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☆ Andreessen Horowitz investor says half of Google's white-collar staff probably do 'no real work'
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-06 | by ( Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A general partner at Andreessen Horowitz is the latest to join the debate around "fake work" in Big Tech. David Ulevitch said "half the white-collar staff at Google probably does no real work." AdvertisementAn investor at famed Silicon Valley firm Andreessen Horowitz is the latest VC to get involved in the debate around "fake work" in the tech industry. Advertisement"I don't think it's crazy to believe that half the white-collar staff at Google probably does no real work," he said. Other VCs have also entered the debate around "fake work" and overstaffing within Big Tech in recent years.

Persons: Andreessen Horowitz, David Ulevitch, —, Emily Sundberg, Ulevitch, Marc Andreessen, Keith Rabois, Thomas Siebel, they've, overhiring Organizations: Google, Meta, Service, Cisco, Big Tech, Tech, PayPal Mafia, Facebook Locations: Big Tech, Silicon, America

☆ AI is ushering edtech into a new era. Three investors share what they're most excited about in the space.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-01 | by ( Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The past few years have been tough for edtech companies. In recent months, multiple edtech startups have raised fresh funding rounds while specifically touting AI as a core part of their business model. These deals could signal that AI is ushering in a new era for edtech companies, and VCs who invest in the space are excited about the renaissance. And Ednition, also one of Donnelly's portfolio companies, provides an infrastructure-as-a-service platform for other edtech companies to improve the data that goes into their AI models. That's why it's so important to invest in ed-tech AI startups that help people rethink how they interact with technology and learn new skills necessary to successfully enter the workforce, he said.

Persons: PitchBook, VCs, Brian Dixon, Dixon, we've, Numerade, Kapoor, Katelyn Donnelly, she's, I've, you'll, Donnelly, Avalance, OpenAI, we're, ChatGPT, Ryan Craig, Craig, edtech Organizations: Business, Labs, Kapor, Partners, Chingona Ventures, TechCrunch, Kapoor Capital, Lirvana Labs, Odyssey Education, University Ventures, ACT Locations: VCs, edtech

☆ Higher-paid employees looking for work are having a tough time, and it could be a sign of a shift in the workplace
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-30 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . In today's big story, we examine how tough the job market is for the well-paid employee . That's the current job trend, as higher-paid employees are having trouble finding work despite a historically strong labor market. iStock; Rebecca Zisser/BIThe so-called white-collar recession could also have a lasting impact on the job market for high earners. AdvertisementIt speaks to the broader theme of efficiency Big Tech companies have touted for the better part of a year .

Persons: —, Alyssa Powell, Insider's Aki Ito, BI's Emily Stewart, Aki, Rebecca Zisser, Wall, There's, Christine Ji, Kenneth Tan, Alexander Spatari, Abanti Chowdhury, Christine Ji's, Raymond James, Larry Adam, Goldman Sachs, Elon Musk, Premier Li Qiang, Beijing . Wang Ye, Musk, Li Qiang, Jensen Huang, Douglas Sacha, Getty, Bob Bakish, Shari, David Kohl, Shopify, Changpeng Zhao, Dan DeFrancesco, Jordan Parker Erb, Hallam Bullock, George Glover Organizations: Business, Service, Hamptons, Big Tech, Tech, Amazon, Bank of America, Elon, Premier, AP Elon Musk's, Federal Reserve, Paramount Locations: America, Beijing ., Xinhua, China, New York, London

Steve Bowsher, In-Q-TelSteve Bowsher, president and CEO of In-Q-Tel. He made an early bet on Palantir, blowing the doors open for Silicon Valley techies to go after federal contracts. The son of a federal employee who grew up devouring spy novels, Bowsher has always been interested in the work of the government but actually cut his teeth in Silicon Valley. After graduating from Stanford, he worked for three startups and spent eight years at venture fund InterWest Partners. By combining Silicon Valley's swashbuckling ethos with a government agency's mission-driven mentality, Bowsher has helped shepherd some of the biggest defense tech success stories of the past two decades.

Persons: Steve Bowsher, Bowsher Organizations: Magazine, Stanford, InterWest Partners Locations: Menlo Park , California, Silicon Valley

☆ A tax compliance startup raised millions. Then it abruptly shut down, and the founder cut off contact.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-29 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Even the human-resources firm retained to help employees with offboarding, Tandem, quit soon after the layoffs because it never got paid. Shannon Flynn Bevers, Tandem's president and founder, said that she tried to help employees but that Johnson stopped responding. "When startups go out of business, they will pay employees their final paycheck. Johnson told employees to take a weeklong furlough and blamed the issue on a technical snafu. She also told employees they could file a claim with their state labor department or hire an employment lawyer.

