Shaun, you’ve spent your career betting on extraordinary people, including Elon Musk. What is it about someone that makes you personally believe in them, even before they’ve proven themselves? And have you ever been wrong?
You have said that putting data centers in space does “pencil out”, but how does one overcome the obstacle of keeping the chips cool in a vacuum, especially with the added heat generated by the solar arrays? Would it not be more cost effective to just market data centers better here on earth?
This is fascinating timing for an AI-themed interview. OpenAI just had to settle for raising $11bn when aiming for $30bn. Anthropic IPO is being guided down significantly from initial ballpark. Softbank is defaulting on orders. Microsoft is pulling the Oracle compute deal. On top of cold hard numbers, there's the wild soap opera subplot of Jensen Huang facing accusations of being honey trapped by a Chinese agent, which could be hugely problematic for Nvidia. I'm not sure if you agree, but I doubt xAI could have survived the current market conditions if not for Elon's genius financial engineering of rolling it up into SpaceX and compelling everyone who wanted exposure to that to also take on the AI part. The question is - what % probability do you assign to AI-related leverage in the system bringing about a huge financial hit to the world economy like mortgages did in 2007?
Many people expect AI to cause enormous disruption to the job market, not just for software engineers but across the board. If those predictions prove true, it may not only affect people's income but, ultimately, society's ability to pay for AI services.
What is your perspective, and what perspective do you see among other people in the industry, on AI economic alignment?
Investing in equities (stocks) has become significantly more accessible by platforms like RobinHood etc. Venture as an asset class, and especially access to top VC funds like Sequoia still requires clearing a much higher threshold (a 'Qualified Purchaser' is a $5 million barrier but realistically, the bar is even higher). Do you ever see that being 'democratised'?
Shaun, you’ve spent your career betting on extraordinary people, including Elon Musk. What is it about someone that makes you personally believe in them, even before they’ve proven themselves? And have you ever been wrong?
You have said that putting data centers in space does “pencil out”, but how does one overcome the obstacle of keeping the chips cool in a vacuum, especially with the added heat generated by the solar arrays? Would it not be more cost effective to just market data centers better here on earth?
This is fascinating timing for an AI-themed interview. OpenAI just had to settle for raising $11bn when aiming for $30bn. Anthropic IPO is being guided down significantly from initial ballpark. Softbank is defaulting on orders. Microsoft is pulling the Oracle compute deal. On top of cold hard numbers, there's the wild soap opera subplot of Jensen Huang facing accusations of being honey trapped by a Chinese agent, which could be hugely problematic for Nvidia. I'm not sure if you agree, but I doubt xAI could have survived the current market conditions if not for Elon's genius financial engineering of rolling it up into SpaceX and compelling everyone who wanted exposure to that to also take on the AI part. The question is - what % probability do you assign to AI-related leverage in the system bringing about a huge financial hit to the world economy like mortgages did in 2007?
Many people expect AI to cause enormous disruption to the job market, not just for software engineers but across the board. If those predictions prove true, it may not only affect people's income but, ultimately, society's ability to pay for AI services.
What is your perspective, and what perspective do you see among other people in the industry, on AI economic alignment?
Investing in equities (stocks) has become significantly more accessible by platforms like RobinHood etc. Venture as an asset class, and especially access to top VC funds like Sequoia still requires clearing a much higher threshold (a 'Qualified Purchaser' is a $5 million barrier but realistically, the bar is even higher). Do you ever see that being 'democratised'?
Would A.I. see any utility in religion to manipulate society, should fears of rogue Agents come to pass.
So are the democrats going to scare Elon musk out of the country?