, Ancient Roots: The Movers and Shakers' Guide to Unstoppable Success (Srikumar Rao)

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