Persons: Slack, Shiloh Johnson, Johnson, they'd, Benjamin Matthews, Shannon Flynn Bevers, I've, Flynn Bevers, VCs, Josh Felser, Aerin Paulo, ComplYant's, I'd, ComplYant, podcaster David Sacks, Michael Tam, Tam, Matthews, Ryan Cady, Lusely Martinez, Martinez, Cady, paychecks, wasn't, Taliah McGuire, McGuire, what's, Shiloh Luckey, Penelope, We've Organizations: Business, offboarding, . Venture, BI, Craft Ventures, ComplYant, Mucker, Slauson, — Mucker, Fika Ventures, Employees Locations: Los Angeles, Shiloh, San Francisco, Colorado, New York, TikTok

☆ It looks like Microsoft's ex-Bing boss just threw shade at Mustafa Suleyman
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Former Bing chief Mikhail Parakhin appeared to subtly criticize Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman. Parakhin wrote it's "hard to disagree" when an X user said "we need you." The comment was in response to a post quoting Suleyman's recent TED Talk that was blasted by VCs. Mikhail Parakhin, who stepped down from his role just days after Suleyman became CEO of Microsoft AI, commented under an X post about the DeepMind cofounder. An X user wrote "We need you ngl" (short for "not gonna lie") under a post summarizing Suleyman's TED Talk last week, which some critics have been ripping into.

Persons: Mikhail Parakhin, Mustafa Suleyman, Parakhin, Suleyman's, —, Suleyman Organizations: Bing, Microsoft, VCs, Service, Business

☆ VCs are obsessed with vector databases. Here are seven AI startups in the space that have raised millions from investors.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-19 | by ( Samantha Stokes | Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

VCs are hungry to back vector database startups and other behind-the-scenes tech that improves AI. Vector databases store and structure data that LLMs can then pull from. Business Insider has idenfied seven vector database startups that have been early winners. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . Vector databases capture and store the essence of a particular piece of data that a machine-learning program or LLM can then pull from.

Persons: — Organizations: Business, Service

☆ An invite-only audio app has Silicon Valley and creators buzzing. But can it last?
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-16 | by ( Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Somewhere between Clubhouse and X (formerly Twitter), Airchat's feed of audio snippets transcribed by the app has sparked conversation. Already, the invite-only app has a channel dedicated to the creator economy titled "Creators" — including industry figures like Eric Wei (CEO of Karat), Lia Haberman (influencer marketing expert), and Brett Dashevsky (host of Creator Economy NYC events). Dashevsky, a self-described "avid Twitter user," said that Airchat is already displacing his average Twitter screen time. It wouldn't come as a surprise to anyone in tech or social media to see Meta double down on Threads' audio tools. But she added that she could see Meta brainstorming ways to promote Threads' audio tools, which could become a concern for Airchat.

Persons: Naval Ravikant, Brian Norgard, Airchat, Washington Post's Taylor Lorenz, George Santos, Eric Wei, Lia Haberman, Brett Dashevsky, Haberman, it's, Diana, Umana, Meghana Dhar, Meta, Dashevsky, I've Organizations: Naval, CPO, Business, Tech, Republican, Apple, Big Tech Locations: VCs, Washington

☆ Earnings season is here. These are the biggest storylines the market is watching.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-15 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon issued a warning in the bank's earnings report Friday. With so much at stake, here's an earnings season cheat sheet of when some of the biggest companies are reporting and the storylines to follow. Themes to watch: AI could reduce the number of junior bank employees thanks to the tech automating their grunt work . Themes to watch: Netflix was dubbed the king of streaming earlier this year after a big earnings report. The bank's earnings report beat analysts' expectations, but advisory revenues were down 21% year-over-year.

