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☆ OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says he worked so hard on building his first start-up with his ex-boyfriend that he got scurvy
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-25 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, said he got scurvy from working too hard on his start-up, Loopt. AdvertisementAdvertisementSam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, may have learned how to manage his work load the hard way — through malnutrition, according to a New York Magazine profile. Before Altman started leading efforts behind ChatGPT, the buzzy conversational AI chatbot, he first stepped into the tech start-up world in 2004 when he was a sophomore at Stanford University. After selling the company, Altman said he took a year and off and spent his free time reading books, traveling, and playing video games. AdvertisementAdvertisement"It changed my life," Altman told New York Magazine in regard to the ashram.

Persons: Sam Altman, ChatGPT, —, Altman, Nick Sivo, Loopt didn't, Loopt, Sivo —, I'm, Altman didn't, Sivo Organizations: Service, New York Magazine, Stanford University, US National Institutes of Health, New Locations: Cambridge , Massachusetts

☆ My computer science classes were too slow, so I dropped out to focus on my AI startup. Even my dad agreed.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-24 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Govind Gnanakumar enrolled at Georgia Tech in 2022 as a freshman majoring in computer science. I spent my senior year of high school thinking I'd study computer science, philosophy, and linguistics in college. I ended up enrolling in Georgia Tech with plans to major in computer science. You don't need to act like a cloistered nun in academia to study computer science. So, I told him that I was going to take a leave of absence from Georgia Tech.

Persons: Govind Gnanakumar, Gnanakumar, you've, Mahesh Natamai, Maaher Gandhi, didn't, Y Organizations: Georgia Tech, Service Locations: Wall, Silicon

☆ 35-year-old CEO of $1.4 billion company: 'Don't let perfect be the enemy of good' is terrible advice
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( Tom Huddleston Jr. | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

You've probably heard the aphorism "perfect is the enemy of good" before. Spenser Skates, the 35-year-old CEO and co-founder of analytics software company Amplitude — which has a market cap of $1.38 billion — disagrees. Yet behind the scenes, the co-founders weren't sold on their own idea — which was "pretty good," but not "the bestest best," Skates says. It's timely advice: Entrepreneurship is on the rise in the U.S., and starting your own business is risky. "For a lot of teams, it's a hard decision, because you're talking about killing your momentum on something and restarting on something else, even when that might be the right decision," Skates says.

Persons: You've, Mark Cuban, Jeff Bezos, Spenser, Curtis Liu, Siri, weren't, That's, —, Liu Organizations: Global Entrepreneurship, Babson College, U.S . Bureau of Labor Statistics, CNBC Locations: Plenty, U.S

☆ 37-year-old quit Amazon and started 20 companies before coming up with Instacart—now he's worth $1.1 billion
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( Tom Huddleston Jr. | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Mehta is the 37-year-old co-founder of Instacart, the online grocery delivery startup that went public on Tuesday and now boasts a market value of $8.8 billion. As Instacart's largest individual shareholder, Mehta is now worth a reported $1.1 billion after selling 700,000 shares of the company he launched in San Francisco in 2012. He quit his job and moved to San Francisco with a desire to build his own successful startup but no clear plan, he said. "The reason why I quit my job at Amazon was because I wanted to become an entrepreneur," Mehta said. Y Combinator helped Mehta land $2.3 million in venture capital funding within a few months, and Instacart quickly spread beyond San Francisco.

Persons: Apoorva Mehta, Mehta, CNBC's, Instacart, Y, Combinator Organizations: Instacart, Amazon, Kroger, Costco, SEC, CNBC Locations: San Francisco, Seattle, North America

☆ As Instacart goes public, it's no victory lap for founder Apoorva Mehta
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Mehta was replaced as CEO of Instacart in July 2021 following a messy dispute with some of the company's largest investors. Instacart Founder Apoorva Mehta in his 2003 yearbook photo from Westdale Secondary School. The app started gaining momentum and Mehta put out ads on Craigslist for shoppers to do the grocery runs for him. Whole Foods reportedly broke the news to Mehta and a fellow Instacart executive on an early morning call. In a sworn affidavit, Mehta denies that he misappropriated any trade secrets and says he's since cut ties with Singh.

