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☆ Slowing down on AI will cause preventable deaths — and that's a form of murder, says Marc Andreessen
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-17 | by ( Kai Xiang Teo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Billionaire investor Marc Andreessen posted a mammoth 5000-word techno-optimist manifesto on Monday. Deaths that were preventable by the AI that was prevented from existing is a form of murder," wrote Andreessen. Deaths that were preventable by the AI that was prevented from existing is a form of murder," wrote Marc Andreessen. "Our enemies are not bad people – but rather bad ideas, "Andreessen wrote. Andreessen and Andreessen Horowitz did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider, sent outside regular business hours.

Persons: Marc Andreessen, —, Andreessen, Elon Musk, Sam Altman —, Andreessen Horowitz Organizations: Service, Forbes

☆ Atlassian to buy video messaging provider Loom for nearly $1 billion
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Oct 12 (Reuters) - Atlassian (TEAM.O) said on Thursday it had agreed to acquire privately held video messaging platform Loom for about $975 million, beefing up its team collaboration tools to tap into resilient demand fueled by the adoption of hybrid work. Integration of Loom's technology into Atlassian software such as collaboration tools Jira and Confluence will help users use video in their workflows. The acquisition of Loom, which has more than 25 million users globally, will enable customers communicate and collaborate more effectively, Atlassian said. Loom, which counts Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins and a16z among its investors, makes tools that help users record their screens, camera and microphone to make and share videos. The deal is expected to close in the quarter-ending March 2024 and will be funded with existing cash balances, Atlassian said.

Persons: Atlassian, Kleiner Perkins, Akash Sriram, Shailesh Kuber Organizations: Thomson Locations: Australia, Bengaluru

☆ This AI company wants to help you control your dreams
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-04 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

It's a tech startup building what the company calls the "world's first wearable device for stabilizing lucid dreams." Lucid dreams occur when a person sleeping becomes aware they're dreaming and may be able to control parts of the dream. Humane AI, a company founded in 2017 by former Apple employees, debuted its wearable — the AI Pin — on the runway last week at Paris Fashion Week. And famed iPhone designer Jony Ive and OpenAI's Sam Altman are also reportedly discussing an AI hardware project. The co-founders have the type of lofty dreams typical of a modern-era tech startup, with Wollberg comparing the company to OpenAI.

Persons: Eric Wollberg, Wesley Berry, Wollberg, Berry, Grimes, BoxGroup, Card79, Jony, Sam Altman, Prometheus Organizations: a16z's Scout Fund, Plaid, Elon, Apple, Paris Fashion, Donders Institute for Brain, Radboud University Locations: Netherlands

☆ The former head of Meta's failed stablecoin project admits he was too 'idealistic.' Now David Marcus's new startup plans to work within the system.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Bradley Saacks | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

With an ultimate goal to be the go-to currency for the global financial system, it was, in hindsight, too ambitious, Marcus admits now. "If you're dependent on one centralized stablecoin to do global payments, it's a problem as we've experienced firsthand," he said. Why Meta's crypto project failedIn 2019 Meta unveiled plans to create a digital currency pegged to hard currencies including the US dollar. With his new startup, Lightspark, Marcus plans to hypercharge the global payments system is simpler, or at least less grandiose. Users will swap their local currency for bitcoin and then have it converted to the local currency of whichever country the capital is needed in.

Persons: David Marcus, Meta's, Libra, Diem, Marcus, Meta, that's, Mark Zuckerberg, he's, Christian Catalini, Marcus's, Catalini Organizations: PayPal, Visa, Securities and Exchange Commission, Meta, bitcoin, Facebook, JPMorgan, Bloomberg Locations: Manhattan, Los Angeles, Bahrain

☆ Marc Andreessen pushes back on fears that AI will kill us all: 'That's not how it works'
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Marc Andreessen said on the podcast Huberman Lab that fears around AI are overblown. The billionaire venture capitalist said that AI won't "decide to kill us all" and replace jobs. The real concern, he said, is the possibility that AI may end up in the hands of malicious actors. "A lot of the science-fiction scenarios are just not real," Andreessen said on an episode of Huberman Lab, a podcast led by Andrew Huberman, a neuroscientist. "AI can be an incredibly powerful tool for solving problems, and we should embrace it as such," Andreessen wrote.

