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☆ Andreessen Horowitz is in the midst of a reshuffle to sharpen its focus on AI, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( Ben Bergman | Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Andreessen Horowitz is reshuffling parts of its investment organization to sharpen its focus on artificial intelligence, according to people with knowledge of the situation. The changes will center the venture capital firm on two main themes: AI applications and AI infrastructure, the people said. The AI applications group is being headed by general partner Alex Rampell, according to the sources. General partner Martin Casado, who focuses on enterprise deals, will oversee another group investing in AI infrastructure, the people said. Do you have information about A16z or another venture firm?

Persons: Andreessen Horowitz, Alex Rampell, Rampell, Martin Casado, Margit Wennmachers, Casado, Jeff Jordan, Databricks, A16z, Pretzels, Vinod Khosla, Khosla, Ben Bergman, Melia Russell, mrussell@insider.com Organizations: US, A16z, VMware Locations: Silicon Valley, Airbnb, bbergman@insider.com

☆ Billionaire VC Vinod Khosla was one of the first investors in OpenAI. Now he thinks most AI startups have become way overvalued.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Instead of AI, Khosla says he is "making lots of fundamental investments in esoteric areas." Funding for AI companies climbed 27% globally in the third quarter compared to the year before even as overall deals for startups fell 31%, according to PitchBook data compiled for Bloomberg. (seeking a valuation of more than $5 billion), Hugging Face ($4.5 billion valuation) or Adept (reported $1 billion valuation). The firm invested earlier this year in Replit, a generative AI tool for software development, at a $1.16 billion post-money valuation. There is also OpenAI itself, which arguably has benefited as much as any startup from the AI hype.

Persons: OpenAI, Vinod Khosla, Khosla, Kleiner Perkins Caufield, Byers, Kleiner Perkins, – Khosla Organizations: Khosla Ventures, Sun Microsystems, AMD, Juniper Networks, Forbes, Street, Tech, Bloomberg, Anthropic Locations: Silicon Valley, Laguna Beach, Replit

☆ Veteran VC and OpenAI investor Vinod Khosla says he used ChatGPT to write a rap for his daughter's wedding
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-23 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Vinod Khosla said in an X post that he used ChatGPT to write a rap for his daughter's wedding. And then used another AI tool to turn the lyrics into a song that he played at the event. AdvertisementAdvertisementThe experienced venture capitalist Vinod Khosla is praising AI tools for helping him write a rap for his daughter's wedding. The billionaire and father-of-four detailed his use of the technology in an X post on Saturday. AdvertisementAdvertisement"AI can do more for humanity in creating a utopian world and world of abundance," he told The Journal.

Persons: Vinod Khosla, —, Khosla, virality, Kendall Roy, Greg Brockman Organizations: Service, Wall Street, Khosla Ventures Locations: OpenAI

☆ Will AI Bring Utopia or Dystopia? A Venture Capitalist Picks Utopia
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-20 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Could venture capitalists one day be replaced by AI? ‘I can’t say they won’t,’ says Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures. Photo: Nikki Ritcher for the Wall Street JournalThe future of AI is in many ways a blank slate—a place where many people place all sorts of fears but where many investors see all sorts of potential. To explore the utopia vs. dystopia scenarios, The Wall Street Journal’s Jason Dean spoke to Vinod Khosla , founder of venture-capital firm Khosla Ventures, at the Journal’s Tech Live conference. Here are edited excerpts of the conversation.

Persons: ’, Vinod Khosla, Nikki Ritcher, Jason Dean Organizations: Khosla Ventures, Wall Street, Journal’s Tech

☆ Fact Check: Fact Check: FDA is not replacing salt with 'mRNA’ salt substitutes
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-10 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Now he is trying to replace organic salt with a mRNA chemical laced inorganic synthetic salt substitute actually produced by the man himself Bill gates. Other ingredients in Morton salt substitute include fumaric acid, monocalcium phosphate and silicon dioxide. MRNA NOT AN INGREDIENTThe claim that common salt is being replaced with a “mRNA chemical laced inorganic synthetic salt substitute” is misleading. “In terms of how chemists use the words ‘organic’ and ‘inorganic’, both table salt (sodium chloride) and potassium chloride would be inorganic compounds as they lack carbon atoms." The FDA is not replacing salt with “mRNA fake salt.”This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team.