Persons: Apoorva Mehta, Mehta, Safeway Mehta, Hamilton Public Library Mehta, Bing Gordon, Kleiner Perkins, Gordon, he'd, Garry Tan, Tan, Garry, Andreessen Horowitz, catapulting Mehta, Forbes, Instacart, Mike Moritz, Fidji Simo, Simo, That's, Mehta's, he's, Tejasvi, Singh, Sam Bankman, NextMed, it's Organizations: Instacart, Safeway, Westdale Secondary, Hamilton Public Library, The University of Waterloo, Amazon, NPR, Electronic Arts, YC, TechCrunch, Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures, Forbes, Foods, Costco, Kroger, Facebook, Sunrise Locations: India, Libya, Hamilton , Ontario, Toronto, Seattle, San Francisco, wallowing, Sequoia, Mehta's, Marin County

☆ It's time for companies with strong cash flows to go public, says early Instacart investor Garry Tan
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | 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 EmailIt's time for companies with strong cash flows to go public, says early Instacart investor Garry TanGarry Tan, Y Combinator CEO, joins 'Closing Bell Overtime' to talk Instacart's IPO, what's ahead for the company, Instacart's founder, the IPO market-at-large and more.

Persons: Garry Tan Garry Tan, Y

☆ 35-year-old CEO dumped his ‘pretty good’ startup—and built a $1.4 billion business instead
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Tom Huddleston Jr. | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Sometimes, you need to recognize that pretty good isn't good enough. A decade ago, they were on a completely different track — running a voice recognition startup called Sonalight. It was "a version of [Apple's] Siri before Siri even existed," Skates, Amplitude's 35-year-old CEO, tells CNBC Make It. Skates: There's always that risk when starting something new, but it actually wasn't that hard of a decision for us. They want to do it only if there's a clear path to success and there's validation along the way.

Persons: Spenser, Curtis Liu, Siri, Liu, Sonalight, it's, they'd, Jeffrey Wang, we'd, let's Organizations: CNBC, MIT, Google, Engineers Locations: Sonalight

☆ I moved to Seattle for a high-paying tech job. It turned out to be the loneliest time of my life.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Aria Yang | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Alexander Nguyen, a software engineer who moved from New York City to Seattle for a job at Amazon. It was his first job out of college, and he says it was the loneliest time of his life. Finally, after a three-month job search, things started looking up: I received a software-development-engineering job offer from Amazon in 2020. Back when I got the job at Amazon, all I was thinking about was my tech career and the $150,000 salary. Looking back now, I realize perhaps I should have looked a little bit harder for opportunities in New York before taking the first tech job that came my way.

Persons: Alexander Nguyen, Boba Guys, —, Alexander Nguyen Nobody, it'd, I've, It's, I'm, it's, you've, Aria Yang Organizations: New York University, White Oaks, Amazon, Facebook, University District, NYU, CS, Netflix, Microsoft, Google Locations: New York City, Seattle, Greenwich Village, University, San Francisco, New York, ayang@insider.com

Shivon Zilis was pictured alongside Elon Musk and their twins for the first time on Wednesday. Insider first reported that Musk quietly fathered twins with Zilis, a director at Neuralink, in 2021. AdvertisementAdvertisementGrimes, whose legal name is Claire Boucher, said on X that communication about Zilis' twins "wasn't handled super well." Last week, in a since-deleted post on X Grimes accused Zilis of blocking her on social media. The Neuralink director has also taken to posting about her children in recent months.

Persons: Shivon Zilis, Elon Musk, Musk, Zilis, Elon Musk's, Walter Isaacson, —, Isaacson, Musk wasn't, Justine, Grimes, He's, he's, Tesla, Justin Sullivan, Ray Kurzweil, I've, Sam Altman, OpenAI's, Jonathan Raa, Neuralink, Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, ck Elon Musk, Gonzalez, Austin Zilis, Claire Boucher, wasn't, Musk's, X Grimes, Tau, ftw Organizations: Service, Yale University, Yale, IBM, Bloomberg Beta, Forbes, Canadian, Conference, Neuralink, Getty, Food and Drug Administration, California, Twitter, SpaceX Locations: Zilis, Wall, Silicon, Austin, Ontario, Canada, Markham , Ontario, California, Texas, Boca Chica, South Texas

But as it turns out, I was just not using my imagination, because this year’s Burning Man was an absolute nightmare. casey newtonA bit more of a Drowning Man than a Burning Man, I have to say. kevin rooseYeah, so as someone who’s been to Burning Man, I was fascinated by just the logistics of it all, because it is already a mess to get in and out of Burning Man. kevin rooseSo you are, in addition to a Burning Man escapee this year, you’ve been actually going to Burning Man for a long time. When I say I don’t know what happened, I don’t know what happened to prompt the things that were being directed at us.