Persons: Marc Andreessen, Andreessen Horowitz, Andreessen, Andrew Huberman, Alexis Ohanian isn't, Elon, —, Sam Altman, Andreessen didn't, A16z Organizations: Service, OpenAI Locations: Wall, Silicon

Worldcoin says 2.2 million have signed up, mostly during a trial period over the last two years. Worldcoin raised $115 million from venture capital investors including Blockchain Capital, a16z crypto, Bain Capital Crypto and Distributed Global in a funding round in May. Macieira said Worldcoin would continue rolling out operations in Europe, Latin America, Africa and "all the parts of the world that will accept us." "The idea is that as we build this infrastructure and that we allow other third parties to use the technology." Michael Will, president of the Bavarian regulator, said it would look into whether Worldcoin's system is "safe and stable".

Persons: Medha Singh, Sam Altman, Worldcoin, Ricardo Macieira, Macieira, Michael Will, Will, Rainer Rehak, Web3, Nette Noestlinger, Matthias Baehr, Elizabeth Howcroft, Tomasz Janowski Organizations: WorldCoin, REUTERS, Reuters, Co, Humanity, Blockchain, Bain Capital Crypto, Companies, Bavarian State Office, Data Protection, Union, Weizenbaum Institute, Worldcoin Foundation, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru, India, Britain, France, Germany, Europe, San Francisco, Berlin, Latin America, Africa, Japan, Bavarian, blockchain, Cayman Islands

☆ Washington's AI discussions are focused on beating China as part of a new Cold War, says Marc Andreessen
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

AI is shaping up to be a new Cold War with China, according to Marc Andreessen. The Silicon Valley veteran discussed US policymakers' plans on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. Washington's leaders are determined that the US will beat China in a global race to dominate AI as a new Cold War takes shape, according to Marc Andreessen. Andreessen added that Washington's policymakers said not only do they need "American AI to succeed," but that they need to "beat the Chinese." Andreessen said Beijing's leaders "view AI as a way to achieve population control" because "they're authoritarians."

Persons: Marc Andreessen, Joe Rogan, a16z, Andreessen, Elon Musk Organizations: Silicon, China, Google, Microsoft, Meta, White, Representatives Locations: China, it's, Washington

☆ The real reason Marc Andreessen is urging billionaires to homeschool their kids
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( George Glover | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Marc Andreessen told billionaires to homeschool their children at the Sun Valley conference. Legendary venture capital investor Marc Andreessen has used this week's Sun Valley conference to espouse the benefits of homeschooling. Musk and Zuckerberg have been been trading barbs online since Musk summoned Zuckerberg to a cage fight last month. Meanwhile, it's not the first time that Andreessen has called for more homeschooling. "It certainly feels like we're on the front end of a pretty dramatic homeschooling boom," Andreessen said.

Persons: Marc Andreessen, “ We’re, Puck's Dylan Byers, Peter Thiel, Andreessen, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Byers, Musk, Zuckerberg, it's, Colossus, Andreessen Horowitz, Ben Horowitz Organizations: Sun, Morning

☆ Marc Andreessen throws his support behind an Elon Musk-Mark Zuckerberg cage fight in a talk with Peter Thiel
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Will Gendron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Marc Andreessen, speaking on a panel with Peter Thiel, backed a Zuckerberg-Musk cage fight. Andreessen and Thiel also said, unrelated, that attendees should homeschool their kids. Billionaire investor Marc Andreessen is apparently rooting for Tesla's Elon Musk and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg to square off in a cage match. He and PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel also urged the event's attendees to homeschool their children, Puck reported. Representatives for both Andreessen and Thiel did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Persons: Marc Andreessen, Peter Thiel, Zuckerberg, Andreessen, Thiel, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Puck's Dylan Byers, Andreessen Horowitz, Puck Organizations: Morning, Allen & Company, Allen, Co, Zuckerberg, New York Times, Thiel Locations: Sun Valley , Idaho, Idaho, Silicon

☆ What investors need to know about the crossover between A.I. and crypto
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

It's an opportunity worth watching for investors, and crypto speculators have recently been doing just that. Grayscale Investments recently highlighted three potential risks posed by AI that crypto could potentially limit – identity verification, centralization and data ownership and privacy. Accredited U.S. investors can gain direct exposure to AI-related crypto protocols by investing in private venture fundraising rounds, he added. "So far in 2023, venture capitalists have invested $422 million in crypto applications related to AI, privacy, and identity," according to Grayscale. "In total, the crypto-AI intersection represents more than 10% of total crypto venture capital (VC) funding to date, including two out of the four largest funding rounds."