Persons: Bill Gates, Bill, ”, Morton, Christopher Simmons, Davis, ” Simmons, Melinda Gates, Gates, Vinod Khosla’s, Morton Salt, Read Organizations: U.S, Food, Drug Administration, Microsoft, Twitter, People’s, FDA, Gates, Reuters, Food Science, Technology, University of California, Melinda Gates Foundation, Khosla Ventures, Thomson

☆ Cerebral Valley, the AI conference that spawned a $1.3 billion deal, is coming back to San Francisco this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Cerebral Valley, an AI conference run by Eric Newcomer's eponymous publication, just announced its second gathering of 2023. CVAI2 (Cerebral Valley AI Summit version 2.0) will take place on November 15 at the SFJAZZ Center in Hayes Valley, San Francisco. The neighborhood is nicknamed Cerebral Valley these days, due to the plethora of AI startups that have sprouted there. Ali Ghodsi, CEO of Databricks, and Naveen Rao, CEO of MosaicML, met for the first time at the initial Cerebral Valley AI Summit. That's the biggest generative AI startup deal so far, by my counting.

Persons: Vinod Khosla, Reid Hoffman, Adam D'Angelo, Eric Newcomer's, Mustafa Suleyman, Ali Ghodsi, Kanjun Qiu, Chris Lattner, May Habib, Naveen Rao, Jason Warner, Max Child, James Wilsterman, Amjad Masad, Clem Delangue, Emad, Daniela Amodei, Cristobal Valenzuela, Shane Orlick, MosaicML, it's Organizations: SFJAZZ, Service, Industry Locations: Hayes Valley, San Francisco, Wall, Silicon, Jasper

☆ Most AI valuations are 'over-hyped', says tech venture capitalist Vinod Khosla
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | 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 EmailMost AI valuations are 'over-hyped', says tech venture capitalist Vinod KhoslaHosted by Brian Sullivan, “Last Call” is a fast-paced, entertaining business show that explores the intersection of money, culture and policy. Tune in Monday through Friday at 7 p.m. ET on CNBC.

Persons: Vinod Khosla, Brian Sullivan, “ Organizations: CNBC

☆ Warren Buffett's 93rd birthday is today. Here's why the investing icon dreads his big day each year, and compares life to a snowball rolling down a hill.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( Theron Mohamed | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Warren Buffett celebrated his 93nd birthday on Wednesday, August 30. Buffett aims to compound his wealth and gather great friends, like a snowball rolling down a hill. Get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in business, from Wall Street to Silicon Valley — delivered daily. AdvertisementAdvertisement"The snowball he had created so carefully was enormous by now," Schroeder writes. Read more: Vinod Khosla and Warren Buffett are at opposite ends of the investing spectrum.

Persons: Warren Buffett, Buffett, dreads, Berkshire Hathaway, there's, he's, Alice Schroeder, Schroeder, —, He's, Vinod Khosla Organizations: Service, Berkshire, Apple, VC Locations: Wall, Silicon, Berkshire

☆ Legendary VC Vinod Khosla predicted in 2016 that AI would eventually transform healthcare
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Vishal Persaud | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In a 2016 paper, Vinod Khosla predicted that there will be some form of automation in healthcare. Buzzy healthcare startups utilizing AI are now capturing the attention of VCs amid a broader wave of AI interest. Hippocratic AI, which recently raised $50 million for its seed round, plans to use machine learning to train AI models for use in healthcare. Carta Healthcare, which uses AI to help healthcare providers cut costs, announced this month it raised $25 million. And New York-based startup Hyro, raised $20 million to replace outdated chatbots in healthcare with conversational AI.

Persons: Vinod Khosla, Khosla, OpenAI, Kleiner Perkins, Chris Sacca's Organizations: –, Carta Healthcare, Harvard Locations: York

☆ Elon Musk's call to slow AI development is likely a ploy to let him catch up with the competition, veteran VC says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk has purchased 10,000 GPUs to build an AI model at Twitter, Insider reported. A VC founder said he suspects Musk just wants to catch up with the competition, per Bloomberg. Elon Musk's calls to slow down AI development could just be a ploy to help him catch up, the tech entrepreneur venture capitalist Vinod Khosla told Bloomberg. "I 80% suspect his call to slow down AI development was so he could catch up." In 2015, Musk cofounded OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT which is largely considered to be leading the new boom in AI technology.