Persons: —, Donald Trump's, iStock, Rebecca Zisser, Jamie Dimon, Dimon, Michael M, Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, Will Meta, Bob Iger's, Brooks Kraft, Jeremy Barnum, it's, Jeff Currie, Justin Sullivan, Tesla, Elon Musk, Musk, Marco Bottigelli, Yevgen Romanenko, Tyler Le, Michelle Grisé, Dan DeFrancesco, Jordan Parker Erb, Hallam Bullock, George Glover, Grace Lett Organizations: Service, Business, JPMorgan . Tech, JPMorgan, New York Stock Exchange, Finance Key Companies, Bank of America, Companies, Meta, Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia, Amazon, Retail, Walmart, Costco, Netflix, Disney, Paramount Global, Boeing, Brooks Kraft LLC, Getty, BI, Healthcare, RAND, Boston Marathon Locations: Israel, Russia, United States, New York, London, Chicago

☆ Healthcare Startup Valuations Are Coming Back to Earth — Except in AI
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-15 | by ( Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The frenzy has investors across industries rushing to get into AI deals, including in healthcare. AdvertisementStill, healthcare startups using AI have already raised hundreds of millions of dollars this year, especially to automate tedious administrative tasks for providers and health plans. Andrew Arruda, CEO of Flexpa FlexpaThe AI long-haulNot every startup needs to be an AI startup. AdvertisementPlus, healthcare companies that do want to use AI face higher stakes than other industries, contending with numerous privacy, regulatory, and safety issues, Kong noted. For example — if healthcare AI makes a mistake, could patient health be impacted?

Persons: —, Scott Barclay, Nina Achadijan, Shiv Rao Abridge, VCs, nabbed, CodaMetrix, Aike Ho, Christina Farr, Andrew Arruda, that'll, Flexpa, he's, Flexpa's, Kong, Todd Cozzens, it's Organizations: Service, Business, Insight Partners, ACME Capital, nab, Catalyst, HealthQuest, Transformation Locations: Tech, Kong

☆ 'I think the VCs won't touch this': Bullpen Capital's Duncan Davidson reacts to Adam Neumann's $1B startup
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-11 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via Email'I think the VCs won't touch this': Bullpen Capital's Duncan Davidson reacts to Adam Neumann's $1B startupDuncan Davidson, co-founder of Bullpen Capital, and Dan Primack, Axios business editor, join CNBC's 'The Exchange' to share their reactions to Adam Neumann's new real estate startup, Flow.

Persons: Capital's Duncan Davidson, Adam Neumann's, Duncan Davidson, Dan Primack, CNBC's Organizations: Bullpen Capital

☆ Elon Musk's xAI is luring more investors through special purpose vehicles charging high fees
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk is raising funds for xAI at a $15 billion pre-money valuation. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementElon Musk's new AI startup is luring more investors through special purpose vehicles that charge hefty fees, according to an email sent this week. Related storiesThe email lays out the terms if investors want to take part in the xAI financing round through special purpose vehicles. AdvertisementFor prospective xAI investors, these commitments come at a cost.

Persons: Elon Musk, —, Elon, Musk, Kali Hays Organizations: xAI, Twitter, Service, Business Locations: khays@businessinsider.com

☆ How India is challenging China as Asia's tech powerhouse
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-05 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +30 min

New Delhi has sought to woo foreign tech companies and has been increasingly successful, with giants like Apple increasing their presence in the country. Tom Chitty: For years China has been Asia's tech powerhouse where the world's electronics and some of the biggest companies on the planet are located. And I think India is in the very early stages, to put it quite bluntly, of trying to do that. Tom Chitty: India have got an election this year as well, which is going to be interesting to see what happens there. You know, India has aligned itself slightly more to the countries that are currently a bit more anti-China, shall we say?

Persons: Tom Chitty, Arjun Kharpal, It's, Let's, I'm, Arjun, You'll, We're, we've, what's, gunning, Narendra Modi, it's, Tom, Modi, Trump, Apple, COVID, there's, Taiwan's, that's, Karen Tso, China's, Tim Cook, Raghuram Rajan, We've, feasibly, India's, let's, he's, you've, we'll, I've, We'll Organizations: Apple, CNBC, China, India's, Foxconn, Micron, Tata Electronics, Taiwan's Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp, Reserve Bank of India, CCP, Samsung, Bain, India, London Locations: China, Tencent, Asia, India, Delhi, Washington, Beijing, American, COVID, U.S, Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea, Bangalore, Goa, Kolkata, Mumbai, Europe, Silicon, New York, Germany

☆ It looks like it could be the end of the AI hype cycle
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-03 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Read previewSome AI leaders are starting to ask themselves the question: should we be buying the hype? Almost a year and a half on from the launch of ChatGPT, the hype around the technology is seemingly everywhere. AI image generator Stability AI also lost its chief, Emad Mostaque, amid reports of financial pressure. Others though, like Google deep learning expert François Chollet, are keen to stress just how far off human intelligence today's AI models actually are. Until some real signs of money-making, human-level intelligence do emerge, expect more to call it all hype.