Persons: —, memecoin influencer Elon Musk, Jack O'Holleran, O'Holleran, William Ogden Moore, Andreessen Horowitz, Sam Altman, Smart, We've Organizations: Nvidia, CNBC Locations: U.S, Gensyn

☆ 10 Things in Tech: Amazon Prime's FTC lawsuit, Instagram's top execs, and the high-risk trips popular with the wealthy
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Nathan Rennolds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

But the company had been warned of potential safety issues with the sub as long ago as 2018, a lawsuit says. Amazon Prime's FTC lawsuit. The Federal Trade Commission sued Amazon on Wednesday, accusing the company of luring customers into Prime subscriptions and creating a "labyrinthine" process to cancel them. After the FTC sued Amazon over its Prime membership signup and cancellation process, Insider compiled a list of the juiciest highlights from the lawsuit. Here's a look at other high-risk voyages popular with the wealthy, from Everest trips to $750,000 expeditions to the deepest point in the ocean.

Persons: Nathan Rennolds, David Lochridge, Tyler Le, Sylvia Duran Chen, Jasper, Tim Chen, Read, Ford, Tesla's Cybertruck, Jim Farley, Ford wasn't, Shopify, Here's, Hallam Bullock Organizations: Anadolu Agency, Getty, Amazon, FTC, Federal Trade Commission, Google, Gen, EV, Everest, Netflix Locations: London, Everest

☆ Spacecraft builder Apex raises $16 million from a16z and Shield Capital, reveals first customers
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Michael Sheetz | In Michaeljsheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

CNBC's Investing in Space newsletter offers a view into the business of space exploration and privatization, delivered straight to your inbox. Building the backbone of a spacecraft – the satellite bus, which provides the structure, power and movement – has long been a mission-focused endeavor. But Los Angeles-based Apex, founded last year by Ian Cinnamon and Max Benassi, is working to create a satellite bus manufacturer that flips that practice on its head. The startup raised an additional $16 million in a round led by VC firms Andreessen Horowitz and Shield Capital, bringing its total raised to over $27 million, Apex said. "Fundamentally, we're building a real business with real unit economics where we're able to make money on every single sale," he added.

Persons: CNBC's Michael Sheetz, –, Ian Cinnamon, Max Benassi, Cinnamon, We're, they're, Andreessen Horowitz Organizations: Aries, Shield Capital, Apex Locations: Los Angeles, Apex

☆ Exclusive: How this under-the-radar VC landed a $27 million third fund and bets in some of the buzziest startups like Jasper and Motherduck
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Essence VC has raised its third fund of $27 million from LPs like Cendana and Sapphire Ventures. The fund has bet on buzzy startups like generative AI darling Jasper and a16z-backed Motherduck. And now, his firm Essence VC has just raised its $27 million third fund. The latest fund, backed by VC firms and funds of funds including Cendana Capital, Vintage Investment Partners, Sapphire Ventures, Level Ventures, and Crossover, follows a $7 million and $1 million fund. However, the "first-mover advantage" for startups also holds true in the land of VC, Chen says.

Persons: Jasper, Tim Chen, you've, Liz O'Sullivan, Vera, Chen, Scott Shi, —, Chi Zhang, Tim, Zhang, funder Chen, Christos Kozyrakis, Michael Huang, They're, it's, Ben Van Roo, Van Roo, Chen wasn't Organizations: Sapphire Ventures, Cendana, Vintage Investment Partners, Level Ventures, Founders, Stanford, Cloudera, Google Locations: a16z

☆ Mark Cuban says healthcare has to have more of a 'Netflix model'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Vishal Persaud | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Mark Cuban recently appeared on the a16z podcast "Bio Eats World" to talk about healthcare. Cuban believes healthcare systems need to adopt more of a "Netflix model" to "truly work." Mark Cuban has been disrupting healthcare with his low-cost online pharmacy, but there are other areas of the industry that can be improved upon too, he believes. Cuban believes that this model, in some ways, can also be applied to a local hospital or healthcare system. "If we're going to change healthcare," Cuban said.