Persons: casey newton, kevin roose, I’ve, KEVIN, casey newton It’s, you’ve, it’s, I’ll, casey newton What’s, kevin roose Bluetooth, Kevin Roose, ” casey newton, Casey Newton, Jonathan Greenblatt, Elon, Kevin, casey newton Oh, casey newton You, “ shay, denfreude, kevin roose Schadenfreude, shay, who’s, It’s — casey newton, casey newton That’s, Smart, casey newton Ugh, kevin roose —, casey newton Right, — casey newton, kevin roose What’s, casey newton Sure, ” casey newton Never, Adrian Aoun, He’s, ” adrian aoun, adrian aoun, Larry Page, Adrian, I’m, casey newton Amen, here’s, you’d, we’ve, you’re, Larry, roose, Max, Harry Potter, adrian aoun I’m, they’re, adrian aoun —, —, Rice Krispie, kevin roose Wow, let’s, adrian aoun Oh, adrian aoun She’s, She’s —, We’re, wrenches, hitchhike, I, Gerlach, kevin roose She’s, Y, It’s, They’re, — you’re, casey newton We’re, it’s Elon Musk, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Donald Trump, West, kevin roose It’s, Casey, casey newton Well, Linda Yaccarino, Jonathan, kevin roose Jonathan, ” jonathan greenblatt, jonathan greenblatt, CHUCKLES, I’d, Linda, kevin roose You, Nick Fuentes, haven’t, Kevin —, that’s, what’s, we’re, casey newton I’ve, jonathan greenblatt I’m, We’ve, — what’s, Here’s, That’s, John, “, ”, CASEY, kevin roose Totally, Hank Green, Hank, ” Hank, hank, It’s Hank, Ben Shapiro, kevin roose Hank, Diana Dionisio, Diana, Snapchat, Jay Hepler, Jay, ” Casey, don’t, casey newton Really, casey newton I’m, Holly Godfrey, Holly, Kevin Scott, Kevin Scott’s, Bing, Rachel Cohn, Jen Poyant, Caitlin Love, Chris Wood, Dan Powell, Elisheba Ittoop, Marion Lozano, Paula Szuchman, Tam, Nell Gallogly, Kate LoPresti, Jeffrey Miranda, CASEY CHUCKLES Organizations: The New York Times, Defamation League, porta, Electric, Google, Labs, Black Rock, casey newton Fair, Burning, Reno, Defamation, Elon, Labor, Twitter, Center, ADL, Nazi, Anti, Twitter’s Trust, Safety, OG, YouTube, Cato Institute, US, Microsoft, Kevins, Davis Locations: Nevada, La Habra , California, Spanish, East, Iraq, Coachella, Bay, Solano County, Toronto, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Hogwarts, playa, Haiti, Dunkirk, ”, Gerlach, LA, New York, Reno, it’s Reno, America, Florida, chemo, Tokyo, That’s, hardfork@nytimes.com

☆ Sam Altman thinks Silicon Valley has lost its culture of innovation
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Kai Xiang Teo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

OpenAI's Sam Altman thinks Silicon Valley no longer has an innovation culture. "Before OpenAI, what was the last really great scientific breakthrough that came out of a Silicon Valley company?" Get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in business, from Wall Street to Silicon Valley — delivered daily. "There used to be great research that happened in companies in Silicon Valley, Xerox PARC being the obvious example. To this, Altman responded by saying Silicon Valley did have a product innovation culture, but he felt it missed the mark on groundbreaking research.

Persons: OpenAI's Sam Altman, Sam Altman, Altman, Nicolai Tangen, I'm, Marc Andreessen, Andreessen, Horowitz, Matt Miller, Altman's OpenAI, ChatGPT, OpenAI Organizations: Service, Xerox PARC, Norges Bank Investment, Sequoia Capital, Biosciences Locations: Wall, Silicon, Silicon Valley, China, California, OpenAI

☆ Insider Today: Y Combinator's Demo Day decline
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Y Combinator's Demo Day, which will wrap up today, was long considered the event for early-stage startups. AdvertisementAdvertisementInvestors front-running Demo Day was previously considered a major faux pas. You might ask yourself: Who cares if startups line up investments before Demo Day? And companies that get investments before Demo Day might regret it in the long run. The new rating system for performance reviews determines pay — and managers were instructed to not share it with employees.