Persons: —, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, it's, Gary Marcus, Sam Altman, Marcus, GmjUDKhc6k — Gary Marcus, @GaryMarcus, Mustafa Suleyman, Emad Mostaque, Eric Schmidt, Demis Hassabis, Musk, François Organizations: Service, Business, Google, Invest, Investors, New York University, Nvidia, NVidia, Blackwell, Microsoft, Financial Locations: OpenAI, Sequoia

☆ Despite gen AI hype, venture capitalists are still largely on the sidelines
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-03 | by ( Ashley Capoot | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The dearth of dealmaking shows that, despite a rebound in tech stocks last year and continuing hype around generative AI, venture capitalists are still largely on the sidelines. The Federal Reserve has indicated that cuts to its benchmark interest rate are likely coming in 2024, but for the moment they remain steady. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday it will take a while for policymakers to evaluate the current state of inflation, keeping the timing of potential interest rate cuts uncertain. There were 2,882 venture deals in the first quarter, the lowest since the third quarter of 2017, according to PitchBook. According to PitchBook, Reddit and Astera made up 73.4% of the total exit value in the U.S. in the first quarter.

Persons: Jerome Powell, PitchBook, Astera, Gary Tann Organizations: PitchBook, Federal, Astera Labs Locations: U.S, Rubrik

☆ Mike Lynch-backed legal tech startup Luminance raises $40 million, capitalizing on AI hype
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-02 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Mathisworks | Digitalvision Vectors | Getty ImagesLegal technology firm Luminance has raised $40 million in fresh funding from investors to grow its U.S. footprint, capitalizing on the wave of investor interest surrounding artificial intelligence. The company told CNBC that it raised the fresh capital in a Series B funding round led by U.S. venture fund March Capital. "We had lots of interest from lots of VCs," Eleanor Lightbody, CEO of Luminance, told CNBC in an interview on Tuesday. Lightbody said that businesses are investing in AI tools like Luminance's to keep a competitive edge, as well as to reduce costs. Luminance is one firm of the many generating buzz from investors thanks to the hype swirling around artificial intelligence.

Persons: Slaughter, Eleanor Lightbody, Lightbody Organizations: CNBC, U.S, National Grid Partners, National Grid, Koch Industries, Hitachi, Yokogawa, Liberty Mutual, LG Chem, BBC Studios, University of Cambridge, Companies, Mistral, Microsoft, Amazon, Investors

☆ How Big Tech Companies Sabotage New Startups — From the Inside
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-01 | by ( Adam Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

They don't replace the tech giants — they just get bought by the tech giants. A new paper by two leading scholars suggests that these days, Big Tech doesn't have to resort to buyouts to crush aspiring startups. At this point, Big Tech looks at promising startups the way evil alien empires in science fiction look at helpless planets. The data that Big Tech shares — or doesn't share — can play an instrumental role in shaping a startup's work. Finally, the big companies use their clout on Capitol Hill in an effort to impose stricter regulations on the startups they're ostensibly trying to help.

Persons: that's, That's, Joe Biden, Mark Lemley, Matt Wansley, they're, Wansley, Who, Lemley, Sam Altman, Satya Nadella, Barbara Ortutay, Florian Ederer, Elon Musk, OpenAI, Marc Andreessen, watchdogs, Ederer, Anthropic, Adam Rogers Organizations: Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Federal Trade Commission, Justice Department, Big Tech, Stanford University, Cardozo School of Law, Google, Facebook, Star, Yale, London Business School, Tech, Boston University, titans, IBM, Dells, Business Locations: Silicon Valley, —

☆ The effects of the fatal bridge collapse in Baltimore will be felt for months
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-31 | by ( Matt Turner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . On the agenda today:AdvertisementBut first: The effects of the fatal bridge collapse in Baltimore will be felt for months. ET Tuesday, the 984-ft long container ship Dali crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, bringing it down. AdvertisementNow, China is in a similar situaJtion as Japan once was, as it stares down a property market collapse. But Japan's recovery won't be easy to replicate for China, which has resisted stimulus packages and faces a difficult trade market.