Persons: Mark Cuban, Vijay Pande, Andreessen Organizations: Netflix, Dallas Mavericks, Cuban, Plus Locations: Cuban

☆ Andreessen Horowitz to open its first international office in London
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 11 (Reuters) - U.S. venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, a major cryptocurrency investor, said on Sunday it will set up its first international office in London, at a time when U.S. regulators have increased scrutiny of the cryptocurrency sector. The London office, set to open later this year, will work with universities in the UK and support the development of blockchain technologies and startups, the company said in a statement, adding that it will be led by one of the firm's general partners, Sriram Krishnan. The decision follows talks with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and other authorities for months, Dixon said. Sunak said in the statement he is "determined to unlock opportunities" for blockchain technology and "turn the UK into the world’s Web3 centre". Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal and Jahnavi Nidumolu in Bengaluru; Editing by Muralikumar AnantharamanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Andreessen Horowitz, Sriram Krishnan, Andreessen, We're, Chris Dixon, Andreessen's, Rishi Sunak, Dixon, Sunak, Rishabh Jaiswal, Muralikumar Organizations: U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, British, Thomson Locations: London, Bengaluru

☆ London crypto move is a sign of desperate times
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK/LONDON, June 12 (Reuters Breakingviews) - UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is eager to bring some Silicon Valley glitz to London. Now venture capital investor Andreessen Horowitz is setting up its first non-US office in the British capital, to focus on blockchain and cryptocurrencies. The then-finance minister in 2021 declared as “fantastic” the decision by Deliveroo (ROO.L) to list its shares in London. Despite Sunak’s call for the UK to “embrace new innovations” like the blockchain, Britain’s appetite for crypto remains uncertain. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

Persons: Rishi Sunak, Andreessen Horowitz, Binance, Sunak, Deliveroo, “ gosh, Bobby Kotick, Anita Ramaswamy, Karen Kwok, Stellantis, Peter Thal Larsen, Streisand Neto Organizations: Reuters, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, Coinbase, Stanford University, Chips, Activision Blizzard, Twitter, Brookfield, Thomson Locations: London, U.S, Teck, China

☆ LA Tech Week, the summer sequel, is more polished but some of the sizzle is gone
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Unlike most tech conferences where tickets cost thousands, Tech Week is mostly free and open to anyone. If last year's hastily arranged LA Tech Week served as venture firm Andreessen Horowitz's LA coming out party, this year's version – taking place just 10 months later – served as the more polished but lower energy summer sequel. Unlike most tech conferences where tickets cost thousands of dollars, Tech Week, which concludes Sunday, is mostly free and open for anyone to attend or even host their own event. The LA Tech Week kickoff party in Pacific Palisades hosted by Crosscut and 75 & Sunny. Mostly gone unsaid was the dismal state of the tech market, which has worsened considerably since last year's Tech Week; Down rounds and layoffs do not make for great cocktail conversation.

Persons: Andreessen, –, Drew Glover, Glover, Ben Bergman, we'll, Gabe Greenbaum, unsaid, Jeremy Milken, Sophia Amoruso, Nasty, Amoruso Organizations: Tech, LA Tech, Santa, Fiat Ventures, Crosscut, B, Watertower Ventures, Trust Fund, Trust Locations: Santa Monica, marveling, St, LA, Hollywood, Venice, Pacific Palisades, Venice Mexican

☆ Marc Andreessen says AI will 'make the world warmer and nicer,' because even though it isn't sentient, it's more empathetic than humans
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

AI "will make the world warmer and nicer," according to A16z's Marc Andreessen. Andreessen also warned against "full-blown moral panic" from cultish "AI risk doomers." Marc Andreessen says that artificial intelligence is more empathetic than humans and "will make the world warmer and nicer." "Rather than making the world harsher and more mechanistic, infinitely patient and sympathetic AI will make the world warmer and nicer." Andreessen said that there was "full-blown moral panic about AI," in part fueled by "AI risk doomers" whom he described as a "cult."

