AI was once again the buzzword for this latest batch of YC Demo Day companies. Nearly 190 companies participated in Y Combinator’s Winter ’26 cohort and presented their startups in a Demo Day on Tuesday.  These companies are working on products across industries such as law, transportation, and healthcare.   I did not, admittedly, listen to every single product pitch, given the sheer size of the cohort and this year’s Demo Day format available to media. YC posted the pitch videos, one by one, around 20 minutes after the founders presented (rather than a livestream, or an in-person session invite).   Instead, I read about all 190 of the startups presenting and spent the day watching pitches from those I found intriguing, then narrowed it down to the 16 that stood out as the most interesting startups of this overflowing YC class.  ARC Prize Foundation What it does: Creates benchmarks to help measure progress…