Persons: I've, that's, Madeline Renbarger, haven't, It's, it's, Samantha Lee, Madeline, There's, Martin, Ryan Reynolds, LeBron James, they're, Ed Yardeni, Jeremy Grantham, Brevan Howard, Peter Hornick, Eduardo Munoz, Sapna Chadha, Shopify, Arantza Pena Popo, YIMBYism, Elon Musk, Katy Perry, Hozier, Hayao Miyazaki's, Heidi Tissenbaum's, Dan DeFrancesco, Naga Siu, Hallam Bullock, Lisa Ryan Organizations: Service, NFL, Tech, Bank, Getty Images, REUTERS, Google, Google Asia Pacific, The Kansas City Chiefs —, Detroit Lions, 48th Toronto, Getty Locations: Wall, Silicon, Silicon Valley, Nevada, The, New York City, San Diego, London, New York

☆ VCs don't care as much about Y Combinator's Demo Day anymore
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Y Combinator's Demo Day used to be the hottest in-person early-stage event in Silicon Valley. For early-stage venture capitalists, few days on the calendar used to compare to Y Combinator's biannual Demo Day. "All of the funds try to go meet the best YC companies before Demo Day," the same investor told Insider. When asked about startups raising before Demo Day, Y Combinator president and CEO Garry Tan told Insider in an emailed statement that "lots of the best companies raise at Demo Day and after." "Coinbase, Instacart, Whatnot, Rappi, Airbyte, Retool — you could have gotten into their rounds at Demo Day.

Persons: It's, Erik Bruckner, Y, Garry Tan, it's, Bruckner, They're, Y Combinator, Jeff Weinstein, Combinator, Tan, haven't Organizations: YC, Bruckner Ventures, FJ Labs Locations: Silicon Valley, Columbus , Ohio

☆ Arm is headed for a $52 billion IPO that's set to draw tech titans like Apple and Nvidia. Here's what to know about the biggest US stock debut of the year.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Softbank Group-owned chip designer Arm is targeting a $52 billion IPO in September. The launch is set to draw big investment from tech giants like Apple, Nvidia, Samsung, and Google. The debut is expected to be the largest of 2023, and it could mark a turning point for the sluggish IPO market. A revival of IPOsIt's possible that the blockbuster stock launch marks a turning point for what's been a relatively muted IPO market since 2022. Arm could help pave the way for other tech firms and startups who's plans for an IPO have stalled through the downturn.

Persons: Softbank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, what's, Rob Wotczak, Masayoshi, Instacart, Wotczak Organizations: Softbank, Apple, Nvidia, Samsung, Google, Service, New York Stock Exchange, Wall Street Journal, Fund, Nasdaq, Intel, TSMC, Devices, underwriters, Arm's, Barclays, JPMorgan, Mizuho Financial Group, Bloomberg, Freedom Capital Markets, Vision Locations: Wall, Silicon, London, New York, Saudi

☆ AI booster Paul Graham complains of rise in web content that's 'AI generated SEO bait'
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-04 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The rise of generative AI has been lauded by major figures in tech like Paul Graham. A rapid expansion of AI tools is affecting the way the web looks and is used. AdvertisementAdvertisementEven the tech industry's most noted figures are getting irked by the ways generative AI is capable of degrading reliable and quality content on the web. AdvertisementAdvertisementThe rapid proliferation of Generative AI tools since the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT less than a year ago has created a number of problems and concerns. The issue of quality is also growing in importance, as AI tools tend to present incorrect information in an authoritative way.

Persons: Paul Graham, That's, Graham, I've, Graham griped, He's, Malte, Ubl Organizations: Google

☆ Exclusive: Deel, a $12 billion HR startup, is contemplating an acquisition of competitor Papaya Global
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In the letter, Bouaziz says Deel "may contemplate an acquisition offer" of Papaya Global. "The Deel leadership team and I have been following Papaya Global for quite some time now with great interest," Bouaziz wrote to Papaya's board of directors. A spokesperson for Papaya Global said in a statement that the company is not for sale. Papaya Global is an Israel-based payments processing startup that last raised at a $3.7 billion valuation in 2021 in a round led by Insight Partners and Tiger Global. He also floated the possibility of an eventual full takeover of Papaya Global, which would require the approval of its board.