Persons: A16z's Marc Andreessen, Andreessen, Marc Andreessen, it's

☆ Marc Andreessen says that even though AI isn't sentient, it's more empathetic than humans, and will 'make the world warmer and nicer'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Persons: A16z's Marc Andreessen, Andreessen, Marc Andreessen, it's

☆ Marc Andreessen Has a Plan to Use 'AI to Save the World'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Vishal Persaud | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Marc Andreessen writes that AI can "make everything we care about better" in a new blog post. He believes AI companies should be able to build fast and aggressively without regulation. The current AI wave wouldn't be complete without a pithy missive from famed venture-capitalist and entrepreneur Marc Andressen. To help avert those risks, Altman recommended to lawmakers that a new agency should be created to police AI projects, particularly ones that operate at higher levels of capabilities. He also says his firm is eager to fund AI startup founders.

Persons: Marc Andreessen, Marc Andressen, Andreessen Horowitz, he's, Andreessen, Sam Altman, Altman, Andreeseen, Catalyst, Nat Friedman Organizations: OpenAI Locations: China, Coactive, London

☆ CEOs see ChatGPT as an 'Ozempic' miracle drug that can cut costs and boost efficiency. Right now, they're wrong.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Ozempic and ChatGPT have blown up in the year of the cure-all. As Justine Moore, investment partner at Silicon Valley VC firm a16z, tweeted this month: "By 2025, America is going to run on Ozempic and ChatGPT." CEOs running businesses that have nothing to do with AI are talking about ChatGPT during their quarterly earnings calls. But like Ozempic, AI comes with side effects. Samsung banned its employees from using generative AI tools after finding some of its engineers accidentally leaked internal source code by uploading it to ChatGPT in April.

May 16 (Reuters) - Hippocratic Health, a startup building artificial intelligence models for the healthcare industry, has raised $50 million in a larger-than-usual seed funding round, signaling strong investor interest in betting on AI models for specific industries. Large language models are AI systems that mine vast amounts of data to summarize information and generate content. Also known as foundation models, large language models can perform tasks from writing essays to generating codes. Our focus is to build the safest language model for healthcare," said Shah, who previously founded insurance startup Health IQ. A16z said it is one of the largest seed checks it has written in the healthcare industry.

☆ Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst lead $50 million seed round in Hippocratic AI to deliver large language models to healthcare providers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Hippocratic AI is a large language model company aiming to serve healthcare providers. Now, the entrepreneur is marrying his interest in healthcare with his experience as a multi-time AI founder to create Hippocratic AI, a healthcare-focused large language model company. First, Hippocratic AI tested its large language model against 114 different healthcare certifications, 105 of which its model outperformed OpenAI's GPT-4 on, Shah told Insider. Despite its intensive model training efforts and recent hefty capital infusion, Hippocratic AI has yet to release a product. "This language model business has turned software development back into a capital intensive business," he said.

Andreessen Horowitz is preparing to launch a fund of funds to invest in other startup backers. A16z has already been courting up-and-coming fund managers at events in San Francisco and LA. The venture-capital powerhouse Andreessen Horowitz has in recent months been in discussions to form a fund of funds focused on early-stage investing, according to multiple people familiar with the project. In recent months, the firm has started to court up-and-coming fund managers with events in San Francisco and Los Angeles, according to three sources familiar with the firm's plans. Partners at crossover fund Tiger Global tried a similar strategy in recent years, committing $1 billion to back an array of early-stage venture funds.

☆ More layoffs hit Tom Brady's NFT startup Autograph, which just cut nearly a third of its workforce
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Autograph is a star studded NFT platform cofounded by retired NFL quarterback Tom Brady. This new round of layoffs occurs months after the company laid off dozens of staffers in December. The NFT market has has cooled, with sales expected to plunge 72% this year, according to one estimate. Autograph, the star studded NFT platform cofounded by retired NFL quarterback Tom Brady, has laid off about a third of its workforce, Insider has learned. The NFT market has has cooled considerably, with sales expected to plunge 72% this year, according to one industry estimate.

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