Persons: —, Tim Cook's, Francis Scott Key, Tasos Katopodis, Dali, It's, Sam Altman, Kent Nishimura VCs, Altman, Sam Altman's, Jenny Chang, Rodriguez, I'm, Hannes P Albert, Chelsea Jia Feng, ChatGPT, Mark Zuckerberg Organizations: Business, Service, Apple, OpenAI's, Getty Images, Microsoft Locations: Baltimore, Port, London, China Japan, China, Japan

☆ In AI rivalry with the U.S., China is behind on a key asset: Its own OpenAI
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-31 | by ( Rebecca Fannin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

In China, which is angling to produce its own chips or get more from Nvidia, no dominant gen AI contender to OpenAI has emerged yet among dozens of Chinese tech titans and startups. Last year, funding of gen AI upstarts accounted for nearly half of $42.5 billion invested globally in artificial intelligence companies, according to CB Insights. "China is at a big disadvantage in building the foundation models for Gen AI," said Rui Ma, an AI investor and co-founder of investment syndicate and podcast TechBuzz China. China does have the tech talent to make a difference in the AI rivalry in the years ahead. Additionally, among top-tier AI researchers working at U.S. institutions, 38% have China as their country of origin, compared with 37% from the U.S.New Chinese gen AI market entries can also reach mass adoption quickly.

Persons: Ernie Bot, OpenAI, Paul Triolo, Jenny Xiao, Rui Ma, Triolo, Sora, Ma, Marco Polo, Baidu's, Ernie, Leong Organizations: Global, Trade, Hangzhou International, Nvidia, tech titans, titans Microsoft, Google, Amazon, U.S, Dentons Global Advisors, Leonis Capital, OpenAI, Paulson Institute, U.S ., Samsung, Apple, Baidu Locations: Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, Washington ,, Silicon, San Francisco, The U.S, U.S, OpenAI

☆ Enhanced Games Are Olympics With Steroids, Pay; Meet the Founder
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-31 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

Several countries pay bonuses to medal winners, and high-profile athletes may get brand deals and sponsorships, but many Olympic athletes live quiet lives. AdvertisementD'Souza suggested he received funding for the Enhanced Games in the "single-digit millions" but declined to specify the amount. So far, it's unclear what kind of talent Enhanced Games will attract. He said that at the Enhanced Games, athletes would get comprehensive health checkups to monitor the effects of "whatever enhancement protocols" they're on and ensure they're fit to compete. D'Souza said he planned to announce more details about the Enhanced Games this summer — right around the Paris Olympics.

Persons: Aron D'Souza, gymgoers, D'Souza, Thomas Bach, Bach, Uber, Christian, Christian Angermayer, Balaji Srinivasan, Coinbase's, Peter Thiel, Angermayer, Srinivasan, Thiel, Hulk, Charles Harder, Harder, didn't, Sargon, Peter, VCs, Thiel hasn't, he's, James Magnussen, James, he'd, Marta Nawrocka, BI's Gabby Landsverk, Jim Walden, Grigory Rodchenkov, it's, who'd Organizations: International, Olympic, IOC, West Germany's Olympic, The New York Times, Business, Apeiron Investment, University of Melbourne, Gawker Media, BuzzFeed, Gawker, Abrams, Australian Financial, US, Doping Agency, UFC, Drug Free, NFL, NBA, MLB, Testing Agency, ITA, CNN, FBI, Sports, Gaming Initiative, Paris Locations: Miami, Lausanne, Switzerland, Oxford, Australian, Russia

☆ Wirecard tried to destroy its whistleblower. Now, he's founded a startup to protect others who speak out.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-29 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Read previewBeing a whistleblower was antithetical to everything Pav Gill had done during his nine-year stint as a corporate lawyer. When Wirecard headhunted the Singaporean native to be its head of legal, Gill took up the position enthusiastically. Despite the fruitful outcome, the experience of being a whistleblower traumatized Gill. AdvertisementThis realization was the driving force behind Gill setting up his startup — Confide — a platform for 'internal whistleblowers' to raise issues within their organizations. AdvertisementGill anticipates that this model will work best for companies with over 50 employees, and ideally above 250 employees.

