Brisbane-based startup Enhance Labs has raised $2.3 million in pre-seed funding to solve the problem of “AI slop” — when AI tools fail to deliver on their promises and frustrate knowledge workers.
The round was led by Blackbird Ventures with support from QIC Ventures. The funds will be used to build a voice-first collaboration platform designed to support and enhance human thinking, rather than replace it.
Enhance Labs was founded by three tech veterans who saw the AI slop issue firsthand while working at some of the world’s biggest tech companies. Their goal is to bring human judgment back into the AI space.
The startup says many knowledge workers are frustrated with AI tools that claim to improve efficiency but often produce generic results that still need a lot of human editing.
“AI slop” refers to content that looks professional but lacks the insight and context needed to make a real impact at work.
According to recent research from BetterUp Labs and Stanford Social Media Lab, “workslop” takes an average of two hours to resolve each incident and costs US$9 million a year for a 10,000-person company.
“We’ve tried almost every AI tool available,” says Michael Tolo, partner at Blackbird Ventures.
“While they make first drafts faster, they actually slow down the most important work: uncovering key insights and communicating them clearly to improve decision-making.
“Enhance Labs built what’s actually needed: a way to capture your best ideas in the moment and refine them with nuanced context. Now, it’s where I do all my highest value thinking.”
Enhance Labs was founded by Haziq Nordin (ex-Amazon engineer), Mike Keating (a second-time founder), and Jesse Head (ex-Google designer).
They left their successful tech careers after realizing that the industry’s heavy focus on automation was hurting knowledge work instead of improving it.
“We’ve learned that the most valuable work still requires human insight,” says Nordin, the CTO of Enhance Labs.
“We’re not replacing that insight. We’re making it easier to capture, refine and share.”
Early users from Amazon, Canva, Microsoft, and top startups say they feel energized by the freedom to share ideas out loud whenever inspiration comes.
They often use it during commutes, between meetings, or even while grabbing a coffee.
The company says its voice-first approach turns these previously wasted moments into highly productive thinking time.
“The response from early users hints at something much bigger,” says Head, the chief data officer of Enhance Labs.
“We’re building the last mile of superintelligence, where increasingly powerful models meet human insight. Voice is just our starting point for reimagining how humans and AI collaborate.”
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