Sam Altman predicts AI CEOs within years while betting billions on human-centric infrastructure. His Tyler Cowen interview reveals three tensions: monetizing without breaking trust, energy bottlenecks limiting AI, and models that persuade without intent.
Ex-Tencent AI scientist Wei Liu chose Singapore for unrestricted Nvidia chip access, raising $50M for Video Rebirth. The geography play matters more than the physics pitch—it's about training on Blackwell while China can't.
Good Morning from San Francisco, The AI bubble found its puncture point this week. Palantir beat earnings, then lost 8%
Venture capital firms are hitting pause on new investments, reports Lauren Goode at WIRED. The reason? Donald Trump's erratic trade policies have thrown Silicon Valley into a cold sweat.
Major VC firms pulled back nearly 40% of planned investments this quarter. First-time funding rounds took the biggest hit, dropping to their lowest level since 2019. Startups developing hardware or relying on Chinese manufacturing face particular scrutiny.
"We're seeing deals fall apart in real time," Sarah Chen tells WIRED. Her firm, Sequoia Capital, just shelved three late-stage investments worth $200 million combined. Hardware startups feel the squeeze most. A San Francisco-based robotics company had to slash its valuation by half after Trump threatened new semiconductor tariffs.
Even software companies can't escape the chaos. Cloud infrastructure costs could jump 15-25% if Trump's proposed tech tariffs take effect. For cash-burning startups, that's a potential death sentence.
Why this matters:
Read on, my dear:
Wired: Investors Worry Trump’s Tariffs Could Cause a ‘World of Hurt’ for Startups
Ex-Tencent AI scientist Wei Liu chose Singapore for unrestricted Nvidia chip access, raising $50M for Video Rebirth. The geography play matters more than the physics pitch—it's about training on Blackwell while China can't.
Microsoft's venture arm doubled funding for a German startup that cuts datacenter cooling costs by up to 40% using software alone. The timing: North American operators face years-long power constraints while AI demand climbs.
FurtherAI closed $25M from Andreessen Horowitz six months after seed to automate insurance workflows—from submission intake to claims processing. The velocity signals a shift from AI pilots to production deployment, with early customers reporting measurable ROI.
A16z analyzed what 200,000 startups actually pay for in AI tools—and the results diverge from traffic rankings. Replit generated 15x more revenue than Lovable despite lower visibility. Copilots outnumber autonomous agents twelve to five. Budgets reveal what clicks conceal.
Get the 5-minute Silicon Valley AI briefing, every weekday morning — free.