Persons: —, Pav Gill, Gill, foraying, Wirecard, Gill's, don't, " Gill, they're Organizations: Service, Allen, Business, Financial, Directive, EU Locations: Wirecard, Asia, Singapore, ESG

☆ Fintech ValidMind aims to ease Wall Street's AI risk management headaches. Here's the pitch deck it used to raise $8 million in a round led by Point72 Ventures.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-28 | by ( Bianca Chan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Wall Street firms know the pains of having to satisfy regulators, and with advancements in artificial intelligence, there's a whole new level of scrutiny and complexity. It involves quality-and-assurance teams who test, verify, validate, and challenge the AI models before they go into production and report issues back to the engineering team to fix. In some cases, banks' technology teams are spending at least half their time documenting models for compliance, Jonas Jacobi, cofounder of fintech startup ValidMind, told Business Insider. AI models are often compared to a "black box" because it can be difficult to understand their decision-making or how the models arrive at their results. With the new injection of capital, ValidMind will build more features, like one aimed at automating the risk management of third-party vendor solutions.

Persons: Banks, Jonas Jacobi, Jacobi, ValidMind, Steve Cohen's, Mehdi Esmail, Andres Rodriguez Organizations: Business, Point72 Ventures, American Express, Third Prime Ventures, York Life, Jacobi, Technologists Locations: Palo Alto, Calif, Wall, ValidMind

☆ Some VCs are over the Sam Altman hype
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

In late 2023, when OpenAI sought $300 million from investors, CEO Sam Altman chose a different approach. In some corners of this clubby world, over $7 coffee and artisanal cocktails, the meteoric rise of OpenAI and Sam Altman is giving way to an inevitable backlash. "He's a kingmaker," a Silicon Valley startup founder and angel investor who knows Altman. Sam Altman and OpenAI did not respond to requests for comment. A certain somethingMany of the VCs who spoke with BI said Altman has a certain something.

Persons: —, OpenAI, Sam Altman, Altman, they'd, I've, Ali Ghodsi, Altman's, Ghodsi, Steve Jobs's, Paul Graham, he's, Sam, Jack Altman, It's, it's, Elon, Alexander the Great, Adam Neumann Organizations: Service, NEA, Business, Altman's, The Washington Post, The, YC, BI, WeWork Locations: Sequoia, Silicon Valley, The, San Francisco

☆ Sam Altman's act may be wearing thin
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . In today's big story, we're looking into how some in Silicon Valley are starting to sour on OpenAI's Sam Altman . AdvertisementFrom hardball tactics when raising funds to relentless self-mythologizing about his role in the future of tech, Altman's act is wearing thin on some . Even VCs uninterested in AI deals are quickly becoming servants to Altman's AI empire. Big market, fall hard.

Persons: —, Baltimore's Francis Scott Key, Sam Altman, Alastair Grant, Rebecca Zisser, Darius Rafieyan, Altman, Elon Musk, à, Steve Jobs, VCs, Samantha Stokes, Eric Baradat, Torsten Slok, David Rosenberg, BofA, Drew Watson, Birkin, Abanti Chowdhury, Elon, Don Lemon, that's, Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Google's, Meta, Dave Calhoun, Aaron Schwartz, Adam Neumann, Neumann, Robert F, Kennedy Jr, Dan DeFrancesco, Hallam Bullock, George Glover, Grace Lett Organizations: Business, Service, Baltimore Fire Department, Tech, Apple Vision, NFL, ChatGPT, Kruze Consulting, Apollo Global Management, Federal Reserve, Bank of America, Abanti, Getty Images, Street Locations: Silicon Valley, Plenty, Big, Orlando, New York, London, Chicago

☆ Electrification could overwhelm energy grids. Startups are betting on AI to make sure that doesn't happen
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-25 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Today's energy grids are unable to keep up with the intense demand being heaped upon them. Globally, energy projects struggle to overcome permitting hurdles. Making smart grids a realityData was transmitted across a national energy grid for the first time in 2016. Startups selling them are hoping to alleviate pressure from physical grid infrastructure and allow operators to do more with the infrastructure they have. Victoria McIvor, an advisor to energy startups who was formerly an investor at the European climatetech firm World Fund, imagines a future where energy tariffs dictate when energy-intensive appliances run.

Persons: Rajesh Swaminathan, it's, Andrés Dancausa, Dancausa, Swaminathan, Victoria McIvor, Timothy Barat, Barat, Duncan Turner, SOSV, Turner, McIvor Organizations: Infrastructure, Service, International Energy Agency, Paris, Investors, Khosla Ventures, US Department of Energy, Fund, Octopus Energy, Continuum Industries, Software Locations: Europe, Ukraine, Portuguese, Amsterdam, California, London, VCs, Scottish

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