Former DOGE duo launches AI company as a ‘DOGE for the private sector’

Two former operatives of the controversial Department of Government Efficiency have launched a new artificial intelligence company called Special, backed by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, Elon Musk ally Steve Davis and others formerly associated with the government-slashing unit. 

Nate Cavanaugh and Justin Fox are calling the venture “DOGE for the private sector.” 

The pair went viral earlier this spring when the American Historical Association publicly posted hours of legal depositions online during a lawsuit over the mass termination of 1,400-plus grants at the National Endowment of the Humanities. 

At NEH, Fox — named as a defendant in that lawsuit alongside Cavanaugh — used AI to decide what grants to cancel by asking ChatGPT if NEH grants involved diversity, equity and inclusion.

U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon ruled last month that the resulting mass termination of grants was unconstitutional, calling the move a “textbook example of unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.” The cancellation of grants also violated due process and was done without statutory authority, wrote McMahon.

Now, Cavanaugh and Fox are focused on using an operating system being built by Special to automate manual tasks inside critical service businesses, Cavanaugh wrote in a blog post about the company. To do this, the DOGE alumni are acquiring companies and pursuing vertical integration.

The new company has one healthcare-focused vertical so far, called Figure Health, in which they’re using the operating model in the name of improving common tasks like patient intake and billing. A first acquisition is underway in Texas. Special didn’t respond to a request for additional details.

Before DOGE, Fox worked in private equity. Cavanaugh joined DOGE after starting a series of tech companies. 

Their latest venture appears to have been in the works for some time. WIRED previously reported that Special described itself as “a technology investment platform” focused on crypto investments. 

Other “DOGE teammates” in addition to Davis are supporting the new company, wrote Cavanaugh, including Antonio Gracias, Anthony Armstrong and Donald Park, as well as the venture capital firm BANNER VC, also launched by former members of DOGE, and venture capital firm Human Capital, co-founded by Baris Akis, who informally helped DOGE headhunt talent.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Palantir chief technology officer Shyam Sankar are also backing the effort.

A video posted alongside the announcement highlights Musk talking about DOGE before flashing through clips of celebrities like Muhammad Ali, Caitlin Clark, Theodore Roosevelt, Barack Obama, Steve Jobs and Kobe Bryant — as well as President Donald Trump — set against a 2003 song by Jay-Z: Public Service Announcement (Interlude).

A deposition clip in which a lawyer asks Cavanaugh if he regrets that people may have lost income is featured prominently.

“No,” Cavanaugh repeats twice, saying it was more important to reduce the deficit. 

The video doesn't include the next part of the interaction, in which the lawyer asks Cavanaugh if DOGE did reduce the federal deficit. 

“No, we didn’t,” said Cavanaugh.