May 1 (Reuters) - Longtime Kleiner Perkins partner Wen Hsieh is leaving the Silicon Valley venture capital establishment to start a fund with backing from the firm and Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC (2330.TW), sources told Reuters. Hsieh is in advanced talks to raise $200 million from limited partners including Kleiner Perkins and TSMC for the new fund called Matter Ventures. A Kleiner Perkins spokesperson confirmed Hsieh's departure and the firm's participation in the fund. Hsieh, with two PhDs from the California Institute of Technology, has worked at Kleiner Perkins for 17 years, leading investments in Chinese drone maker DJI and 3D printing company Desktop Medal (DM.N). He will remain on the boards of companies he invested in at Kleiner Perkins, including orthodontic brackets maker LightForce.

☆ He's played chess with Peter Thiel, sparred with Elon Musk and once, supposedly, stopped a plane crash: Inside Sam Altman's world, where truth is stranger than fiction
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Melia Russell | Julia Black | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +41 min

But, "you do at some point need to start having contact with reality," he told Insider. The plan was still only a rough sketch, Blania told Insider, but that didn't seem to matter to his host. "He always wanted to understand everything at a very deep level," Thrun told Insider in an email. (When asked about guns, Altman told Insider he'd been "happy to have one both times my home was broken into while I was there.") When asked about this, Altman told Insider in an email: "i can guess what that's about; these stories grow crazily inflated over the years of getting re-told!

☆ Sam Altman is building his utopia, whether you want it or not
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Melia Russell | Julia Black | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +41 min

Altman told Insider, "We debate our approach frequently and carefully." "I don't think anyone can lose your dad young and wish he didn't have more time with him," Altman told Insider. Altman told Insider that his thinking had evolved since those posts. (When asked about guns, Altman told Insider he'd been "happy to have one both times my home was broken into while I was there.") When asked about this, Altman told Insider in an email: "i can guess what that's about; these stories grow crazily inflated over the years of getting re-told!

☆ AI will eventually free people up to 'work when they want to,' ChatGPT investor predicts
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Grace Mayer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The future of AI could "free humanity" from work, according to OpenAI investor Vinod Khosla. "This large transformation is the opportunity to free humanity from the need to work. People will work when they want to work on what they want to work on," Khosla told Semafor. Back in 2014, Khosla told Semafor, he started thinking about a future with AI, even predicting that eventually most media would be created by AI in the future and that AI will disrupt teaching. AI jobs in tech, mathematics, accounting, and communication fields will be especially at risk, the researchers found.

☆ Venture investors, U.S. lawmakers join forces to fight Tiktok & Chinese influence: WSJ
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Rohan Goswami | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A star-studded array of Silicon Valley venture investors have joined forces with a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers as part of a working group that has one aim: Combatting China's influence in the U.S. technology industry, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. The consortium is named the Hill & Valley Forum, the Journal reported, a nod to the group's bicoastal origins. The Forum will host a dinner ahead of TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew's Congressional testimony next week, with speakers including prominent venture capitalists Peter Thiel and Vinod Khosla, the Journal reported. Now, lawmakers, venture investors, and lobbyists are pushing for the government to ban or curtail the app's influence, citing a potent threat from the Chinese government. The ultimatum came weeks after lawmakers urged the Committee to complete its yearslong probe into TikTok.

☆ Khosla Ventures founder encouraging everyone to put money back into Silicon Valley Bank
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailKhosla Ventures founder encouraging everyone to put money back into Silicon Valley BankVinod Khosla, Khosla Ventures founder, joins 'Closing Bell: Overtime' to discuss Silicon Valley Bank and why he's encouraging people to put money there.

☆ The artificial intelligence war has Wall Street in a frenzy over Google, Microsoft, and anything related to bots
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

In case you missed it, last week Microsoft held an event that had the buzz of a Steve Jobs iPhone launch. Google Bard VS OpenAI ChatGPT displayed on Mobile with Openai and Google logo on screen seen in this photo illustration. In this two-horse race, Google certainly didn't do itself any favors in bumbling its own AI demo last week. But the battle will ultimately come down to Microsoft and Google, according to venture capitalist Vinod Khosla. Record highs for the stock market are within reach this year, according to Fundstrat.

☆ Google vs. Microsoft: early ChatGPT investor sees a 2-horse AI race for 'the most critical technology for the planet'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

"AI technology is probably the most critical technology for the planet in the next 20 years," VC investor Vinod Khosla said. "AI technology is probably the most critical technology for the planet in the next 20 years," Khosla told CNBC on Wednesday. He also noted that the generative AI technology behind so-called chatbots like ChatGPT and Google's Bard will recast search engines into "answer engines." Similarly, Bank of America said that while Microsoft emerged as the winner this week in AI, Google has several key long-term advantages. "One will have nimble OpenAI.

