This week on Work Less, we’re talking about $180 million in fresh funding for n8n and what it means for the automation wars - can they really take on Zapier, Make, and the old-school RPA giants?

Then we test drive OpenAI’s brand new browser “Atlas by ChatGPT” (spoiler: it’s… not great), and unpack what makes AI browsers like Daya and Perplexity different, or at least less terrifying for your passwords.

Finally, we get philosophical (and a little doomsday-y) about “AI slop” — the growing mess of machine-generated junk clogging the internet, and whether the “dead internet theory” might be less of a conspiracy and more of a preview.

No hype, no fluff - just two people trying to make sense of the automation chaos.

🧰 Tools, Companies & Topics Mentioned

• n8n (Series C funding, $180M raise)
• Sequoia Capital, Accel, Nvidia (investors)
• Zapier, Make (Integromat), Lindy, Relay, Gumloop
• OpenAI’s Atlas Browser
• Daya, Arc (The Browser Company), Perplexity
• Claude 4.5 Sonnet (Anthropic)
• Gemini (Google)
• ChatGPT (GPT-5)
• Claude Skills
• AI Slop / Dead Internet Theory
• Kurzgesagt (video reference)

This week, Justin and Tom unpack the chaos around OpenAI’s new Agent Builder, the so-called “Zapier killer.” Spoiler: it’s not killing anything yet (except maybe developer patience). We break down what Agent Builder actually does, how it leans on the MCP protocol, and why it’s nowhere near replacing tools like Zapier, Make, or Lindi for real-world, multi-user automations.

Then, we shift gears to talk about Retool’s quiet domination of the agent-building space, their slick new AI + workflow features, and why their version of “vibe coding” might finally make sense. Airtable’s Omni Builder and Replit get some side-eye too, all in a week where OpenAI tries to hug every industry at once.

Also: guardrails, evals, why constraints make for better creativity, and a quick nod to Canadian Thanksgiving 🇨🇦.

🧰 Tools & Companies Mentioned:

• OpenAI Agent Builder
• Zapier
• Make / Integromat
• Lindi
• Retool
• Airtable Omni Builder
• Replit
• Lovable
• MCP (Model Context Protocol)
• Gemini (Google)

This week we get into the weeds of AI hype vs. reality:

• Justin brings up Higgs Field, an AI-first marketing platform with the most Gen Z-coded UX imaginable. Messy, loud, and -surprisingly- brilliant for marketers.
• Tom unpacks how Oracle added a casual $1 trillion to its market cap by shifting from ERP giant to AI infrastructure heavyweight (plus why some companies are still running the other way).
• We break down the bizarre three-sentence “joint statement” from Microsoft + OpenAI that somehow manages to say… absolutely nothing.

Also: AI influencers, fake UGC everywhere, and whether we’ll ever trust what we see online again.

If you want the no-fluff version of what’s actually happening in AI, this one’s for you.

Companies & Tools Mentioned

• Higgs Field (AI marketing platform)
• Anthropic, OpenAI, Google (model providers behind Higgs Field)
• V0 (AI video)
• Nano Banana (AI images)
• Oracle (ERP turned AI infra player)
• SAP (ERP competitor)
• AWS, Google Cloud, Azure (cloud providers in the mix)
• Stargate (Oracle + OpenAI + SoftBank mega project)
• Microsoft (partner drama with OpenAI)
• OpenAI + Jony Ive + LoveFrom (hardware rumors)
• Skydance & Paramount (Larry Ellison family business moves)