Persons: Philippe Bouaziz, Bouaziz, Deel, Eynat Guez, Dovi Frances, Guez, Francis, onboarding, Andreessen Horowitz, Emerson, Alexis Ohanian, Elad Gil, Y, Goldman Sachs, Adam Schiff, Julie Su Organizations: Insight Partners, Tiger Global, Global, Coatue Management, Nike, Labor Locations: San Francisco, Israel

☆ A mystery company backed by Silicon Valley billionaires has purchased tens of thousands of acres of land for more than $800 million to build a new city near San Francisco
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-26 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A company called Flannery Associates has been purchasing land in a county near San Francisco. The company, Flannery Associates, has spent $800 million to purchase thousands of acres of farmland in Solano County, which sits northeast of San Francisco, court documents obtained by Insider show. But the spending price has since soared, with Flannery spending up to $15,000 per acre, lawyers for Flannery Associates said in court documents. Attorneys for Flannery Associates and the landowners did not respond to a request for comment outside of working hours. AdvertisementAdvertisementMusk recently purchased 3,500 acres of land outside of Austin, Texas, to build a town he intends to call "Snailbrook."

Persons: Flannery, Marc Andreessen, Laurene Powell Jobs, Catherine Moy, Jan Sramek, Goldman Sachs, Powell Jobs, Michael Moritz of, Reid Hoffman, Moritz, Y, We're, Bill Gates, Elon Musk Organizations: Service, Silicon, The New York Times, Flannery Associates, Street Journal, Travis Air Force Base, Air Force Base Google, ABC, Times, Michael Moritz of Sequoia Capital, LinkedIn, Solano County Google, The Times, Tech Locations: San Francisco, Wall, Silicon, California, Solano County, Fairfield, Real, Austin , Texas, Colorado

☆ How Y Combinator-backed Seabound is using carbon-capture tech to tackle the shipping industry's problematic emissions
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The Y Combinator-backed Seabound believes its on board carbon-capture tech can play a key role. Fredriksson is the cofounder and CEO of Seabound, a climate-tech startup that aims to lower the greenhouse-gas emissions produced by the shipping industry. Seabound, backed by the famed accelerator Y Combinator, has built a carbon-capture machine that can be retrofitted onto ships. Having tested it on land, Seabound is now using a commercial container ship as its lab in a pilot project with the London-based shipping company Lomar Shipping. Fredriksson added that Seabound's reaction was exothermic, meaning it needed an injection of heat to get started but then was self-sustaining.

Persons: Seabound, Alisha Fredriksson didn't, Fredriksson, It's, Stephen Turnock, Ed Phillips, Alisha Fredriksson, Wen, Turnock, Alisha Fredriksson Decarbonization, we're, We're, Capital's Phillips, Leapfrogging Organizations: Shipping, Maritime Organization, Service, University College London, University Maritime Advisory Services, Southampton University, International Maritime, Planet Capital, Lomar Shipping, Ships Locations: Wall, Silicon, London, Yalova, Turkey

☆ A message to OpenAI's Sam Altman was an AI startup founder's last ditch effort to help save her company — and it worked
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The AI startup was recently named by VCs as one of 2023's most promising startups. Thompson named her startup Milo, an acronym for "my important loved ones," and raised some early funding from the accelerator Y Combinator in 2020. "You never hear someone talk about the power of these models to help families," said Brad Lightcap, OpenAI's chief operating officer. On Milo, parents can send text messages of grocery lists, photos of permission slips or sign-up-sheets for school activities to the Milo chatbot. To date, Milo has raised an undisclosed amount of pre-seed and seed capital from Y Combinator, OpenAI, Magnify Ventures, Bronze Ventures, and several angel investors.

Persons: Milo, Avni Patel Thompson, Sam Altman, VCs, Thompson, Mary, Archa Jain, Brad Lightcap, Milo chatbot, Cleo, Sara Ittelson, I'm Organizations: Starbucks, Reebok, Accel, Bronze Ventures Locations: Y

☆ A famed Silicon Valley VC who left for the UK says he wouldn't live in San Francisco with kids after men fired gunshots a few blocks from his dinner
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Y Combinator founder Paul Graham said he wouldn't live in San Francisco with kids due to crime. Graham, who lives in the UK, said he was out for dinner when masked men fired gunshots nearby. Robotaxi companies Cruise and Waymo recently got the go-ahead from the city to offer fully driverless rides 24/7 in San Francisco. Graham and the San Francisco Police Department did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment about the incident. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that some of this feeling may be down to the public and "brazen" nature of the crimes.