☆ Watch CNBC's full interview with Khosla Ventures' Vinod Khosla
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | 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 EmailWatch CNBC's full interview with Khosla Ventures' Vinod KhoslaCNBC's Steve Kovach talks to Vinod Khosla, founder and managing partner of Khosla Ventures, on 'TechCheck' to discuss his thoughts on Microsoft, Google and the artificial intelligence space.

☆ The progress on A.I. is far beyond what I expected, says Vinod Khosla
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailThe progress on A.I. is far beyond what I expected, says Vinod KhoslaCNBC's Steve Kovach talks to Vinod Khosla, founder and managing partner of Khosla Ventures, on 'TechCheck' to discuss his thoughts on Microsoft, Google and the artificial intelligence space.

☆ Why tech billionaires like Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Jeff Bezos are all investing in biotech startups that want to link your computer directly to your brain
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Andrew Dunn | Hilary Brueck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Tech moguls like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Bill Gates are investing in brain-implant startups. Through their venture-capital funds, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates both recently backed the Brooklyn, New York, startup Synchron, which has tested its brain stent in seven humans. Peter Thiel, a billionaire cofounder of PayPal, invested last year in Utah's Blackrock Neurotech, an older BCI startup that has said it hopes to apply for Food and Drug Administration approval soon. That long-term potential has caught the attention of tech billionaires like Musk, Gates, and Bezos. No BCI startup has gone public, and most of their fundraising rounds have been modest compared with larger and more-mature biotechs.

☆ Why Silicon Valley is so hot on nuclear energy and what it means for the industry
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +13 min

Pallava Bagla | Corbis News | Getty ImagesVenture capitalists in Silicon Valley and other tech hubs are investing money in nuclear energy for the first time in history. This surge of private investment will be a positive for the industry, agrees John Parsons, an economist and lecturer at MIT. Nuclear energy is "a very complex science, and it's been supported by the federal government and at these national labs. In the 1960s and 1970s, large conglomerates constructed big nuclear power plants, and those projects often ran over budget. New generations of nuclear reactors will have different sizes, different coolants and different fuels, explained Matt Crozat, senior director of policy development at the Nuclear Energy Institute.

☆ How super-hot rocks miles under the earth's surface could provide limitless clean energy
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

The Clean Air Task Force commissioned a non-profit geothermal organization, the Hot Rock Energy Research Organization, and an international clean energy consultancy, LucidCatalyst, to estimate the levelized cost of commercial-scale superhot rock electricity. Graphic courtesy Clear Air Task ForceRegular versus superhot geothermalWhile energy from superhot rocks is not being used now, geothermal energy is being used in a few places where super-hot temperatures exist close to the surface of the earth. But accessing superhot rock energy involves tapping into hotter, dry rock — which is everywhere, but sometimes far beneath the surface. Graphic courtesy Clear Air Task ForceIceland is a leader in investigating superhot rock geothermal energy with its Iceland Deep Drilling Project. Beyond Iceland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand and the United States are leaders in superhot rock geothermal, according to Friðleifsson.

☆ How super-hot rocks miles under the earth's surface could help combat climate change
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

"It will take public and private investment similar to those being allocated to nuclear, carbon capture, and hydrogen fuels," Hill told CNBC. But accessing superhot rock energy involves tapping into hotter, dry rock — which is everywhere, but sometimes far beneath the surface. Graphic courtesy Clear Air Task ForceIceland is a leader in investigating superhot rock geothermal energy with its Iceland Deep Drilling Project. Beyond Iceland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand and the United States are leaders in superhot rock geothermal, according to Friðleifsson. Oil and gas companies could use their resources to help spur development in the superhot rock industry, the CATF report said.

☆ Investor Vinod Khosla says focusing on 2030 climate targets is the wrong approach
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Why Khosla thinks short-term goals are a mistakeFocusing on "short term goals will force us to deploy suboptimal technology," Khosla told CNBC. And if it doesn't do that, it's the wrong technology," Khosla told CNBC. Nuclear fusion is one example of the kind of breakthrough technology Khosla considers critical, but which will not be commercialized by 2030. "But I'm not interested in today's geothermal, because it is such a niche — it doesn't scale," Khosla told CNBC. And that's what we need," Khosla said.

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