Persons: Paul Graham, Graham, Y, Waymo, Elon Musk, Nordstrom, Bob Lee Organizations: Morning, San Francisco Police Department, City, San Francisco Chronicle, Old Navy, Foods, New York Times, Times Locations: San Francisco, Francisco's, City and County

☆ Want to get a job at OpenAI? These are key skills to have, one company leader says
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

He is looking for research engineers, scientists, and managers. Working closely with research engineers, research scientists are responsible for advancing OpenAI's alignment research agenda. The research manager position oversees the research engineers and research scientists. An ideal candidate for the leadership role, Leike said, would have a combination of management experience and machine learning skills. OpenAI isn't just hiring for its superalignment team.

Persons: Jan Leike, —, we'll, Leike, OpenAI's, OpenAI Organizations: OpenAI, Research Locations: OpenAI

☆ Zoom says it won't use your calls to train AI 'without your consent' after its terms of service sparked backlash and prompted people to talk about ditching the service
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Sarah Jackson | Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Zoom angered users after its terms of service suggested it could use calls to train AI. Zoom also says it won't use the content of calls to train its AI models "without your consent." On August 6, the tech news blog Stack Diary pointed out the section of Zoom's terms of service. But as Stack Diary points out, the clarification may not fully protect your calls, based on the specific language in Zoom's terms of service. The clarifications in Zoom's terms of service come as members of the public have expressed outrage over their data being used to train AI.

Persons: Gabriella Coleman, Brianna Wu, Smita Hashim, Aparna Bawa, Sean Hogle, — includingSuzanne Collins, Margaret Atwood, — Organizations: Harvard, Hacker, Hacker News

☆ Union Square Ventures slashed the value of 7 of its funds by 26%. Insiders say this will be the 'start of a cascade' of lower valuations for VC funds.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Union Square Ventures is widely considered to be one of the top performing venture firms of all time. USV marked down seven of its funds by nearly 26% this year, a far steeper writedown than other firms. Union Square Ventures — an early backer of Robinhood, Coinbase, and Etsy— is widely considered to be one of the top performing venture firms of all time. Venture firms are required to value their holdings at fair market value, but assessing the value of illiquid assets leaves considerable room for discretion. USV's 2004 fund returned more than $305 million in cash from a $22 million UTIMCO investment, with an IRR of 66%.

Persons: USV, —, VCs, Vincent Harrison, Combinator, Fred Wilson, Wilson Organizations: Square Ventures, Union Square Ventures, UTIMCO, University of Texas, Venture, Bay, Sequoia, Twitter, Zynga Locations: Robinhood, Texas, USV

☆ Reddit throughout the years: Its rise to prominence, recent revolts and IPO plans
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-30 | by ( Katie Brigham | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

The price hikes have led some beloved third-party Reddit apps such as Apollo to shut down, instigating an uproar among the website's community of volunteer moderators, who often rely on third-party apps to run the site's 100,000+ discussion communities, called subreddits. But tensions remain high, and some say that if Reddit doesn't rebuild trust, its most passionate users will go elsewhere. Ohanian rejoined Reddit as executive chairman in 2014 and Huffman rejoined as CEO the next year. But it's not just tech giants who use Reddit's API. These third-party apps are largely just alternatives to Reddit's official mobile app, which didn't even exist until 2016.

Persons: Reddit, David DeWald, Alexis Ohanian, Steve Huffman, Paul Graham, Ohanian, Huffman, Y Combinator, Condé Nast, Debra Aho Williamson, George Floyd's, it's, Apollo, Jakub Porzycki Organizations: University of Virginia, Advance, Facebook, Insider Intelligence, GameStop, AMC, Google, Getty

☆ Get the lowdown on 'e/acc' — Silicon Valley's favorite obscure theory about progress at all costs, which has been embraced by Marc Andreessen
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

There's a new ideological interest in Silicon Valley: effective accelerationism. It's called effective accelerationism. The more formalized e/acc idea has taken shape on Twitter and through Substack newsletters since 2022. In an e/acc world, no idea that offers hypothetical value should be considered too absurd, too dangerous, too out there to make a reality. But one thing does seem certain: as long as AI remains front and center, so too will effective accelerationism.

Persons: Marc Andreessen, It's, Garry Tan, Sam Bankman, Fried, Michael M, Nick Land, Freeman, ChatGPT, Marc Andreessen's, Tan, Y Organizations: Tech, acc, Morning, Twitter, Getty, University of Warwick Locations: Silicon Valley, British, Francisco

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